How many NHL fans do we have here? (1 Viewer)

I love all sports, but looking at overall fandom and interest, can’t say hockey really compares to the big 3.

When you don’t have nearly the same representation at the high school level, when the makeup of the entire league is 90%+ one color, and when individual personality can’t really come through in game, it’s gonna be hard to pick up fans organically.

I don’t see the other big 3 having that issue at any point. That being said, the nhl seems ran very well, so congrats on that! Seem to be at the forefront of taking care of players physically and player relations.
 
CantSpellPoker said:
See my avatar....
Click to expand...
This is a picture of my son's first day of kindergarten. Can you name the crossing guard by the stop?
1st day of kindergarten.JPG
 
(hint: see my avatar)
I don't see a major 4 at all.
I like going to a baseball game...but not exactly thrilling edge of your seat action. I like to put a Reds game on in the summer and fall asleep to the sound of it.
Football can be fun to watch, but it's soooo sloooooow. Most of the time they're just standing around. And the injuries are gross.
Basketball was great in the Jordan era, but it doesn't captivate me like it did then. College ball is way more entertaining. Let's go Orange!
Soccer could be cool if they would change the rules, starting with flopping. Should be an automatic card and suspensions for repeat offenders.
Hockey is the pinnacle of sport, and it's not close. The closest is tennis, imo.
Favorite pro team: Sharks
Favorite pro player: Reilly Smith
Favorite college team: see avatar
 
Hockey is pretty much my only sport. Growing up in St. Louis the Cardinals were always #1, but there was a large and loyal contingent of long-suffering Blues fans too. A lot of the Blues players liked the city and have retired and raised their families there, so the local youth hockey has only gotten better, and it was already pretty good in the 80s. I knew guys in elementary school and on that played on some competitive teams. It didn't get cold enough for pond hockey in the winter, and ice time is limited and expensive, so I think St. Louis youth hockey was pretty good for the climate. A couple years ago, 5 of the players drafted in the first round were from St. Louis, which is really wild. As a kid I never played on a team, just floor/street hockey for fun.

Since I moved away from home, I mostly stopped following the Cardinals, but I've watched probably 97% of the Blues games from the last 20 years. It's really the only sport I follow. Last year was so incredible! Next Friday is the 1-year anniversary - a sacred holiday!! I just got some more Blues Stanley Cup gear in the mail the last few days. It's funny, at the thrift store here in Denver I found a souvenir from the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field (Hawks vs Wings - f*ck both those teams!) and sold it on eBay for a nice profit. Then I turned around and bought a Ryan O'Reilly plaque and a SCF Game 2 puck signed by Gunnarrson (scored the GWG in OT for the first Blues SCF win ever) which arrived yesterday. Pretty sweet return on a piece of crap trinket from a Hawks/Wings game! :LOL: :laugh:
 
The ticket prices for hockey are nuts though. I do miss the days of the 80s and 90s where the players weren't millionaires but just regular guys and water cooler trade proposals where you didn't have to worry about contracts and the salary cap and shit. But props to the players for getting paid and not working for peanuts while the owners take all the money. That's not a good situation either. It would be nice if the ticket prices, merch, concessions, salaries and everything dropped by like 50%.

Back when I lived in Dallas I did a comparison one time of the cost of season tickets for the Stars vs. the opera (confession: I'm an opera fan too and had season tickets then and now). The perception is that opera is one of the most elitist of the fine arts with people dressed in black tie, gowns, furs, etc. and hockey is this sport where toothless Canadians beat each other senseless while the fans chug beer and yell. Yet the tickets for the opera at every price level were actually cheaper than going to a hockey game! That's messed up.
 
By NHL are you talking No Hold'em Limit? I used to call games on radio for my University hockey program back in the day. Fantastic sport, although I prefer the college game.
 
The first company I worked for out of college specialized in facilities for the major sports, so I got to work on a number of cool arenas, stadiums, etc. One of them was the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Funny note on that one, the original design concept included the arched windows on each side, but the top of the windows were supposed to open into the arena above the upper bowl seats. That didn't work out for the final design, so the portion at the top of those windows got used for mechanical rooms on some sides. This mechanical room above the main entrance had an excellent view of downtown Dallas. I'm sure the mechanical equipment really enjoys the view!

aacenter.png
 
jr8719 said:
How have I not seen this video before?!
Click to expand...
There were so many good moments during the parade too, including Drunk Brett Hull!


