As part of our year-end, year-beginning, occasional series looking back at some of the Internet’s stranger and more compelling stories of 2006, we bring you VoteForRory.com. It is one of the funnier abuses, sorry, uses, of the World Wide Web. In November, 2006, hockey fan Steve Schmid launched a website called VoteForRory.com. “Rory”, is Rory Fitzpatrick, a journeyman “blue liner” currently skating for the Vancouver Canucks.
It’s not unheard of for someone of Rory’s caliber to become the subject of NHL, fan-elected All-Star balloting…well actually, it is. The campaign behind Rory is even more remarkable given that he has just nine goals and 18 assists in 13 years and 229 games in the NHL. In the 2006-2007 season, Rory has posted zero goals in 25 games played. Not to worry–this season, Rory recorded his first assist as a Canuck. That was on Dec. 30,2006. And on Oct. 5th @ DET, Rory logged a season-high 20:16 of ice time and had a plus one rating. And you were worried!
So what does the object of all this affection have to say? Apparently, his first inkling of Schmid’s Rory Mania came on a cell phone message.
“Rumor has it you’re going to the NHL All-Star Game. “The message didn’t make any sense,” said Fitzpatrick, so he deleted it from his phone.
…Look, I’m not here to bag on Rory just because he is tied for 558th in Goals made; or that he’s tied for 584th; or that he’s tied for 618th for points. I’m here to praise his can-do spirit. And I’m here to praise Steve Schmid for effectively using the Internet to work the NHL All-Star balloting system. Steve Schmid, 22, offers a simple explanation. He didn’t like the method used by the National Hockey League to select starters for the All-Star Game: online voting with no limit on how many times a person can vote.
“The All-Star Game is a bit stale. It’s always the same players going,” Schmid said. “So I had the idea to get an unheralded guy into the game. Rory is [an unsung] guy who has worked hard his whole career. Perfect.” And thus began his quest to make a little guy, big time.
VoteForRory.com generated hockey buzz amongst fans and non-fans alike. More importantly, it served to heighten fan interest in major league hockey again. Interest the NHL almost mortally squandered during last season’s lockout debacle.
The NHL apparently agrees. NHL spokesman Gary Meagher wrote in a statement: “The purpose of fan balloting is to give our great fans a voice in the selection of the all-star starting lineup. It should be no surprise at all that our passionate fans have responded to this opportunity with the same intensity they bring to the rink every night.”
“To me, that seems ridiculous,” said Fitzpatrick, somewhat embarrassed that he’s the subject of the growing voting snowball.
“It speaks to how powerful the Internet is,” quipped Buffalo Sabres forward Chris Drury. Drury and Fitzpatrick are friends from their playing days together in Buffalo.
Should Fitzpatrick remain in the top two by the time voting ends Jan. 2, he will earn a spot in the all-star game as a write-in candidate. As of last week, Rory had fallen into third place. The ever humble Fitzpatrick is realistic. “I’ve made plans for All-Star weekend and it’s not to go to Dallas.”
The NHL All-Star lineup was officially announced today and Rory Fitzpatrick placed third overall for Western Conference defensemen. Only the top two finishers made the team. Fitzpatrick missed the cut by 22,892 votes. That’s the bad news. The good news is that he garnered 550,177 votes. The VoteForRory.com site counter indicates 374,589 people visited it. Now given that Fitzpatrick tallied more than half a million votes on less than half a million visitors…well you do the math. Both Steve Schmid and Rory Fitzpatrick have made themselves a little history
