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Damn the National Hockey League.
As I sit here, day after day, hearing about teams shedding payroll, signing free agents to short term contracts, and even letting some good talented vets sit and wait on a deal, it just reminds me of what a mess the NHL has become - and worries me to no end of the looming work stoppage in September 2004. Following the end of this season, and after contracts are void, the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. The owners and the players association are nowhere near a deal to renew, or even just chat about the problem. What is being portrayed to the public is that the relationship between them is like that of an Ohio State fan and a Michigan fan. They don’t even each other. Are they blind? Don’t they see the writing on the wall? The NHL cannot afford a strike. A strong fan base has built the league, and now they think they can just turn their backs? Unlike the NFL and MLB, they don’t have huge television contracts that they can fall back on and bring in additional money. Hell, last year, ESPN cut the number of games shown on their two channels down considerably, and all but eliminated the nightly "NHL2Night" show. Why? Hockey television ratings are not that great, except in the playoffs, plus ESPN signed a monster deal to televise the NBA. The NBA? Now there is boredom. But they do accomplish one thing that Commish Bettman doesn’t seem to see - Marketability.
NBA players, from Jordan, to Shaq, to pre-sexual assault Kobe, were all over the television, all the time. Can someone who does not live in a hockey market tell me who was in the Stanley Cup finals? In Cincinnati, a city with two minor league hockey teams, they don’t even have radio or newspaper coverage of the Blue Jackets. Are you kidding me? The NHL missed a prime opportunity to showcase the future of the NHL with a great Stanley Cup, and market two superstars in the making in goaltenders Martin Broduer and Jean-Sebastian Giguere. With the retirement of Patrick Roy, the closest thing the NHL had to visibility, these two players are the future stars. But who outside of Anaheim and New Jersey have a clue to the identity of these guys? There are plenty of young guys who can take the reigns of the league and run with it (Forsberg, Naslund, Broduer). Wayne Gretzky is not coming back, and Mario is at the end. We need new fresh blood. Do something to promote yourself. Once this season hoists another cup, it could be a long time coming before we get to experience another game on the ice.
It took a record-breaking season form Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to pull baseball back into the fan's eyes after a strike four years earlier. Four years for "America’s pastime." The only way for hockey to bring back the fans after a strike is to not strike.
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