"You Don't Deserve the Ducks"

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein8jun08,0,3282593.column?coll=la-opinion-center

What's the deal? Is this guy right, completely full of it, or made some vaild points?

Most of you guys seem pretty hardcore, so how do you feel about your neighbors?

Is trying to get friends to go like trying to drag an 80 year old woman to a monster truck show?

Have you given up on trying to expose the sport to people you know?

Are you a tight-knit group of fans in a sea of 43 million non-believers?

Satire still exists in America. :handclap:

LA is a different animal than OC.

Hes not totally wrong but he is an idiot. I hate his articles, actually I avoid his so called writing at all costs.

I had 10+ people following the Cup Finals who have never watched the game until this season.

I received numerous calls from friends regarding the Ducks victory from as far as Texas and Arizona. Not exactly hockey hot beds.

Hockey is not dead, it just needs to be shown on more channels than Versus. His point about canceling the OT game for a Pre Race show is valid. The NHL will never go anywhere unless they get more TV time. When I was a kid I could turn on espn2 just about every afternoon and watch a game. Now I have to actively search even the local channels for IF the game is going to on.

Hollywood Boulevard should be covered in ice. Emilio Estevez should be permitted to make another movie. Small children in little No. 25 sweaters should be hitting each other with sticks. You should be getting that joke.I don't get the joke. :(
But as I'm reading it, seeing that he's talking about LA fans, I'm thinking: shouldn't LA fans support the Kings? If they were real LA fans, they wouldn't be jumping on the Ducks bandwagon because then they wouldn't be real Kings fans, right? You support the enemy of your enemy? :dunno:

I don't get the fascination to "convert the masses". I'm perfectly happy surrounding myself with a small group of die hard hockey fans. You have to face reality, this is SoCal, not "Freeze my ass of in -32" Edmonton (to quote Bryz, without the squeaky voice). When my non-hockey friends/cow-orkers ask me about the Ducks/SCF, I humor them. They congratulate me on the Ducks winning The Cup, but behind my back I know they are probably shaking their head trying to figure out what's wrong with me, and wondering why I have no interest in Kobe or Paris.

I embrace the fringe. You should too. Don't be a sheep. ;)

Ahem...

One major reason that hockey isn't more popular around here is the media coverage of it sucks. Which, reading that article, seems to be part of the point of the sarcasm behind it. People will care around here when it's thrown in their face. People shouldn't have to seek out hockey coverage...it should be the headline story on the news. It should be on the front page of the paper. Winning the Stanley Cup should be an event. I should have walked in my office on Thursday and heard a buzz about winning the Cup. Instead I heard a buzz about Paris Hilton. People will talk about pointless crap like that if the media covers it. Talk about hockey enough and people will listen.

For the most part, the people here in San Bernardino that don't watch hockey don't hate it, they just know squat about it and don't have any desire to learn anything about it. I should mention that there has been a spike in 'Go Ducks!' fingerwriting on dirty cars and more people wearing Ducks shirts out here though.

I thought the local media coverage was quite good, I mean how often do hockey team get the cover of the LA Times? and all playoff long they were a top story on the sports page...

I don't get the fascination to "convert the masses". I'm perfectly happy surrounding myself with a small group of die hard hockey fans. You have to face reality, this is SoCal, not "Freeze my ass of in -32" Edmonton (to quote Bryz, without the squeaky voice). When my non-hockey friends/cow-orkers ask me about the Ducks/SCF, I humor them. They congratulate me on the Ducks winning The Cup, but behind my back I know they are probably shaking their head trying to figure out what's wrong with me, and wondering why I have no interest in Kobe or Paris.

I embrace the fringe. You should too. Don't be a sheep. ;)

It's the euphoria. It's the area coming together. It's about being caught up in that. It's about going to sports bars during the playoffs and having more than 10 people watching the game (round 1 and 2 at National Sports Grill for me). I do all sorts of things all the time that I enjoy and keep to myself. Hockey is such a great sport that I'd love to share it with others. I have 1 friend who is a hardcore Ducks fan (we were reminiscing about attending the first Fan Fair yesterday) and the rest of my friends are more bandwagon fans. Yet, nearly everyone of them is a serious Laker fan. Lakers in the playoffs is an event for us. Parties and get togethers every game. The Ducks Cup run was not anywhere close to any of the Lakers championship runs in the sense of fun and enjoyment I've had with others. I want standing room only sports bars all playoffs long, not just the finals.

