Road Trip Reverse Skate
Today is a slow day in Road Trip 2006. The SO went shopping and I'm sitting at the Barnes and Noble so I can use the internet (some people still use dial-up at home--can you believe that?) without waiting half an hour for things to reload.
One thing that has really surprised me is the lack of NHL clothing here in Erie, PA. The Penguins and Sabres are both close by and yet there is very little in the shops at the malls. I did see one Malkin T-shirt but that pales in comparison to the zillions of Steelers stuff and college football jerseys hanging everywhere. This is just one more data point (along with declining local TV ratings) that makes me wonder if the move from ESPN to OLN/VS has really hurt the NHL's position in the American sports scene. Or was it simply the lockout itself? Did casual fans realize they didn't really miss hockey when it was gone for a season. Personally, I don't care if hockey isn't the number one sport as long as all the games are shown on broadcast TV (I have CenterIce) but the decline in local TV ratings has me concerned that next year we could see some cutbacks in the number of games carried by local stations.
The Sabres won yesterday so they are now five points ahead instead of just three. Still that takes nothing away from the battle between the 1st and 2nd ranked teams in the conference this Saturday. I'm assuming that Hartley will start Lehtonen what with the Sabres absolutely scoring at will against every team in the league. Perhaps Hedberg will get the Senators on New Year's Day.
Yesterday I found the perfect thing for Go Time Malone (too bad he died a while back). I purchased it anyway, perhaps we will have to use it for the next Smirkin Chicken Shootout.
Adventure Cat has settled into her basement apartment but is bored without a window to look out of, so she is working on a blog post of her own.
This afternoon I'm headed out to the local civic ice rink so I'll be ready to dominate the Rec League after the holiday break.
One thing that has really surprised me is the lack of NHL clothing here in Erie, PA. The Penguins and Sabres are both close by and yet there is very little in the shops at the malls. I did see one Malkin T-shirt but that pales in comparison to the zillions of Steelers stuff and college football jerseys hanging everywhere. This is just one more data point (along with declining local TV ratings) that makes me wonder if the move from ESPN to OLN/VS has really hurt the NHL's position in the American sports scene. Or was it simply the lockout itself? Did casual fans realize they didn't really miss hockey when it was gone for a season. Personally, I don't care if hockey isn't the number one sport as long as all the games are shown on broadcast TV (I have CenterIce) but the decline in local TV ratings has me concerned that next year we could see some cutbacks in the number of games carried by local stations.
The Sabres won yesterday so they are now five points ahead instead of just three. Still that takes nothing away from the battle between the 1st and 2nd ranked teams in the conference this Saturday. I'm assuming that Hartley will start Lehtonen what with the Sabres absolutely scoring at will against every team in the league. Perhaps Hedberg will get the Senators on New Year's Day.
Yesterday I found the perfect thing for Go Time Malone (too bad he died a while back). I purchased it anyway, perhaps we will have to use it for the next Smirkin Chicken Shootout.
Adventure Cat has settled into her basement apartment but is bored without a window to look out of, so she is working on a blog post of her own.
This afternoon I'm headed out to the local civic ice rink so I'll be ready to dominate the Rec League after the holiday break.
posted by The Falconer at
12:43 PM
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