Hockey - underrated and underappreciated

I've got to take off on a quick rant about the world of sports. As you can see from my links on the right, I'm a big fan of the NHL, and my team is the Edmonton Oilers. I've only missed 4-5 games this year, thanks to the NHL Center Ice package, which only costs $149.00 for the entire season - you can see any game you want, any time, and all the games from the first 2 rounds of the playoffs. It's a steal.

Anyway, to my point. This is one of the most underrated sports on the planet. "Hockey? Are you crazy?!?" you say. Not so fast. Of the four major professional sports in the United States and Canada, it's the purest and the most fun to watch.

First, the drawbacks. Yes, there have been lockouts and strikes, and losing a whole season in '04-'05 was a major black eye. But, the NFL and MLB have had their share of labor battles in the past, too. The NBA has been lucky in this regard, but, well, it's the NBA, and its popularity hasn't been the same since Jordan, Bird and Magic hung up their sneaks. However, I'm not denying the appeal of the NBA (Go Heat!) or the NFL or MLB (Go Cowboys and Red Sox); I'm merely saying the NHL is king of my court, and here's why.

When is the last time you've heard of performance enhancing drugs in hockey? To be sure, it does exist, but the problems don't seem as widespread as football and baseball. As far as I'm concerned, baseball's records are a joke. Every home run record of the last 15 years should be sandblasted off the books. The ball wasn't juiced - Bonds, Sosa and McGuire were. A sad and pathetic chapter in baseball's storied history.

Can you imagine if allegations came to light that Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, or Michael Jordan used banned substances or performance enhancing drugs during their playing days? Unthinkable. Worse yet, how about Wayne Gretzky? A revelation about #99 would make hockey's offensive record book read like a fortune cookie. Speaking of The Great One, my close friends know that I'm one of his biggest fans. My one and only tattoo is Above Left. Has it really been seven years since his last game? I miss his poetry in motion.

Back to my point about drugs in hockey: it just doesn't happen on a large scale, at least that we are aware of based on media reports, or the lack thereof. A nod to credibility here necessitates mentioning that there have been unfortunate incidents. Bob Probert is a sad example of what drug use can do to a professional athlete. Edmonton's own Grant Fuhr, one of my favorite players ever, served a 60+ game suspension in the early 90s when it was revealed that he had a cocaine addiction. Few things in hockey made me happier than when he came back from his suspension and enjoyed some success to wind up a brilliant career, culminating with his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Oilers retiring his #31 as well. No one is perfect in life, and Grant isn't, but he dealt with it openly, honestly, and like a man. We all make mistakes, but not many handle them as well as Grant did.

One of hockey's poorest kept secrets is the use of stimulants, and hopefully someday soon, the league will clean up this festering problem. Anyone in the know about hockey knows that this is a problem that has been around for some time, but can you imagine Congress holding hearings on the use of Vivarin and Sudafed in hockey? Yea, neither can I.

Now, on to the positives with the "New NHL," as many call it, and there are many. But, here's eight great reasons to give the NHL a shot:

1. Rule Changes. The NHL has implemented some terrific rule chances this season that have made the game infinitely more enjoyable to watch. I'm not going to run through all of them here, but scoring is up, the dreaded clutching and grabbing is down, the goonery is mostly gone (more on that in a minute), and the game is as graceful and fun to watch as it's been since the high flyin' 80s. One of the best changes is...

2. ...The Shootout. This is the first season where there are no more ties! If a game is tied after a five-minute overtime, it's settled with a shootout - three shooters per side. (I'd like to see five shooters next season.) This rule change highlights one of the best plays in hockey - the penalty shot. Prior to this season, this was a seldom called penalty, and it's a positive, good change to highlight the game. In short, I love it. And, I've had plenty of exposure to it this season - as I type this, Edmonton has been involved in more shootouts than any team in the NHL so far this season. It can be heart stopping, maddening, exciting, and 20 other emotions all in one. More often than not, I'm out of my chair, yelling and hollering - sometimes in joy, sometimes in anger. But I love it. And thank God they implemented the shootout in the right way, and that the league didn't mess with...

3. ... Overtime Playoff Games. The shootout has no place in the playoffs. There's nothing like a marathon playoff game, where the next goal can send a team home... for good. I've seen so many memorable overtime playoff games, I won't even try to list them here. But, there's nothing like playoff hockey, and there really isn't anything like an overtime playoff game, especially a series-deciding OT.