All this being said, I think things are going to be different next year. Hockey will grow here. People around here notice championships. Look at the Angels. An afterthought in SoCal baseball for a long time...now they are approaching Dodgers popularity even without winning more championships.

I welcome new Ducks fans. If you someone tells me that they became a Ducks fan because of this championship...sweet! Teams don't suceed without grabbing bandwagon fans and converting them to lifelong fans. Everyone can't be a Ducks lifer like me (and some of you).

Who said hockey has to popular to be validated? Why do people who don't watch hockey care that most of America doesn't either? It'd be like me complaining that reality TV numbers are low. I can't stand people that all they have to say about hockey is nobody watches it on TV. People fill the arenas and almost of the markets have strong fan bases. Who gives a **** that hockey is only slightly more popular on TV than bass fishing (though I've never seen 20,000 people stand around a pond watching some white guy fish). I stopped watching Around the Horn because they'd refer to the NHL as a joke because of it's low ratings. Not one word the other day about how good the Ducks are or how great it was for Teemu to win the Cup or even how entertaining or not entertaining the Final was. All they cared about was how few people were watching the effing games. Are they not sports writers not marketing executives? Are they only supposed to cover the sports that make a lot of money? Is Jason Giambi's steroid problem or Mike Vick's dog-fighting thing more satisfying to cover then the best hockey played all year? What's wrong with these people? Hockey is an amazing sport, as far as I'm concerned the greatest in the world. But we can't convince people of that because of the pitiful coverage it gets. Just because more people watch the pre "game" of a horse race than playoff hockey doesn't mean these still aren't the greatest athletes playing the greatest game in the world.

It's not a bad article, but he's pissing in the wind at this point. The NHL used to be a closet sport, and it's heading back that way. As long as I can still follow my team and the league as a whole, I don't care. I'm a little miffed that there's no parade. What's the deal, why couldn't it be done? Were the Ducks against it? Was the city? What happened?

instead of a parade for winning the Stanley Cup, the celebration consists of hanging out in the Honda Center parking lot at 6:30 on Saturday and waiting for free Wienerschnitzel hot dogs, Pepsi and Aramark barbecue potato chips. That's not a celebration. That's Day 3 for Katrina victims.

There is wisdom in his ramblings. I wish we could have a parade, but whatever. I'm goin to this thing, hope its fun (I know it will be).

Jiggy stopped an Antoine Vermette penalty shot, and yet you're more surprised by traffic in Los Angeles?

:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:This article rocks...wait..umm..:sarcasm:

I received season seats to the Kings for my 21st birthday, two seats in the upper level. After that season, I was on the hook for the payments which were a considerable strain on my part-time work/full-time student salary, if you can call it a salary.

5-6 years later and I've got three friends to buy season tickets and two more on the way next season, all of this while none of these guys have been on board while the Kings have made the playoffs.

Why is this?

BECAUSE HOCKEY IS THAT FREAKIN AWESOME, EVEN BAD HOCKEY!

My passion for the game and explanations of all the nuances that make hockey so much better than other sports is why these guys are jumping on board to buy season seats. Once they understand what's really happening on the ice (match-ups, feuds, who hits, who doesn't etc....) they are sold. All anybody needs in any area, be it Malibu, Dana Point or even Toronto, is to fully understand the game and what makes it so great.

Those in Toronto get that explanation from birth, here in SoCal you get thrown into t-ball or AYSO. I mean, my parents could care less about hockey; it's usually something you have to discover for yourself down here and I would not be surprised if many of the Ducks/Kings fans on this board had to do just that.

The way to fix that is by converting non-fans into hockey fans. Winning the Cup will help that, having both SoCal teams in the playoffs every year will go even further due to the increased media exposure and subsequent buzz that would be created.

Hockey is not an institution here because it really hasn't deserved to be. The product on the ice better be great and entertaining in an area where you can't just go to the local pond and play ice hockey. The Kings had this with Gretzky and attendance was great. The region was primed after the King's run in '93 but they completely blew hockey's momentum here by sucking hard for pretty much the next 14 years. The Ducks have already taken the strides to become an institution here in SoCal and hopefully, for the sport, they will keep on putting up a lot of wins. It appears that the Kings are on their way to being a contender as well. The Kings always do well in attendance when they are playing well. If both teams are near the top, then hockey will explode in SoCal once again.

