Ok, when pressed to list the top 4 sports in the United States, it inevitably goes like this; Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey. Right? That’s how I’d answer that question and I know that’s how the majority of the people I know would answer.
But I want you to ask yourself something; when was the last time you actually watched a hockey game? Umm, probably not anytime soon.
Now I’m not saying that there aren’t people watching out there, it wouldn’t be one of North America’s top sports without fans, but come on, it’s almost a forgotten sport in the viewing world of the United States. Heck, you don’t even hear much discussed about it on ESPN, and they will spend three days going over what brand of toilet paper is used by Terrell Owens!
So why do we naturally throw it into the mix when discussing top sports? And more importantly, why aren’t we watching hockey?
In a quest to find out why, let me throw out five reasons why we Americans tend to flip the channel when the puck is dropped.
*What channel is it on? One of the biggest draw of the Big Three of sports is that you know where to find it but outside of weekend games on NBC, exactly where are you going to find some hockey? Why, on Versus of course! What, don’t know what that is? Easily Answered! Versus was formerly OLD, the Outside Life Network. Umm, you never watched that one…my point is proven.
* How’s it played? We all know the basics; you put the puck in the net to get a goal, but how the heck do you keep track of everything else. I’m not going to go into detail about the numerous complex rules behind this sport because frankly, I’m not too sure of them myself…and that’s the issue. If a sports nut like myself can’t wrap my head around what the do’s and don’ts then how can most everyday casual fans? Basically, this isn’t a sport that is casual fan friendly.
*It’s Canadian! Come on, admit it, America is a conceited country and we have a huge superiority complex against our brother to the north, Canada. So, there’s no way we’re gonna take their sport and make it a juggernaut in America, despite 24 of the 30 teams being in the US of A.
*No Balls! This one is reaching but what do the other three big sports have in common? They all use a ball of some sort. And a puck just isn’t a ball, sorry.
*Little media coverage. This sounds petty but I think ESPN is a tad bitter on losing out on hockey to the Outdoor Life Network. Yeah, they give a half-hearted effort to mention hockey but it always takes a backdoor to every other sporting event out their. It’s painfully obvious that they are doing almost everything they can to not promote the sport.
And that’s my reasons for why we don’t watch the mayhem and carnage that is Hockey, two words that normally bring in viewers like nobody’s business. I don’t know if I’m correct (though I always tend to think I am), but the truth has to be somewhere within these reasons…or I’ll take three minutes in the penalty box! (that’s a hockey reference if you didn’t know…)
