Guest Feature: It's Our Time Now!

So I got an e-mail from one of my loyal readers who has something to say.  The sky is falling in the world of professional sports.  Fans the world over are clearly disenchanted by the "I'm above the law" attitude which seems so prevelent amongst so many sports super-stars today.  Hockey players, on the other hand, have a relatively squeaky clean "good guy" image.  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  My loyal reader definitely is and he gives us his take on what all the sports madness means to the NHL and its fans.

If anyone out there has something (hockey related) to say and is looking for a platform to say it from, feel free to e-mail your guest features to me.  As long as they're postable, I'll do my best to post them (whether or not I agree with the particular point of view).  Just keep 'em clean, I am a "Rabbi" you know!  Without further adieu, enjoy the read:      

There comes a time in every young man's life when he has to either seize the opportunity before him or he will watch it pass him by. For some that moment comes early, typically with a girl in high school whose curiosity to explore leads you to the school's back stairwell. Others learn how to seize the opportunity when they find something to sell to their friends in the college dorm -- you know, radios and stuff like that, yeah, that's the ticket -- radios! For those of us who are really slow, we finally learn how to make our move out of pure necessity, like when we suggest to our parents that they might have a really good time taking their grandkids to the diner for a few hours (we parents are so thoughtful!), just so we can have a simple moment of peace and quiet in the house. But those opportunities are always there, and the key is to learn to make our move.

What does this have to do with hockey, you ask. Simple. Our lovely sport is the slacker who has let opportunity after opportunity fly by time and time again. The 80's dynasties were great, but the league wasn't smart enough to get a TV contract in the U.S. Gretzky came to L.A., and the league had a decent TV contract, but it allowed the game to become slowed down by defensive play when it should have been catering to the Great One's talents.  The league was more concerned with expanding throughout California then with improving its product. The Rangers finally won a championship and the league responded with a strike. The list goes on into this decade. Time and time again.

But maybe today will be different. The rest of the sports world is in disarray. Day after day we learn how bad things have become for the other sports, leaving a huge gap in the lives of sports fans, just waiting to be filled. But will the NHL have a response? We'll see.

Look at baseball. The single most impressive record in the sport (arguably in ALL of sports) is about to be broken, but the sport and its fans are feeling as much dread as anticipation. Fans grew up with an idealistic vision of the game and don't know how to deal with the evidence before their eyes. To cope, fans somehow pretend the question is WHETHER Bonds took steroids, and how that affects the integrity of the game. Please. Have you seen the size of Barry Bonds' skull? He's like a bobblehead doll of his former self. A person's head doesn't get that big (while other parts presumably get teenie weenie!) without pharmaceutical intervention. The problem for baseball, the real problem, is that Bonds may be the best player to be a modern day Incredible Hulk wannabe, but he's hardly the only one. The game was manipulated and the joy of baseball is, in many ways, gone. Will fans ever be able to watch a player put on 20 pounds in an offseason and start hitting 460 foot homers without immediately assuming the player is cheating the system? Maybe, but it will take some time.

Football's not in much better shape. Steroids isn't the issue here, since everyone is secretly at peace with the fact that players all of a sudden can be 360 pounds and run a 4.6/40. But there's a different problem ruining things for football fans -- the realization that many of the players have gone from eccentric to downright sociopathic. I speak, of course, of the Mike Vick saga, which may represent a turning point in the way we look at our athletes in general. For years, football players have done all sorts of insane things -- stabbing people in night clubs; raping women in dorm rooms; driving while drunk, coked up and shooting a handgun. You name the violent crime, a football player has done it in recent years. So why the shift when Vick tortures some dogs? Is it that man's best friend is that much higher on the social totem pole than humans with two x chromosomes? I don't think so (although the implication of that theory is a whole different conversation). I think people have slowly grown sick of athletes getting away with things that you and I can't do. How many jobs and professions would let you act with impunity? For years athletes have lived by a different standard, and Michael Vick doing unthinkable things to puppies has made us finally rebel. We say we are disgusted with Vick, but maybe we're really saying we're disgusted with the double standard, and we won't accept it anymore. Will the NFL be able to clean up its act so its fans can get behind the players again? Maybe, but it will take some time.

Don't even get me started on basketball. For years, the horrible referreeing of big games has been a running joke. I think back to the old Jordan Bulls or the way the Knicks would get calls when needed to extend their playoff series (but never enough to win the big one), and the current ref gambling scandal makes perfect sense. What could explain the knack, year in and year out, of the refs to take over a game or two in the playoffs. Either the refs have been totally awful, or they were doing David Stern's bidding (some might say a gangster in his own right), or they've been on the take from the mob. But the key is that David Stern's greatest worry goes beyond one ref with a weakness for betting who got in with the wrong crowd. No way, I don't believe it. This ref is just the beginning. The feds don't bust people the instant they have a reason to suspect. Not for something like fixing NBA games. They were watching him for months or longer.  Given the nature of the investigation, is it reasonable to assume that the authorities didn't find something incriminating on other refs, players or coaches? That would be highly improbable, at best. And just wait for the other problems to come to the fore. Trust me, if I could short NBA stock, I would.

The other sports are no better (soccer has the Beckham arrival non-event while the biggest speed in biking is running through the tour leader's veins!), but you get the point.

Where is the NHL in all this? We already know the sport is the ultimate combination of grace and force. We know the players get into the game for the love of the game. We know that NHLers are amongst the nicest and most liekable athletes in all of professional sports.  But we need more.

What is the NHL doing with this opportunity? Are you showing that your players can commit heinous crimes to keep up with the likes of Genghis Khan? Are you showing that your players can juice up to gargantuan proportions? Are your refs beholden to a guy whose first name is "Don?" None of this. The best the NHL can offer is the Staal brothers having a decent bachelor party. Come on NHL -- show me something more. Please. Don't miss this opportunity.