Lame Sports

The Invisible League

By Jason Levy

People need to watch more of the National Hockey League. It’s a must. Hockey is equal parts grace and guts, and it’s a tremendous sport to see live. If you sit close to the rink you can hear every check, shot, grunt, and scrape of speeding skates against the ice. You can feel the energy of the players as they skate by. If you find yourself in the nosebleeds, you’ll be able to see every inch of the ice and every play develop, from start to finish. During Tuesday night’s Islanders-Rangers game on Versus, there was a stretch of over six minutes in the first period with no stoppages in play. Even though no goals came of it, it was six of the most exciting minutes of sport I had seen in a long time (Isles-Rangers blood feuds will do that, another great part of the NHL).

But where the NHL is being killed is TV ratings. Nothing against the people at the Versus network, they have sound coverage, entertaining and engaging commentators, and treat the NHL well because they don’t really have anything else. But the NHL needs ESPN desperately. When The-World-Wide-Leader covered the NHL in the past, it was accompanied by NHL 2Night, one of the best post-game wrap-up and analysis shows in the business. On Wednesday mornings SportsCenter, there was no mention of the Islanders-Rangers game, and hockey didn’t get any coverage until the last 20 minutes of the broadcast. If ESPN had 3-4 NHL games a week, they would do a lot more to promote the league, which includes giving the highlights more airplay.

I also recommend that every sports fan, at least once in their life, see Sidney Crosby play live. You will know you are seeing something special when number 87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins handles the puck, and creates opportunities that other players are just too mortal to perform. Especially if you are under the age of 25 and never got to see Wayne Gretzky in his Edmonton Oilers heyday, seeing the 20-year-old Crosby in person is on every sports fan to-do list. I saw him during Saturday’s Islanders-Penguins game at the Nassau Coliseum. Even though he didn’t score any goals for the Pens, every time he had the puck in the Isles zone, it looked like he would.

Personally, with the Jets down the tubes, the Mets falling apart to end their season and the Knicks, well being the Knicks, the Islanders are all I have left. Yes, seeing the 2^nd half of the NFL season unfold will be entertaining as always; the baseball hot-stove league can be just as interesting as the regular season (especially this year with the A-Rod chase and knowing the Mets will do something after this season’s finish), and the collegiate football bowl season will stir some debate, but the Islanders are the only team with my personal vested interest that has any chance at success. And do they look good so far.

Newcomers Bill Guerin (stable and solid leader), Ruslan Fedotenko (can score the clutch goal) and Mike Comrie (quick youngster, who is also dating Hillary Duff) have meshed with the core of veterans that stayed amidst the free-agent exodus over the summer. Coach Ted Nolan continues to demonstrate that his being blackballed by the league for a decade was one of the greatest injustices in NHL history. And goaltender Rick DiPietro can be a marquee star in this league. He’s young, talented, American, he plays in New York, and he’s only getting better. The Islanders will be a team worth watching, but will you watch them, or any hockey team? Come June when the Stanley Cup is triumphantly raised and passed around the ice amidst a raucous celebration, you’ll be elated that you started watching hockey again.

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