Hockey fans and all others are separated by more than a blue line. The sport is either the greatest of them all or the dumbest.
ESPN sportscaster Tom Mees is one of the NHL's staunchest supporters."To the general public, hockey is a sport that's full of fighting," Mees says from Dallas, where he is covering the NHL playoffs. "But there's more fighting in the NBA. There's more fighting in baseball. I'm sick and tired of hockey getting the bum rap."
Critics say the sport has a core group of fans and nothing more. Larry Miller said as much when he sold the Golden Eagles. Mees doesn't argue the point, but he says it doesn't have to be that way.
"The media helps feed the public perception," he remarks. "In USA Today, they say that the National Hockey League drew (only) a 1.7 rating nationally. But there are people there who don't like hockey, and you can make the numbers say anything you want them to say."
You can hardly say that a 1.7 rating is cause for celebration, but Mees is permitted to complete his defense.
"You don't have any team in the West Coast in the playoffs but San Jose," he says. "There's no Los Angeles Kings. There's no (Wayne) Gretzky, who is bigger than the game . . . Teams refused to accommodate ABC and move the starting times. There is no interest west of the Continental Divide. On the West Coast, they delayed the New York Rangers-New Jersey Devils game, and it drew an 0.3 (there).
"Hockey is a game of regional interest. The ratings in Chicago and Detroit and places like that are terrific."
Overall, ESPN's NHL playoff ratings are a dismal 1.0. By comparison, Arena Football League games airing on the network at midnight to most of the country garner an 0.9.
"I believe that anyone who goes to a game can't help but become a fan," Mees asserts. "The problem is that television has failed to capture the speed of hockey. The game is so fast - there has to be a way to bring that atmosphere to viewers."
For now, the stars of the playoffs are performing in virtual anonymity.
"The Stanley Cup is the toughest trophy to win," Mees says. "You're playing every other night, and you're being hit legally by sticks and by bodies. I don't think there's any comparison with the other sports."