Auf dem gefrorenen erhaltenen Blog› also Hockey fragte heraus auf einem Datum diese Woche

Ich denke so vor kurzem nicht wie 12:45 P.M. Tuesday anyone even in the NHL’s Communications or Marketing offices could have imagined the media’s love-at-first-sight sweet nothings for our game soon to ensue.

Early Thursday I Googled “Winter Classic” as a subject search, and from little more than one full page of listings spotted these headlines:

Winter Classic is a step in the right direction

Winter Classic: Outdoor Game Scores

The Perfect Snowstorm: The Winter Classic Scores

NBC Shoots, Scores with NHL Winter Classic Ratings

Winter Classic a Huge Success

NHL Winter Classic proves league can get it right (” . . . nothing short of an overwhelming success . . . “)

In truth, hockey got lucky Tuesday, on at least two fronts. The first was a slate of yawner college pigskin bowl games, the byproduct of BCS madness rendering New Years Day — once the sport’s Christmas morning — now needless, the nutritional equivalent of television Twinkies. The second front, obviously, was the weather one: raucus and Rockwellian. The Ralph on Tuesday had everything but the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Best of all, few among the millions who watched likely thought, “Ah-hah, the spoiled millionaires are discomforted for a few hours.” No, millions saw highly skilled, smiling skaters persevering through rhythm-robbing interruptions and a rapidly deteriorating playing surface, and 71,000 supporters screaming through sideways snow and sleet and gashing Great Lake winds.

I became aware that hockey had created a crush, that in this week it was being asked out on a date by the four-sport letterman who never noticed us in class; a date perhaps only for this Saturday night, but a date nonetheless.

Here’s a loser-has-to-get-a-Mike-Green-haircut wager I direct at those who think Tuesday was a lone flicker of lucky lust directed at the league: there’s a new Yankee Stadium today under construction, and it won’t be open 5 years before the Rangers skate a regular season game in it.

Why would the Yankees and BigMedia care about us again?

Because in our natural state we’re very pretty.

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Posted at 5:15 am. Filed under Buffalo Sabres, ESPN, Gary Bettman, Media, Michael Wilbon, Morning cup-a-joe, National Hockey League, Old Time Hockey, Pittsburgh Penguins, Pond Hockey, TV, The Winter Classic, Tony Kornheiser, Washington Post.
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4 Comments

Rage wrote:

I’ll bet you $50 that the Rangers don’t skate in Yankee stadium within 5 years. $25 that they won’t within 10 years. $10 that they won’t ever.

Friday, January 4, 2008 at 9:32 am | Permalink
pgreene wrote:

dude… you exercised for a long time.

it won’t last. pretty soon all those guys will be back to trying to find new ways to describe a dunk and forget hockey ever existed. in fact, i’d bet you the espn bosses sent a memo reminding their people exactly how they’re supposed to feel about hockey.

Friday, January 4, 2008 at 9:57 am | Permalink
pucksandbooks wrote:

pg - there’s the Denise Austin aura to a large gym early in a new year.

(I’m physio-genre-ing myself)

I can’t take issue with either the spirit or precedent undergirding your position here. But to paraphrase the Cure, It’s Friday and Someone’s in Love with Us.

Friday, January 4, 2008 at 10:09 am | Permalink
pgreene wrote:

i’ll agree the gym is an inspiring place to be in the new year.

of course, i saw elsewhere that john bucchigross apparently played the “ovy should go elsewhere” card in his column. i’m sure he did so with a clever reference to a band no one’s ever heard of or some insider joke from new england. i did not dignify his column with a click, so i cannot attest to the veracity of the statement i’ve just made. just my hunch.

Friday, January 4, 2008 at 11:01 am | Permalink