NHL Off-Topic thread

[pietasterp]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

This is the second time today (on this very forum!) I've seen this gif used, and I laughed equally hard both times. It also helps that this happens to be one of my favorite Simpsons episodes.

[BDKiiing]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

So you're saying compared to other sports, hockey players have the worst image? Last time I checked, you hear about things like drug abuse,domestic violence, DUIs, nightclub incidents among others, in NBA,NFL,MLB. Sure, NHL lately has had it's share of things, but not the amount that other sports do.

Even when things like the Patrick Kane stuff was happening, that was what the media stations were talking about. If things like that are tarnishing NHLs clean image.

You don't hear about it because people in (North) America don't care about hockey that much. hell NASCAR is actually the 4th most popular pro sport, not the NHL.

NFL, MLB, and NBA are miles ahead in terms of popularity. Go ask Joe Blow to name some hockey players, they really can't these days, maybe Crosby. In the midwest, maybe they'd come up with Patrick Kane, but it's just not that big of a deal, so the issues won't be either.

[slickdtc]

NHL Off-Topic thread

I think that has a lot to do with it, but it probably also has a lot to do with so many foreign players too. They probably live in their respective countries during the offseason, the typical troublemaking time for athletes. No one cares what you do back home in Russia!

There have been some cases lately, namely Mike Richards being caught with substances and more seriously Slava Voynov and Semyon Varlamov being involved in domestic violence issues. Not to mention the string of suicides from former players 2-3 years ago. But on the whole it does seem down compared to the NFL where there's a laundry list of guys getting bopped for smoking weed.

Maybe it's due to the NFL's extreme popularity because even MLB doesn't seem to have the same violence and substance abuse problems NFL players are getting in to. Don't know exactly.

[BDKiiing]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

The more popular the more the microscope focuses in.

[Money99]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

You definitely have to be rich in order to play hockey.
Isn't Mike Comrie heir to the Brick furniture kingdom? I think his dad is worth $500M or something ridiculous.

In my little burg of Canada, almost all the travel kids come from wealth. They're parents make close to, or north of $200K/year.
And you need to because it costs around 5K for a season of travel hockey. 12-15K if it's AAA.

I think hockey players get a better rep than most because the nature of the sport demands that you act humble and toss out one tired cliche after another.
It's also easier to act humble when your sport is a non-factor in the U.S. Crosby could walk down the streets of Manhattan and I'm not sure too many people would notice him.
That wouldn't be the same if it was Tom Brady or even Bryce Harper.

I still think, overall, the average NHLer is more down-to-earth than the average NFLer or NBA player.
But I've heard one too many stories about NHL players, from 1st-degree associations, that would destroy the general consensus that they all read to blind orphans and walk old ladies across the street on their days off.

[pietasterp]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

You don't hear about it because people in (North) America don't care about hockey that much. hell NASCAR is actually the 4th most popular pro sport, not the NHL.

NFL, MLB, and NBA are miles ahead in terms of popularity. Go ask Joe Blow to name some hockey players, they really can't these days, maybe Crosby. In the midwest, maybe they'd come up with Patrick Kane, but it's just not that big of a deal, so the issues won't be either.

This might be changing, though. While the popular narrative that NASCAR is way more popular than hockey in the US certainly used to be true, NASCAR has had a well-documented precipitous decline in popularity in the last decade-plus, and hockey (as of a 2014 Harris poll, which, yes, is worthless but hard to measure something as soft as 'popularity' when there are so many differences in region/attendance patterns/television coverage, etc.) has been steadily gaining. Yes, this stuff is all cyclical and we've seen it before, and it's in no danger of taking over MLB or NFL, but it's not really any less popular than auto racing at this point.

Of course, this is sort of an "everyone's right" situation, because the NHL still isn't 'popular' by any stretch in the US. So I do agree that you don't hear as much about NHL'ers getting in trouble with the law, etc., because people basically just don't care in US.

I do agree, though, that in the USA anyway, hockey is by far and away one of the most expensive team sports you can get involved in. It takes a lot of resources to play in this country, and basically everywhere except the upper midwest, one of largest expenses is ice time. Tack on equipment, travel, organizational fees, etc., and you're really restricting the game to the middle/upper-middle class. To me, that's one of the biggest barriers to growth for the sport - it's tough for a sport to be popular that essentially only "rich" people can play.



edit: anyone that cares, here's one article describing 'popularity' of sports in the US (very poor in terms of rigor, but whaddyagonnado?): http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10...opular-mlb-2nd

[ImTellinTim]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Well, the Daytona 500 did get its 2nd lowest rating ever last month at a 6.6. The Stanley Cup Finals last year averaged 3.2 with a high of 4.4.

