RE: OT: NHL Winter Classic question
I am an enormous hockey fan, probably more so than even college football, but even I can acknowledge that the NHL is easily the worst run of all of the major professional sports leagues.
They just can't ever seem to get it right. I think it is a clear case of trying to serve too many different masters. What makes the NHL unique is that it is really the only league which is culturally centered in one country (Canada) but financially driven by another country (United States). That is that league's primary problem - always has been, always will be.
That is part if what has made the Winter Classic so damn remarkable. The NHL actually did get that right and it has been an enormous success. Remember, when they first announced they were going to try this experiment on New Year's Day no less, literally every major sports outlet openly mocked their plan to go head to head up against major college football bowl games. And yet the ratings have been strong by hockey standards and the cultural impact has been undeniable. HBO even did a marvelous series on the lead up to the Winter classic called "24/7: the Road to the Winter Classic." It was some of the best sports television I have ever seen. It was very similar to their NFL training camp show "Hard Knocks" but was better because it focused more on the lead up to a regular-season game rather than the struggles of young players trying to make a team. Now, nobody is laughing and the NBA is even talking about playing an outdoor game of its own.
Unfortunately, in true NHL fashion, they eventually ruined it through a series of crazy missteps. First, some coaches - most notably Detroit's Mike Babcock - refused to give HBO the access it needed to continue the show. Basically, they relegated them to outside the locker room and HBO walked away – as they should. You know, because securing those two points in December versus the Florida Panthers is more important than growing your game. Now, that behind the scenes documentary style program is on some Internet channel called Epic Sports. What an amazing blunder by the NHL.
Also, a lot of the owners took a very narrow view of the game - as is the league's custom - and instead of looking at the Winter Classic as a celebration of the sport, they began to get petulant and demand that they get to host a game too. It was ridiculously shortsighted and the type of thing you would never see and any of the other major sports leagues. Last year, there were six outdoor hockey games. Naturally, it diluted the entire thing and ruined it.
Most galling of all to this hockey fan who does see the big picture was that there were games scheduled opposite the Winter Classic on January 1. I cannot tell you how angry that made me. What the hell is wrong with the owners of those teams?
I think all of those things tell you everything you need to know about why hockey will always be at best the fourth most popular sport in the United States. That league, which is much better run than it has ever been run in its entire history, is still a garage league on every conceivable level.
I still adore it and I think the NHL playoffs are the best playoffs in pro sports and are only rivaled by the NCAA men's basketball tournament as the best playoffs and all of sports. Seriously, hockey series are what sports are all about – they are almost always wars, they often feature major upsets, and they usually are very dramatic and hard-fought. What's not to love about that?
However, that league is very clearly poorly organized and as a collective, NHL owners are the absolute biggest idiots on the face of the earth. I can't tell you how many insanely idiotic decisions they have made over the years which has brought harm to that league. Yet, it still continues to survive because of the beauty of the sport, not the wisdom of its leadership.
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