triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 5, 2013 16:11:16 GMT -5
...to be respected?
Since there's a lot of sports fans on FAN, I've been sitting on this question for a while and today's as good as any other day to ask it:
Just what will it take for hockey to be respected in the US? I know that the NHL seemingly having lockouts every year does nothing to attract new fans, but today may be an important day for hockey in the US in the long run.
As some of you may or may not know, the US just won the 2013 Under 20 World Championship tournament with players from Ohio, Florida, California, Colorado, etc. These are states not seem as traditional producers of hockey talent in this country. Over the past, I'd say 5 years or so more and more top end US talent is being drafted in the 1st round of the NHL draft, and as we saw in 2010 we were one Sidney Crosby goal away from pulling a giant upset and beating the Canadians at the Olympics. So the game itself is growing but hockey is still seen by the average American as a joke sport that "no one cares about".
So with all that said, what will it take for you or the country for this great sport to be respected and not seen as an afterthought?
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CMWaters
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Post by CMWaters on Jan 5, 2013 16:13:37 GMT -5
I'm only a casual sports viewer, but I'll say this:
Until I came to these boards, I didn't know hockey wasn't treated that well, as being from the South Jersey area, I couldn't get to many places without the Flyers being talked about.
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Post by Drillbit Taylor on Jan 5, 2013 16:21:18 GMT -5
Take away some of the eilitest attitude that some NHL fans have about Sun Belt regions. If the attitude is you can not play since you are in X state then the fans in that area will have little reason to have any intrest in it. That is part of the problem being a fan in Texas when you hear some, not all and not saying here but arround the internet, that you do not deserve a team since Hartford or Hamilton does not have one, They deserve it more, you do not get hockey because its too warm etc...etc..
Untill the NHL, and some of its fans stop the elitist attitude towards the South and West than it will have trouble being as big as it could. Yes they have problems drawing crowds at times, but so do some northern cities too. They also have not been exposed to hockey as log as the north has either. It take time. But if you try to cut them off before they can grow, then they will just tune out any attempt that is made.
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Post by Red Impact on Jan 5, 2013 16:28:13 GMT -5
Probably massive lockouts in the NFL and MLB. I think in most of the country, people are just more interested in other sports. Those sports will have to be taken away for those people to give hockey another look.
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RKTaker
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Post by RKTaker on Jan 5, 2013 16:29:54 GMT -5
how about don't have three lockouts in like 20 years or whatever it is
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JLAJRC
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Post by JLAJRC on Jan 5, 2013 16:35:01 GMT -5
Probably when another athlete comes in anjust dominates it like Wayne Gretzky did in the eastly 90s. That guy even got to host SNL and was part of short-lived cartoon (Pro-Stars).
For some reason, outside the big three (Football, Baseball, Basketball), unless there is one dominant athlete in your sport, we just don't care.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Jan 5, 2013 16:46:52 GMT -5
A number of things could help- an exciting new player like Gretzky as mentioned, or an explosive, colorful winning team like the 70's Flyers. Something that can hook advertisers and marketers, and something that can get people to start demaning more access to hockey for kids. The NFL, NBA and MLB (in that order) get their well-rounded US sports coverage thanks to a combination of school prgrams and commercial appeal.
On top of that, it's not as easy a sport for the average guy to quickly pick up. Alongside the general athleticism required like with all sports, it also takes knowing how to skate and knowing how to handle a puck properly at the same time.
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fw91
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Post by fw91 on Jan 5, 2013 16:56:46 GMT -5
to be brutally honest: more black and minority players. with the cultural diversity in the big markets, no body want's to pay attention to a sport that has very few of them playing. and ignorance doesn't help either. not to sound like a bigot or start a political discussion, but I beleive that there is somewhat of "reverse discrimination" out there. and such people do not want to play a "white man's game"
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 5, 2013 17:09:09 GMT -5
to be brutally honest: more black and minority players. with the cultural diversity in the big markets, no body want's to pay attention to a sport that has very few of them playing. and ignorance doesn't help either. not to sound like a bigot or start a political discussion, but I beleive that there is somewhat of "reverse discrimination" out there. and such people do not want to play a "white man's game" Should this issue really be that important in 2013? I'm not white and hockey's my favorite sport. And I live in Los Angeles no less. The only other person I know who likes hockey and even played competitively while growing up is Hispanic like I am. Honestly, in this day and age, why should a person's skin color matter whether you can get into the sport? Besides, there are is a growing number of minority players in the NHL now. Seth Jones, son of former NBAer Popeye Jones is widely considered the best American defensive prospect in ages. Wayne Simmonds in Philadelphia is a rising star in the league, as is PK Subban, both of whom are black. Jarome Iginla has been a star for years and there are more and more diverse players coming into the league. As far as the Sun Belt expansion thing, that's more of a Canadian/Original 6 issue. A lot of those fans hate these expansion teams but if you ask many fans from the post-1967 expansion, they are in favor of many of these Sun Belt teams.
