Hockey game is tied (Fallout)

[Kasept]

Hockey fans, SI columnist, lament game move to Versus.. I'm a Sabres fan as it happens, and was hoping NBC would do the right thing and start Preakness coverage on the mark... Funny though.. we as racing fans certainly know the feeling pucksters had yesterday..

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ffs.preakness/

[justindew]

It truly does suck for NHL fans, but horse racing fans always get screwed, and the NHL got the nod over the Barbaro special a few weeks back.

Trust me. It's only a matter of time before women's golf and the Little League World Series reduce Travers coverage to 11 minutes.

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Hockey fans, SI columnist, lament game move to Versus.. I'm a Sabres fan as it happens, and was hoping NBC would do the right thing and start Preakness coverage on the mark... Funny though.. we as racing fans certainly know the feeling pucksters had yesterday..

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ffs.preakness/

They obviously devised this plan after what happened the last time, but the fact of the matter is, while Buffalo vs Sens was a great matchup from a hockey purist sense, NOBODY cares about those 2 teams (other than the local fans of each). I have been a hockey fan for 30 years, and thought this would be a great series, but even I DIDN'T care.

[Zippy Chippy]

Hockey . . . what to do about hockey . . . I am a hockey fan, I live in "Hockeytown", and the Red Wings are a win or two away from making it to the Stanley Cup finals and guess what? There is hardly ANY buzz about it around here. Nothing, nada, zilch. It's bizarre how little buzz there is right now. I guess if hockey can be this irrelevant in a city that used to be nuts about it and is so close to winning a championship, then the game between the Sabres and the Senators probably means nothing to more than 90% of NBC's audience.

As strange as it may sound, NBC actually made the right decision in cutting away. I'm sure the NHL is livid, but the league and its owners only have themselves to blame. They somehow found a way to make hockey less relevant to the American sports fan.

[justindew]

Let's keep this in perspective. This WAS, afterall, a Triple Crown race. I don't believe for a minute that the hockey game would have been bumped if this was the Suburban or the Donn Handicap. So it's not as if this means horse racing has risen on the totem poll. In fact, if the trends continue, it won't be long before horse racing coverage gets bumped for something else....like poker.

I firmly believe that the reason Fusaichi Pegasus was not 8-5 in the 2000 Derby is because ABC showed the overtime of the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins games instead of the Wood Memorial. Most of the country did not see his win.

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by Zippy Chippy

Hockey . . . what to do about hockey . . . I am a hockey fan, I live in "Hockeytown", and the Red Wings are a win or two away from making it to the Stanley Cup finals and guess what? There is hardly ANY buzz about it around here. Nothing, nada, zilch. It's bizarre how little buzz there is right now. I guess if hockey can be this irrelevant in a city that used to be nuts about it and is so close to winning a championship, then the game between the Sabres and the Senators probably means nothing to more than 90% of NBC's audience.

As strange as it may sound, NBC actually made the right decision in cutting away. I'm sure the NHL is livid, but the league and its owners only have themselves to blame. They somehow found a way to make hockey less relevant to the American sports fan.

If you're in Detroit how and missing the buzz, go on down to a game. I came in for a game last week and there was plenty of buzz.

I heard NBC hired Don Cherry to do the finals.

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by SentToStud

If you're in Detroit how and missing the buzz, go on down to a game. I came in for a game last week and there was plenty of buzz.

I heard NBC hired Don Cherry to do the finals.

Very little buzz west of the City.

[Zippy Chippy]

Originally Posted by SentToStud

If you're in Detroit how and missing the buzz, go on down to a game. I came in for a game last week and there was plenty of buzz.

It's just noticeably different this year. This city used to literally live-and-die by the fortune of the Red Wings. If they won a playoff game, everybody would be happy and excited. If they lost a playoff game, everybody would be on edge and nervous. And if they were on the brink of elimination, everybody would be downright miserable. The feeling was everywhere. It's definitely different this year.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Zippy Chippy

It's just noticeably different this year. This city used to literally live-and-die by the fortune of the Red Wings. If they won a playoff game, everybody would be happy and excited. If they lost a playoff game, everybody would be on edge and nervous. And if they were on the brink of elimination, everybody would be downright miserable. The feeling was everywhere. It's definitely different this year.

Hard to believe that there is a sport that has done a worse job than horseracing in marketing their sport but the NHL has done it. I believe that the strike really hurt them as their relevance became marginalized. And in conjunction with that, ESPN's decision to drop all of their hockey coverage with the exception of Barry Melrose (who is probably under contract and they need him to do something) has taken the NHL out of sight and out of mind of the average sports fan. Remember ESPN is the major power broker in sports now and if horseracing wants to be relevant then we have to remain on the network as much as possible. Because when they drop you, then the sports world in general drops you too.

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Hard to believe that there is a sport that has done a worse job than horseracing in marketing their sport but the NHL has done it. I believe that the strike really hurt them as their relevance became marginalized. And in conjunction with that, ESPN's decision to drop all of their hockey coverage with the exception of Barry Melrose (who is probably under contract and they need him to do something) has taken the NHL out of sight and out of mind of the average sports fan. Remember ESPN is the major power broker in sports now and if horseracing wants to be relevant then we have to remain on the network as much as possible. Because when they drop you, then the sports world in general drops you too.

I believe the VS ratings are up pretty good this year and exceed what ESPN was getting in its final year. I think NBC's coverage this year is the first time hockey has been on network TV in 10+ years.

Hockey will never be the TV sport basketball is, at least in the U.S. In fact, compared to the live experience, hockey is by far the sport that translates most poorly to television. The live gate for the NHL is right there with that of the NBA.

I've heard it said that in every U.S. city there are 20,000 NHL fans and they all have season tickets. Maybe that's true.

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Hard to believe that there is a sport that has done a worse job than horseracing in marketing their sport but the NHL has done it. I believe that the strike really hurt them as their relevance became marginalized. And in conjunction with that, ESPN's decision to drop all of their hockey coverage with the exception of Barry Melrose (who is probably under contract and they need him to do something) has taken the NHL out of sight and out of mind of the average sports fan. Remember ESPN is the major power broker in sports now and if horseracing wants to be relevant then we have to remain on the network as much as possible. Because when they drop you, then the sports world in general drops you too.

The NHL began to "die" in the early 90's for one specific reason: The NEUTRAL ZONE TRAP!! (Damn You Jacques Lemaire!) By the late 90's it became unwatchable. The missed season due to the LOCKOUT showed the fans how little the owners/players cared about them, but considering how awful the product had become, they did us all a favor. The new rules are starting to bring it back, but it will be a long journey, and it will never be what it was. One of the reasons, that has not been addressed, is that the players are so much bigger than they used to be, but the size of the rink has remained the same. There just isn't as much room on the ice as there used to be. In the 70', 80's and early 90's, 6 feet, 200 lbs was considered big. Today this guy is too small!