The highest-rated Stanley Cup Finals game in the last 10 years has been a 4.8.

So even though NASCAR is probably at its valley, the NHL still doesn't beat it in comparable ratings.

[slickdtc]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Is that really comparable, though?

Everyone's team (driver) has a chance to win that. The Cup is just two teams out of 30. If my team is in it, damn right I'm watching. Other teams? Not as big a deal if I miss a few games of the series. That's another thing, it's a 7 game series instead a one off event.

Hockey is a regional sport. I suspect NASCAR is pretty regional too.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Sure it is. Biggest event for each sport.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Look it up. NASCAR is now on NBCSN and fetches the best ratings in the history of the channel for non-Olympic sports broadcasts.

Getting hockey fans to admit people don't give a **** about hockey is like pulling teeth

[slickdtc]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

It's not that I don't know nobody cares about hockey, it's just that comparing a one off event to a 4-7 game series is flawed. Not just that but the fact that the Daytona 500 is run at the beginning of the NASCAR season when everyone is in the running for the Chase and the Cup Final features two individual teams. If it's CHI vs TB, why would anyone in California give a damn? But Dale Earnhardt fans can come from anywhere.

I'd love to see a regional breakdown of the ratings instead of throwing up one number for the whole nation.

[ubernoob]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

It's not that I don't know nobody cares about hockey, it's just that comparing a one off event to a 4-7 game series is flawed. Not just that but the fact that the Daytona 500 is run at the beginning of the NASCAR season when everyone is in the running for the Chase and the Cup Final features two individual teams. If it's CHI vs TB, why would anyone in California give a damn? But Dale Earnhardt fans can come from anywhere.

I'd love to see a regional breakdown of the ratings instead of throwing up one number for the whole nation.

That's like saying why should anyone from outside of Denver/Carolina care about the Super Bowl.

Or, since you want to bring up the series aspect of it, why anyone from outside of the Bay/Cleveland cared about the NBA Finals - yet that pulled the highest ratings since Jordan in '98 (15.9 rating from what I saw.)

Even the "boring" sport of baseball (between the Mets and the Royals of all teams) doubled the hockey numbers. Game 5 had a 10.0, and they averaged an 8.7.

Hockey just isn't popular.

[pietasterp]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

I agree hockey isn't "popular", as I conceded in my original post, but saying a one-off event rating doubled up the championship series is not the best way to look at it, in my opinion. I mean, you could just as easily total the # of viewers for all games of the Cup Finals and that sum together and compare it to the Daytona to provide evidence that hockey's championship series dwarfed NASCAR's biggest event. Or, total hockey viewership across all games for a season and compare that to NASCAR televised event viewings and compare the raw numbers. Or, broken down by region and major populous media markets, per viewer average time spent per game/event. Etc. What's the old saying? Lies, damn lies, and statistics?

Also, it's worth bearing in mind that half the games of the Stanley Cup Finals were on NBC Sports Network, which is a double-whammy hit since much of the country doesn't have cable (yes, it's true...hard to believe) and even those with cable, many (most?) don't get NBCSN as part of their cable package. The Daytona 500 was on over-the-air broadcast on flagship network Fox on a Sunday afternoon, which everyone gets (even those with rabbit ears).

So, back to my original point - while hockey isn't "popular" in the US by any reasonable metric, the narrative that auto racing is so much more popular than hockey may no longer be true (or at least as true as it has been in the past).

[ImTellinTim]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

And yet regular old NASCAR races already hold several of the top non-Olympics ratings in NBCSN history - and they've only been on NBCSN for one year.

I don't get why comparing the events where the respective sports are looking for the most casual viewers was so outrageous. Hell, I took the comparison that made hockey look the best in comparison! Regional comparisons? There are places in Minnesota where NASCAR is more popular than hockey! So I don't get what that proves. We're talking about overall, nationwide popularity here.

And your last point was exactly my point. Even when it's down, NASCAR still beats the NHL.

This is as much as I care to talk about NASCAR, so I'm done

[BDKiiing]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

And to compare the entire Stanley cup series viewers would be inaccurate. You'd need to look at the unique viewers total, which I'm sure nascar still beats them out.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Alright, changing subjects.

Here's a good article about a hockey player and his struggle with brain injury. http://www.theplayerstribune.com/ada...ey-concussion/