I Think We Know Who the Top Dog Is

Last week, I was pretty excited to sit down and watch Game 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers on NBC. I was recently downgraded from expanded basic to basic cable and I don't get to watch too many sporting events these days so when one comes along, I embrace it.

I was disappointed to discover that the game wasn't on NBC that night. They had some show on. I don't know what show it was. If it was on NBC, chances are it wasn't very good.

But I digress. The game was on Versus, the cable network that owns the rights to most of the nationally televised NHL broadcasts.

Versus is a sister network of NBC who are both owned by Universal. Over the past few years, NBC has televised some of the Stanley Cup games.

I just assumed that since Friday nights aren't usually big for television, NBC would throw us sporting fans a bone and broadcast the game. But I was wrong. This means that if the Finals were a sweep by one team or another, the league's showcase event, it's championship round, would have been shown entirely on a cable network (the first scheduled NBC broadcast wasn't until game 5.)

That is unacceptable to me.

I'm not a huge hockey fan and I probably never will be. For a year or two, I thought that I would gradually evolve into this die hard fan if I just kept watching. But that's not how you become a die hard fan. It usually happens instantly. You don't have to put any real thought into it. It's not like when you first start dating someone and you're not sure how it's going to go. You start out as friends and over time, develop this great love for each other. You either live and die for a team or sport, or you don't. When it comes to hockey, I guess I don't.

Ok, so I'm not a die hard fan, but I do love to watch a good, exciting game, and I can appreciate a big event like the Stanley Cup Finals.

But how big of an event can it be if it's on a cable network?

I watched the NBA Finals on ABC the night before. Right now, on ABC, the World Cup is on.

You would never catch the Super Bowl on anything but the four big networks. The World Series is on Fox every year. The finals of Wimbledon will be on a major network, I can guarantee you that.

Now, I know these sports can't have every postseason game on a major network. They would never allow it because it would screw up their weekly schedules. The NBA and NHL playoffs, for example, each take two-months to complete.

But when it comes to the finals, a league should do everything in its power to make sure the signature event of their season is on a major network.

I'm not blaming the NHL, really. I'm sure it was NBC's call to not have the first 4 games on their network. And I'm sure Versus fought to have the games on their network, but that's the problem with the NHL. A cable network shouldn't even stand a chance when it comes to airing a championship.

There is no question that the league is a distant fourth among the major professional sports leagues in this country. And hockey is also behind college football, college basketball, golf, and NASCAR.

It's no secret as to why that is. Canada loves the NHL. They love hockey. It's like a religion to Canadians, much like football is here with us. The problem is that 80% of the teams in the NHL reside in America.

There are some nice hockey cities in this country. Places like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston are pretty good hockey towns.

But I wonder if they're good hockey towns are just huge fans of their teams. For example, is Pittsburgh a great hockey town or a great Penguins town? There is no doubt that Pittsburghers love their Pens. The string of sell-outs and huge ratings speak to that fact. But did we watch after the Penguins were knocked out?

I KNOW this is a football town, and a football region. Heck, with the exception of a few areas, it's a football country.

How many people play fantasy football every year? Millions. I've been playing for years and I'll continue to even though it frustrates me to no end.

I will sit around and watch a Browns/Lions game just because I am in love with the sport.

I'll watch a Virginia Tech/Clemson college game on a Thursday night if it's on. I just love football as do most people I know.

There is nothing they can do about the distribution of the teams in the NHL. There are only about 30,000,000 people living in Canada. If they put all the teams in Canada, there would be a team for every million citizens. Not going to do much for the ratings, that's for sure.

Speaking of ratings, if the Canadian ratings counted here in America, I'm sure the networks would be falling all over themselves to get hockey, but NBC doesn't care about Canadian ratings.

The NHL is the minority in this country, but try telling that to a real die hard hockey fan. I'm talking about someone that eats, drinks, and sleeps hockey. A person that thinks baseball and football are stupid.

They don't want to hear about ratings. They will tell you that hockey is the greatest thing on Earth.

If there is one thing I learned from the sociology class I took last year it's that minority groups are very vocal and passionate about their race, religion, or in a hockey fan's case, their sport.

You better not say anything bad about hockey in-front of a passionate hockey fan.

"Hey, essay, don't be bad-mouthin' the NHL. Viva la Raza! Viva la hockey! Viva la NHL! Viva la Gretzky! Viva la Lemieux! Viva la Crosby!!!!!!!"

Some older die hard hockey fans will even tell you that they were watching the Penguins way back in the 70's when there weren't many people in the stands. "I've been a season-ticket holder since 1975, chico! Viva la Raza! Viva la Mellon Arena!"

I'm not saying that hockey is a bad sport. I'm just saying that the overall majority of sports fans in this country aren't really that into it.

I mentioned the World Cup of soccer. Well, if we put a bunch of NFL teams in Europe where soccer is king, not too many people would care over there. They might watch it just for the heck of it. But it would be something to pass the time until the next big soccer game. And American football fans would get touchy about it. "Viva la Raza! Viva la NFL! Viva la football! Viva la Lombardi!!"

That's not to say that hockey can't become the dominant sport in America someday. You never know. Many years ago, baseball, boxing, and horse-racing were the sports that people paid attention to in the United States.

And in terms of football, college was more relevant than the NFL.

The NFL didn't become our passion until the late 60's when tv became more prominant. Football and tv have always been the perfect marriage.

Hockey is a hard thing to watch on television. It's much better in person.

I can understand a hockey fan's passion and why they're so defensive about their sport. When something you care about is overlooked by many. When you can't understand why others don't see the beauty in it that you do, you tend to be a little defensive.

That's how I am with Big East football. Don't disrespect the Big East in-front of me. I'll be all, "don't be sayin' nothin' bad about the Big East, holmes! The Big Ten is stupid! Screw the SEC, chico! Viva la Raza! Viva la Big East football!"