"Are You Not Entertained?"

[GordonHowe]

Look at the penalty log from the Ducks game last night. 3rd period got chippy, blowout game. Zegras and Draisaitl both got misconducts, Zegras for spearing. I watched the game recap on NHL.com....nothing, just goals. WTF

The prosecution rests, Your Honor.

 

[Gee Wally]

Things change. Times change. With everything.
Bettman is the hired hand of the owners. He executes their demands.
Which is and always will be, make money. Whilst dodging lawsuits or anything onerous.

The only way to have any shot at all for fans to pressure a change ( highly unlikely) is to stop donating to league revenue.

The money “ you” spend or better yet dont spend dictates the league’s compass.

 

[GordonHowe]

Can I miss a lot of the physicality, rawness and fights while simultaneously loving the increased speed, scoring and skill?

Yes, you can.

Two contradictory ideas can be equally true. Tough to hold them in the mind at the same time, however.

 

[smithformeragent]

When in doubt, follow the money trail.

The owners couldn’t give two shits with I think about their product.

Fans are filling the barns. (I’m basically priced out)

Television networks are forking over cash for the broadcast rights.

Advertisers are sponsoring ads on the boards, on the jerseys, on the helmets.

They’ll expand to 33 clubs, willingly lining their pockets with the expansion fee. Hell, I’d be surprised if they’re not up to 36 clubs by the time Jacob is in middle school.

Some of us will reminisce about the old 21 team or 28 team league, the “old days” pre-lockout, and what Dunkin Donuts used to be like when the only coffee flavors were regular, hazelnut, and French vanilla.

 

[wintersej]

When in doubt, follow the money trail.

The owners couldn’t give two shits with I think about their product.

Fans are filling the barns. (I’m basically priced out)

Television networks are forking over cash for the broadcast rights.

Advertisers are sponsoring ads on the boards, on the jerseys, on the helmets.

They’ll expand to 33 clubs, willingly lining their pockets with the expansion fee. Hell, I’d be surprised if they’re not up to 36 clubs by the time Jacob is in middle school.

Some of us will reminisce about the old 21 team or 28 team league, the “old days” pre-lockout, and what Dunkin Donuts used to be like when the only coffee flavors were regular, hazelnut, and French vanilla.

Dunks was good when we were kids, right? I didn't make that up? It's so gross now... but so convenient.

 

[GordonHowe]

Honestly, I do think the missing part of this conversation is the corporate part. We see corporations abandoning social media platforms or TV news programs because of controversy. Discover card or whatever doesn’t want blood on the ice on their logo. The NHL doesn’t want their only advertisers to be or whatever.

Thanks for making a very important point. Perhaps the main point.

The corporatization of American sports has ruined American sports on several levels.

Look at college football. I could care less about it but even a cursory glance tells you all you need know about the state of sports. As is often the case, it's all about the money.

The chase for the almighty dollar can make adults who should know better do some curious things.

You're absolutely right that faceless corporate sponsors want nothing at all to do with controversy of any kind.

Bad for business.

They foot the bill. They make the rules.

 

[smithformeragent]

Dunks was good when we were kids, right? I didn't make that up? It's so gross now... but so convenient.

The iced coffee tastes like cough syrup.
The hot coffee isn’t bad if I’m in the right mood.
Everything is mass produced and delivered.

I do a local mom and pop shop for iced coffee in the morning. They fry their doughnuts on site. It makes a big difference.

 

[GordonHowe]

When in doubt, follow the money trail.

The owners couldn’t give two shits with I think about their product.

Fans are filling the barns. (I’m basically priced out)

Television networks are forking over cash for the broadcast rights.

Advertisers are sponsoring ads on the boards, on the jerseys, on the helmets.

They’ll expand to 33 clubs, willingly lining their pockets with the expansion fee. Hell, I’d be surprised if they’re not up to 36 clubs by the time Jacob is in middle school.

Some of us will reminisce about the old 21 team or 28 team league, the “old days” pre-lockout, and what Dunkin Donuts used to be like when the only coffee flavors were regular, hazelnut, and French vanilla.

Preach, brother!

I'm off to watch the NewsHour with my nightly martini, though I shall return.

Before I go, however, as much as we complain about this stuff, let's not give in to reductionist cynicism.

I'm plenty cynical about many things in our society, but don't let these disappointments twist you into a miserable pretzel.

Learn to compartmentalize and keep the bad stuff in perspective.

There's a lot of good stuff too,

 

[smithformeragent]

Thanks for making a very important point. Perhaps the main point.

The corporatization of American sports has ruined American sports on several levels.

Look at college football. I could care less about it but even a cursory glance tells you all you need know about the state of sports. As is often the case, it's all about the money.

The chase for the almighty dollar can make adults who should know better do some curious things.

You're absolutely right that faceless corporate sponsors want nothing at all to do with controversy of any kind.

Bad for business.

They foot the bill. They make the rules.

Monday night football.

Thursday night football.

Saturday night football.

Football streaming on your device.

RedZone channel to see every game on at once.

Highlights on Twitter immediately after they happen on the field.

