I want to like hockey

After visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame on my trip and watching some of the NHL Playoffs, I have developed the feeling that I want to follow hockey...I want to like hockey...I want to be a fan. I have had these thoughts before, but they seem to fade away pretty quickly. As a sports fan I would think the sport of hockey would be something I would easily get into, but for a variety of reasons I have not. Here are three of those reasons.

I don't live in an area where hockey matters. When you think of sports as they relate to Ohio in general, and Northeast Ohio specifically, you usually think of football. High school football with rivalries like Massillon vs. McKinley, college football with Ohio State, and professional football with the Cleveland Browns. Football is the sport that everyone seems to follow and want to talk about. And now with LeBron James and the Cavaliers garnering so much attention locally and nationally, there seems to leave little room for a sport like hockey to claim any attention. You don't see hockey on TV, read about it in the papers, hear it discussed on the radio, or talk about it at the office. When its rarely mentioned its hard to follow.

I think if I lived in an area where hockey matters I would follow it and most likely be a fan. I can think of when we lived in Kalamazoo, MI and went to lots of Kalamazoo Wings games (who at the time were a minor league affilate of the Minnesota Northstars) I always enjoyed going to the games and think I would have continued to care about hockey and follow the Minnestoa Northstars if we did not move. I still have an affinity for the Northstars (although since then they have moved to Dallas and are just the Stars), but would not consider myself a fan. As well, my friend Tim, who I roomed with in grad school, was a big hockey fan. He was from North Dakota where hockey is a big deal, especially with two of the powerhouse college programs in North Dakota and North Dakota State. I remember watching a lot of the '06 Winter Olympics hockey games with him, and could definitely have seen myself really becoming a fan of hockey if I had been the one that lived in North Dakota and went to NDSU like he did.

Secondly, there is no NHL team in Cleveland. Even while living outside Ohio, if there would have been a Cleveland NHL team, I would assume my dad would have been a fan (like with the Browns, Cavs, and Indians) and in turn would have raised me to be one too. I remember when I was around 5 years old, my dad would teach my brother and I all the names of the Indians players and what positions they played. Having my own bond with the team at an early age grew my desire to root for the Indians, and I would think becoming a fan of a Cleveland hockey team would have worked out the same way. Now there is a team in Ohio, the Columbus BlueJackets that I could root for. Two things seem to hinder me a bit with becoming a true fan of them. First, there is not much history with the team. They entered the NHL in 2000. I want to cheer for a team with history. I really enjoy history a lot and think it makes teams like the BlackHawks, Canadians, etc... special because there seems to be something more to root for when a team has been around and has had its victories and defeats. Secondly, I think it is harder to become a fan of a team the old you get. When you are a kid, you begin to root for the team your dad roots for or the team all the kids at school wear the shirts and jersey of. Kids are more impressionable and the team and players seem larger than life. It's easy to just cheer and have fun even if your team is not particularly good. As you get older though, I think a lot of that luster and spirit wears off and its hard just to start rooting for a team cold-turkey. Now, maybe we should just try to be more like kids again, but I think it is tougher none the less.

Thirdly, the NHL is not on TV much. After the lock out in 2004 and the subsequent loss of their TV deal with ESPN, very few hockey games are on TV. Across the board this has caused a lot of probelms for the NHL because it just isn't out there in the public view like the other three major sports are, along with the likes of Nascar, and even tennis, golf, and mixed martial arts. And although it has a contract with the Verses station now, its nowhere near the exposure the NHL needs.

I want to like hockey, I really do. The game is a great mix of power and grace, physical play coupled with finesse. Maybe with the '10 Olympics soon approaching and with the memories of Toronto on my mind, I may just buckle down and follow hockey more and more. Now I just need to find a team to root for...somebody bring the Whalers back to Hartford.