Yay! The Canes Win...score one for a state that could give two shits about hockey!!!

I know that there are hockey fans in Carolina...at least 17,000 or so filled that arena, but those few people might be the only people that care about the sport in the grand state of basketball....North Carolina.

I know that this sounds like bitching about the state of hockey, but the fact is that this would be very easy to swallow if the Canes were still the Whalers and were above the Mason-Dixon Line.

Seriously, I dont want this to sound like a Teddy Montgomery statement of the obvious, but the fact remains, there are more people interested in the amount of sweat that comes off of JJ Reddick's testicles, during a Carolina-Duke game than accomplishing a feat of winning the oldest trophy in sports in the state of North Tobacco.

I feel for the Oiler fans. They are great fans. Knowledgable. Passionate. Somewhat crazy. Know how to throw a post-game party. Really the whole city and province of Alberta cares about hockey. Even Calgary or Vancouver fans, though they would never admit it on record, were probably pulling for the Oil to come through in game 7. Why? To bring that Cup back to Canada. Some silly Canadians think that is where it belongs. However, what these Canadians dont realize that there are cities in the US that are worthy of Cup-sitting for a year. There are the obvious cities like Detroit, Boston, Hartford (oops!), Chicago (No worries as long Billy is the owner), and even St. Louis (Hey Keith! Stop trying to eat small babies for lunch and in between periods..See Mickelson Reference on A2Y). However, there are some cities that are making strives in fandom and true appreciation for the great sport that we all love..or should love unless they are unfortunate to have some chemical imbalance that makes them crave sports that require timing of pit stops and left-turns of all varieties. You know who you are....













I wonder if they'll show the Duke game on the big screen tonight?

Case in point, I currently am employed by a company that is based in High Point, NC (Right outside of Greensboro, NC). I think out of the 300 people that work in the corporate office, only about 4-5 people could name more than 3 players from the Hurricanes. This is not exactly a Gallup Poll or anything, but I should be able to find more than 2 people that realize Rod Brinda'mour is a heckuva hockey player (This is karma taking another shot at Bobby Clarke for the whole 72 Summit Series thingy dingy. Dont worry Bob the hockey gods arent done with you yet.)

The Columbus Union Soldier References


Next year we're playing outside...and bringing back Deron Quint (God help us all!!)

Up and coming hockey cities, obviously I am biased, but the Columbus loves its team and cares about its success. There are still a large number of Red Wing and Penguins fans in the central Ohio area, but the number seems to dwindling with each passing year. Having previously been a season ticket holder for the CBJ, I have been witness to the transition. I can remember the first regular season game against the Red Wings at Nationwide arena. The local Red Wing fans came into our flashy new arena, which was quite an experience for them as the JLA, despite its history, is a bit of a craphole. They basically took it over, which was understandable. A franchise with a great deal of history and recent success over the last 10 years and a lineage of great players that have defined the NHL including Howe, Sawchuck, Lindsay, Able, Yzerman, and dare I say Peter Klima. That franchise's history and rabid fans dominated the Red Wing to CBJ proportion in the arena. What was once a 70/30 split for Detroit in Columbus' home arena in the year 2000 is now 80/20 in 2006 in favor of Columbus. The local children's and adult hockey leagues have also grown by leaps and bounds. This transition has finally grown to another level of maturity within the city as the CBJ have successfully acquired a USHL team to play in Columbus. This city will be a hockey power within the next 10-15 years, as the infrastrucutre has been put in place similar to that of Illitch's and Karmanos' commitment to Detroit's youth hockey program. Look for the first player to come out of the Columbus youth hockey program in the relatively near future. For the haters out there that dont think its possible, look at every other major sport (sans Baseball) at the high school level. Ohio produces top-notch Football and Basketball talent each year. As soon as the interest in hockey increases, which it will with likes of the Fritsche brothers (Parma) and hopefully a consistent OSU Hockey Program, Columbus will turn into hockey hotbed just like Detroit.

Other teams worth mentioning:

The Nashville Biting Tootoos
As much as I hate to say it, you can throw Nashville into this category as well. Rabid fanbase with very recent success giving the Wings all they could handle in the 2004 playoffs. Can country music personas and hockey mix?


"We have the facts and we're voting Yes."

The Minnesota NorthWild
Minnesota is a given for a successful franchise. But I have a serious question. Why did NorthStars leave the Twin Cities in the first place?


I'm going on record. Modano's appearance in this movie was the catalyst that brought hockey to Dallas. FU Eisner.

All in all it was a good season and like I have said a few times in previous posts, it was too bad that this playoff season was not as accessible as previous years, while on OLN. It was a great playoff and seriously...congrats to the Carolina Hurricanes the 2006 Stanley Cup Champions.

Another media type weighs in...states the obvious and basks in self-glory...

You know, I have just about had it. Ratings never used to be the determining factor for a sports program to be televised, and the sad part of this is that this occurred back in the day when there only about 20-25 channels on Cable TV.

Wes Goldstein weighs in...

