I have never understood why hockey isn’t as popular as football, basketball or baseball. I’m not putting down the other, more appreciated sports.
But since “Queer Eye For the Straight Guy” and “Lizzie McGuire” reruns probably get higher TV ratings than hockey, I think it’s time someone takes a stand for the game.
Game play moves faster than basketball. Hockey players aren’t allowed to recover after 15 seconds of play (as in football), nor are they given a minute to swing their sticks and warm up before they hit the puck (baseball, though obviously they use a bat and ball).
It’s not just legal to fight your opponent – it’s encouraged.
Players like Tie Domi and Donald Brashear are professional hockey “goons.” They make money by attacking players and infuriating teams and whole cities of hockey fans.
Other players, like New Jersey captain Scott Stevens, are vigilantes. The referees can’t see every infraction, so these players patrol the ice for their teams.
Receiving a body check from a 230-pound man-beast on skates might not be fun, but watching someone else receive it sure is.
Plus, hockey season lasts practically all year (from October to June).
Including playoffs, the National Hockey League’s season takes about nine months out of the year. It begins as baseball ends and is only halfway through by the time the Saints don’t make it to the Super Bowl.
There’s always hockey on TV.
If the camera’s fast movements make you nauseated, believe it or not, there’s hockey around here. Three minor-league teams, the Lafayette Ice Gators, the Baton Rouge Kingfish and the Mississippi SeaWolves, all are located within a couple of hours west and east of New Orleans.
The Crescent City Hockey League plays inline hockey at Airline Skate Center, and you can watch or play regardless of age or gender.
Like all sports, hockey has its drama. Mario Lemieux and Saku Koivu are cancer survivors who are now team captains.
There’s Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the goalie who won the MVP trophy for last season’s playoffs, though his team lost to the New Jersey Devils in the finals.
And Martin St. Louis, the pint-sized Tampa Bay Lightning winger who has proven that little guys can succeed in contact sports, too.
The NHL has baffling but interesting money troubles. Last year, the Ottawa Senators players went without pay for weeks, but still finished first in the Eastern Conference, while the grossly overpaid New York Rangers, as usual, didn’t even make the playoffs.
If you don’t even like sports, watch hockey to see the fans. Most teams can’t fill their own arenas, much less a football stadium.
But they make up for quantity with quality. I dare you to bring up the New York Islanders fan around a New York Rangers fan. They are rabid.
So, come on. Rent “Slap Shot.” Catch a Detroit-Colorado match. Turn your television to ESPN’s NHL 2Night.
The season just began. You’ll fall in love with Brett Hull’s dizzying slap shots.
Al MacInnis’s 98 mph one-timers, and ESPN Hockey Analyst Barry Melrose’s on-again, off-again cascading mullet.
And watching hockey doesn’t mean you have to give up those “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” reruns.
There are always commercial breaks.
