Gender Equality Month: Women of the TML

[GQS]

NBA spends more time in China then any other league. NBA, NFL and MLB are very diverse. There are quite a few Asian, middle eastern, Indian decent athletes in each of those sports. The main difference is that the NHL sucks at promoting the game, that is the truth. There are definitely minorities that are interested hockey or do become interested in hockey at a later age. The problem is they aren’t exposed to it at an earlier enough age. I do agree with you, the barriers have become less. But still marketing of the sport is horrendous.

The NBA spends time in China promoting the NBA. Maybe I missed it but I have yet to see any massive campaign to get more Chinese kids or any asian kids for that matter to pick up basketball so that they will take it seriously and perhaps become an NBA player one day. Right now the NBA's interest in China and asia is mostly to make them fans and to get them to buy merchandise.

Also you see more kids playing basketball, football and soccer because those sports are simply more accessible. You need 1 ball and there is a basketball net at every school or corner in a neighbour hood. You just need 1 football for a big group, you need 1 soccer ball for a big group. You don’t need skill development coaches or to pay for ice time to get better at those sports. You can go work on your game for hours outside or any rec Center for free. That’s why more minorities choose those sports, not only are they a bit more entertaining but the cost to develop as an athlete is lower.

As I said even with simple ball hockey that costs almost nothing, I rarely if ever see minority kids playing that on the streets compared to other sports. So if many of these kids can't even play something as simple as ball hockey, what makes you think they'll suddenly be interested enough to play actual hockey?

And again there are plenty of middle class and wealthy minorities living in Canada particularly with asian people and yet the number of asians participating in hockey isn't very many despite money not being an issue. I've seen a ton of asians be fans of hockey, but that doesn't mean they necessarily want to take it up competitively. So what's the excuse other than perhaps its as simple as they have no interest in taking up the sport even if they might be fans of it and watch it.

With anything if there is representation of those athletes; the interest will be there. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m black, the interest level in hockey I’ve seen from my friend groups has grown a lot since Austin Matthews has been a maple leaf. Not because he’s a minority but because he’s entertaining and is a world class talent. I’m also a teacher and I’ve also seen more minority kids having an interest in hockey. Do I ever think it’s going to get to the level of playing basketball, soccer, baseball? No but It’s growing but there’s still work to be done.

So in one sentence you say there needs to be representation for people to be interested and then in the next sentence you say your friends like Matthews not because he's partly a minority, but simply because he's entertaining to watch and its gotten them into hockey more.

I'd say THAT should be the main objective of hockey to be an entertaining and exciting sport to watch rather than worry about whether or not there's enough diversity and representation. Some of the best hockey I've ever watched was back during the late 1990s-early 2000s when the Leafs faced the Sens in the playoffs 4 out of 5 years and the Leafs won all 4 series. Those games were simply amazing to watch and it was a war on the ice between the two teams and it was also an all out war between the fans of those two teams. The Battle of Ontario was at its best during those years and I still remember the last time the Leafs beat the Sens in 2003-04 in a 7 game series, I tuned into Ottawa sports radio to hear the reactions and holy smokes the Sens fans meltdown was INSANE! They were so devastated that I kinda felt sorry for them abit. Leafs fans probably had that similar feeling after losing to the Habs last year.

Anyways the reason I'm bringing these memories up is because back then NO ONE CARED if there was 'enough representation' in the NHL and whether or not it was 'diverse enough'. We simply cheered for our team, watched some great hockey, we hated the other team's fans and made fun and laughed at them when we beat them and we were just fans. Hockey was at its best when the fans just cared about the game and the product on the ice. Now we have to deal with all this other crap that's taking away from the game and the enjoyment from it because of the world we currently live in.

I'm all for diversity I just want it to be organic rather that being so forcefully pressed upon us as if there's something seriously wrong because the NHL and hockey isn't diverse enough. Somehow we never think the same way with the NBA or NFL, but only with hockey likely because its one of the few sports that'st still predominately white as if that were some flaw that required fixing.

 

[francis246]

The NBA spends time in China promoting the NBA. Maybe I missed it but I have yet to see any massive campaign to get more Chinese kids or any asian kids for that matter to pick up basketball so that they will take it seriously and perhaps become an NBA player one day. Right now the NBA's interest in China and asia is mostly to make them fans and to get them to buy merchandise.


As I said even with simple ball hockey that costs almost nothing, I rarely if ever see minority kids playing that on the streets compared to other sports. So if many of these kids can't even play something as simple as ball hockey, what makes you think they'll suddenly be interested enough to play actual hockey?

And again there are plenty of middle class and wealthy minorities living in Canada particularly with asian people and yet the number of asians participating in hockey isn't very many despite money not being an issue. I've seen a ton of asians be fans of hockey, but that doesn't mean they necessarily want to take it up competitively. So what's the excuse other than perhaps its as simple as they have no interest in taking up the sport even if they might be fans of it and watch it.


So in one sentence you say there needs to be representation for people to be interested and then in the next sentence you say your friends like Matthews not because he's partly a minority, but simply because he's entertaining to watch and its gotten them into hockey more.

I'd say THAT should be the main objective of hockey to be an entertaining and exciting sport to watch rather than worry about whether or not there's enough diversity and representation. Some of the best hockey I've ever watched was back during the late 1990s-early 2000s when the Leafs faced the Sens in the playoffs 4 out of 5 years and the Leafs won all 4 series. Those games were simply amazing to watch and it was a war on the ice between the two teams and it was also an all out war between the fans of those two teams. The Battle of Ontario was at its best during those years and I still remember the last time the Leafs beat the Sens in 2003-04 in a 7 game series, I tuned into Ottawa sports radio to hear the reactions and holy smokes the Sens fans meltdown was INSANE! They were so devastated that I kinda felt sorry for them abit. Leafs fans probably had that similar feeling after losing to the Habs last year.

Anyways the reason I'm bringing these memories up is because back then NO ONE CARED if there was 'enough representation' in the NHL and whether or not it was 'diverse enough'. We simply cheered for our team, watched some great hockey, we hated the other team's fans and made fun and laughed at them when we beat them and we were just fans. Hockey was at its best when the fans just cared about the game and the product on the ice. Now we have to deal with all this other crap that's taking away from the game and the enjoyment from it because of the world we currently live in.

I'm all for diversity I just want it to be organic rather that being so forcefully pressed upon us as if there's something seriously wrong because the NHL and hockey isn't diverse enough. Somehow we never think the same way with the NBA or NFL, but only with hockey likely because its one of the few sports that'st still predominately white as if that were some flaw that required fixing.

That’s all I really needed to see lol. Have a good day.