My response to Bianchi's sports column
So yesterday in the Orlando Sentinel, this guy Mike Bianchi just happens to mention that there is "still no hockey... And still no one cares". So I felt it only right that I should write him an e-mail expressing my anger. But I couldn't do that when I realized he was right.
Mr Bianchi,
I wanted to start this letter by expressing my anger over your article on Saturday where you mentioned that no one cares that there's no hockey. But I realized that you are right, well, mostly right. To say that not everyone cares is false because there are many people who care about it, just no one in Florida, not even after Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup this past season.
So, after realizing that you were right in saying no one likes hockey, I wanted to tell you why. The first reason why no one likes hockey is because the television stations don't broadcast regular season games. By the time tv companies do broadcast games, they are already halfway through the play-offs. ESPN doesn't help the sport either. Many games that it shows are broadcast on EPSN 2, and there is little mention of hockey at all. during the 2003-2004 play-off games most if not all of the "Sport Center Top Ten" plays were of baseball spring training games or other sports. Even Sports Illustrated gives hockey the short end of the stick. The week after Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup, the sports magazine didn't even have a picture of them on the front. How are people supposed to get interested in a sport that not even Sports Illustrated cares about?
The lock-out will not end in time to save this year's season, but when it does end, maybe the media will finally give hockey the recognition it deserves, not the casual references as found in your article. Only when the media embraces hockey can the sport reach a broader fan base and get people to care about it.
Mr Bianchi,
I wanted to start this letter by expressing my anger over your article on Saturday where you mentioned that no one cares that there's no hockey. But I realized that you are right, well, mostly right. To say that not everyone cares is false because there are many people who care about it, just no one in Florida, not even after Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup this past season.
So, after realizing that you were right in saying no one likes hockey, I wanted to tell you why. The first reason why no one likes hockey is because the television stations don't broadcast regular season games. By the time tv companies do broadcast games, they are already halfway through the play-offs. ESPN doesn't help the sport either. Many games that it shows are broadcast on EPSN 2, and there is little mention of hockey at all. during the 2003-2004 play-off games most if not all of the "Sport Center Top Ten" plays were of baseball spring training games or other sports. Even Sports Illustrated gives hockey the short end of the stick. The week after Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup, the sports magazine didn't even have a picture of them on the front. How are people supposed to get interested in a sport that not even Sports Illustrated cares about?
The lock-out will not end in time to save this year's season, but when it does end, maybe the media will finally give hockey the recognition it deserves, not the casual references as found in your article. Only when the media embraces hockey can the sport reach a broader fan base and get people to care about it.