NHL Ratings Still Suck

One week ago, the hockey world was buzzing about how great the Winter Olympic gold medal game was. That gold medal match between rivals USA and Canada was a ratings bonanza. We were told how the success of Team USA would trickle over into the NHL season ... which started the very next day.

And then it never happened.

Last Thursday night ... just four days after Canada's gold medal win ... the Pittsburgh Penguins visited the New York Rangers. That means the NHL's biggest star (Sidney Crosby) who happened to score the gold-medal winning goal was playing in the media capital of the continent. The game was nowhere to be found nationally and it drew just a .96 rating on MSG.

Match that up with a Mets-Cardinals spring training game on SportsNet New York that was shown earlier in the day. That game, which the Mets won 17-11, drew 1.13 rating. This was despite the fact that the game was shown while people were still at work, it was a meaningless game and that the stars were all done by the third inning.

The NHL was shown it's rightful place in the nation's hearts. Not many people care. I kind of like hockey but I rarely watch it during the season. I'll catch the Stanley Cup finals and a few playoff games (especially any Game 7s).

Well, not this year. I have DirecTV and DirecTV decided that it wasn't worth having Versus (the network that houses the NHL) as part of their programming. If you have DirecTV, you'd know that sports are what it is best known for (Sunday Ticket, Mega March Madness). If they don't care, they know you don't either.

Last week, we were all prisoners of the moment. The same way that the WNBA was berthed from the 1996 summer olympics, the NHL was hoping a great tournament would vault the NHL back into the hearts of the nation. It just doesn't happen like that. Despite Crosby's excellence ... he isn't Wayne Gretzky.

The interesting thing is what will happen in 2014. The Winter Games move to Sochi, Russia and NHL commish Gary Bettman hasn't committed to allowing his players to participate. It's interesting because, apparently, it is meaningless for the league itself to risk injuries to teams' best players and getting no return. It is also a bargaining chip for the NHL to NBC, in a weird way. NBC benefitted from the NHL stars in the Olympics and the NHL knows that. They may bang out a little trade: NHL participation in the Olympics for some NBC love during the season.

Who knows?

Sportz' Belated NHL Predictions

I'm not going to pretend that I'm an NHL guru. I like the NHL, especially during the Stanley Cup playoffs but I'm not as into it as I am with other sports.

So below is my very uninformed guess at how the standings will shake out this year (*-denotes a playoff team).

NORTHEAST: 1-Bruins*, 2-Canadians*, 3-Sabres*, 4-Senators, 5-Maple Leafs

ATLANTIC: 1-Penguins*, 2-Flyers*, 3-Devils*, 4-Rangers, 5-Islanders

SOUTHEAST: 1-Capitals*, 2-Hurricanes*, 3-Panthers, 4-Thrashers, 5-Lightning

CENTRAL: 1-Red Wings*, 2-Blackhawks*, 3-Blues*, 4-Blue Jackets, 5-Predators

NORTHWEST: 1-Canucks*, 2-Flames*, 3-Wild*, 4-Oilers, 5-Avalanche

PACIFIC: 1-Ducks*, 2-Sharks*, 3-Stars, 4-Kings, 5-Coyotes

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a Red Wings-Penguins Finals for the third straight season. Though it wouldn't surprise me to see the Blackhawks, Bruins or Caps there instead.

Why No Outrage Over Ovechkin's Celebration?

Congrats to Alexander Ovechkin and his 50th goal of the season. But did you see the celebration afterwards?

I'm fine with it, but why doesn't anyone complain about it? If Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson score a TD and did that, there would be people crying about it. If a baseball player hit a home run, placed his bat down and did the same thing Ovechkin did, there would be a riot on the field.

Again, I am fine with it. These are professional sports. These guys get paid to do what they do. This isn't the NCAA where these are just kids trying their best. I don't want to see that in this NCAA tournament. But pro sports is full blown entertainment and, really, nothing more. I thought that the "hot stick" was funny just like I thought T.O.'s sharpie celebration was funny. If the opponents don't like it, they can express their feelings on the next play. T.O. may get a shot the next time he's on the field. The baseball player may get one high and tight in his next at-bat. In the NHL, well they have all kinds of ways of policing themselves.

The point is that these aren't apples and oranges. It isn't cool in the NHL and not in the NFL. Well, it is but it shouldn't be.