The league's goals heading into the lockout of 2004 were simple and clear cut: Create a more level economic playing surface, produce a more exciting product and give every franchise regardless of location and revenue stream a legitimate shot in the brave new world spawned by an overhauled collective bargaining agreement

Hi! My name is Wes. I could take some time and conduct some research that would require a skill set beyond the level of an intern, but that would be different than my other thinktank brethren Teddy "Ballgame" Montgomery...and I dont want that. So enjoy the unoriginal and predictable drivel and whining that states that the NHL just cant do it, because it's ratings are worse than an Esteban infomercial.

Esteban says...
I can teach the beautiful ways of the Spanish Guitar, as well as how to kick the culo of the NHL in the Nielsen Ratings

So what does all this mean?

The NFL conducted this parity experiment a few year's back with the implementation of a salary cap. It was not an overnight success, but it had an inherent level of interest within the US that did not even allow a remote chance of failure for this parity experiment in the NFL. However, the NHL will have a longer climb. Why? Because of ratings...No Wait....because of the absolute dependence of major station media types on these ratings to make their decisions on programming, due to ratings. Dont get me wrong, I agree that there is unarguable reasoning to make money off of the advertising, during the programs. Regardless, sports programming and normal produced/scripted programming are two different animals. If this was always the practice, ABC would have never placed Wide World of Sports on Saturday afternoons with a totally unmarketable mix of cliff diving and underwater basket-weaving.

The fact is that sports programs need to be shown regardless of the ratings, and the NHL will make a return to the primetime on whatever major network will eventually carry them in the future. These things are cyclical in nature. I can remember watching Glen Hanlon beats the Leafs in a Game 7 after school, because the game was tape-delayed on ESPN from the previous night (By the way Leafs fans, the Wings won that game coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the series.). I can point to specific marketing campaigns that made the NHL's popularity rise to extreme levels during the mid-90s. EASports marketing for the NHL series on Sega Geneisis ("I make goalies look like swiss cheese"..."Bure?"), the old ice Bud Ice Penguin commercials ("That call is coming from inside the house...Do be Do be Dooooo"), the black and white ESPN Hockey promos, and the Nike Hockey commercials (Sergei Fedorov....bring it on long-haired Russian freakboy!!) Every NHL playoff game was on ESPN or ESPN-2 and the game was entertaining as "all get out."

The NHL will definitely come back strong in the next 2-3 years. We have been witness to some of the best hockey that we have seen in years. The neutral zone has opened up and different strategies are being design and implemented across the league. Sloth-like players that cant skate are now a liability and the game moves at a pace that rivals the games from the mid-80s, where the losing teams could score 5 goals on the short end of the stick.

Understandably, as a marketer, it is much more profitable to sell advertising time for Survivor than a playoff hockey game. However, Survivor will eventually run out of steam. Its inevitable...you cant argue science baby. The NHL or some form of Professional Hockey will always be here, and that is a simple fact. Everything in TV these days seems to be about the short-term profit and success, but the long-term is about the relationships built between network and the league, which will have greater overall success on the bottom line and in public for the league and the network.

The question remains, which major network will work with the NHL on a relationship, instead of placing "Deal or No Deal" or a re-run of "Will & Grace" ahead of it for the uneducated morons that fail to realize the beauty of a sport, which doesn't involve making left turns for 2.5 hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Serenity Now!!!

Rant Concluded.

Herringbone

Stanley Cup Finals are set, but who will be watching?

It's that time of year again. The Stanley Cup Finals are set and the possbilities of the average fan to watch it are slim to none. Abeltoyzerman dropped a line about the lack of respect for the final, but we, as true hockey fans, know this is a great sport with exceptional passion and skill being displayed in the marathon that leads up to the Stanley Cup Final. You got to hand it to absolute jackasses like Ted Montgomery that just throw their own feces against the wall in hopes that something will stick.

"Believe me, more fans will tune in to a Kansas City Royals-Seattle Mariners matchup than any of the Stanley Cup Final."

FU Ted...You have the forum to be a part of the solution. If you are not going to be part of the solution, try not to exaggerate the problem. Jerk.


However, I understand the comment. OLN is not widely available (duh!) in the US and most of us do not have access to Hockey Night in Canada, so a good percentage of us are screwed. That means the fans have to head down to a local bar and beg/plead with the owner to allow us to watch the game, instead of the Sklar brothers, a re-run of a World Series of Poker from 1973, or American Idol with freakin subtitles. Now the major network carrying the NHL is NBC and its ability to provide the games with a little more ease is there. However, the network that showed curling and hockey during the Olympics on its stations, such as CNBC and the USA Network, would rather show re-runs of Monk or "Deal or No Deal." I actually would rather have Fox back with the damn "puck-trax" then the pathetic showing of support for a sport that has taken steps to improve the game and make it more exciting for the fans. Too bad nobody can watch it this year, because the playoffs have been nothing short of spectacular...no matter what team you support.

Can Monk shoot a backhander or solve the mystery of the immovable force (aka Kerry Fraser's Hair Tonic)? I think not.