This is kind of like the joke about the two old yenta’s sitting in a restaurant, and one says to the other “The food here is terrible,” to which her friend replies, “Yes and such small portions!”
But unlike the food served by the restaurant in this joke the NHL offered up LARGE portions of lousy “food” and it was available everywhere.
How can a game played on ice by speed skating men and that features sticks, helmets, sharp skates and a frozen rubber puck be less exciting than baseball in Tampa Bay in August?
So here we have Jeremy the puck head putting on his dented public relations helmet, and doing his best to bring fans back into the hockey fold…a fold that is now about as small as an allegorical fold can be.
This is just another example of a spoiled athlete who has become completely out of touch with reality, and by making this asinine statement gives much credence to those who claim that athletes are greedy.
One final note to Jeremy: the real sports went out on strike and were able to bounce back because they were the real sports. But even these real sports had a hard time earning back the trust of the people. And for as phony as a lot of the athletes in these other sports were, at least they tried to get back into people’s good graces.
You on the other hand Mr. Roenick don’t even have a deal yet - and may not get one - and you’ve decided to do your best to alienate the few fans that you may have. Buh-bye.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Great words. You amuse me :-)
Hockey is a real sport but it's as boring as chess to watch on TV because no one can see the !@#$% puck.
And violence for violence's sake - despite all outside evidence to the contrary - isn't mightily appreciated either.
There seems too much luck in the game as bodies collide, puck goes free and somebody just floating by picks it up.
My two cents from never having watched a game in my life (and assuming the ESPN "highlights" don't count). In other words, useless.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
First and foremost, there exists a language barrier between the common fan and the regular player.
Too much expansion and relocation led to southen United States teams acquiring franchises from Canada. (Exception: Columbus, Ohio was probably the perfect place for a new NHL team).
I loved watching high school hockey, and even college hockey. The pro
But the days of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux (in his prime) are behind us, and there hasn't been too many superstars that are marketable. Ilya Kovalchuk was supposed to be the next big thing, but that's just not a name that can reach household popularity.
I wish I could see the sport with fewer teams and more of them located in Canada. I mean, the sport has so much history -- way more than the NBA and the NFL -- and Gary Bettman isn't a great commissioner (he only got the job because he was Stern's henchman and Stern was pushing the NBA to new heights) so now we're in the mess we are , watching ugly 3-1 games and a sporadic 3rd period fight.
The sport by nature can be saved, but it needs work. I for one miss it.
3 - dietdoc
Matt writes: "The sport by nature can be saved, but it needs work."
Reply: I think that hockey is going to be saved by contraction and only be contraction. I think they reached for the stars (games every night, multi-tiered playoffs that go on and on, too few teams in Canada where the sport is truly "the national game") and missed the height badly. They need to contract and compress and, by doing so, improve the quality of the games. No one (other than Bettman and the owners) gives a hoot what the players make (see baseball and basketball) as long as the product is worth seeing. In its current state, the NHL game is not.
Cheers,
Ron
4 - andy marsh
matthew says - so now we're in the mess we are , watching ugly 3-1 games and a sporadic 3rd period fight.
Not in over a year!
There are a few things they could do to increase the excitement of the game...they need to get closer to international rules...no center line...move the goals away from the walls...
5 - beadtot
Anyone who hasn't directly supported Title 9 female sports initiation in the United States gets worse treatment than criminals -- whether there were more vital matters to champion than game sports, or simple survival precluded a use of food to promote/play/perform exhibition matches.
6 - Victor Plenty
Strong words, beadtot. Not really clear what you mean by them, but it's obvious you really really meant what you said, whatever the heck it might have been.
7 - JR
Shall we play a game?