SWX Right Now-Sports for Spokane, CdA, Tri-Cities, WAD'oh, Canada! Hockey defines 2010 Winter Games

D'oh, Canada!  The USA-Canada gold medal hockey final on Sunday will go down as the defining moment of the 2010 Winter Games… narrowly beating out that stubborn mechanical arm that refused to rise in the opening ceremonies.

The sports bar behind our SWX studio was absolutely packed.  When Zach Parise scored with 24.4 seconds remaining, the place erupted like I was at a Chiefs game.  I kid you not.  Then, stunned silence on Sydney Crosby's game-winner in OT… except for the two – count ‘em, two – fans bravely rooting for Canada.

With all of the NHL talent on the rosters, it got me thinking.  Will people come flocking to watch the NHL now?  My gut reaction, sadly, is "no."

Quick, what channel is the NHL on?  Versus!  That's right.  Check out the big brain on Brad!  The NHL has a problem, bigger than that non-functional mechanical arm.  Hockey is not on network television.  The NFL (NBC, FOX, CBS), NBA (ABC, TNT, ESPN), and MLB (FOX, ESPN) all have multi-million and even billion dollar deals with the major networks.  The NHL is on a little-known cable channel that's a step above the Ocho (you can read that as "ESPN: The Ocho" or Chad Ochocinco Network… your call).

I'm not saying there aren't hockey fans out there.  10,500 people packed into the Spokane Arena to watch the Chiefs-Americans game on Saturday, so the passion is obviously there.  I have always maintained that hockey is one of the great spectator sports.  But something is lost on TV, and that's where you are going to win over the fans.  Maybe it's the fact that the puck is so hard to track (remember FOX's well-intentioned but ill-conceived attempt at putting a vapor trail on the puck during their broadcasts?).  Or maybe people want more scoring.  We all saw what Big Mac and Sammy did for baseball with their homerun derby.  Does that mean the NHL needs to pump Jarome Iginla with steroids (or, ahem, flaxseed oil)?

Hockey is an acquired taste.  You're not going to win over the masses overnight.  It's going to take time.  But hockey fans will adamantly tell you it's the greatest sport on earth, and I'm not going to argue with that.  I've been to the World Series and the Rose Bowl.  But for my money, the best time I ever had as a fan was at a San Jose Sharks playoff game.  But, again, going back to TV, there's something that's lost in translation.  As great as the broadcast of the gold medal game was on NBC, I guarantee you it was nothing compared to actually being there.  Not even close.

I think hockey is at its best when it's the underdog.  It's only fitting that hockey is Canada's national past time.  Canadians have a bit of an inferiority complex, and I love that about them.  One of my friends in college was a proud (almost too proud… his email address was CrazyCanuch@…) Canadian who fervently argued that everything in Canada was better than anything from the U.S.  For the record, Graham, I still respectfully disagree with you on the issue of which beer is better, but I will concede that Bryan Adams was a better 1980's rocker than Huey Lewis.

Hockey fans seem to cherish the fact that it's a sport few "get."  Admit it… when you were watching the Olympics, you probably sneered at some of the bandwagon jumpers who are now hopping off this hockey wagon just as quickly as they climbed on.  A small part of you resented the fans who don't appreciate hockey the way you do.  And that's okay.  Enjoy hockey for what it is: a sport that may just be better than any other, but very few people realize it.  It's like watching U2 in a small nightclub before they hit it big.   

Enjoy your front row seat, and don't turn your back on that puck.