When the National Hockey League released its 2004-05 schedule, I downloaded a copy of the New York Rangers schedule and stuffed it into my Palm (the Tungsten T3, thanQ very much). After spending a couple hours’ time making it look pretty (replete with a Ranger logo on the day of each game), I now feel like a fool – there won’t be a hockey season this year, and the NHL in general might very well become an irrelevant non-entity.
Gary Bettman, the current NHL Commissioner, was quoted recently on ESPN.com as saying “I hate to say it, but we lose less money when we don’t play.” If they aren’t making enough money to pay grown men to play a game, then the NHL should fold and another entity – one not dominated and soured by finance, should be created. As much as I enjoy hockey (both playing and watching), knowing that this game might be halted merely by financial concerns is sad. Baseball is much more central to a much larger audience; yet no one seems to be too disappointed (at least in the US) that hockey isn’t being played.
And frankly, being a life-long New York Rangers fan, and witnessing the last decade of Ranger futility, I can’t really complain.
One of the few disappointments I return to with regularity is the status of Mark Messier: he’s a 42-year-old playing 30-year-old minutes, which is ridiculous; but the fact that he might retire if there is no 2004-05 season, is sad. Reality always impacts fantasy (in this case, professional hockey in the US), but it’s a shame that a career as incredible as his will end due to financial disagreements.
Stay tuned to ESPN if you’re interested; otherwise, enjoy Monday Night Football and sitcoms, or start going to Blockbuster or whatever local store rents DVD’s for a reasonable fee. If you’re sitting on the couch looking for hockey, you’re going to be disappointed for a long time.
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