31 January 2011

No respect

I always gave ESPN a little bit of leeway with NHL highlights on their show 'Sportscenter'.  I know that they offered to have a contract with the NHL to show their games on the ESPN family of networks and the NHL thumbed their nose at the offer and started their own network, Versus.  So, for the past couple of years, hockey highlights have been at the tail end of the show or just real quick blips and a few highlights of a goal or two.  And that's it.  However, as I was watching the show this morning, I was saddened at the fact that they glossed over the highlights for the NHL all star game that took place yesterday.  Hockey is sadly the fourth major sport in this country despite the fact that it is far more entertaining than basketball.  Therefore, you don't much focus on it except for during the Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup finals.  Not the rest of the playoffs, but just the finals. 

NBC is taking it in the right direction by showing the game of the week on Sunday afternoons and the games they show are with decent teams and always entertaining.  The game last weekend was a close game, there was a great couple of fights, and in one instance, blood ended up on the glass.  How awesome is that?  Now, I don't expect there to be a ton of hockey games televised but it would be nice to see more than four a month without having to go to a sports bar. 

I went out Saturday evening with some friends to watch the Kansas/Kansas State basketball game.  I was more interested in hanging out with friends and drinking beer than I was in watching the game.  Before halftime of the game, it wasn't a game anymore.  KU is a far superior team and it was boring to watch.  Luckily, we were at an establishment with more than one television, and the NHL skills competition was on one of the t.v.s we were facing.  So I started watching that as opposed to the snoozefest I initially went there for.  It was amazing!  The breakaway competition (the hockey equivalent to the slam dunk [BORING] competition) was mind blowing.  From bouncing the puck on the stick to skating around in circles and backwards to shooting the puck with the shaft of the stick.  The talent these guys have and the hand-eye coordination they have is fun to watch.  Another competition that was on was the hardest shot.  The winner hit the puck at 105.9 miles and hour.  Oh yeah, you read that correctly. 

It's just disappointing that a sport that requires some of the most talent is overshadowed because it is a regional kind of sport.  You don't see kids in Kansas skating with hockey gear on at the age of three and four.  And it's because it isn't part of the culture down here.  Back home, completely different story.  My five year old nephew has been playing hockey for a couple of years now (granted it's like kids playing soccer, they all just swarm to the puck) but they are all very coordinated.  The coaches teach them the skills needed to play the game first and then they can focus on playing the game proficiently.  Same thing goes for the pros.  These guys have been playing this game for so long, that they make it look so easy, but it is insanely difficult.  I'm not saying that it is easy to throw a football fifty yards down the field and hit a person in the hands or that it is easy to throw a baseball in such a way that it appears to fall of the face of the earth, it's just that with hockey there is more to just one facet of the game.  It's both offense and defense and it's non-stop.  On the ice for a couple of minutes and then on the bench to catch your breath just in time to hop over the boards.

If you have never had much of an interest in the sport of hockey, give it a chance.  It can easily win you over with one single fight.   

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