[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Wait a minute. What happened to your whole "best players in the world" argument from earlier? What would ham & eggers even have to do with the situation ... unless you're facing becoming a semi-pro league.

The fact that there are ham & eggers at all is the point. Guys willing to eat Kraft Dinner 7 days a week to play a sport versus pushing paper behind a desk from 9-5, where they could make more money, tells me that guys making X millions of dollars aren't all of a sudden going to give it all up to flip burgers because they were forced to take ANOTHER pay cut. That's right...it's already happened...low and behold, we still have our NHL and still have the best players in the world.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My point is, and has been throughout the thread, that it seems incredibly shortsighted for the league to suspend Avery for his comments when he's done more to generate media interest (and consequently an opportunity for interest among the general public) in a few days than 10 *Patrick Marleau's have done or will do in a lifetime.

How does a guy spewing crude comments (as characterized by just about everybody on the planet except for you) create good PR for a league that is fighting to retain/increase the size of their audience? They are trying attract more than just the "rubberneckers checking out the carnage" because the attention span of those folks is, well it's gone already, nevermind. Instead they are trying to attract kids and kids don't need to hear that garbage and nor should parents have to explain what the comment means.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

A league full of Avery's likely wouldn't work on a national scale & I'm not suggesting they would. The Malkin's/Crosby's/Ovechkin's provide the skill with flash to be the primary focal points. But those guys are considerably more marketable with a few Avery's in the mix for flavor. Heroes need villains to play off, how many people in recent memory have been better suited for the role than Avery?

If Avery adds to the marketability of the "stars" of the league then tell me if ticket sales have slumped or not when the Rangers have visited Pittsburgh or Washington so far this season. Without even looking, I'm going to say that, no, attendance hasn't changed one bit.

Avery plays for a last place team with, by your admission, who is one of the worst drawing road teams but yet you still insist that he adds value. I'm still not seeing it.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Look (and hopefully learn) from the example that NASCAR provides. A primarily regional sport that grew beyond anyone's wildest imagination in large part due to the personalities that emerged. And it seems no coincidence that they've hit a plateau as they (in part) legislated most of those personalities out of the business. Avery at least provides the potential for a watershed moment along the lines of the Allison/Yarborough infield fight at Daytona in '79. That was not the most dramatic moment in the sport nor the most exciting by a long shot ... but it was one of the most interesting & became one of the defining moments. There hasn't been a defining moment in hockey for the majority of the available North American audience since Al Michaels talked about miracles and even that has virtually no connection to the NHL.

Right off the bat I'll admit that my only exposure to NASCAR is Talledega Nights and I only saw that movie because Will Ferrell makes me laugh out loud. I don't know who Allison or Yarborough are nor could I name more than a handful of drivers and only because they appeared in Ferrell's movie. That's coming from a guy who's been living here for 10 years, likely the most "redneck" part of the country and I still haven't taken any sort of interest. I have friends who follow it, but they are few and far between. That isn't an attack on the sport by any means, I just don't have an interest in it.

Regardless of my ignorance about the past, present, and future of NASCAR, how is it that Avery is more likely than anybody else to give the US the dramatic defining moment that you apparently need the NHL to have? McSorley clubbing Brashear over the heard or the Bertuzzi BS weren't enough? I mean, if senseless violence is what you call drama and a defining moment, then open your eyes...there's been lots of it already. Instead, I think you'll find that the US rejects those moments and the league would love for neither of them to have ever happened because it only detracts from the game and it's success in some of the virgining US markets that Betteman so desperately wants.

Inticing kids and teenagers to watch the game is the only way to grow it in the States and it has worked, without exploiting the antics of guys like Avery, as evidenced by the increase in US-born NHL players, the US' success at the World Juniors in recent years, and the rise in popularity of NCAA hockey. Like it or not, the NHL IS invading the US and is there to stay.