Joel Stein is a funny guy. Stein grew up a die-hard hockey fan in New Jersey (like me); he has written for TIME magazine and Entertainment Weekly, co-hosted I Love The 80s on VH-1, and now writes for the L.A. Times (not like me).
This weekend he penned a missive to Los Angeles, and to U.S. citizens in general, railing about the media’s and the public’s general disinterest in the sport we love. His sentiments about hockey – as well as his pop culture obsession – so closely echo my own that I wanted to share them with you.
In particular his ire toward Anaheim is evident; instead of a Cup parade, the city’s celebration consisted of “hanging out in the Honda Center parking lot at 6:30 on Saturday and waiting for free hot dogs, Pepsi and Aramark barbecue potato chips. That’s not a celebration. That’s Day 3 for Katrina victims.”
Here’s more:
The whole country is bafflingly uninterested in hockey. Only nine of the cities that have NHL teams bothered sending reporters to Anaheim for the finals; the New York Times only sent someone to Game 1. News conferences were held over the phone. Monday night’s game was tied for the lowest-rated TV show in the history of NBC, the network that brought us “Manimal.” An overtime playoff game on NBC was ditched in favor of a Preakness pre-race show — which was just live coverage of a petting zoo. Hockey is the only thing Jerry Bruckheimer is involved in that America doesn’t watch.
“I’ve tried explaining the beauty of the sport to too many people, too many times. These are normal-size guys playing a contact sport while also ice skating, spinning beautiful ballet while beating the crap out of each other. Imagine how awesome ‘The Nutcracker’ would be if they actually did what the title promised.”
It’s good to see hockey getting some ink in the L.A. Times, even if it is only to object to the lack of hockey coverage.
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