Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyshaka
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?
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Because he is, likable or not,
interesting. He has some recognizable form of personality, unlike the vast majority of players who come & go through the NHL and have for most of the 30+ years I've followed the league.
Let me pick on my own team for an example here, There's really no appreciable difference between the interest generated by Eric Perrin vs Kevin Doell vs Jason Krog vs Serge Aubin (trying to pick out our 3rd line centers, since Avery's contributions were dissed earlier). They're generic hockey players. The occasional Avery on the other hand, at least the guy is interesting, you pay attention to what he does.
Those young fans you mentioned? I see plenty of them at minor league games, hell they're often close to half the crowd. And what gets them buzzing? Flashy scorers and the fighters, often the latter more popular than the former, just as it's been for as long as I can remember. And if it's a player who shows some personality with some showboating as part of his fighting style, they'll blow the roof off for the guy. You think teenagers wouldn't have gotten at least a chuckle out of Avery's comment? If you believe that they're being attracted just by guys who can skate & have sound fundamentals then you're out of your tree.