On any given night, I have the possibility of watching 6 different NHL games. MSG, FSNY, ESPN, ESPN2, and the channel the Isles are on that I can't recall the name. Here Bill Simmons, one of the most talented men on ESPN.com right now, writes why he's moved on from watching hockey. He, like me, grew up watching the Bruins and slowly became disillusioned in the 90's after we knew the B's should have won the cup in the early 90's, but didn't pony up the cash and never would.

Aside from his complaints about the speed of the league and the influx of Europeans, I agree with the entire column. The league itself is just terrible. I played hockey for 20 years and the various changes wrought by Gary Bettman have slowly torn the hockey heart out of my chest. I try to get back into it, but my team sucks and will never commit to winning. I like going to games, but it's too expensive to be more than an occasional event. The only thing that keeps my interest now is college hockey, but TV has yet to discover this gem and there aren't enough fans to make it at all national. Of course, these were the hurdles that the NHL tried unsuccessfully to jump but wound up falling flat in a puddle of its own filth.

Now I make an annual trek to Boston to watch the Hockey East championships. I call on the morning that tickets are released to get my favorite seats. I have a secret location (I humor myself that it's secret, I'm sure others know about it) where I want my seats as it is by far the best place to watch a game from. Jess humors me by coming along and I think she might start to look forward to it after a decade or so of attending. I echo Simmons hope that the pro league will get a wake-up call and turn it around. I'm not expecting much though, as long as Bettman is commissioner.
- posted by levinson @ 10/26/2001 02:32:00 PM