Nashville Knucklehead

The New Rules

I spent an unfortunate 9 years during the formative time of my life north of the Mason Dixon line, living in Both Ft. Wayne and Carmel, Indiana. My mother, a born and bred native of Orlando, must have hit the roof when my father, a born and bred native of Nashville said, "Honey, pack up the kids, I got a promotion, we're moving to Ft. Wayne!" Anyway, all this is a lead in to the most redeeming part of being a kid in the frigid north: hockey.
I played a lot of hockey as a kid. It is a great sport to play and to watch. However, the NHL lost me as a spectator about, oh, 20 years ago. And it wasn't until the strike and the rule changes that I figured out why. In the old NHL, the whistle would stop play about 75 times per period. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Final score, 2-1. Yawn. Then, last year came the lockout and apparently the NHL took a long look at their game and realized that there were plenty like me who felt the same way. So they implemented a bunch of rule changes.
I was skeptical. After all, this was a league that lost an entire season due to a labor dispute. Were a couple of rule changes going to affect the watchability of what had become a really boring sport? The answer is a resounding Yes. Two games into the season, I have watched more hockey than in the last 20 years (on TV, anyway) and the changes work. My friends and I are talking about going to see games at the GEC. About getting boxes and taking the kids.
When Nashville first announced intentions of getting into the NHL, I was working in the sports media. I voiced my doubts about this southern townever supporting hockey. I'm surprised how well Nashville has done so far. Let me say, with the new rules and new parity, I'mm looking for the Preds to really fire up the sports scene in this town. That'd be really cool, eh?

posted by Nashville Knucklehead @ 11:19 AM