Jason and Ken talk about the parachute controversy, the head coach situation, and more. Hosted by Ken Boehlke and Jason Pothier.
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VGK to win Western Conference
+350 (2nd)
VGK to win Stanley Cup
+750 (3rd)
The yearly NHLPA Players is out and as always, Las Vegas is dominant. (Phil got on the board too!)
https://sinbin.vegas/kessel-vegas-t-mobile-arena-ice-mentioned-in-2023-nhlpa-players-poll/
"Clearly we were the better team early and they were the better team late. In between we did enough to win. If we want to be a more complete team we're going to have to be better for the full 60 minutes." -Cassidy
VGK finished at 53.4% in this game and a total of 11 people guessed it exactly. They'll all go to the tiebreak to decide who wins.
@billdickerson16, @TheRealICGames1, @tjpjr62, @zilly_zay, @nautaboy, @Pleasepip, @Chase153351, @Privsports, @spikeimus, @Jwsmith34, @PJangletron86
Today's autographed item of the day from @inscriptagraphs is this Eric Haula signed puck!
To win, guess VGKs faceoff win percentage (with one digit after the decimal). The last four games were 63.5, 54.1, 51.2, and 45.2.
Closest *without going over* wins!
"He's hotter than burnt toast." -Karlsson on Dorofeyev
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Garry
Can we at least be honest with each other Ken, he named them after the Army parachute team you know that. In fact right after the reveal he told the review journal the below. I like how he has now added the gold of the Vegas strip now. Most important that Northern Canadian owned too. Clearly a cover story without a doubt can we be honest, can we?
“Whether it is accepted and liked by ticket buyers, it’s a nickname that fits Foley and his beliefs perfectly. Promoted as Champions of the Skies, the Army’s parachute team is know as the Golden Knights, and within a job of flying the American flag at 12,000 feet and passing a baton at 120 MPH and landing dead center on a small target are those qualities around which Foley hopes to build his team.
“Knights are the protectors, the epitome of the warrior class,” he said. “They’re team-orientated. They never give up. They never give in. Hockey players are warriors. They always have been. That’s us. That’s what we will be.
“We wanted to have the Golden Knights drop in for the ceremony, but it got kind of complicated.”
Garry
http://vegasseven.com/2016/11/22/vegas-golden-knights-team-arrived/
I mean come on he even said what Golden represented that night when asked….
“Foley, the West Point alum who committed $500 million to the team and will never have to buy a drink in Las Vegas again, had long promised to include “Knights” in the name as a nod to his alma mater and because they represented “the highest element of the warrior class.”
“Golden,” according to Foley, acknowledges both the U.S. Army Parachute Team and the glamour of Las Vegas. “Everything here is gold, even golden sunsets. I think it’s a great tie-in.”
The man knowingly named them after the Army team THAT is copyright infringement.
Ken Boehlke
It’s not copy-written. It’s not trademarked. It’s a different business entirely. I can be on board that he should have asked, but there’s no convincing me he’s going to have to change the name over this. Also not sure why people are SO vehemently against the guy who brought the city it’s first major professional sports franchise, and on the side of a parachute team they learned for the first time last week. Very odd.
JMO
Ken a couple points, we did not learn of this parachute team last week. In fact for several weeks and months the debate was of the three names he filed a TM for and btw (none are finalized he has no live examined stamped TM on anything) would Foley chose Golden Knights over the more popular Desert/Silver to honor the Army Golden Knights Parachute team. Its all over twitter and social media. In fact some like Brian Blessing felt it was cool if he chose Golden because having the team parachute down and all that jazz. The vast assumption was Golden = Army, am I lying?
Secondly the Army Golden Knights would most certainly have a common law mark on at least the word side and coupled with logo its added ammo. Foley is on record admitting he used their teams name to build upon and his admiration for them. Unless of course he comes out and says all reports or articles/video that are damning are all lies. At this point him doing that wouldn’t shock me. Why he thinks he can back track now and lets avoid saying lie, change his story is very telling.
At this moment the issue is not resolved and being Vegas Id go Army to win. You cannot copy someone’s name blatantly, use a similar logo and fighting mantra and think that is cool.
Like I said Vegas Golden Knights is far from legally finalized.
Ken Boehlke
Commenters on this site are a thousand times more plugged in than most, so I wasn’t referencing you guys as the ones who didn’t know what the Parachute team is, you guys definitely did, and we did. Just saying most people who are reading these stories (not necessarily here) had no clue, that’s why the outrage is a bit odd to me.
We’ll have to see how it plays out, but because it’s such a different business, hockey and parachuting, and the NHL has a massive team of lawyers who worked to legalize the name, I’m incredibly confident nothing comes of this. It’ll never go to court, it’ll never even be settled out of it.
James
@Ken Boehlke
Just for the record, Vegas Golden Knights is my second favourite variation of Knights behind only Las Vegas Knights. I agree with shortening the name. Las Vegas Something Knights is too long.
I just assumed that Foley received a blessing from the Army parachute team before he trademarked the name.
The timing of the Army parachute team speaking out is awful. I can see why Foley is back paddling by distancing himself from the Army parachute team with his latest comments. It would be laughable if Foley had to change the name. It gives the impression that Foley doesn’t know what he’s doing. The Army is meant to be known for it’s organization. To quote Wayne Gretzky Vegas would look like a “Mickey Mouse operation”
I’m very confident that the name will remain the same, but it shouldn’t have come to this. Foley’s intention was to honour the Army parachute team, not possibly settle out of court with them. The Army parachute team might not have a legal leg to stand on, but I am guessing that most Americans would side with the Army parachute team. Not exactly a good marketing strategy.
