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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 5, 2013 23:39:11 GMT -5
The single biggest issue: outside of the Northern states, hockey is not a "natural" sport to play down here. Pond hockey is huge in Canada because of the abundance of skating surfaces that just pop up all over the place in winter, but it's not very common in great swarths of the US. Add to that how expensive a sport it is to play for many kids here, and it hurts the chance to develop a hockey "culture" that would give the game popularity beyond the NHL.
That's not to say hockey can't be cultivated in "non-traditional markets", but it takes a ton of time and effort.
Secondary reason: the Habs and Leafs dominated the Original Six years of the NHL, which might've turned off some potential fans way back in the day who might've just figured "meh, this is just for Canadians, I'm going to watch basketball/football/baseball/etc." That's just a pet theory of mine, but it wouldn't shock me.
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Post by Cyno on Jan 5, 2013 23:48:55 GMT -5
It explains the other O6 towns, too. Hockey is HUGE in Detroit with the Red Wings. Not so much New York because the Rangers were perennial jobbers.
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Post by DoubleDare on Jan 5, 2013 23:52:33 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. Honestly one of the things I like about hockey is none of the players come off as ego maniac douchebags, probably because they would get checked alot and into alot of fights.
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BR329
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Post by BR329 on Jan 5, 2013 23:54:18 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. Honestly one of the things I like about hockey is none of the players come off as ego maniac douchebags, probably because they would get checked alot and into alot of fights. That never stopped Sean Avery.
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Jan 5, 2013 23:55:57 GMT -5
Would help if they had a better TV deal
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Post by DoubleDare on Jan 5, 2013 23:59:39 GMT -5
The one thing I would think would've helped is no more ties. I live in philadelphia and I notice more flyers fans than 76ers fans.
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Post by frankincleveland on Jan 6, 2013 0:07:22 GMT -5
Nothing against hockey as a sport, but there's not much sportsfan time I can set aside for it that aren't taken up by baseball, football, basketball (and most of all, for me) pro wrestling.
That said, I've enjoyed going to Lake Erie Monsters games (and Lumberjacks before that) even though they were the minors, and I gave the Blue Jackets a shot when the NBA season was pushed back in 2011. It's a sport I wish I had more time to enjoy, but the day has only so many hours in it.
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Post by Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill on Jan 6, 2013 0:12:51 GMT -5
NO! Bad American! Our sport. NOT yours!.
*whacks triplethreatmark with newspaper.*
BAD!
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Post by BR329 on Jan 6, 2013 0:53:40 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? I don't think it was meant as an arrogance kind of thing. It was just his opinion to the questioned that you proposed. More American's would probably pay attention to hockey if the NHL expanded to big US markets without teams (Seattle, KC, Houston etc.) And if done right (AKA not like it was done with the sunbelt expansion) it could work. However for the sake of the league the NHL needs to keep it's Canadian market. The 7 Canadian teams bring in ridiculous amounts of cash and adding a team in Quebec City and/or Southern Ontario would be a license to print money.
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 6, 2013 1:07:55 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? I don't think it was meant as an arrogance kind of thing. It was just his opinion to the questioned that you proposed. More American's would probably pay attention to hockey if the NHL expanded to big US markets without teams (Seattle, KC, Houston etc.) And if done right (AKA not like it was done with the sunbelt expansion) it could work. However for the sake of the league the NHL needs to keep it's Canadian market. The 7 Canadian teams bring in ridiculous amounts of cash and adding a team in Quebec City and/or Southern Ontario would be a license to print money. I didn't mean to call M.O.P arrogant at all. in fact, I really respect his ideas and opinions on the game. I was just saying Americans in general. As for Zaq: In all seriousness though, frankincleveland I can respect why you can't get into hockey more because you're already busy with other sports. It just really pisses me off when other people are like, "LOLhockey. Who cares?" when they've never even given it a shot.