I wish that the Ducks victory would be enough, but the Los Angeles market is the dominant one from a media perspective. As such, the sport's future in the Greater Southern California area depends on the Kings not sucking because, I hate to say it, but many in the area need to be told what is good and where to go when it comes to entertainment since there are so many options. The LA channels don't care about the Ducks so their coverage is very limited.

Along with San Jose being a consistent threat and Vancouver looking good, I think the NHL is looking at an unprecedented shift of power to the West Coast. With the young studs on each of the California teams, we are at a time where each of the organizations are developing "star" and potential "superstar" type players in Getzlaf,Kopitar,Michalek,Perry,Cammalleri, Penner, S Bernier, J Johnson, B Ryan, D Brown, Vlasic, Pavelski etc...

It's been proven that a team can win a Cup on the West Coast. Now you'll have free agents who will come here to win a Cup and bask in the great weather, schools etc...as opposed to coming here just because of the weather.

It would be great if the local media would promote the game better. Call me optimistic, but I believe that the California teams are going to force the media to cover them in the very near future.

ITA they need more media and anather thing i have never liked around the horn those morons are so biased it make me sick they would rather blab on the other sports and compltely diss the nhl sorry i got carried away but i had to get that off my chest

My mother was in the hospital recovering from a broken back......... the day after DUCKS WIN, DUCKS WIN, DUCKS WIN, Im picking Mom up and returning her home.... she tells me (BTW she's never been to one of my kids or my adult game EVER or interested) her and her two room mates were watching game 5 of the Stanley Cup on TV, telling us how exciting it was, screaming, whooping and hollaring, the staff kept coming in and telling them to quiet it down..........my bride and me look at them, then proceeded to tell them............WE WERE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:handclap:

Hockey is growing in So-Cally...........:naughty:

never under estimate a kings fan lol

30 year Kings fan here... mostly a fan of how much they piss me off, but a fan nonetheless. Here's my blog item about my experience this past 7 weeks:

"So, what was it like"
I went to the Stanley Cup playoffs in Anaheim this year... in fact, the only games I missed were the first game of the first series vs. Minnesota, and one of the Vancouver games. Rounds three and four, I was there for it all... and it culminated on Wednesday with the raising of the Stanley Cup.

During that final game, I was phoned, emailed, text messaged... it was so much fun. I've become a huge fan of the Ducks over the past four years, and this was the third playoff run I had been a part of. My "regular" team, the Kings generally suck and haven't made the playoffs in quite some time, so the ability to watch hockey for an additional seven/eight weeks made it an easy decision for me to flip my allegiance. When I go to a Kings game, I have some feelings for them when they do well, but I usually let out a giant "YES!!!!" when the other team scores. I said yes a lot this past season. With the Ducks I have a 100% passionate dedication factor. Just a sensational team, with an incredibly smart *(but VERY tough on his players) coach. There are some guys in that organization that deserve a lot of credit for the assembled multitude in uniform, and the coach of the Ottawa Senators, Bryan Murray, was the Ducks GM prior to Brian Burke, so he too deserves a lot of credit for these guys.

But, I digress. Wednesday night was so special. I went to my first hockey game in 1964. I was 9. For 43 years I have been going to hockey games. Usually more than 40 a season. I have seen games in Canada and the U.S. and I am always at home. I say often that being in a hockey arena is the most serene I could be. I have watched games in low minor leagues between two teams I could care less about, and always had a smile on my face. I think I was a goalpost at Maple Leaf Gardens in a previous life.

The Ducks had this one in the bag from the very start, and really the entire game was just one big countdown to the clock reading ":00" and the festivities began. Now, I have a major dislike for the commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman. For one, he looks like half man/half weasel and For two, he is all weasel all the time... he fired my friend Stu when he took over for John Ziegler. In fact, he fired virtually anyone and everyone that knew anything about the sport. I've never forgiven him for that, and never will. But yet, I had to smile when he took the ice, because I knew that in a matter of moments he'd be secondary to the proceedings. Ducks captain Scotty Niedermayer was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoffs Most Valuable Player) and there was the first post-game roar from the crowd. He was a pretty likely choice, as goaltender J.S. Giguere was solid, but had a couple of bad enough games over the course of the playoffs so as not to be considered spectacular. The forwards on the Ducks did such an amazing job as a group that it was impossible to single one out, so the defenseman who wore the "C" all season long was bestowed the honor, and I am SURE he knew how much it was a communal effort that got him to that point.

