I came across a great story in my sports section this morning about how the lack of hockey is affecting all of us, but mainly our great neighbors to the north, Canada. But before I do that I want to spout off a little.

Last night before listening to my Spokane Chiefs hockey game on the radio, I was listening to some nationally syndicated sports program. Maybe ESPN, I am not sure. The idiot commentator was talking about the NHL lockout, and had a stupid comment to his partner on air, something to the effect of " yeah, and all 24,999 of you hockey fans out there are going to have to try to get your hockey fix elsewhere this season."

Personally I get tired of the national sports media attacking the NHL and supposed lack of hockey fans down here. Yes, we may not have huge numbers, thanks to all of the other major sports going on here at the same time, but there are millions of us here in the States, who are every bit as passionate about the sport as our Canadian counter parts, and I get tired of the national media taking pot shots at us!!

Ok, now I am off my soap box.
I will include selected phrases from this story about the how Canada is being affected by no hockey:

'The shutdown of the NHL is generating bitterness, and awkward adjustments and a deep sense of loss. Canadians are facing a winter of discontent without a sport woven into their national identity. "There is no sympathy for either side, but we will miss the game that we love. The prevailing mood is that they're all wrong, the owners were foolish to pay the players so much, and the players are greedy," said Roy McGreedy, author of several popular books about Canadian hockey.
The lockout's impact is profound, emotionally and financially. Business is certain to plummet at restaurants, bars and sport shops around the arenas. Of Canada's six NHL cities, the hardest hit is Montreal, especially after the relocation of the Expos'. Canadiens fans want the system to be fixed and they want hockey. There have been big staff cutbacks, salary reductions, and about 1,000 part time employees at Bell Centre laid off.
Canadas' sport channel TSN, is replacing cancelled games with matches from past deaceds. CBC is laying off 50 "Hockey Night in Canada" employees, and will replace the popular Saturday night fixture with a 3 film "Movie Night in Canada."

Marc, thank you for pointing out my error in inserting this in the wrong forum header. OOOPPPSSS!! Blame it on the damn mouse scroll button. I thought I had left it in "hockey" but it moved. My bad....

No problem, although sometimes hockey and politics DO go together here in Canada. And for some fan-atics here, hockey IS their 'religion'.

But contrary to the doom and gloom predictions, the sky did not fall as a result of there being no hockey on Saturday, which would have been the season-opener of CBC's HNIC. I'm sure there will be a survey to find out what Canadians did that evening in the absence of hockey and what the ratings were for the 'Movie Night in Canada' double-header. There has been a suggestion here that Ron McLean (Don Cherry's sidekick) should do the introductions for 'MNIC' to give a sense of 'continuity' for hockey fans.

I started watching the Yankees-Red Sox game on Saturday evening until it became so ridiculously one-sided that it no longer held my interest (unlike the five-hour Sunday game which was much more entertaining). But chances are I would have been watching the baseball playoffs anyway, even if there had been an NHL game on the tube (unless the Flames were playing, of course).

Indeed there has been a lot of angst and hand-wringing on this side of the border about American indifference to the NHL lockout, as was highlighted in the comments Zeno and I made (in another thread) about the Sportsnet poll. But by the same token, I think it's a safe bet that the vast majority of Canadians (myself and Canmark being exceptions) don't give a rat's booty about the World Series or about baseball in general. Perhaps there has been a modest increase in the level of interest in baseball as a result of the void caused by the NHL situation, but I certainly don't hear people talking passionately about any of the four remaining teams. Admittedly, if the Blue Jays had made it to the post-season there might be a little more interest (even outside Toronto!) from the millions here who otherwise rarely watch baseball.

I know this thread is about hockey, not baseball, but I bring up the latter to illustrate a cultural contrast between Canada and the United States. Baseball is as much an established and cherished sport in the US as hockey is in Canada (just as soccer is in much of the rest of the world). There is only so much marketing that hockey can do to sell itself in the US, or that baseball can do in Canada (although to survive, the NHL needs American fans far more than MLB needs Canadian fans, and frankly I doubt if Bud Selig is losing any sleep over the fairly low profile of baseball in Canada). I am disappointed about the continued failure of hockey to 'catch on' south of the border (considering the large number of NHL teams there and the ever-increasing number of US-born stars), but I don't see it improving any time soon. Perhaps Canadians just need to learn to accept the fact that sports traditions between our countries are different and that 'our' game can't be forced on an unwilling US public. Now I'll get off my soap-box too....

Contrary to expectations, this recent survey shows a declining interest in hockey among Canadians. Note that only 16% of respondents considered themselves 'diehard' NHL fans:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/2004/.../03/699051.html

But I think it's safe to say that hockey is still more popular on this side of the border; polls show that at last count there were roughly six American fans, and all of them are Outsports members.

Ron MacLean looks lonely without his partner 'Grapes' co-hosting Movie Night in Canada! One of tonight's offerings was 'Back to the Future'. I'm guessing the tie-in with hockey is the fact that Michael J. Fox is a big fan of the game (if he is now a US citizen, that makes seven American fans )

I know I am missing terribly, the sport, and especially the televised games. Now that I am finally getting ESPN-2, starting on Tuesday, I am definitely feeling the effects. frown

Living in LA, I've seen Michael J. Fox at some Kings' games (when he still lived in LA) but he seemed to attend only when teams from Canada invaded our nation. Don't know if he likes any US team. The carpetbagger. wink

~Adam