Who Cares If People Don't Care About Hockey?

Game one of the 2006 Stanley Cup finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers was one of the most exciting hockey games I have ever seen. It had all the makings of a classic: huge hits, breakaways, amazing saves, and a close score. Carolina came back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead, and ended up winning the game 5-4 on a goal that came with less than a minute left in the game.

I watched the game on the big screen at a local sports bar. Of course, I had to request that the game be put on since every other TV in the bar seemed to be tuned to a regular season baseball game. This makes sense, because regular season baseball is so much more exciting the championship hockey. After all, regular season baseball has it all: out-of-shape players, plays that last less than 10 seconds, no physical contact, guys standing around chewing gum, old men making weird hand signals at each other- not to mention half full stadiums. Who wouldn’t rather watch that than a game where play goes on uninterrupted for minutes at a time, players shoot 90 mile an hour shots at each other, try knocking each other unconscious, and are fighting for a league championship?

When I try to ask people why they think baseball is more exciting than hockey, somehow they always come up with the excuse that hockey is Canadian and baseball is “America’s past time.” Well, last time I checked, slavery was also an American past time. So was segregation. So were New Coke and Crystal Clear Pepsi. If anything, the fact that it’s “America’s past time” is another reason to hate baseball.

Apparently, not only would people rather watch baseball…but they would even rather watch girl’s softball. Wednesday the ratings came out for game one, and it turns out, a girl’s softball game on ESPN 2 averaged more viewers than the Stanley Cup did on OLN.

So why is it that no one cares about hockey? There are many theories floating around out there. The first and most popular seems to be because of cancelled 2004-2005 season. Due to a dispute between owners and players over a salary cap, there was NHL season and the theory is that people forgot about it or lost interest in it.

I find this hard to believe, and the notion that a cancelled season has hurt the NHL’s popularity seems laughable to me. If anything, it only increased my love of the sport and desire to watch it. Without a hockey season, I was forced to suffer through the NBA playoffs in an attempt to quench my thirst for watching competitive sports, and it nearly killed me.

While basketball is not quite as bad as baseball, it still cannot even compare to the thrill of watching hockey. Every time basketball players touch each other, a foul is called and play stops. Not to mention every time they fall down, or get slapped on the wrist by another player, they act like they just got shot. In hockey, players are not only skating at full speed and crushing each other, but they literally punching each other in the face; basketball cannot compare to hockey at all. NBA players are about as tough as schoolgirls, while hockey players are as tough as the cavemen that they resemble.

Another theory as to hockey’s low popularity and TV ratings is that fact that this season was broadcast on OLN, the Outdoor Life Network, which is known for such quality programming as “Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit” and “Expedition Safari.” Well, I don’t buy this theory either. “The Sopranos” is on a network that is not is most homes, and is still known as one of the greatest shows on television and is considered widely popular. So just because OLN isn’t in as many homes as the major sports networks or get as many viewers doesn’t mean its product isn’t as good.

But I say, who cares if no ones cares about hockey? I have come to the conclusion that low ratings and low popularity actually proves just how great hockey is. People shouldn’t judge how good of a sport hockey is based on its ratings or so called “popularity.” Being a hockey fan is like being in that cool “no girls allowed” club that you had in fourth grade or having a sweet “members only” jacket. Sure, you may be few in numbers, but by being a member you are clearly proving that you are better than everyone else.

Think about it: most everything that is currently popular in American is God-awful. Kelly Clarkson sells five million records. That doesn’t make her a good singer; it proves that 5 million Americans have a horrible taste in music. The last Rob Schneider movie made almost 60 million dollars. That doesn’t make it quality cinema. “The George Lopez Show” is watched by millions of people every week. You get the point.

The most clear example of America’s poor taste in everything, especially sports, is NASCAR. Yes, NASCAR dominates TV ratings and is much more popular than hockey. NASCAR TV ratings are somewhere around a 4.8 while hockey struggles to get a 2.3 rating on a good day. Just because more Americans would rather watch cars take a constant left turn for 4 hours doesn’t mean it is a better sport.

George W. Bush has a 37% approval rating, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is the most powerful person in the free world. Hockey may have the lowest ratings of any major sport in America, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is the best, most exciting sport on the face of the earth. I am proud to be in the club of hockey fans, and I am happy to know that most other people will never get to experience the joy and thrill of watching a hockey game because they are too busy downing Busch Lights at the race track or watching some steroid freak play in a baseball game. People need to stop talking about hockey like it is a bad sport, or it’s a failure just because it’s not as popular as other sports. They will never know what they are missing, and I am perfectly fine with that, and other hockey fans should be to.