The English think hockey is for hicks

That would explain why it's so popular in the prairies, now wouldn't it? The entire article is worth a read, but here is the best part, from the Guardian:

Before we begin today, let me ask a quick question: are there any readers of this column who believe that Gary Bettman is doing a good job? If not, then do any readers of this column know anyone who believes that Bettman is doing a good job? No? OK, then do you know of anyone who believes Bettman is doing a good job? Can you even imagine anyone who believes he's doing a good job?

Funny, me neither.

Here's what my years trying to follow a puck on TV or from increasingly expensive seats in NHL arenas have taught me: the more hardcore the hockey fan, the more hardcore the hatred for Gary Bettman.

In case you don't know, Bettman is the commissioner of the National Hockey League, a position he's held for almost 16 years. Before this, he was employed by the NBA, during a period that even then appeared to be a golden age. The NHL's board of governors saw the bling and bounce of basketball and assumed its magic and money could be replicated on ice. They not only headhunted Bettman, they also gave him a brand new title. Commissioner. With that went a mandate - sell the game. Forget Saskatchewan, go forth to the Sun Belt.

As an English fan of the NHL, it took me a long time to recognise that in the United States hockey is not cool. So amazed was I to learn this fact that I still can't believe it's true, especially when compared to basketball. I like basketball well enough, I've seen the Clippers play, the Lakers, the Knicks, the Celtics. I'm not meaning to sound either ignorant or unduly partisan, but the idea that the epitome of cool is a game where men bounce a ball mystifies me. Hockey, meanwhile, is fast, noisy, dangerous and potentially violent - how can America not like it? Not because that's what America itself is like but ... alright, because that's what America itself is like. But if basketball is all limited-edition Nikes and hip-hop beats, hockey is about gap-toothed farm boys clutching tickets to Nickelback concerts. Folks, word from the focus groups is in: hockey is for hicks.

He has a good point, too. Bettman is useless, and is by far the most hated man in hockey in almost all circles. That being said, he does have another point: that the hicks have more taste than the braindead American basketball fans. To which I say, good on you. But I think the issue goes far deeper than that. Hockey simply isn't an ingrained part of the American culture, as it is up here. Basketball, although envisioned by a Canadian, was born and bred (and nurtured to it's current mega-success) completely and wholly in the United States. Much like hockey up here.

On another note, I especially like that he mentioned Saskatchewan as a more common-sense place to locate a hockey team than the American south. Again, good on you.

(via jordoncooper.com, photo by groov3)