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 6, 2013 1:22:12 GMT -5
Again, double posting here but another reason I feel this sport isn't big enough here is that ESPN is still butthurt that the league decided to turn elsewhere when they were re-negotiating broadcasting rights coming out of the 04-05 lockout. Because the network has such an influence on the likes and dislikes of the average American sports fan, I feel like if they hate it and don't care about it, then Joe Schmo won't care about it either. Do you guys agree or disagree with this theory? I know this viewpoint is popular within hockey circles but I'm very curious to see what the casual and non-hockey people have to say about this.
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Post by Father Dougal McGuire on Jan 6, 2013 1:23:53 GMT -5
While I am a life long hockey fan from the south, I can't see it competing with the big three( NBA, NFL, MLB). While HDTV has helped casual fans pick up the game, I wonder how a Fox style of NHL coverage would impact the game, with the puck being highlighted and whatnot.
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darthalexander
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Post by darthalexander on Jan 6, 2013 1:24:27 GMT -5
I don't mean to stir up anything here but how can hockey be seen as having "bad" pacing when sports like Baseball and Football exist? I'm a total ignoramus when it comes to those sports I admit but in the times I've actually tried watching them, I find them way too slow and stilted - Football especially. But all sports are usually much better live than on TV. When I watch a Habs game on tv I enjoy it, but it pales in comparison to seeing them live (too bad it costs a damn fortune every time).
I think to get more Yanks into the game they'd have to be introduced to it much earlier. If there were schools available (say youth camps, etc) we'd probably see more minorities in Hockey.
The other problem is the expense and the need to find places where ice time is available. With Baseball and Football and Soccer and Basketball you can pretty much just grab a ball and play on the spot. With Hockey you can't do that (and street hockey isn't the same) - you need the gear, you need to learn how skate, you need to find a rink to play on, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2013 1:36:38 GMT -5
I too don't get the theory of pacing or hard to follow where the puck is. There are so Many running plays and fake hand offs and where has the ball crossed moments in football it can be hard to keep track of everything. Plus late sudden flags being thrown in where you have to watch the replay because you missed the holding call etc.
Edit: it's harder to watch 24 players at once covering a big field on plays that lasts a few seconds.
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 6, 2013 1:37:46 GMT -5
While I am a life long hockey fan from the south, I can't see it competing with the big three( NBA, NFL, MLB). While HDTV has helped casual fans pick up the game, I wonder how a Fox style of NHL coverage would impact the game, with the puck being highlighted and whatnot. As cool as I thought the FoxTrax was as a kid, that thing was a product of the 90s and should stay in the 90s. And Darth, while I agree that exposing kids to the sport early is important, I don't think they necessarily have to play on the ice to truly appreciate the sport if ice isn't readily available. I remember play floor and street hockey as a kid in PE class (..and dominating might I add ;D) and falling in love with hockey even more than just watching it on tv. Granted I was watching both Ducks and Kings games since I was 5 and became a full-time die hard Kings fan at age 8, so I think that if kids play any type of hockey and are exposed to it via tv or games, it'll grow at least a respect for the sport.
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Post by Mayonnaise on Jan 6, 2013 1:42:14 GMT -5
I do think the genpop of the country need either an American to get behind since most cannot play it or a huge personality. That is the key with most sports in this country, IMO. You need people to think they can play it easily (or have played it) or someone they can get behind and root for/against and in most cases it needs to be an American (it can be really anyone as long as they have an amazing personality though).
It's the same reason F1 hasn't taken off and Indy Racing has gone to hell, mismanagement, no easy way to watch and lack of someone to root for/against because of it. Danica, for as much as the average race fan cannot stand the attention she gets, draws people in because she's American, decent and hot (yeah that is the most important but the rest makes the hot matter). That combined with the 500 being on ABC brought renewed interest to the 500. It was easily accessible to the common sports fan and gave them someone to root for/against. If NHL could find a person like that (somewhat talented but charismatic), would market the hell out them and most importantly get NBC's help by putting more games on TV channels people can watch the NHL would be a lot more popular I think.