This was how his day started before that speech: walking down the parade route drunk at 3am the morning before the parade:

 
One Eyed Dollar said:
There were so many good moments during the parade too, including Drunk Brett Hull!


This was how his day started before that speech: walking down the parade route drunk at 3am the morning before the parade:

Click to expand...
Hahahah, what an absolute lad Hull is... Hadn't seen these either!

So many incredible Stanley Cup-winning stories since I've been alive (Bourque, Selanne, Kings' and Capitals' firsts, Rangers in 1994 all spring to mind)... But nothing comes close to the Blues' comeback tale. Makes it all the more special that it was their first, too.
 
Let’s Go Pens!!

Was really hoping the NHL playoffs would be the first back at it and get the spotlight for a bit. This should be awesome hockey with everyone healthy and rested.

Butttttt..... looks like the NBA will be back in action before the NHL. I know it won’t change what we get to watch, but I still want to see the game get the love it deserves.
 
Raises hand.

But not just the NHL. Although the top professional talent pool is amazeballs re: skating and stick handling abilities and high level of play -- astounding, really -- I find the minor leagues and amateur hockey to be incredibly entertaining live, and is pretty damn hard to beat on an enjoyment-per-dollar spent basis.

I've had season ticket seats on the blue line glass for several minor league teams -- Gladiators, Knights, Ice, and will never forget getting to see The Great One hone his skills for the Racers in a season cut short. Even back then as a teenager, that guy could PLAY.
 
Mike Wells said:
Good guess.
That's your captain, Andy Greene, one of the most underrated D men in the league.
Click to expand...

When was that photo taken? He has a lot more hair in that photo than he does now!

We actually belong to the same golf club here in NJ. Very nice guy, down to earth, and a pretty good golfer as well.
 
CantSpellPoker said:
When was that photo taken? He has a lot more hair in that photo than he does now!

We actually belong to the same golf club here in NJ. Very nice guy, down to earth, and a pretty good golfer as well.
Click to expand...
Nicest guy in the world. I coached high school at Goggin. He came out and skated one of our summer scrimmages once and I got to play with him. He definitely took it easy on me. :D I remember talking to him the day after he had lost to the Sioux in a shootout. I'd been at the game. He played great, but all he could talk about was Parise. He gushed about him. Said he was one of the best he had ever seen.
 
I've been a fan of the NHL since the '90s, and also the AHL. Anyone who thinks hockey doesn't have a cult following doesn't have a damn clue what happens down here in the I.E.
 
I got turned off of baseball after I watched a game that literally went 22 innings before someone won. It wasn't even a playoff game, it was just one of the regular games in the month of June. My mom and I got to the point where I didn't care who won, just as long as someone did. I know I'm going to catch hell from baseball purists but I love the Japanese rule: If no one wins after 12 innings, they shut the lights off and go home.

Football I still watch but I *hate* how woke the league has gotten. Male cheerleaders belong on a college team, not having some dude standing there doing a dance routine. Blecccchhhh!! I actually cared more about Kaep kneeling on the field, not because I didn't think he was right, because after a week of work, I wanted to sit and watch a game and get away from that, not deal with it in basically the only avenue we had to get away from the daily grind of what's making us miserable (and I'm seeing officiating getting terrible now, ever since Super Bowl XL, it seems like whatever team the NFL and the media wants to win they kinda make them win). I watch sports as an escape from a week's worth of having to watch everyone hate everyone else.

Basketball I used to watch until Kobe Bryant thought he was bigger than the league. Kobe was initially marketed as the clean-cut alternative to Dennis Rodman, and that I respected him for but I can't watch it now. Besides that, the squeaking of the shoes on the hardwood is annoying af. I can watch it at a sports bar though where the music and ambiance drowns out the squeaking.

Soccer I actually strongly supported the Women's world cup through 2015. I had high hopes that it was more about the game than anything else, especially after Megan Rapinoe twisted her ankle like 135 degrees in a direction I know ankles weren't supposed to go and she still wanted to play. The 2019 games ruined it for me. Honestly, if you want to go on Twitter and write your political opinions in 271 languages, I'm fine with that, but keep it off the field of battle. I can't watch men's soccer, they are such prima donnas, someone farts in their general direction and they still want a red card given to their opponents.

So yeah, I fell into hockey.
 

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