4. The Cup. Speaking of the playoffs, it doesn't get any sweeter than The Stanley Cup, the oldest trophy played for in North American sports. Above Right is a picture of me with hockey's holy grail at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1996. It's so great for so many reasons. Click the link and read and read and read. What a history. To wit - in baseball, football and basketball the winning team gets a newly made trophy every year. Ultra lame. The Cup, the same Cup, goes from team to team, every year. It's what players play for, really. And honestly, unless you are a true diehard or the commissioner of the NFL, MLB or the NBA, can you even name the other trophies? (Okay, the Lombardi gets some name recognition, but it's a distant second to the Cup.) Yes, getting a Stanley Cup Ring is nice. The money is nice, too - any millionaire hockey player will tell you that. But, in the ultimate team sport, the goal isn't a ring, it's to lift 35 lbs. of sheer, shiny joy over your head and skate around the ice like a happy 5-year old.

5. Hockey Players' Pain Threshold. In another sport, can you imagine the equivalent of taking a 100 m.p.h. slapshot in the ear and not missing any playing time in the same game? Yea, right. Earlier this season, Edmonton's Marty Reasoner (now a Bruin) had that happen in the second period, took over two dozen stitches in his ear, and played the third. Take a fastball in the noggin and take the field in the next inning? Ain't happenin', captain. Hockey players have a cadaver-like tolerance for pain. Another reason to love watching these guys, and to etch into stone this indisputable fact - hockey players are unequaled in toughness. Disagree? Bring it! I'd put these guys' toughness up against any other athlete today.

6. The Salary Cap. The lockout and lost season weren't all for nothing. Yea, we lost a season, but now the playing field is equal or much more equal among the small and big markets - NFL style. No longer can idiot GMs from teams like the Flyers, Rangers, Avalanche and Red Wings buy a Cup. Now you have to manage your money and play within a uniform set of rules. Stanley Cup teams must now be built, not bought. Bravo. A thousand times bravo. It will be refreshing to not see the same teams competing year after year for the Cup. Now teams like my Oilers will have no one to blame if they don't bring it home, because the league has given the small markets what they've wanted and cried for since salaries began escalating in the early 1990s.

7. Game Accessibility. This is a blessing, and a curse. The NHL is #4 in the pecking order of the four major professional sports in North America in terms of popularity and ratings. The byproduct of that is that the league can't seem to get a decent TV contract, and ESPN didn't even try to renew its NHL contract when it expired. The league has since switched to OLN, which thankfully I get. But, no matter, because I get the aforementioned NHL Center Ice Package. It bears mentioning again that it's a whale of a deal. To compare, NFL Sunday Ticket costs $399 for the season if you have HDTV, according to a buddy of mine who declined to shell it out this past season. That's a lot of scratch.

8. The Hockey Fight - On-Ice Enforcement. The players police themselves as much as the zebras do. Yea, that's right - what other sport do you see that? To a certain extent, all of them - the brush back pitch in baseball, the hard foul in basketball, and a wallop over the middle in football, but what other sport actually allows others to fight? You just have to love that. Gone are the Broad St. Bullies of the Flyers (thank God - fun in many ways, but that's not the way the game was meant to be played, in my opinion), BUT there are consequences if an opposing player takes a cheap shot or makes a dirty play in a game. If he isn't in the sin bin, serving a minor or major penalty, someone is gonna drop the mitts with him and settle it man-to-man with a good face pounding. What's not to love there? I'm yet to see compelling evidence that fighting doesn't cut down on cheap shots.

Anyway, these are just a few reasons that the NHL is North America's best-kept secret. Okay, just America's, really, because our brothers to the north already have an appreciation for this wonderful sport - it's their pastime. O, Canada! However, I enjoy the fact that hockey has a boutique-like status in the States. The last thing I want to see is for it to get a ridiculous NASCAR-like following. No thanks.

One other thing that newbies to the sport need to know - having appropriate gear is as important as any other sport, and more important than most, in this hockey fanatic's opinion. Ya gotta have cool threads to go to a game and/or watch a good game at home or at a watering hole with your buds. You can always visit the NHL Online Shop to custom build a jersey with your favorite player's name and number. However, retro is sooo in these days, and retro hockey jerseys begin and end with Philadelphia's own Mitchell & Ness. My M&N jerseys are among my most treasured sports items. But, don't buy direct from M&N, though - you'll pay through the nose. Find a dealer - eBay is a good place to start, but buyer beware - there are loads of fakes out there. Hey, email me - I can help and have had some great experiences getting very good deals on the 'Net.

So, that's my case. Here's an invite to hop on board the hockey bandwagon.

Get a jersey, a group of friends, and

GO CUP CRAZY!