I will say, even with all that, Hockey will never reach the levels of popularity that baseball, football, basketball and even soccer enjoy because it's not a pick up and pay thing. There just is no easy way for most of the country to casually play hockey
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 6, 2013 1:46:35 GMT -5
I do think the genpop of the country need either an American to get behind since most cannot play it or a huge personality. That is the key with most sports in this country, IMO. You need people to think they can play it easily (or have played it) or someone they can get behind and root for/against and in most cases it needs to be an American (it can be really anyone as long as they have an amazing personality though). It's the same reason F1 hasn't taken off and Indy Racing has gone to hell, mismanagement, no easy way to watch and lack of someone to root for/against because of it. Danica, for as much as the average race fan cannot stand the attention she gets, draws people in because she's American, decent and hot (yeah that is the most important but the rest makes the hot matter). That combined with the 500 being on ABC brought renewed interest to the 500. It was easily accessible to the common sports fan and gave them someone to root for/against. If NHL could find a person like that (somewhat talented but charismatic), would market the hell out them and most importantly get NBC's help by putting more games on TV channels people can watch the NHL would be a lot more popular I think. I will say, even with all that, Hockey will never reach the levels of popularity that baseball, football, basketball and even soccer enjoy because it's not a pick up and pay thing. There just is no easy way for most of the country to casually play hockey Oh, I'm not pushing for hockey to overtake football, baseball, or basketball. I know that'll never happen; but what would suffice would be a respectability is all. Also, can I just say that another thing I can't stand about American sports culture is the fact that there always needs to be an individual to root against/for. I honestly think that advertising the team game is much more important than promoting the individual.
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darthalexander
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Post by darthalexander on Jan 6, 2013 1:51:57 GMT -5
And Darth, while I agree that exposing kids to the sport early is important, I don't think they necessarily have to play on the ice to truly appreciate the sport if ice isn't readily available. I remember play floor and street hockey as a kid in PE class (..and dominating might I add ;D) and falling in love with hockey even more than just watching it on tv. Granted I was watching both Ducks and Kings games since I was 5 and became a full-time die hard Kings fan at age 8, so I think that if kids play any type of hockey and are exposed to it via tv or games, it'll grow at least a respect for the sport. You damn American, floor and street hockey aren't the same!!! More coverage would certainly help things but I still think that the fact you just can't play it at any time really causes a lot of problems. If you don't get the feel for it, it might not hook you. It'd also help if the city who has a team mentions it every once in a while *and* gets the name and logo right! (That still cracks me up).
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triplethreatmark
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Post by triplethreatmark on Jan 6, 2013 1:55:39 GMT -5
And Darth, while I agree that exposing kids to the sport early is important, I don't think they necessarily have to play on the ice to truly appreciate the sport if ice isn't readily available. I remember play floor and street hockey as a kid in PE class (..and dominating might I add ;D) and falling in love with hockey even more than just watching it on tv. Granted I was watching both Ducks and Kings games since I was 5 and became a full-time die hard Kings fan at age 8, so I think that if kids play any type of hockey and are exposed to it via tv or games, it'll grow at least a respect for the sport. You damn American, floor and street hockey aren't the same!!! More coverage would certainly help things but I still think that the fact you just can't play it at any time really causes a lot of problems. If you don't get the feel for it, it might not hook you. It'd also help if the city who has a team mentions it every once in a while *and* gets the name and logo right! (That still cracks me up). Oh, lord knows I'd kill for a Brad Doty or Anje Kopidor jersey.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2013 2:08:01 GMT -5
You damn American, floor and street hockey aren't the same!!! More coverage would certainly help things but I still think that the fact you just can't play it at any time really causes a lot of problems. If you don't get the feel for it, it might not hook you. It'd also help if the city who has a team mentions it every once in a while *and* gets the name and logo right! (That still cracks me up). Oh, lord knows I'd kill for a Brad Doty or Anje Kopidor jersey. And that amazing tackle Brad Dotey did.
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