I distrusted him from the first. A lawyer with an NBA background? Probably doesn't know his five-hole from his breadbasket, was my view. Almost immediately he set to work confirming my every last suspicion. The evocative names of the conferences and divisions (tributes to the founders and builders of the league) were replaced by the utterly prosaic: the "Eastern" conference, the "Northeast" division. In short order, Canada lost two teams, the Winnipeg Jets and the Quebec Nordiques. That the country would lose these teams wasn't Bettman's fault, but where they ended up certainly was. I could sort of accept a team in Denver, which at least knows what snow is, but Phoenix?
Then there was the Courtship of the American Public, which Gary set to work on with a will. He brought FOX on board, and they came up with something called FOXtrax, otherwise known as a laser-puck. This was supposed to make the puck more visible (though why a black puck would be hard to see against white ice was not explained). What it really did was create endless distraction. It was suddenly almost impossible to follow the play away from the puck (which is more than half of any hockey game), being as you were continually distracted by comet-trails across your TV screen. Again, Bettman wasn't directly responsible for this, but up here in the Great White North we blamed him anyway.
Fast forward sixteen years. Bettman's still around, looking more like a weasel than ever. He's guided the league through a lockout wherein an entire season was lost. He's still seen on Hockey Night In Canada reassuring all and sundry that the game's fine, all the teams are hunky-dory, and there's a bright future ahead. In this, he sounds just like an economist from about eight months ago.
Meanwhile, outside of the Bettman universe, there are franchises in trouble hither and yon. The aforementioned Phoenix Coyotes are on very thin ice (which isn't at all surprising, considering last I looked Phoenix is in freakin' ARIZONA). Nashville, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta (all created, like Phoenix, with Bettman's blessing) are in financial straits almost as dire. It seems as if, with certain exceptions, hockey will never catch on in places where it can't ever be played outside.
There are markets in the U.S. where hockey has thrived. Colorado's a success story. So is San Jose. And Minnesota (which never should have lost its North Stars) goes wild for the, uh, Wild. But just about every other post-expansion team is in some degree of trouble, even when they're successful on the ice. The Lightning actually had to comp tickets to the Stanley Cup finals and still couldn't sell out. That's your first clue that you shouldn't have a team.
Flash back again to 1994. The New York Rangers ended a 54-year Stanley Cup drought that season. Sports Illustrated, which has always put hockey on a level with team nose-picking, temporarily went ga-ga. Hockey, we were breathlessly told, was poised to take basketball's place and join football and baseball at the pinnacle of American sport.
Didn't happen.
Why? Damned if I know. It sure wasn't for lack of trying. But you ask most Americans outside those core markets about hockey and they'll look at you kind of funny, like you'd just expressed an enthusiasm for cricket, or lawn darts, or something like that. I'll admit I'm biased, but they're missing a great game. Hockey is the fastest team sport going, demanding a unique combination of vision and agility. Plus, there's fights.
Is that it?
It's often said that nobody leaves the room during a hockey fight. It's equally often noted that hockey's the only sport where fighting is accepted. I wonder if the number of people attracted by pugilism equals the number repelled by it. I don't know.
Hockey, Canada's national winter sport (lacrosse is the official summer sport, believe it or not) mirrors the Canadian character in so many ways, not least of which is the schizoid attitude we have towards America's embracing or rejecting it. On the one hand, we desperately seek validation; when we don't get it, we sulk and pout and act defiant and don't understand. What's wrong with us? What's wrong with our game?
Well?
3 comments:
I will never understand why Canada cannot go it own with a professional league. We don't frickin need American teams at all. I know the league started in Canada and the US, but it seems that we consider a made in Canada professional league to be second rate.
Look at the CFL. Quality football that most Canadians don't give a crap about. They'd sooner follow the NFL. We have to join the MLB and the NBA. Apparently we want the NFL in Toronto.
I just don't get it. Why everything has to include Americans to be considered successful or worthy of consideration is beyond me.
But that's so Canadian! You're not REALLY a success until you've made it "down there".
I like the idea, but I don't think it'd fly. Almost every NHL player's paid in Yankeebucks, for one thing. For another, what do you do with the several American teams (including four of the original six) that are doing well? That deserve their teams?
Setup a professional AHL and a CHL, basically divide the NHL into two distinct leagues (maybe a North America playoff after the league finals???) CHL expands right across the country and the AHL slowly declines.
When the AHL folds, allow those 4 teams back into the CHL. And presto, you have a professional hockey league with more Canadian teams than American.
And you're right, it'll never happen.
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