In case you missed it, the National Hockey League was on strike last year. And while I do so love to see millionaires (the players) argue with billionaires (the owners), it's really just the fans who lost out.
The Detroit Red Wings played last night. Finally. Yes, they really do call it Hockeytown. If you're not from the Northeastern part of the US, you probably don't get it. But as the Red Sox are to Boston, so are the Red Wings to Detroit. But then if the other major competition for your undying love were the Lions and the Tigers, you can understand why people get behind the hockey ballers.
Now hockey is definitely the 4th sport in the echelon of professional sports. It might even be behind bowling. And it's not even televised on a legitimate network like ESPN. It's on the Outdoor Life Network. Yes, the same network of Survivor reruns and the Tour de France. What does it say about your sport when that's the best tv contract you can score?
Hockey suffers in that it's not a tv sport. You can't follow the puck or the players as well on tv and you can't grasp any of the strategy with line changes. It is a seriously fast sport that doesn't translate well into remote viewing. The ice is too big and a lot of the best action doesn't necessarily go on around the puck. These guys routinely skate at over 20 miles per hour. When the action gets going, bodies are flying across the ice and guys are sucking wind after each shift.
Fighting in the NHL isn't that big a deal. The fights tend to look worse than they actually are. It's tough to get any leverage to punch when you're slipping around on the ice. But when someone gets their sweater pulled up over their head and gets thumped, the crowd is always into it. It's the only sport where fights are part of the game. Every team has an enforcer. If you cross over the line and take a shot at the superstar, the enforcer comes in, busts somebody and everything quiets down again. Typically the only way you can really get injured is when you're down on the ice. And that's when the refs move in a break it up. Otherwise, they typically let them dance around a bit before they try to break it up. Everyone lets off a little steam, then it's back to the game.
Speaking of back to the game, welcome back, guys.
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I watched my beloved Caps win on tv yesterday. You're right it's not the quite the same as seeing it live but I watch and yell, "Kick his ass!" just as loud as if I were there.
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