I have yet to watch one minute of game action. Yes, I’ve had other things to do, but I usually make these games appointment viewing throughout the Christmas season. I am not alone, as the TV ratings have been less than stellar, and there has been a smattering of empty seats in the arena for both of Canada’s games.
The reason for this apathy stems from the widening chasm in talent levels of the have and have nots. Realistically, there are only three countries that have a chance to compete for the gold consistently every year: Canada, Russia and Sweden.
The rest of the countries aren’t even close and the disparity is growing larger every year, evidenced by the 22-0 combined score Canada laid on Latvia and the Swiss.
Does anyone even truly enjoy watching these types of games? They are boring and uneventful and the fact they are taking place at a world class event is embarrassing. As Canadians, we should be concerned for the future of this event if such landslide scores continue to be the norm.
Let me give you an example: does anyone actually take women’s international hockey seriously? Nope. Why not? Because it’s Canada and the US at the top and no one else is even close. Every year at every major event, the Canadians and Americans meet in the final. It’s boring and predictable.
No one else in the world gives two shits about women’s hockey for that reason. If a country can’t field a competitive team, why bother? Their funds earmarked for athletics can be better spent elsewhere.
The same has begun to happen in the men’s game. Not many countries can match our financial contributions to developing hockey talent or match our talent pool for prospective players. Canada has a built-in competitive advantage that cannot be matched by other teams.
The disparity is so great that it’s not worth it to the Latvias and the Switzerlands to attempt make up that advantage. Eventually, their programs and interest level will dry up, they’ll divert funds elsewhere and we’ll be stuck with a three team tournament in the next decade.
How exciting.
Sports are built on unpredictability, drama and excitement. When that disappears, so do the fans. There’s a reason why there’s such a buzz in the air for the Olympics in February. We didn’t even medal in Turin in 2006. No one knows what’s going to happen in six week’s time. Will we redeem our hockey pride? Can anyone stop the Russians?
The only question mark surrounding the Canadian World Junior team is, ‘will they ever break a sweat in the third period?’ Snore.
Hopefully the intensity level picks up when we face the Americans on New Year’s Eve (I don’t hold out hope for Slovakia to give us a challenge tonight).
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1 comment:
everyone knows how horrible it feels to "not have a chance" (see http://tewkstalk.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-hate-mike-fisher.html for the continuing saga.). while i've never encountered that queasy uneasiness in the sexual arena - best compliment of all time: "you could get any girl you want", courtesy of a grade 12 classmate - i have encountered it in day-to-day goings-on.
i thus have devised a mercy-like plan for the sake of what remains of wilting latvian/swiss dignity. goal differential is currently the tie-breaking stat, which is fair and sensible. but a cap should be implemented which states that a team can gain a maximum of +6 or +8 to their goal differential, but running up the score beyond that does not count in their favour. if i was on that latvian team, my dreams would be smashed. nobody wants that.
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