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Jan 5, 2013 17:15:59 GMT -5
Actually playing the games would help
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agent817
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Post by agent817 on Jan 5, 2013 17:22:42 GMT -5
to be brutally honest: more black and minority players. with the cultural diversity in the big markets, no body want's to pay attention to a sport that has very few of them playing. and ignorance doesn't help either. not to sound like a bigot or start a political discussion, but I beleive that there is somewhat of "reverse discrimination" out there. and such people do not want to play a "white man's game" Um, I was watching a World Junior Hockey tournament match last night and Team Canada has a black goalie. I guess it's in the US that could use some extra players of other groups. Personally, I think the lockouts are what's holding it back. Plus, with people turning their attentions to football and basketball, it's hard to focus on hockey. At least NBC shows hockey during the season. I even watched one of the Stanley Cup final matches on NBC last season. Also, does anybody remember the days when hockey used to air on Fox?
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Post by tigermaskxxxvii on Jan 5, 2013 17:24:33 GMT -5
It wouldn't fix all that ails the NHL, I think Hockey in the states would benefit greatly from an American version of Hockey Night In Canada. Just have one (or two in cases of double headers) game a week that unlike the rest of the regionally televised games, is nationally televised. Have lots of pre and post-game hype and analysis as well as news from around the league. Profile pieces on players, coaches, etc.
There are a lot of reasons why The NFL and MLB are very popular sports in America just inherent in the sport itself, but I'm pretty sure the NFL having two big showcase games on NBC in the form of Football Night In America/ NBC Sunday Night Football and ESPN's Monday Night Football (which before that was on ABC) and ESPN has Sunday Night Baseball. These broadcast gives these games (and by extension their sport as a whole) a nationally televised showcase and all of the hype and analsis gives the entire nation a chance to learn what's going on around the league. To appreciate a sport, one must learn about it first...Well that and the sport must have actual games instead of lockouts.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2013 17:27:53 GMT -5
Man I wanted to make this thread for such a long time but I'm glad Triplethreatmark made it instead since he can articulate it better than I. I'm also curious of some of the FAN users who have local NHL or AHL or CHL teams in their cities and why they aren't fans or why other people in the region aren't fans or how much local coverage they get.
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Post by Cyno on Jan 5, 2013 17:36:57 GMT -5
- Having a league with some stability that doesn't lock out its players and kill fan interest every 5 years or so would do wonders.
- COMPETENT expansion would help, too. The problem with a lot of the recent expansion teams is that they were handled poorly, with bad ownership and management groups that had no idea what they were doing. The Columbus Blue Jackets had a ton of potential to be a great hockey franchise in Ohio's most populated city with a great sports fanbase built in with the Ohio State Buckeyes in town. But the owners and management are woefully incompetent, trading away any talent they get for peanuts instead of building a solid team around them.
- Less Canadian influence. I hate to say this because I don't think it's really right. And I'm not saying that they should contract the Flames or move the Maple Leafs to say, Houston. But a lot of Americans don't take Canadians too seriously. No one's going to take the NHL seriously in the US if they put an expansion team or move a team to Hamilton, Ontario. The Atlanta Thrashers becoming the Winnipeg Jets is great for hockey history nerds like us and Canadian sports fans. But it was a terrible idea for bringing any potential new American fans into the sport.
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Glitch
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Post by Glitch on Jan 5, 2013 17:43:16 GMT -5
Take one of the black players and push him to the moon(that's how hockey works,right?). Make him have his own Nike shoe, even though that wouldn't apply to this sport. And have him release a rap song like Shaq did.
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Toxik916
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Post by Toxik916 on Jan 5, 2013 17:51:25 GMT -5
I think if the NHL were to continue to expand they need to go to markets without professional sports teams already. San Jose fully embraced the Sharks because they were the only major league team in town and now that city has an identity as a hockey town.
Atlanta never worked because of the Braves, Falcons and to a lesser extent the Hawks already gave the city their sports identity.
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Jan 5, 2013 18:02:50 GMT -5
I think if the NHL were to continue to expand they need to go to markets without professional sports teams already. San Jose fully embraced the Sharks because they were the only major league team in town and now that city has an identity as a hockey town. Atlanta never worked because of the Braves, Falcons and to a lesser extent the Hawks already gave the city their sports identity. Helps the Sharks are good while the Thrashers weren't
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Push R Truth
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Post by Push R Truth on Jan 5, 2013 18:13:25 GMT -5
Honestly?
Hockey has poor pacing for TV and amazing pacing live.
I don't think it's something you can change without fundamentally altering the game... which in itself would suck.
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 5, 2013 19:08:14 GMT -5
Honestly? Hockey has poor pacing for TV and amazing pacing live. I don't think it's something you can change without fundamentally altering the game... which in itself would suck. It's interesting you should say this because I think this speaks more about the American sports fan than the pacing of the game. Whenever I'm watching a game with someone on TV, they always say, "It's hard to see the puck." or "There's too much going on, I can't follow." Are we that lazy as Americans that we need stops in our games so things are driven into the ground in terms of comprehending what's happening during the game like in all the other big American sports? This is a complaint I always see about international sports fans in regards to American sports. They hate the constant starting and stopping, yet we as Americans seemingly demand that all our sports have little breaks in them throughout the game. I wonder why that is?
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 5, 2013 19:15:42 GMT -5
Sorry for the double post here, but as M.O.P. brought up the whole "Hockey is too Canadian" excuse is so lame. Are we as Americans that arrogant that we need to dominate a sport (in terms of participants) to respect it?
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