Pens in another Winter Classic

There are only a handful of people who are happy about the Penguins making another Winter Classic appearance. Most of them either reside in Pittsburgh, or are named Gary Bettman. But personal bias aside, putting the Pens in another Winter Classic was a business decision, and the right one at that.
 
First of all, the Winter Classic takes place on January 1, a day on which you don't have to do too much channel surfing to find sports to watch. In order to garner any attention, the NHL needs to put its best foot forward and let its stars shine. Yes, there are plenty of "hockey people" who are tired of having Crosby vs. Ovechkin drilled into their heads, but the Winter Classic isn't about "hockey people". The main goal of the Winter Classic is for the NHL to spread its popularity, and for NBC to get ratings. In order to achieve both of those objectives, the NHL and NBC need to compete for the attention of the casual viewer. The aforementioned "hockey people" are going to watch the Winter Classic regardless of who plays.
 
Admittedly, it does seem a little unfair at first that the Penguins will now have appeared in two of the NHL's four Winter Classics. After all, there are plenty of other cities which would make great Winter Classic hosts; Minnesota, New York, Denver, and just about anywhere in Canada, to name a few. The problem is this; in this case, it's not Gary Bettman's job to be fair. It's Gary Bettman's job to spread the popularity of the NHL and capture the attention of the casual viewer.
 
Would the Rangers hosting the Maple Leafs at the new Yankee Stadium make for a great spectacle for "hockey people?" Sure. But on January 2^nd, nobody in the Midwest is walking up to the water cooler saying, "hey did you guys see Marion Gaborik and Phil Kessel go at it yesterday?!" For casual fans, those aren't household names. Maybe they will be some day, but they're not now. And in fact, I would estimate that a majority of Americans in the NHL's key demographic (male, 18-49) could not name a single player on the Rangers or Maple Leafs. So putting those two teams on a national stage is like a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it.
 
Like it or not, the NHL has two household names: Crosby and Ovechkin. Maybe Jean Girard said it best in Talladega Nights: "God needs the Devil. The Beatles needed The Rolling Stones. Even Diane Sawyer needed Katie Couric." Alex Ovechkin is Sidney Crosby's Kate Couric. The repeated marketing of these two stars might get on the nerves of some "hockey people," but they're not going to stop watching because of it. And if putting those two players on the ice is the only way to get the NHL to jump to the front page of the paper, or to the beginning of all of the ESPN shows, then Gary Bettman isn't doing his job unless he calls the Spaceballs marketing department. Sidney Crosby the t-shirt... Sidney Crosby the breakfast cereal... Sidney Crosby the flamethrower... call it unfair, call it annoying, but don't call it ineffective.
 
The people who are chastising Bettman for putting Crosby and the Penguins in another Winter Classic are probably the same people who are blasting him for not getting the league on a major cable network. Those people fail to understand that major cable networks don't want the NHL until it has an established audience; and the only way to establish that audience is to use the two NHL names that people know. A look at the NHL and its oft-compared, "niche market" counterpart, the NBA, reveals that maybe Bettman deserves a little credit; NHL revenues and TV ratings are up, while the NBA is seeing a decrease in both revenues and viewership.


The bottom line is this; if you're tired of hearing about Sidney Crosby and/or Alex Ovechkin, then you might want to take a break from the NHL for 20 years or so. Gary Bettman and the NHL will be marketing these two stars for their entire careers, and rightly so. Some people may not like the decision to put the Pens in another Winter Classic so soon, but safe money says that this year's Winter Classic will be the most viewed, most talked about Winter Classic yet. And if that's the case, then isn't it a good decision?

First Post

René Descartes once said, "I think, therefore I am." If he were alive today, that quote would probably read, "I think, therefore I blog." Don't worry, though; this isn't just another website full of amateur writing about over-discussed or awkwardly personal material. Instead, I've decided to devote an entire blog to something wildly entertaining and original:
Sports.

I figured... I enjoy sports. I have a lot of friends who enjoy sports. I find myself talking about sports with those friends, and with other people, many of whom are total strangers (after all, what good is the internet if you're not using it to interact with strangers?) And although it may seem unnecessary to start a blog about sports when there are an endless supply of them already out there, I'm hoping to put just enough of my own personal touch on things to make them readable and entertaining.

For instance: 3 of my favorite sports are hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. ESPN spends more time reporting from Brett Favre's yard in Mississippi than they do covering those three sports... combined.

Ultimately, my goal is for this site to be part opinion, part analysis, and with a little luck and persistence, perhaps even part discussion... so feel free to leave, read, and respond to comments.

I'll conclude the inaugural post with a solemn promise to never mention Brett Favre's name on this site again.