[81MC]

1) Casually keep up to date, but unlikely to dedicate any time to watching specifically.

2) Moderately likely. Hockey is a reprieve from the winter, something to do with my partner as a date night, or a way to waste time. I do hope to spend less time watching hockey and more time engaged in other things.

3) Interested.

4) Nothing. If it’s not Calgary, I’ll root for whichever team has a lineup I support or whomever my friends root for, but there would be allegiance to a non-Calgary team.

5) B, bordering C. End of the day, it’s extremely well paid athletes, with cost-prohibitive live events and mass marketing. The level of TV timeouts, including the obligatory #s that interfere with the flow of the game (particularly in the final minutes of a period) make a game a serious time commitment. I disagree with a lot of the culture; clean hits can be called predatory, but ‘answering the bell’ is promoted? F off. Drop a few hundred dollars and an evening out with the girl to see an uninspiring performance of millionaires going through the motions? Nah, I’m good.

Overall, the game is a massive marketing ploy, young players expect multimillion dollar contracts before achieving anything, and the game is less accessible to community members than ever. There are very few franchise players, and it all kind of feels like a good way to waste precious time and money. I wouldn’t be upset if I found myself always too engaged in something more productive than to follow the league.