It used to be that if you wanted to see the highlights from the other games, NFL Primetime was must watch Sunday at the end of the 4pm games.

I can’t even imagine what the world will look like when my little guy is my age.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Yes, you can.

Two contradictory ideas can be equally true. Tough to hold them in the mind at the same time, however.

And see, I don’t find it difficult somehow.

I can be nostalgic for the past while appreciating the present.

There’s no sport that hasn’t changed over the years. Some sports I came along for the ride. Football. Hockey. Baseball, I’ve all but left behind.

When the NHL was as its purest, running on adrenaline and raw emotion… was probably before my time. Probably before helmets. What I’ve been fortunate to see of that earlier era, I’ve loved.

But take all of the biggest highlight reel goals from the Bruins of the 90’s and compare them to a highlight package of the team from just last season? I bet last season bests it. One season over a decade. I can turn a game on between two middling teams who I don’t give a shit about now and be wholly entertained. I couldn’t say that… hell, fifteen years ago?

Different? Absolutely. Worse? Not necessarily. Not to me.

 

[Bodit9]

The league brought in Bettman because revenues were not anywhere near on par with other major sports in the U.S. and hockey was very much a niche sport. And if we are honest, watching those games from the 70s, things I watched as a kid, it's kind of embarrassing, and easy to see why the sport was not catching on outside of its core markets.

That said. it seems like it has gone too far in the rush to get away from that image. But really, it hasn't been a rush, has it? It's been over 30 years now since Bettman has been at the helm, and we are seeing the fruits of the slow, steady change to soccer on ice and the diminishing of the things that made hockey unique among sports.

I would submit that the real change that is now driving this 'evolution' is the players. A generation of North American players now have grown up and learned the sport in the age of Bettman, and they are not bringing the same attitude and skillsets to the sport. They don't miss the old days of hockey because they have never know anything else. Who is left in the league that played when Bettman was not commissioner? No one and they've all come up well after his regime and direction was solidly entrenched.

Pushback against a sanitized sport is growing smaller and smaller with time. It makes me sad, but life is change, and I still love the sport and watching it, even if what I enjoy is different from how it was 20 years ago.

Soccer on ice. So true!!

 

[Hookslide]

Nah, entertaining games with this Bruins team are few and far between.

We’re geared to think average games are fantastic now.

Maybe you should give pickle ball a chance.

 

[Sheppy]

Maybe you should give pickle ball a chance.

Nah, I’m good, dude.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Things change. Times change. With everything.
Bettman is the hired hand of the owners. He executes their demands.
Which is and always will be, make money. Whilst dodging lawsuits or anything onerous.

The only way to have any shot at all for fans to pressure a change ( highly unlikely) is to stop donating to league revenue.

The money “ you” spend or better yet dont spend dictates the league’s compass.

That second part has become very important.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I look back at the early 90s vs today...I was more entertained back then than today. If I wanted all offense with no contact I'd watch the Celtics. If it isn't improvement it isn't progress, it's regress.

The early 1990's were a much higher scoring era than the current early 2020's.

 

[Lobster57]

The early 1990's were a much higher scoring era than the current early 2020's.

a big big part of that is because goaltending still kinda sucked

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

Thank you. I completely agree with much of this. It is a far more dangerous, reckless game now, with little respect and even less accountability, for the reasons you list above. The league long ago snuffed out the ability of players to police their own game, which worked pretty well through much of its existence.

Now, "accountability" means going after an opponent for registering a wholly legal, clean hit. This bizarre, ubiquitous practice highlights the dysfunction of the contemporary NHL.

The red line should be reinstituted.



"Gambling problem? Call 1-800 BET NOW."

This is so sad and true

 

[dafoomie]

The physical game was supposedly on the way out right after the lockout, too. It's cyclical. If a few teams start playing that way and people tune in, win or lose, it'll come right back. What drives me crazy is that if any team should carry the banner for physical play, fighting, and passion, it should be the BOSTON BRUINS.

 

[Fenian24]

Lack of divisional play is part of this, too, as you point out.

Bettman on the league's vision going forward:

"See, every team has to play every other team. Growing the game in non-traditional markets is our priority. It's what makes our sport unique and exciting for our fans. NHL fans are the best, most knowledgeable fans in sports.

"Boston against Montreal more than twice a year is too niche. It's too parochial. Frankly, it's a snore.

"Our younger fans don't know where Montreal is. Where is it? They don't care. It doesn't move the needle. They want goals. They want Connor Bedard. We're giving them what they want.

"We're very excited about Arizona this season."

They got their wish. A bloated, bloodless 32 game league. Congratulations.

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I am not religious but I really hope there is a hell so Bettman, Sinden and JJ can share a room.

 

[GordonHowe]

Monday night football.

Thursday night football.

Saturday night football.

Football streaming on your device.

RedZone channel to see every game on at once.

Highlights on Twitter immediately after they happen on the field.

It used to be that if you wanted to see the highlights from the other games, NFL Primetime was must watch Sunday at the end of the 4pm games.

I can’t even imagine what the world will look like when my little guy is my age.

Good luck.

