No Hockey Yesterday

Sadness Factor. I know its the end of the season and these kinds of days will come more frequently but still. I watched the Red Sox /Yanks game instead and I tend to forget how hard it is for me to transition back into baseball. Baseball, as much as I love it, is honestly just plain slow. And theres no contact, no real physical play and rarely are there moments that make my heart stop. But, I did grow up in America after all, and after a few days of having hockey off, I'll be in the swing of baseball things.

I will miss my hockey though -- even though I dont really have a lot of people around in my little life who love hockey with the same passion I do, it still does become such a huge part of my winter months. I'm worse than a stay at home mom and Passions. Hockey players may be walking masses of boring and low IQ but not all. Watch one interview with Jason Spezza (NOT DANY HEATLEY -- he is boring as sin) or even dare I say ittttt JR and like all sports, not every athlete is the mold they are put in. Jason Spezza has one of the best personalities in the game and can be a real spokesman for it but because he plays for a Canadian team, he never will be.

The NHL (and Gary Bettman, who looks like the Count from Sesame Street) is looking for Sydney Crosby-esque stories. A small boy with more talent that he knows what to do with who is single handedly saving a franchise that, without him, would go under SUPER SYDNEY! Syd, as great of a player as he is, is not Wayne Gretzky. Every sport has their one major representative and sometimes that rep just lives in the past. You think Babe Ruth still isnt the face of MLB? You think people look at Allen Iverson or Steve Nash like they look at Michael Jordan? Prob Not. So lets face it NHL, shoving pre-pubescent Crosby in my face every five minutes makes me want to buy him a REAL jock strap and not hockey tickets. Discount tickets, give people the opportunity to see real hockey.

My personal love for the game has always there but truly took its monster/love of my life form when I went to see my college hockey team play every weekend. If you can make a good 3000 students love hockey while watching it in a cramped cold area with sub-par players who only play against the kind of talent that will go to the NHL while under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol, an NHL stadium will be a breeze. So, while the NHL closes down on a side stage as opposed to front and center, I hope, for its sake, it is gaining the fans it so desperately needs.

P.S. -- To Gary Bettman who will never read this but whatever -- please hurt yourself on something for not putting your tail between you legs and crawling back to ESPN. Then maybe people would not have seen an infomercial instead of one of the longest games in playoff history, or the overtime of a Conference Final in which the team that has given your league their highest national ratings get eliminated. Just a suggestion. You D bag.