So the Rangers are going to retire Adam Graves' #9 on February 3rd, 2009. Good for them. But did you know that they're going to retire that same number again just three weeks later?
That's right. On the 22nd of February, the Rangers are going to retire Andy Bathgate's number. Of course, that's the same #9 that they're retiring for Graves.
My head hurts just thinking about this.
The obvious question is this - why not just retire both on the same night? It's fine to honor two players who wore the same number, though it does beg the question of why the Rangers are suddenly honoring someone who played for them fifty years ago. In any event, the Montreal Canadiens retired #12 for Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer on the same night in 2005. Obviously, the Rangers could do something similar.
However, the Rangers are opting to pair Bathgate's ceremony with the retiring of another number - Harry Howell's #3. It's understandable that they'd do this at the same time, as the two played together for many years, but it's confusing. My only guess is that they don't think people are going to remember either Bathgate or Howell individually, whereas Graves is fresh in everyone's minds because he played so recently. Of course, both Bathgate and Howell are in the Hockey Hall Of Fame; the only way Graves gets in is if he buys a ticket. Take that as you will.
For a team that does a pretty awful job of honoring its lineage - all eighty-plus years of it - the Rangers would do well to take advantage of this opportunity to link its past to its present. Instead, the Rangers would rather pretend that 1994 was the only important year in franchise history and that the rest of it was just killing time. Yeah, every Hall Of Famer will have their retired by March, but a lot of Ranger fans don't know a lot about the history of their team; worse, the team won't give them any reason to even care. That's unfortunate.
One last rhetorical question - if the Rangers are so insistent upon doing these ceremonies on separate nights, why are they being done just three weeks apart? Since they're both in February, seems like they're trying to capitalize on a period of time when nothing else is going on in the sports world. Then again, the Rangers should know better than to think they'd make the back page of a newspaper in New York.
That's right. On the 22nd of February, the Rangers are going to retire Andy Bathgate's number. Of course, that's the same #9 that they're retiring for Graves.
My head hurts just thinking about this.
The obvious question is this - why not just retire both on the same night? It's fine to honor two players who wore the same number, though it does beg the question of why the Rangers are suddenly honoring someone who played for them fifty years ago. In any event, the Montreal Canadiens retired #12 for Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer on the same night in 2005. Obviously, the Rangers could do something similar.
However, the Rangers are opting to pair Bathgate's ceremony with the retiring of another number - Harry Howell's #3. It's understandable that they'd do this at the same time, as the two played together for many years, but it's confusing. My only guess is that they don't think people are going to remember either Bathgate or Howell individually, whereas Graves is fresh in everyone's minds because he played so recently. Of course, both Bathgate and Howell are in the Hockey Hall Of Fame; the only way Graves gets in is if he buys a ticket. Take that as you will.
For a team that does a pretty awful job of honoring its lineage - all eighty-plus years of it - the Rangers would do well to take advantage of this opportunity to link its past to its present. Instead, the Rangers would rather pretend that 1994 was the only important year in franchise history and that the rest of it was just killing time. Yeah, every Hall Of Famer will have their retired by March, but a lot of Ranger fans don't know a lot about the history of their team; worse, the team won't give them any reason to even care. That's unfortunate.
One last rhetorical question - if the Rangers are so insistent upon doing these ceremonies on separate nights, why are they being done just three weeks apart? Since they're both in February, seems like they're trying to capitalize on a period of time when nothing else is going on in the sports world. Then again, the Rangers should know better than to think they'd make the back page of a newspaper in New York.
They had already announced Graves Night, so there was no need to say, "And, oh, we'll be retiring Andy Bathgate then as well. Please bring a camera and a grandfather who might remember him."
ReplyDeleteI think it's self-explanatory. Bathgate and Howell were from the Dark Era of Rangers hockey, and they both got called up to the NHL on the same day. It's full-circle, and Graves still gets to have his number retired like Leetch, Messier, and Richter did. The fact that Bathgate and Graves both wear number 9 shouldn't matter.
More stupid, if not unexpected Stupid Dolan Tricks.
ReplyDeleteHow does this work? They raise a "9" jersey to the rafters, then the noight before Bathgate,they sneak it down so they can raise it again? What a freaking joke.
And that's setting aside the fact that Jean Ratelle's number should be up there LONG BEFORE Adam Graves...