By Bobby Lull:
For years I have made the argument that hockey is the only sport that cannot merit criticism. Football has too little action per game, too many commercials, and the insomnia elixirs that are Jim Nantz and Joe Buck. Baseball has too many games, too slow a pace, and yes, Joe Buck. Basketball has too many fouls, Duke, and yes, Jim Nantz. While soccer has no weaknesses in my biased mind, I’m not foolish enough to attempt to assert its superiority in the land where American Battleball (i.e. football) reigns supreme to the beautiful game.
Yet what’s hockey’s great weakness? Too much fighting? These are sports, the evolutionary descendants of gladiator games. Competition, physical superiority, and displays of dominance are in their DNA; fighting is right there alongside those. Outside of too much fighting, some say they cannot follow the puck on television. This was a reasonable complaint maybe five years ago, but now HDTVs have saturated the market, and almost all sports fans have access to them.
With a large HDTV, following the puck is no worse than following a baseball or tennis ball. With these excuses deemed invalid, perhaps you simply don’t understand the game. After a few games, hockey becomes no more complex than football. So I encourage you to watch a few games, read up on the sport a little, and delve in to the wonderful experience that is being a hockey fan in 2012. These are exciting times to be a hockey fan. Just consider the following points:
- Doc Emrick (shameless plug: he’s another proud graduate of Miami University alongside two of the authors on this blog) is the best play-by-play announcer in all of sports. It is widely recognized that hockey is one of the most difficult sports to announce, yet Doc does it with a smooth and exciting style that not only makes the game more thrilling (in a Gus Johnson-esque manner) but also maintains an emphasis on the actual happenings of each play while allowing his color commentators to effectively interject their more technical points (where Gus leaves something to be desired). If you’ve never heard Doc before, check out this montage for a sample of his work:
- There is no greater trophy in sports than the Stanley Cup. If you disagree, read this. Your mind will change.
- The Winter Classic is quickly becoming one of the great sporting events of the year. Who doesn’t love watching hockey played outdoors in massive stadiums on New Year’s Day? It sure beats watching the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl between two also-rans or underperformers.
- Moreover, next year’s Winter Classic will be played between two Original Six teams with storied histories: The Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. As if that’s not enough, the game will be played at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, where a sell-out crowd of over 110,000 fans will watch the most-attended hockey game in history. If you think large crowds at college football games are exciting, I promise you those will pale in comparison. Nostalgia and novelty will combine to make this an event for the ages. You’ll want to be able to talk about this when the time comes, so why not get into hockey now and sound like an expert in 10.5 months?
- The same team hosting that sure-to-be historic Winter Classic next year is making history of its own right now. The Red Wings have won 21 straight home games this season, setting an NHL record and playing their best hockey in years. The Wings have also made the playoffs 20 seasons in a row. Such sustained periods of dominance are worth noting. Certainly the sports world took notice of the Patriots’ and Packers’ recent unbeaten streaks, and the Wings’ streak merits similar attention.
- Despite the difficulties of hockey’s alleged saviors (Crosby’s concussions, Ovechkin’s slump), there are a myriad of exciting players whose exploits are worth watching. Players like Evgeni Malkin, Steven Stamkos, and Pavel Datsyuk do jaw-dropping things with the puck each and every night, offering impressive rebuttals to the NBA antics of LeBron James, Derrick Rose, and Blake Griffin. Consider the following video:
- If that’s not enough, I implore you to just give it a chance. After the Super Bowl, February is arguably the worst sports month of the year. Yet in the NHL the playoff push is in full swing and the trade deadline lingers near. This is when things really start getting interesting, and I promise, if you give a little effort, you’ll be captivated by this wonderful but underappreciated game.
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