And then... the cup. There was Phil Pritchard, the "keeper of the Cup," and a long time friend of my friend Stu's, and the brother of some random woman that was sitting to my right. Seems her brother couldn't get her a seat any closer than the second row from the top of the building. But, we shared a smile as the man with the white gloves took to the ice with the Holy Grail.

At that point, it was really just a whole lot of pandamonium. Smoke, streamers, confetti, insanely bright orange lights on the massive boards that wind around the entire arena... and all I could do was smile, and cry. If I had my whole life to do over again, I would choose hockey over music, but if I am going to choose to be a fan, I couldn't think of a more emotional, more spiritual, more peaceful feeling than being a part of a celebration that included the Stanley Cup. Scott passed it to his brother Rob, who passed it to Teemu Selanne, who is the perfect gentleman and at age 37 made an improbable comeback and scored 48 regular season goals... and the whole team took their turn hoisting the cup high above their heads and kissing it as if it was the lover they had always wanted but never had. My mind was racing with the thoughts of how this was their dream. I'm old, not terribly athletic, and really removed from how this must feel for them, but I knew how it felt for me and I'm not sure I have ever felt that kind of peaceful euphoria.

Love hockey. Love playoff hockey. Love any team that can execute like that. Now, I have to wait 4 months or so until next season. The waiting is the hardest part.

Who said hockey has to popular to be validated? Why do people who don't watch hockey care that most of America doesn't either? It'd be like me complaining that reality TV numbers are low. I can't stand people that all they have to say about hockey is nobody watches it on TV. People fill the arenas and almost of the markets have strong fan bases. Who gives a **** that hockey is only slightly more popular on TV than bass fishing (though I've never seen 20,000 people stand around a pond watching some white guy fish). I stopped watching Around the Horn because they'd refer to the NHL as a joke because of it's low ratings. Not one word the other day about how good the Ducks are or how great it was for Teemu to win the Cup or even how entertaining or not entertaining the Final was. All they cared about was how few people were watching the effing games. Are they not sports writers not marketing executives? Are they only supposed to cover the sports that make a lot of money? Is Jason Giambi's steroid problem or Mike Vick's dog-fighting thing more satisfying to cover then the best hockey played all year? What's wrong with these people? Hockey is an amazing sport, as far as I'm concerned the greatest in the world. But we can't convince people of that because of the pitiful coverage it gets. Just because more people watch the pre "game" of a horse race than playoff hockey doesn't mean these still aren't the greatest athletes playing the greatest game in the world.
ESPN's quality have reporting is about as bad as it's ever been, you turn on ESPN and they are either talking about Lebron James, the Yankees or Redseox, and likely trashing someone/something. They are arrogant at that network they think they are gods gift yet none of their precious shows come close to even beating Pro Wrestling.

ITA i mean really who want's to hear about how great the yankees and redsucks that is what i call the redsocks are i mean it gets tireing .I mean i'm a texas rangers fan and quite frankley i hate both teams i mean why not call espn the yankees and redsucks love network sorry i carried away

ITA i mean really who want's to hear about how great the yankees and redsucks that is what i call the redsocks are i mean it gets tireing .I mean i'm a texas rangers fan and quite frankley i hate both teams i mean why not call espn the yankees and redsucks love network sorry i carried away
How come you aren't a Stars fan?

Because i hate the stars and love the ducks:yo:

Well I'm not complaining, it's good to have more Ducks fans, it's just unusual that you're not rooting for your home team.

Well that's good l have lived in dallas my whole life and not once have i ever been a stars fan like i said i have been a ducks fan for about 10 years and if anyone asks why.i tell them i love the duck deal with it and they haven't bothred me since lol

Well I'm not complaining, it's good to have more Ducks fans, it's just unusual that you're not rooting for your home team.

I get that one alot too, people wondering why I don't cheer for the Canadian teams. Frankly, I hate every one of them, and love the Ducks. Can't explain why, but, I do.

It's funny i almost feel like a mistfit over here everyone down here are diehard stars fans but me i'm a diehard ducks fan quack''quack and i wouldn't have it any other way.i mean just because i live in texas does not mean i like all sports teams .i mean here are my favorite teams,mlb.Texas Rangers.,ncaa.Lsu Tigers.nba.dallas mavericks.nfl.New Orleans Saints,Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers and nhl.The Stanley Cup Champions. Ducks