GOOD GRIEF!!!  Another article slamming the American hockey fan.

For all the goodwill and positive media coverage the NHL received south of the border after the Winter Classic—followed by subsequent reports that U.S. viewership of NHL games is rising—there is still one area where Americans remain largely indifferent.

The All-Star Game—and, in particular, its voting process—have failed to inspire Americans.

Ms. Nicks cites not one statistic to support her argument.  Based totally on supposition, she concludes:

While it looks like some U.S. fans were attempting to make their voices heard in all-star balloting, the game still appears to have a long way to go to stir up much passion south of the border.

EGAD!!!  And as Paul noted, she reinforces her argument based on the number of players on Canadian teams, Canadian players on American teams, and foreign players on American teams!!

Thats the sum total of the basis for her contention.  Canadians obviously voted for the “native sons”.  They wouldn’t vote for foreigners—only Americans would do that.

For Pete’s sake, I’ve gotten all worked into a tizzy against biased reporting.  Oh—yeah—reporting is supposed to have some basis in fact—otherwise its just opinion.  Perhaps the writer should be more clear—otherwise some reader might misconstrue this article as fact.

Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 01/13/08 at 10:30 AM ET

I wasn’t aware the Lighting had an “unremarkable” fan base?

Even with a poor team this year the Bolts are 7th in the NHL in attendance…I’d say that especially since they won the Cup the franchise has a very good fan base.

But, I understand that it’s easier not to do any research and just throw out suppositions.

Posted by gobolts from Warm Florida on 01/13/08 at 03:10 PM ET

So we get articles like this… but nobody asking “Why the hell do Jovanovski and Keith make the West squad, but Rafalski gets left off?”, or “So who makes the East team now that Heatley’s hurt?”.”

Truth is, I don’t know what the league stupidly lets the fans vote for anyone.  A person can be smart, but people in a group are remarkably- stupid creatures.  Remember the write-in campaign of last year?  Oy…

Posted by Primis on 01/13/08 at 09:54 PM ET

I’m sure the majority of you guys/gals have already figured this out, but in my opinion, steer clear of any articles from Canadian papers that end with ‘Sun’ (i.e. Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun, Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun etc.)  They’re good for lining birdcages or wrapping fish, but that’s about it. The Globe and Mail, The Province, and Calgary Herald are examples of papers that actually have pretty good writers on their respective staffs.  This doesn’t preclude them from writing the occasional ‘clunker’, but generally, they are far better than anything produced via Sun Media.

Posted by dash_pinched from Calgary on 01/14/08 at 11:53 AM ET

A complete article of pure conjecture. Not a single fact or stat to back it up. The only thing that made any sense is that the All-Star game is as irrelevant as in all other sports and is just a promotional date (which by the way is exactyy as it should be).

Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 01/14/08 at 02:10 PM ET