 

[GordonHowe]

And see, I don’t find it difficult somehow.

I can be nostalgic for the past while appreciating the present.

There’s no sport that hasn’t changed over the years. Some sports I came along for the ride. Football. Hockey. Baseball, I’ve all but left behind.

When the NHL was as its purest, running on adrenaline and raw emotion… was probably before my time. Probably before helmets. What I’ve been fortunate to see of that earlier era, I’ve loved.

But take all of the biggest highlight reel goals from the Bruins of the 90’s and compare them to a highlight package of the team from just last season? I bet last season bests it. One season over a decade. I can turn a game on between two middling teams who I don’t give a shit about now and be wholly entertained. I couldn’t say that… hell, fifteen years ago?

Different? Absolutely. Worse? Not necessarily. Not to me.

IF you like it, great. No harm, no foul.

And, I must admit, in certain respects today's game is superior to that of yesteryear.

My yesteryear is the 1970s, and in almost every category that matters to me, I prefer that game.

I remember few helmets back then, and though obviously necessary today, I dislike them.

Derek Sanderson has said the NHL never should have mandated helmets, and I rather agree. They detracted from the personality of the game. More, to my mind they began a trend toward a misguided sense of invulnerability and hence, recklessness.

Yes, the NHL had stick swinging incidents prior to their arrival (Ted Green, Wayne Maki), and its true that many players used their sticks as a weapon.

Even so most NHL players understood that using a stick this way was bad business, because without helmets, everyone was vulnerable. Hence, a certain red line, a certain respect.

I submit that helmets changed that, and also led to the "gladiator equipment" we see today. Again, there is a false sense of invulnerability and, unfortunately, a concomitant lack of respect.

But, as Wally notes, times change, for good or ill.

That's life.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

a big big part of that is because goaltending still kinda sucked

Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Andy Moog, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford, John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter, Felix Potvin, Bob Essensa, Kirk McLean, Don Beaupre.

A few guys that were pretty good at that time.

 

[sarge88]

Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Andy Moog, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford, John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter, Felix Potvin, Bob Essensa, Kirk McLean, Don Beaupre.

A few guys that were pretty good at that time.

I think goaltending has improved significantly more than any other position in the past 30 years.

As good as those guys were then, I think the best goaltenders today are markedly better than the best in 1992 or so.

Playing the “magic” game, where you theoretically drop a player from yesteryear into the game today, I think the best forwards and defensemen back then would fare much better than the goaltenders if they were to suddenly be dropped into a game today.

 

[GordonHowe]

That last point I think is very accurate and significant. I don't think it's the only factor determining how the game is shaping up these days, but it's easily one of the most impactful. Sport reflects society, and it reflects the people who play it. The young men of today have grown up in a vastly different environment and been taught some very different lessons about what it means to be a man and what sorts of conduct are acceptable. It's inevitable that the effects of this will bleed into pro sport just as it's also changing many other professions.

Look at a guy like Charlie McAvoy. Big body, can handle himself, isn't afraid to play tough and hard. But he doesn't really have a mean bone in his body. He's a lover not a fighter. Piss him off enough and yeah he'll push back, but it's not his natural inclination to get physical or aggressive with opponents for no or little reason. And that's the norm now. Someone like Tom Wilson who still thrives on that old-school jock/alpha male mentality is a dinosaur who's kind will only become ever rarer.

The league of course has for the most part only exacerbated this trend with the way the game is officiated, particularly around roughing, fights etc., and the relative lack of games between divisional and conference rivals. They could look to change direction on some of that stuff and to encourage some of the truculence and mutual dislike back into the game that otherwise won't happen as organically as it once would. But that feels unlikely, for a variety of reasons. The alternative is to lean more into and promote those assets that are developing more and more in recent times - the speed, skills, athleticism and endurance of the modern player. Which they are doing, but messily and with a certain level of incoherence that means the game isn't being managed and presented anywhere near as well as it could be. A lot could be improved in that regard.

Good post.

Others here have made the same basic point: the players of today are very different than those of the past.

On one hand I lament that, on the other, to me it's a good thing.

I romanticize the lore of the game, especially its physicality, its meanness, its hatreds and rivalries. I love that stuff.

But, I'm glad that today's players relate to their teammates and opponents in a different, shall I say, "enlightened" fashion. Look no further than the culture Zdeno Chara fostered in Boston, which Patrice Bergeron embodied (and, ironically, Brad Marchand embraces). It's a different game, with different values. and that's not necessarily a bad thing at all.

Good with the bad.

That's life.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I think goaltending has improved significantly more than any other position in the past 30 years.

As good as those guys were then, I think the best goaltenders today are markedly better than the best in 1992 or so.

Playing the “magic” game, where you theoretically drop a player from yesteryear into the game today, I think the best forwards and defensemen back then would fare much better than the goaltenders if they were to suddenly be dropped into a game today.

Having lighter equipment and bigger pads would help them quite a bit.

I think Patrick Roy would be just fine today.

The biggest change in goaltending is literally bigger goaltenders. Barrasso would be just about the only guy that would be average size today.