April 27 2017
April 27 2017----
It's been awhile since I ranted but the ESPN/hockey layoffs just put me over the edge. People in the media criticizing ESPN when criticism should be towards NHL. ESPN tried for years to bring NHL hockey to American viewers. NHL dinosaurs refused to do that which is necessary for the game to become popular among main stream America. Stars are muted by interference, hooking, holding... Referees are one step above World Wrestling Federation. What other REAL sport actually promotes the thought that you shouldn't call penalties in a close game because you don't want the referees determining the outcome of games. What??? Can you imagine any other sport believing much less expousing that proposition? "It's a 2-2 count, bases loaded, two out in the bottom of the ninth. Yankees down by a run. Here's the pitch...on the outside corner-should be strike three and game over but we don't want the umpire to determine outcome so let's do ball three and give him another chance"????
I love hockey and don't love basketball. Everytime I watch the cav's/Warriors/Thunder/etc... play, however, I know who is the best player on the court because the league allows it's best players, ie scorers, to play and thrive. Most NHL games the best player on the ice rarely gets shots much less goals. Instead of opening up the game (like they did post lockout '05-06) to allow more scoring chances and more goals and more cheering and more people watching and more TVs tuned in and thus an actual network TV contract the NHL, led by the worst commissioner in the history of sports, Gary Bettman, and his band of dinosaur owners, stifles creativity and talent and espouses a belief that everything is OK with the game. ESPN has more annual revenue than the whole NHL for God's sake.
ESPN has done what any rational business would do. They have cut their losses. The NHL, in spite of venturing into non-traditional markets like Florida, Carolina, Phoenix, etc...has no real interest in being anything but a regional sport. It is watched by less people than the WNBA. People in Canada and a few US markets (Buffalo) watch the games. The rest of the country looks at guys ross checking a defenseless player from behind and breaking the stick over the guys head and then following up with a punch to the face and see a one-game suspension and laugh:WWE, WWF, NHL. Garage leagues.
