PCM

Very true. Plus, an Oshullet sounds like an egg dish you'd order at Perkins.

There's a tall guy with red hair looking for you.

You're just mad because I have more influence with The Oshie than you do.

That's where I slipped up. I thought he was saying "fans who aren't boobs."

He said "quality people." Gosh.

You're an expert in marketing and sport marketing who's never had anyone tell you that they won't watch hockey because of the fighting? Hard to believe. That's entirely possible. But I think it's mainly an image problem, not a marketing problem. As far as I can tell, that's already being done. If the NHL isn't marketing that, what are they marketing? Not true. My wife had never been to a hockey game before she saw her first Sioux game. She loved it, and that rekindled my interest in the sport. Because of her, I became a college hockey fan. Likewise, my parents had never seen a hockey game or watched hockey before they attended a game at the old Ralph. They are now hooked on Fighting Sioux hockey and watch every UND game they can. So, no, I don't buy the idea that it's necessary for someone to understand a sport before becoming becoming interested in it. That seems counter-intuitive to me.

I can see that the NHL is just as popular as it's ever been -- which isn't saying a whole hell of a lot.

Which might very well relate to hockey's public image problem, its poor TV ratings and lack of exposure on a major network. There's no reason for the media to pay much attention to professional hockey as long as it remains a niche sport. If people have a desire to watch a sport, then they'll learn to understand it. If they have no desire to watch a sport, then they're not going to take the time to understand it. You have to get them to watch before you can expect them to understand. If the nation craves violence, why has professional football outlawed certain types of hits and levied fines against players for excessively violent acts on the field? Why has protection for football players steadily improved over the years? Why hasn't the NFL embraced the idea of fighting and enforcers if they're what fans and players really want? How is it possible that the NFL could reduce the level of violence in pro football and remain as popular as ever, far more popular than the NHL could ever hope to be? Don't tell me that increased violence is what most sports fans really want. The continued success of pro football, also an inherently physical sport, proves that theory wrong. Which were changes for the good, changes that many NHL purists told me for years would never happen because they'd ruin the game for hardcore fans. You're free to doubt it all you want, but you don't know it, and neither do I. However, my anecdotal evidence and 25 years of experience in the PR field tell me that you're most likely wrong.

I'm just going by what I hear on sports talk radio and read in the papers. It wouldn't be the first time that the experts didn't know what they were talking about or misrepresented a situation. Hockey's TV ratings are certainly nothing to get excited about, however.

Hey! Who's the trend-setter around here? You or Oshie?

So he was wearing a wig in those pictures?

We all do.

I certainly can believe that you've never heard it because you are so firmly entrenched in the world of hockey that wants to preserve the status quo. If you live in that world, you won't be exposed to that attitude, but believe me, it does exist. So why is professional hockey dying rather than growing? I didn't twist your words. The statement you just made confirms that what I said was correct. The old ladies with blue hair that I hit on in bars. It has nothing to do with pandering to or selling out to anyone. It has everything to do with broadening the appeal of the game and keeping the sport alive and healthy.

It's the Mushie.

Yes they are. My bad. I accessed the story a different way and didn't realize that you had to click on a link to see all the posts.

Now there's a class that I could get into!

I addressed the relevance of the 87 percent factor here. Maybe the NHL is just fine with the number of fans it has now. Maybe it's just fine playing the game that appeals to niche group of sports fans. Maybe it's just fine with not being televised on a major network. Maybe the NHL is just fine with hockey being referred to as a dying sport that few sports fans care about. But I doubt it. Sorry, but you're the one who admitted here that the presence of enforcers actually takes physicality out of the game by protecting superstars from legal hits. And as I've explained before, don't confuse my desire to minimize fighting with a desire to make the game less physical. Nothing is further from the truth. Which, again, goes back to my point about many sports fans equating pro hockey with professional wrestling. Yes, gratuitous violence will always appeal to a certain number of people, but any sport that panders to that crowd will have an image problem and a problem being taken seriously by serious sports fans. I hear it all the time, although not in Grand Forks where hockey is practically a way of life. But outside the state, when I tell people that I cover UND hockey for USCHO, the standard response is, "I don't watch hockey. I can't stand the fighting." Rather than polling current NHL fans on what they think of fighting, it would be a far more useful exercise to poll the general population of sports fans about whether they would watch more hockey and attend more games if the NHL minimized fighting. Would it prove my point? I have no idea. But I do know that pro hockey in its present form has limited popularity among sports fans. Certainly there are other reasons besides fighting, but my hunch is that it's one of the main sticking points.

They'll probably say that her post was potentially libelous. Of course, if it's true (as I know it to be), then it's not libelous. Determining if it's true would require a little bit of work, such as reading the thread in which Gary "grahamkracker" LaPointe admits to doing what Sioux-cia said he did. Or requesting a copy of the report from the UND police.

And here all this time I thought you were world's most desperate puck bunny!

I don't have to dream, junior. All I have to do is look out the window.

Someone did. I just hope that nobody thinks I'm the "Patrick" who posted the idiotic comments on the DS site.

Why? I can do it better than you can.

It'll happen. You just know it.

Or how about a Mushie.

When I'm king of hockey, every player will be required to wear a mullet.