I hope the Army parachute team give Foley their blessing and the name remains the same. I will continue to support the team, but it’s not a good look if the Army parachute team doesn’t give the thumbs up.
Cappy
FWIW: I LIKE that alternate Blackhawks logo!
Garry
“The only reason we didn’t reach out to anyone before we announced the name was because we were trying to keep it a secret,” Foley said.
So two schools keep better secrets than the Army? He did not ask Army because he knew they’d say no. Why does he insist on making nonsensical statements that make it look like he just wanted to slip it through because he knew they would not agree. He may have a billion dollars but his good name is becoming less valuable every time he opens his mouth concerning the matter. Doesn’t he know a good name is to be more desired than (ironically) gold.
PhiSig150
I think you downplay the signifcance and importance of the name too much and are too dismissive of people who dislike it. I’m brand new to the sport so right now the name, logos, and jerseys mean everything. In fact the only reason I stumbled upon this site in the first place is that I became somewhat obsessed with the name and branding of the team. I hope in time to be converted into a diehard hockey fan. I’ve been watching games to pick up on the rules and players. I read all the articles you guys post and listen to your podcast weekly. I look forward into taking my young kids to a couple of games a season and watching as many games as I can on tv. But right now due to my extremely limited knowledge all I have to get excited about is 1) We have a local team 2) the merchandise.
I’ll give the name a C- and the logos and colors an A. If Foley would have picked something along the lines of the Las Vegas Neon or Glitz and used hot pink or neon purple I’d would have probably been out right there. Yes I know it’s superficial but I have a lot of sports vying for my free time. It’s going to take some effort to learn and fall in love with the game and if the name really blew or the jerseys/logo was godawful not sure I could keep the excitement up needed to dive fully in. Not a big fan of Knights because of Kings are already in our market. Could have came up with at least dozen better names he could have gone with. Hate Golden. Don’t really care one way or the other about (Las)Vegas I use them interchangeably but I only moved here 7 years ago. The logos are sick though and save this whole enterprise. Your jersey mock ups have me excited. I’m going to buy a ton of merchandise for me and my family and really try to embrace this whole hockey thing. Let’s not be so quick to jump on the people that aren’t quite on board with the name or logo. We aren’t all diehard hockey fans (yet)from birth. Some of us need to be hooked in by a badass new team logo like the Sharks had back in the day. All of us probably had a perfect name in our head with a awesome logo and for months it was all we really could speculate on. Give us time to mourn the great missed naming opportunity. A new sports franchise only pops every 15 or so years and some us (me) are upset that Foley didn’t see my many ideas on various message boards and immediately contact me to be head of team branding. With that said Let’s Go Knights (no I’ll never use Golden, sorry creator).
Ken Boehlke
This is a really valid point. It’s kind of a double edged sword. On one hand I completely understand the thought that, “I’m not into hockey, so logos, colors, and name is all I have.” and that’s certainly a legitimate point. But on the other hand, the only folks with that thought process are those who have been waiting and hoping for major pro sports in Vegas and are ready to cheer for whoever we get (believe me, I’m in that boat too.) So while I hear ya that the only part of the game you truly understand is the name and logos, the fact remains, the only truly meaningful part of it all is the city the team is going to play in, and whether they named the team the Golden Unicorns or the Aces, they are playing in (Las) Vegas. If the name, colors, and logos make you hate the team, you were never really a fan of the city in the first place.
Just my opinion. You are absolutely entitled to your own, and we are really happy to have you here on the site and hope to help you become as big a Vegas hockey fan as we are. Go Knights! (I’ll hold off on the Golden for your sake)
PhiSig150
Don’t me wrong I’m all on board now. I transferred here for work but since have gone to Grad school at UNLV. Bought a house. Work for the school district. My oldest is just starting school. We have no intentions of leaving anytime soon. I think this team will help build a city identity that I think is somewhat lacking for locals. We all love the Rebels and now we have the Knights to rally behind.
I also think outside of the NFL (which sells itself) hockey is the perfect sport for (Las) Vegas. It’s face paced, has an appealing element of violence, and has this almost cult like fandom which is cool. I think (Las) Vegas can really grab ahold of that. I can see our city saying “Forget what haters say we’re a hockey town now so screw you.”
Also how can anyone not love Foley? When he came out against that godawful Raider Stadium hijacking it made me fall in love with this team. I want to give my support almost solely for the fact Foley didn’t ask for a single dime from us in public funding. Calling Las Vegas “Vegas” might not be what locals do but saying that public money should go to fund our struggling schools, police, and fire departments sure the hell is.
I can live with Knights although I’m not sure if it’s differentiated enough from the Kings which is my only gripe really. The few hockey fans that I do know are Kings fans and they’re already giving me crap about how we bit off the Kings brand. Battle Born would have been such an awesome name but I digress the logo is sick. I get that it really is a knight helmet but I like the fact that it also has a slight spartan feel to it (huge Frank Miller and 300 fan). The Vegas Sword Star is one the best logos not just in hockey but in all the major sports. Maybe if we get the Winter Classic they can come out with a faux retro jersey which would be amazing. Can’t wait for the jerseys if they’re anywhere close to what you guys came up with. Disappointed they couldn’t get them out for this years holiday season. Which brings me to my final point.
I think the fact that Foley dropped the ball with the branding is almost encouraging (well now that we finally have a team name and identity). I get the feeling that he is so obsessed with winning and putting the best product on ice that he really can’t be troubled with what he sees as unimportant nonsense. Foley is an Army guy so he probably took a whole ten minutes and decided lets just go with Knights and Army colors and let the Adidas people figure out the details. He has a hockey team to run dammit. While it may have lead to some initial disappointment and the naming could have been handled much much better I think his tunnel vision on winning will serve us well in the long run.