Dismissing Cherry & who he represents is a large mistake
I Read this article today by Damien Cox. It bothered me: Cox’s Article
(The interview Cox talks about is on the Bully today)
I wrote Cox with this reposnse which upon review, really seems to sum up much of my and other fan’s frustrations with the NHL. I understand that Cox is only the messenger and swearing and telling these guys that they are stupid etc. does not work. They work hard for a living and they are fed all sorts of hype to help mold their brains to see things the way the league wants them to see. They are fed meals and brews by the league and treated pretty well. The hope is to get writers like Cox to look at things from a different angle and hope that it relects in their writing. It is an uphill battle, but one worth fighting.
Coxy,
I see your points but the “old NHL” as you put it is more entertaining to us Yanks south of the border. Numbers don’t lie. The view of a Canuck of the game is quite different than us Yanks. CBC has no ratings problems and Canada has 6 teams it loves … even the recently-bankrupt Sens have great fans. But in the US, NHL hockey is in trouble. What’s good for the goose in Canada is not good for the gander stateside and with 24 teams here it’s time for someone to admit the game is in trouble.
No one in the US is watching on TV or has been all season. Whose fault is that? If fans were truly energized by the new-look league, where are they? They haven’t shown up for the finals either.
Where are all these “new” fans of the new NHL? Perhaps the press box, but not watching the game on TV. The NHL in the US this year has hit rock bottom in ratings and when NBC dumps the league it will get worse.
If a tree falls in the woods, Coxy. If a game is played but no one is watching … that kind of erases your status as a major sport.
If the new league were as great as you and others say … where are all the fans? Maybe Cherry is right. The numbers seem to indicate that many things about the New NHL are wrong. Likely Bettman will either leave (not sure where he would go after ruining hockey) or react too late, if at all, to fix the slide and things will continue to worsen.
You write a hell of a column and give great interviews and make sense. You’re sharp. It is likely that you cannot write many of these things I’ve mentioned because they would steam NHL brass and that is part of journalism these days, I understand as I put a good part of my life into it on a daily deadline for a major daily in the states. I had many a great story killed for unexplained reasons. Sometimes, the conquest for truth and justice gets sidetracked by editors and publishers. It’s part of the job.
Still, the game is in trouble and the guys running the league have been ruining it for 14 years now and gimmicks and false hype and double-talking from the commish no longer works. True and once-loyal fans have been sacrificed for the imaginary fan that the league has worked so long to unsuccessfully attract. Now those once-loyal fans have turned their backs on the game at the pro level. They are gone and the New NHL as it is called has nowhere near the hallmarks of true hockey to re-attract these folks.
NHL ratings have not improved in 15 years in the states. The league has done nothing this season to attract previous fans. Forget about new fans: there is no such thing, as supported by ratings numbers since the early 1990s. Painting “Thank You Fans” on the ice isn’t enough, Coxy.
There are more fans complaining about how the game is played today than fans I’ve seen complimenting the league. A solution is likely found in a compromise between old and new styles. Jamming a new style down people’s throats will not work. Until Cherry is happy, the NHL has a serious problem because he represents millions of fans that are not heard and even if they were, would not be listened to. A large part of the problem here Coxy is no one is listening to the fans. That’s a business model for disaster.
When you dismiss what Cherry is saying or feeling, you are likely dismissing the views of the majority of hockey fans. Don’t make the same mistakes the NHL has made: not all your readers are going to agree with you all the time, but is Cherry in the minority or majority? You may be surprised to find that he represents the majority and because you are linked so close to the league by profession, your written views could be in the minority. Objectivity helps you walk the plank between the two sides but the very fact that there are two sides is indicative of a major problem. NFL, NBA, and MLB fans are not complaining about the schematics of how the games are played. Why in the NHL then are there two fronts? That’s how revolutions begin in government. Maybe tuning the game out is the only way the regular guy can fight back.
Keep up the good work. I do not envy those deadlines and pressures you have, nor do I miss them.
