Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
Fans of Canadian NHL teams use media scrutiny as some excuse. It's nothing compared to what pro sports teams in the cities I mentioned deal with. Think beyond the NHL for a second which was the point of my two posts.
But you also don't have an appreciation of how popular the local NHL team is in certain cities in the NE. They're not as anonymous as you think, Iginla's man on the street interview notwithstanding.
Ever been to Pittsburgh, Chicago or Detroit during the playoffs or on first day of the season? Hockey jerseys and flags everywhere. I remember running into Joe Sakic in a shopping mall in Denver. Everyone knew who he was.
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I understand what you are getting at, and I continue to think that you are badly discounting the relative difference in the intensity of scrutiny comparatively between every Canadian and every American NHL market. The fact that Canadians rightly or wrongly have laid claim to hockey as "our game" only serves to exacerbate the situation to an extent that is not reflected in any one of the 24 US markets.
And please stop saying that this is being offered as some wort of "excuse." No one is excusing Canadian teams for being so frustratingly shortsighted, but it certainly is a legitimate observation to see that the pressure has contributed to the results.