ESPN dropped hockey, and with it my viewership

RIO RANCHO, NM – Whatever the letters stand for, ESPN gives such short shrift to professional hockey that the network carries little juice for me any more.
When the most recent NHL labor dispute took hold, ESPN opted out of it’s contract with the league and ceased broadcasting games. In retrospect, that was not much of a decrease in coverage of the game. Remember the good old days when Australian rules football was the thing to watch late at night? That was actually the cool days when you consider now that competition billiards and poker are the norm for the ESPN television schedule these days. Long gone are Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick. Can anyone name a current host? There is the game called “Where’s Waldo”? How about if we play “Where’s the personality on ESPN”?

The most interesting component of ESPN broadcasting was highlighted in the movie “Dodgeball” when the fictional channel ESPN’S The Ocho televised the games. How much does that say when a fictionalized channel is more interesting than the real thing? Now that Barry Melrose is back in NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who will carry the meager load of ESPN’s hockey coverage? Indeed, what professional hockey coverage will ESPN offer come the fall? I trust it will not be the NHL. After all, if ESPN ever decided to televise NHL games again, how will the thousands of card players learn what to do when they hold a pair of three’s? The excitement of watching poker on ESPN has all of the excitement of watching golf on TV. What is the training regimen for these “athletes”? How does one train to sit on their back-sides for hours and hours? And when did poker become a sport? Trust me, I love to gamble, I mean it’s fun and all, but this is considered a sport? In fact, as I recall one these “athletes” wears a variety of NHL jerseys on the programs. Travesty. SportsCenter was the place to get news on the NHL. No longer. Unless you are interested in one of the major sports, you will have to wait until three AM for last week’s news on the NHL. In fact, prohockeynews.com is more likely to have breaking news on the NHL than ESPN. That’s not to say there aren’t other options for the NHL these days. Versus? If you have the right cable provider maybe may get to see a game on Versus. Not here in Rio Rancho. New Mexico however. The excuse we have for a cable provider, CableOne, does not provide Versus to it’s subscribers, and never will (as quoted by a customer service rep). Even with that level of access here, I would not want to see the NHL go back to ESPN. ESPN has no commitment to professional hockey, and more than likely never will. ESPN and other outlets like it on television and cable may be the old way of broadcasting much like newspapers are the old way to deliver news (not for me personally mind you). The Internet is the source of more information than one can process. Heck, these days preseason and regular season games have been broadcast on the Internet through the NHL’s Center Ice package. Perhaps the NHL leadership should look at the Internet as it’s own televised outlet. The new flat panel monitors and television monitors are constructed to mate with desktop and laptop PCs. The NHL should move to the Internet, capture the audience already there and market itself as the digital sportof the future. For the longest time, the NHL took a backseat to the other major sports in the technology department. Not these days. Today, the NHL has embraced modern technology like never before. Forget ESPN, forget Fox (even though their broadcasts are excellent for football and baseball) and any other traditional outlet. Go digital and stay on the Internet permanently. That way the game can reach those of us who are tied to our computers at home and at work. I personally can see myself sitting at the desk working on one monitor while the other carries the next San Jose Sharks game against the Anaheim Ducks. When that day comes, I will invest my time and money into the NHL. If the game ever does go back to ESPN, I for one won’t be watching. When ESPN gives the sport some respect, than I might change my mind and watch. Until then, you won’t see me watching the NHL on the so-called sports channel ever again. Contact the author at
lou.lafrado@prohockeynews.com