Bully
www.broadstreetbully.com
June 16th, 2006 at 4:22 am
You are so damn right that the media sees it from a different POV, and usually that viewpoint is in the minority. They can’t see the forest because they are in it.
Think lockout! About 75% of them were on the side of the players union. They were so close (and their careers so tightly linked) to the inner workings of the NHL and NHLPA that they couldn’t see the big picture. The fans could. We saw that the NHLPA was a little bit more full of shit than the NHL in that showdown. Yet the media dismissed the fan polls and the call in shows that clearly showed what we thought. They actually said, many a time, (I heard it on the TV and on the radio here) “it doesn’t really matter what the fans think”. And they were right. Because we had no real voice in the matter.
But in the matter of rules changes and the erosion of animosity and emotion in the NHL, we DO have voice … literally … one very loud voice … and his name is Don Cherry.
Following is the letter that I wrote to “Coxy”.
June 16th, 2006 at 4:25 am
Mr Cox,
I don’t disagree with you about the benefits of the new rules. Also, unlike many hockey fans, I agree with the saying “If it’s a penalty in the first period, it should be a penalty in overtime.” I also agree with Colin Campbell that in order to make an omelette you will have to break some eggs. (i.e., more penalties now, mean a better game and fewer penalties in the future.) Agreed 100%. But there is one thing I need to express to you: You should not underestimate Cherry’s influence on the fans of hockey, and to lesser degree, the game of hockey.
The point of your article was that dinosaurs like Cherry will not win the battle to turn back the NHL clock. Agreed, maybe. In your article you sort of lumped MacLean in with him … I don’t agree with that, but that’s not my point. I just wanted to show you a new angle of what Cherry’s influence is on hockey fans.
I would bet that more people attend his Saturday night sermons in this country than people who go to church on Sunday. But of course not all of his flock agree with him on everything he says. I, for one, disagree with at least half of his tripe.
However, like Cherry, and like millions of others in the US and Canada who’s voices are lost in the wind, I am a hockey fan that becomes anxious at the constant erosion of rough-housing and toughness in hockey. (I won’t go into my reasoning why, that is another topic.) Whenever some un-Cherry like event happens in the NHL - when a European tries to kick another player, when a Swede defenseman takes out Neely’s knee and gets away with it, when a game degenerates into a slash-fest at the end because the refs tried to bottle up the player’s emotions - whenever something like that happens, I know there is BUT ONE place in the world that I can go to commiserate with all the millions of others who are equally as angered … and that is Coaches Corner on CBC. And those millions include everyone who disagrees with him on 75% of what he says, yet misses the rough stuff. ***It’s just like the family fire drill: When there is smoke we will all meet in the front yard by the mail box.*** Cherry is a fortress in the desert. The sand blowing around, trying to burry him, but he is still there. His opinion does not waver. Cherry will say what is on his mind and he doesn’t care if he pisses off his bosses because he is un-fireable. (In the entire world of North American sports he is quite unique in that way.) Don Cherry is the meeting point for the multitudes that have no voice on the micro-managing of the tougher side of the game.
Example: If Don Cherry said on Coaches Corner to everyone who was fed up with instigator rule to write in or email the NHL and he provided the addresses … mark my words, they would receive over a million emails and letters. It would be a flood. And the NHL simply could not ignore that sort of customer outcry. No way.
That’s influence. And even though he doesn’t use it to it’s full potential, Cherry’s influence is still huge.
I swear to God, it makes sense in my mind … the NHL is waiting for him to die. After he is gone, there will be no one left to be the ONE VOICE for all us fans of the old NHL. When he dies, look for the NHL to make their push to outlaw fighting altogether. Which is silly and makes short-sighted, bad business sense … but that’s another topic.
I doubt you actually read and digested all these words, but if you made it this far, thanks for the ear.
J Nacci
Vancouver
July 1st, 2006 at 1:09 am
Cox is a fool, come to think of it. No response to my letter which is no big deal so all those nice things I said about him … fuck him. He’s just another spineless house organ for the NHL’s flunkies. He doesn’t have the balls to criticize the league when he is feeding his face from it, win or lose. Some existence.