Being a fan of the National Hockey League is by turns maddening and thrilling. The young upcoming stars raise hopes high for season after season of high quality games, culminating as ever in the greatest playoffs in all of sports. Alternately, the self-sabotage perpetrated by current commish Gary Bettman is befuddling. (Expansion talks? Why don't you talk about losing the Coyotes and Panthers? And no, Gary, the NHL does not need to be in Vegas. Thanks for thinking out loud, though.)
The worst thing about being a fan of pro hockey, at least ever since the NHL lost its national TV contract with ESPN, has been...well...watching ESPN. The sport is virtually ignored save for those rare moments of boneheaded goonery, while any signs of progress (on and off ice) go unreported. Talk about the Worldwide Leader's shunning of the NHL has buzzed about on the Internet ever since the start of last season. It took till just recently, however, for a blogger to really get it all down, to delineate points of hard truth and research the matter beyond mere observations that anyone with eyes and ears could make. Every hockey fan should read this post at The Situationist. Also, don't ignore the comments; lots of great thoughts expanded upon by fans who care about a sport that won't stop being exciting to the people who "get it" no matter how much apathy or antipathy is displayed towards it by folks who don't.
NHL ESPN
Bettman's gotta go!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.FireBettman.com
I was listening to ESPN on the way to work this morning (O&A were on a commercial break) and Greenburg was talking about K-Rod facing Aaron Rowand for the final out in last night’s All-Star Game. He actually said that it’s too bad Mariano Rivera couldn’t have been grandfathered into the All-Star Game. Typical Yankee homer fanboy talk. This is coming from one of the top anchors and radio personalities of the supposed world leader in sports. ESPN truly sucks. One of the advantages hockey has going for it is that it is an ESPN-free zone. I would rather eat rock salt then watch another Stanly Cup with Chris Berman injecting his bulbous sweaty face into it.
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