Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Government Shutdown to Jeopardize PSU Games?

Will Pegula Ice Arena look like this at 8:00 p.m. on October 11th?

Federal government shutdowns, such as the one initiated today due to political haggling over the funding and implementation of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are sort of a funny thing in that nobody really thinks it has an impact on their lives until it does. After all, "essential services," like the prisons, postal service and armed forces remain unaffected.

Then there are sports. On Tuesday, the Naval Academy posted this brief release to their website:
As a result of the government shutdown, the Department of Defense has suspended all intercollegiate athletic competitions at the Service Academies.

The Naval Academy will cancel contests as appropriate and notification on Saturday's football game against Air Force will be made public prior to 12 noon on Thursday.

Tonight's soccer game against Howard has been cancelled. It is not known at this time if the game will be made up or not.
As of this post, similar releases have not been posted to Army's and Air Force's websites. Those two, of course, are the opponents for the first three games of the men's hockey season, with the Black Knights coming to Pegula Ice Arena on October 11th - just ten days from now - and PSU traveling out to Colorado Springs, CO for a two-game series with the Falcons on the following weekend.

The Daily Collegian's Darian Somers jumped on his horse and immediately confirmed that, according to Penn State, "everything is status quo." Should the shutdown continue, and given the timing of the decision on the Navy-Air Force football game, I imagine "status quo" will remain the case for another week or so before a call needs to be made.

For reference, the last federal government shutdown, spanning 1995 and 1996, lasted 21 days. A repeat of that would probably kill the hockey games, although the good news is that a majority of shutdowns throughout history have lasted less than one week.

UPDATE 10/1, 2:35 P.M.: The Air Force Academy has released a statement containing possible good news for the Nittany Lions' series on October 18th and 19th:
At this time, travel for all intercollegiate athletics is cancelled - this includes the Air Force-Navy game on Saturday, 5 Oct.

The Air Force Academy Falcons will attempt to play all home intercollegiate athletic contests but those may be cancelled, as well. Academy officials are working with Mountain West Conference officials, those teams the Falcons were scheduled to play and officials at The Department of the Air Force to make up as many games as possible.
UPDATE 10/2, 1:45 A.M.: As things stand right now...

8 comments:

  1. This is pretty stupid.
    Army hockey is no more a federal department than Penn State hockey is part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Only a jerkweed Progressive Liberal Democrat would write such a loser article. I will NOT be held hostage by ice hockey. Obamacare sucks, repeal it.

    The MAJORITY of the American People DO NOT WANT Obamacare.

    Any more of this pandering bullshit from YOU, and I discontinue all heart-felt support of Penn State hockey at my blog, Progressive Liberal Democrat.

    Don't make me feel like I wasted my time doing my PSU hockey articles last season, Progressive Liberal Democrat.

    Don't make me teach YOU a lesson you will NEVER forget, Progressive Liberal Democrat.

    Sincerely,

    NOT AN OBAMA ROBOT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The entirety of my comment about Obamacare:

      "Federal government shutdowns, such as the one initiated today due to political haggling over the funding and implementation of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are sort of a funny thing in that nobody really thinks it has an impact on their lives until it does."

      I don't see where you draw "pandering bullshit" from that. I was simply stating the reason for the shutdown, because it certainly didn't just happen out of thin air, and IMO I'm not fully doing my job without a sentence like that. Anyway, is that not a true statement? I made no comment as to whether I felt Obamacare was good or bad for America. Yes, I do have an opinion about it, but this isn't the forum, I'm just here for hockey.

      The shutdown itself sucks and has far more dire consequences than a hockey game, regardless of your opinion of the underlying causes. I don't even see how that's open for debate. Nobody really *wanted* this to happen, except maybe Tim Thomas. Are you Tim Thomas?

      In any case, go ahead and team me "a lesson [I] will NEVER forget." If it's one less asshole reader, I can live with that. If you don't mind, grab all the North Dakota fans on the way out. Thanks.

      Delete
  3. Oh wait, I get it, anonymous jerkweed troll.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So...it appears as if Anonymous is a guy named Rolf Oeler, who runs a site about hockey named after a baseball team, goironpigs.com. He shared this post on Facebook, adding:

    Fuckhead Progressive Liberal Democrat college kid trying to threaten me with cancelation of the historic ARMY vs PENN STATE ice hockey game (first-ever at the new PEGULA ICE ARENA) ... Don't go down this road, asshole college kid who is all but guaranteed to be under the brainwashed influence of radical Left Wing college professors. I'll hate your fucking hockey team with all my heart, you Progressive Liberal piece of shit. AND, I WILL make it a point to work very hard putting up a shitload of articles cheering for (gasp) MICHIGAN, MICHIGAN STATE, MINNESOTA and OHIO STATE! ... (Fuck Wisconsin. Aside from Madison being loaded up left wing lunatics --- all my Mom's relatives have always lived in the Land of 10,000 Lakes) ... I'M NOT THE BEST GUY TO TRY AND HOLD HOSTAGE, EVER --- DON'T MAKE ME HATE PENN STATE HOCKEY!!!

    Yep, lay off Obamacare or *I'll* cancel the Penn State-Army game. Good stuff. Anyone want to tell him that there are *probably* both liberals and conservatives in every fanbase in the world? We could probably get him to stop following sports, which I'd call a win for all of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That guy has issues if he took your post as having a left leaning agenda. Perhaps it's more of a case of blog envy. I'll never know if his is any good or not -- because of his absurd cooments, I'll never read it.

      Delete
    2. Maybe it was "political haggling." I don't know, that's the best I can do 24 hours later. When I wrote that, it wasn't meant to indict one side or another. Takes two to haggle, as the saying goes.

      But seriously...if the guy's going to devote his life to shredding PSU/promoting PSU rivals because of what he perceives as one left-leaning guy blogging about PSU? That's just flat-out unhinged.

      Anyway, back to hockey.

      Delete