I was on my way home from work the other day, a quick 15 minute trip from the ValpoLife headquarters. After a day of listening to a solid day’s worth of podcasts, Pandora, and the printer by my desk working incessantly, I decided to flip on ESPN radio. The Afternoon Saloon was on, and the guys were talking about something that, in the 5 years of listening to sports radio, I’d never heard.
Hoc-key?
I have to admit something: I’ve never watched a hockey game in my life. I don’t know why, but I’ve never had an interest. The folks that love hockey really love hockey. They claim that going to hockey games is ‘darn near the most exciting thing you can do!’ It got me thinking, “why isn’t hockey more popular around here?” Needless to say, I have some theories:
1. You need ice. Obviously, the playing surface plays a big role in the popularity of a sport. Does Valparaiso even have a hockey rink? The answer? No. I checked out the Valpo Hockey Club’s website and their games and practices are held at the Ice Box in South Bend. This tells me A) These kids are committed, B) They love to play hockey, and C) They are awesome, solely for keeping detailed stats on penalties (35 ‘Roughing’ penalties? Nice!).
Should Valpo get a hockey ring? Would more kids play if they had a place to play? Would more interest be generated in the sport as a whole if more cities had hockey rings closer than an hour and a half away? Should the NHL be doing something similar with hockey to what Major League Baseball is doing with their R.B.I. program? I feel like someone smarter than me about hockey should answer these questions.
One reason to like hockey: Goalie Fights! .
2. You don’t play hockey with a ‘hockey’. This one is a little abstract, but hear me out. You play football with a football. You play baseball with a baseball. You play basketball with a basketball. 99% of the world plays soccer with a fútbol. Those are the four most popular sports in the world, and they all play the sport with their names, so to speak. Why does hockey get played with a puck? Who thought up the term ‘hockey’ in the first place? I’m fairly certain that if the powers-that-be either changed the term “hockey” to “puck”, or “puck” to “hockey” the sport would immediately explode in popularity. It only seems logical.
3. The Blackhawks have been terrible for quite some time. Clearly, interest in a sport in a region is piqued when a local high-level team is doing well in a sport (re: Bandwagon fans). By all accounts, Chicago is a “hockey” town. I’m sure it is no coincidence that the decline of the popularity of hockey is directly linked to the fact that that four of the ‘Original Six’ hockey teams (Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks) have been terrible for the past 15-20 years. One could argue the same thing about the NBA’s decline in popularity circa 2003-2007, when the basketball universe revolved around small market San Antonio, Miami (where sports are always low on the list-of-things-to-do), and the hard-to-root-for Detriot Pistons. The Blackhawks last season made their first Western Conference Finals since 1995, thus, the topic of hockey is the subject of sports talk radio for the first time that I can remember.
So, those are my three quick theories on the relative obscurity of hockey. Why do you think hockey isn't more popular?