Could Hockey Save Sports In America?
By Jonathan Atwood on June 13th, 2008 2:15 PM |
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The sports world has been rocked over the past couple years with scandal after scandal, from steroids to gambling to illegal video taping and now the possibility of game rigging. Major League Baseball has been embroiled in a massive steroid scandal, including internal investigations, a written report with the names of dozens of supposed steroid users, a Congressional inquiry, lawsuits, subpeonas, and criminal charges against the game’s all time Home Run King. 
Hall of Fame pitcher Roger Clemens is in the fight of his life trying to defend his name against (what seems to be) concrete allegations that he has taken steroids. Barry Bonds was in court earlier this week on multiple counts of perjury. While steroids has not kept fans away from the game (attendance is at an all time high), it has put the game into a different light. Many fans have just accepted it, albeit begrudgingly, and just assume that all the players are juiced up.
The National Football League has been coping with continuing off the field scandals of many of its players. Last season the league was rocked by allegations, and the eventual conviction, of dog fighting charges against Atlanta Falcons’ star quarterback Michael Vick. Vick was not only the best player on the Falcons, but was also one of the most exciting players in the league; a quarterback with uncanny running ability. Several other players have been suspended due to incidences with drugs, drinking and driving, and violence. Adam “Pacman” Jones was suspended for all of the 2007 season for an incidence relating to a shooting at a Las Vegas strip club. Cedric Benson was arrested in early May for allegedly operating a boat while intoxicated. Earlier this week Benson was arrested again, this time for driving a car while intoxicated.
In addition to the torrents of off the field arrests and scandals, the NFL has had to deal with the cheating scandal of one of its premier organizations, the New England Patriots. “Spygate,” as it was aptly titled, stemmed from the illegal taping by the Patriots of the defensive signals of their in-game opponent and rival New York Jets during the first game of the season. 
Days before the Patriots were set to face the New York Giants in this past season’s Superbowl, various news reports announced that there was video tape evidence that the Patriots taped a pre-game walk through of the St. Louis Rams before the 2001 Superbowl between the two teams. The legitimacy and integrity of the Patriots perfect regular season and trip to the Superbowl were called into question, as many around the league and country believed them to be cheaters.
The National Basketball Association was rocked earlier this week by allegations that the league’s front office pulled strings to rig Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings. The allegations were made by disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy, who is currently facing sentencing on charges that he illegally bet on dozens of NBA games. According to a letter field in court, Donaghy “learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be ‘company men’, always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA’s interest to add another game to the series.”
The Lakers won Game 6, attempting 18 more free throws in the fourth quarter than Sacramento. They went on to win the NBA Finals. Donaghy alleges that top league executives, in hopes of increasing television ratings and ticket sales, sought to manipulate the outcome of the games, and ultimately the series, using the referees.
While the National Hockey League has had a couple of its own scandals, including a New Jersey sports gambling ring run by former Philadelphia Flyer Rick Tocchet and the wife of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, Janet Jones, as well as the lockout from a couple years ago that lost the league many of its fans, the NHL has pretty much gone unblemished. The gambling scandal wasn’t specifically related to hockey, and player lockouts are simply a part of professional sports nowadays. Instead hockey has tried to improve its game to attract new fans, and re-attract old ones. It has several young stars who are some of the most exciting hockey players to ever grace the ice, including Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, both of whom played in this year’s Stanley Cup Finals for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It is an exciting time for the NHL, and due to its relative obscurity in comparison to the other Big Three, it lacks the intensive focus of the media.
I think this poses an interesting question: Will the NHL’s fairly squeeky clean reputation attract fans who are disenfranchised with steroids in baseball, drugs and violence amongst the NFL’s players, and alleged game rigging in the NBA?
Hockey’s problem has always been that it is expensive to play, its harder to understand the particular nuances of the game and follow the in-game action than its three other counterparts, and its largely made up of foreign players. The fact that it is the past time of Canada doesn’t help either. The United States is very nationalistic in nature, and that often reflects in its sports.
Nevertheless, the American public is quickly becoming fed up with scandal after scandal in their professional sports. Does this mean that fans will come running into the cold embrace of professional ice hockey? I don’t know. But sports is an integral part of the American psyche and spirit, and those fed up with football, baseball, and basketball will have to go somewhere for their sport, why not hockey?
There are currently 3 responses to “Could Hockey Save Sports In America?”
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Nothing would make me happier than to see hockey’s popularity grow in this country, but I don’t think it’s fair to point to the sport as scandal free. it’s easy to stay scandal free when no one’s looking at you. for instance two seasons ago islanders defenseman sean hill was banned for using steroids, but no one has taken a long look at hockey’s PED policies. if anything, i’m inclined to believe that the use of steroids, HGH, etc. is MORE prevalent in the NHL than in baseball because you can use the stuff and not get caught. The NHL got so much bigger in the 90s as guys struggled to keep up with juggernauts like Jagr and Lindros. You don’t think more than a few 6″5′ defenseman were juicing? Or the little guy, struggling to keep up amongst bigger men? Would it surprise anyone to learn that Theo Fleury juiced? Ken Daneyko? Believe me, the NHL has its skeletons. There’s just no one looking in the closet.
I too would like to see hockey take off in America. I just think it’s an uphill battle in a lot of areas.
- It’s extremely expensive to play. My boss’s son play hockey and he told me it costs him around $13,000 annually for him to play. Granted, he plays 12 months a year and is on advanced travelling leagues, but it’s still not cheap.
- Much like Gozer already mentioned, I don’t doubt the PED’s either. In the 90’s hockey players grew to an almost gigantic stature. Smaller players had to find some way to get an edge.
- Lots of people also still find it violent. If they don’t know the sport, it’s easy to look at it and say it’s a bunch of guys using sticks as weapons, and fighting. As ignorant as that sounds a lot of people view it that way. Gary Bettman is doing his best to create the “new NHL”, but in some ways I think that’s ostracising the older fans.
- Also, don’t kid yourself about the NHL being legal free. Mike Danton is probably one of the most weel known with his plot to murder his agent. Otherwise, most of the trouble in the NHL stems from alcohol and drugs. Ken Dayeko, Bob Probert, Theo Fluery, and Grant Fuhr are only a handful of players who have had their run-ins with the law.
- Given the fact they also don’t have a real TV deal, it’s jsut another strike against them.
One thing cool about hockey is the players are extremely down to earth and are more accessible then other sports, which is something in their favor, but I think until they’re marketed correctly it’ll continue to be a nitche sport.
I agree with gozer and platt, no one watches it now…and they wont watch it in the future. I can appreciate hockey, but it’s a tough game to appreciate unless you’ve played it. And unless you live in buffalo or minnesota, chances are… you’ve never played it. Everyone in america has picked up a football, basketball or baseball at some point in their lives. probably played some sort of pick up version at some point with family and friends… it’s just a part of our cultural make-up. It’s the fabric that our childhoods are built on. Plus, unless they make the puck bigger or force every team to play like the Red Wings, there no way a casual fan can really follow the action like you can with the other sports. By far, Hockey is much more exciting then baseball, and may be on a par with basketball or football in that sense, but the point is… most people can’t even tell when a goal is scored. You could have a drinkning game based on how long it takes the fans to react after a goal. a shot for every second. Hockey is for Canadians… we should just keep it up there and be done with it, besides, they need something they can call their own.