Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
On this Memorial Day, where we honor the dead, I thought I’d throw a quick little jab at our favorite hockey league. After all, it is amongst the deceased of major league sports in America.
It’s often been said the National Hockey League is its own worst enemy, hence the little play on words in the above title. I’ll assume the same geniuses who chose the league’s cable “network” are the same ones who decided to open the Stanley Cup Finals on Memorial Day, only one of the busiest travel nights of the year. Oh, and did I mention it’s been almost a week since the last game was played?
Help me out here someone. Where’s the logic in this? Gayle? The readers? Anyone?
The only thing I can think of is they figure they needed to account for both series going all 7 games and giving enough rest to both to avoid the situation in the NBA where the Spurs had such a quick turn around between the Suns and Jazz series??
Other than that I can't see any logic but, hey, it's the NHL- when has logic and the NHL gone together?? They have one of the best pure sports- especially for this day and age of short attention spans yet they continually shoot themselves in the foot. Soon the cup will be given out in July sometime...
Posted by dboisver | May 28, 2007 5:06 PM
Posted on May 28, 2007 17:06
I'd rather see them play a 72 game schedule, shorten the playoff rounds (qualifying rounds best 3 out of 5), and have the season done by Memorial Day. When they originally shifted to cable coverage the owners knew they were giving up a big fan base who actually watched their games (at home) on network TV; the predicted price spirals have occurred and no one seems to have any suggestions as to how to "get the game back" to the real fans.
Posted by KSM | May 28, 2007 7:38 PM
Posted on May 28, 2007 19:38
I have to agree with db that the NHL was probably accounting for the conference finals going seven games. As far as having opening night on Memorial Day that doesn't seem that out of the ordinary to me - kids have to go to school tomorrow and therefore most families are home by 8 p.m. I know as a hockey fan I made sure I was home in time to watch the game; but we've already realized that when there's hockey on - nothing else matters ... to me at least.
I have to disagree with KSM about the qualifying rounds being best out of five - I happen to enjoy the seven games series. Plus I don't agree with dropping the regular season schedule by 10 games. The more hockey is played makes me very, very happy.
I think the one smart thing the NHL did this playoffs was switching to NBC for games 3-7 (if 5,6 and 7 are neccessary) in the United States. Although, if you are a true hockey fan you know what channel Versus is on your cable provider or Dish network. I think by putting the games on NBC they are trying to broaden the fan base; especially because regardless of how long the series goes (whether it's a four game sweep or it goes the full seven)- the Stanley Cup will be awarded on a major network.
But again, we've already established I'm a hockey fan and even though I don't agree with everything the Comish does - I'm watching regardless until the Lord Stanley is hoisted by the winning team's captain.
Posted by Gayle | May 28, 2007 9:06 PM
Posted on May 28, 2007 21:06