A Forgotten Sport

In today’s world the media seems to control everything. From the latest fashion to the popular athlete or sport. ESPN pretty much has a monopoly on sports. Any sports fan would know about the network. Their the network that makes T.O larger then life. Their the network that can make or break an athlete or sport. Unfortunately, they are the network that also gave up on hockey. From a businessman’s point of view ESPN had no choice. Hockey’s ratings were down the sewer. Today at 2pm on ESPN is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest. ESPN Classic has a 4 hour block of Japanese Sumo Wrestling which leads into American Gladiators. Tonight at 7pm on ESPN 2 is Major League Lacrosse. We see Arena football on ESPN and ESPN2. Major League Soccer is also a regular on the network. Pretty Much any sport you can think of is on ESPN. Even Arm wrestling, Poker and Darts.
I am not trying to take anything away from any of these sports, however how can people enjoy watching Joey Chestnut eat 66 Hot Dogs in 12 minutes rather then seeing Sidney Crosby and his dazzling moves? How can we sit there and watch Arena Football, a league made up of players not talented enough to play in the NFL rather then watching Jaromir Jagr dance around 3 guys and put the puck in the back of the net? Even worse, how can we sit there for hours watching people play poker instead of watching Alexander Ovechkin run someone over take the puck down the rink and roof the puck top shelf? Maybe its just me, but I think we are forgetting about one of the best games on earth.
When you look at the sport you would think it would be popular with Americans. Its fast, players are big and strong, body checks are thrown regularly and when players fight they only have to sit in a penalty box for 5 minutes. Maybe, its that we don’t give hockey a chance. We bash the sport but don’t ever take the time to watch a game. If you ever watch the NHL or almost any hockey game the players never give up. It doesn’t matter if the score is 3-2 or 5-1 everyone works hard every shift. In today’s sports world how many times do we see players not caring about the team and putting themselves first? We see Randy Moss walking off the field on his Raider teammates. T.O. bashing everyone on his team, including his own Quarterback. Players complaining for not getting the ball enough. Players jumping into the stands in the NBA fighting fans. Players giving up. I love basketball, but how many times do we see someone in the NBA not playing defense?
When it comes to the playoffs, playoff hockey is the best playoffs in all of sports. Men become warriors on a sheet of ice. Battling to for the most precious trophy in all of sports the Stanley Cup. There is nothing better then playoff hockey. For 7months men work to get a chance to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Once they are there all bets are off. Anyone can beat anyone. Heart and determination is all these guys need. They battle injuries and play for what’s on the front of the sweater not on the back. (something a lot of today’s athletes have forgotten) Who doesn’t love an entire team growing out playoff beards and watching it get longer and longer as they advance to the round by round. It is more then inspiring to see Erik Cole take the Ice in game 6 of the Stanly Cup finals after being out for 3 months because of a broken vertebra in his neck. Or seeing Ray Bourque finally win the cup after 22 years in the league.
In today’s world of sports in which players seem to care more about paychecks and popularity then about their team how can we forget about the purest of the 4 major sports here in the U.S.? The beautiful thing about the NHL is these guys want to win more then anything. They always put there team in front of themselves. Hockey is a beautiful sport. All it needs is a chance.