The NHL Is So Uncool, It's Cool.

After the 2004-05 lockout of the NHL, I was devestated to see seemingly the whole damn country turn it's collective back on one of the sports we used to call "The Big Four." At the time, ESPN and other outlets were in the ears of every "kind of" sports fan in the world trying to convince them that _______ was the next big sport. You can fill the blank yourself with NASCAR, Texas Hold Em', soccer, professional bocce, competitive eating, naked snowmobiling, etc...

ESPN used the lost season as an opportunity to phase out their nightly NHL show as well as any live coverage, a feat that still somehow stands today on a network in six different channels and frequently shows women's college vollyball. This was their window to six hours a day of NFL coverage, a much more bankable sport. The rest of the sports media moped that it was because the sports wasn't "American" enough anymore and the lockout just proved how stupid greedy athletes can be: they didn't even know that nobody would come back because they were fringe-popular in the first place.

Ok. That one's kind of hard to disagree with.

Eventually, all this really did was cost owners a crap ton of revenue and team exposure. It also easily weeded out whatever potential Pink Hat fans were on the bandwagon like Lil Wayne at a Justin Beiber concert. Now all that's left is a sport with the remnents of two black eyes, crazy dedicated fans, and absolutely no love from the sports media other than a roll of the eyes and a "Oh friggin' great, I have to say a foreign name with 40 consonants in it." In the past five years, the rules have changed to allow a more open, fan friendly game. The players have gotten younger and the European fad of the mid 90's is all but long gone. Once again, the league is dominanted by Canadians, Russians and Americans. The arenas are easier to access and the invention of HDTV seemed to be specifically made for the bright, white background of hockey. Expansion stopped, southern teams with no business having teams are awful again, and power has been restored to "real" hockey towns.

What I'm saying is that within five years, hockey has gone through more rehab than Lindsay Lohan, but has come out looking like Robert Downey Jr.:

1.) Influx of European talent and the New Jersey Devil's defensive trap kill popularity. League locks out. Martin Brodeur celebrates quietly. A**hole.

2.) Lock out ends, whatever fringe popularity the sport had is gone. ESPN has waved it's magic wand and relegated the NHL's popularity level akin to Saturday morning bowling or professional billiards trick shot competitions. Martin Brodeur is still to blame.

3.) Several years in financial and popularity purgatory as other sports see a boom in the HD/Sportscenter era. Hell, even international soccer is getting big play.

4.) Anti-popularity starts to sink in. Hockey becomes so uncool, it's cool. The phenomenon legit rivalry, thought dead in modern sports, pops up with the two best players in the league. Every team seems to have at least one young, recognizable superstar in the making. The high exposure and money of the NFL, the steroid era of baseball and the bore of the NBA leave wiggle room for the team first, balls out athleticism and grit of pro hockey. No frills, just hockey.

Suddenly, the NHL has a new image: the anti-American sport. And I f'ing love it.

Watching the NHL is now a throwback for sports fans, even young ones like me. There's no 24 media coverage or reality shows or stupidly nicknamed athletes. Hell, there's not even really a network where you can see full highlights from the night before (sorry, VS....nobody knows what channel your on. Work on that.). It's like the early days of fantasy baseball all over again. Want to know what happened the night before? Check the boxscore in the equally so-unpopular-it's-sorta-popular newspaper.

Best of all, the sport is reaching this new ideology at just the right time. The competition is outstandingly good. For the first time in 15 years, the players are all young and supremely talented across the board. While I am horrified that I'm finally old enough (24) that most of the best players in the league are officially younger than me, I'm still thrilled. Disappointed in myself for not being the starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox by now. But thrilled none the less. The NHL is actual so good now that's there's even sub-storylines going on, like the rebirth of the MVP caliber defensemen in the mold of Bobby Orr and Ray Borque. For passive "I Like Football Because I Get to Wear a Jersey in Public!" fans, this means crap, obviously. But for those actually craving a little bit of a toned down sports world, it's perfect.

It's as if the NHL, through it's own stupidity and greed provoked by the ESPN age, has emerged as a counter culture in our own backyard. An escape from celebreathletes and highlight reels and "Decisions" and controversies and locker room drama and post game press conferences. It's emerged as the only sport in the country that allows the sport to do the entertaining. Despite years of me sitting at home at night longing for Barry Melrose's ridiculous hair to show me highlights of the night's games, I'm actually happier this way.

The sports world is now a sub-outlet of Entertainment Tonight. The NHL? That's re-emerged from the rubble as a prettier version of itself from the 1980's only with a few more teeth and some uglier jerseys. But HDTV. And HDTV cures all viewing woes. I wasn't around too long in the 1980's, but I do know this.

There sure as hell wasn't any reality TV then. And that's the way I like my hockey.