So, I cover hockey for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Talking to a bunch of hockey fans and players (as the campus is primarily a hockey campus) I hear a lot of the same things from most people. This is the most common: Sidney Crosby sucks and Alex Ovechkin sucks. This is pretty much from Brett Favre syndrome. This is when a player is mentioned so much by a major media network, the public gets sick of them. However in this situation, it may be just the thing to get hockey back into the mainstream.
Hockey has suffered a lot since the lockout in the 2004-05 season. For starters they goofed up big time by not renewing their contract with ESPN and signing a more lucrative contract with Versus. Since then, hockey has not been seen by the public eye because ESPN has chosen to talk about it once a month with either Matthew Barnaby or Barry Melrose. While there are signs that hockey is coming back into the mainstream, such as last season's Stanley Cup ratings stemming from Crosby's Penguins against the Detroit Red Wings, this is the perfect storm for the NHL.
Crosby and Ovechkin will face off in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in the upcoming weeks, and you bet that this will be all over the place and with good reason. Having two superstars duke it out like this is exactly what the sport of hockey needs. Remember Magic Johnson and Larry Bird? This could be the NHL's version.
Ovechkin and Crosby hate each other. Crosby's tag team partner, Evgeni Malkin also hates Ovechkin. Crosby thinks Ovechkin is too flamboyant on the ice and has too much fun off of it. Ovechkin asks Crosby "Why so serious?" The teams even hate each other. This is a perfect formula for a classic 7 game series.
Again, this is a perfect time for the NHL to make their comeback. Fans are becoming jaded of the NBA and they're "Ballin'" attitude and while the Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics series has been great, there was a 58 point blowout in the first round of the NBA playoffs. I REPEAT 58 POINT BLOWOUT! There is no parity in the NBA while in the NHL, a form of uncontrolled chaos could be promoted and it could actually happen.
You may not like these two, but you have to admit, this could be hockey's last gasp.
No comments:
Post a Comment