Am I A Hockey Fan Now...?

I've said it before on this blog, I wish I liked watching baseball more, because at this time of the year, we're heading into a sports desert. What's a sports desert? Kind of like a food desert, but with sports. For the next few weeks, we've got championship games in basketball and hockey. Then, not much. I was interested in the NBA finals earlier, due to our local team retuning to postseason play, but this year's final is literally a "been there, done that" situation.

So, between now and when the University of Utah college football season begins exactly three months from today, there are few sports opportunities for me, except catching a MLS game now and then, and enjoying the NHL finals.

Finals, in any sport, are usually entertaining. Maybe they play better when the trophy's on the line. 

Hockey isn't the most popular sport where I live, in a high-plains desert. What's a high-plains desert? It's like a food desert, but an actual real place. We do have the occasional hockey fan. There's a minor league team in Salt Lake and from what I understand, is supported by hearty fans. I just haven't been one of them. 

So, as I watch the Penguins and Predators, two teams clad in yellow and black, beat up each other on frozen water, I wonder if, when the NHL season begins next fall, will I watch any of the regular season...

I guess we'll find out then.

NHL Play-Offs...Good Times

Growing up, I can't really remember watching a lot of hockey on TV.

But I remember watching almost every other sport on TV. That's because when I was a kid, there was only three channels and when sports came on those three channels we watched it. I remember watching alpine skiing (and it wasn't even the Olympics...), auto racing, golf, tennis, and even bowling. Yes, we watched competitive bowling.

And we liked it.

But I don't remember watching hockey. Maybe there wasn't a lot of hockey on TV back then. I don't know. Fast forward four decades and I still don't watch a lot of hockey, but there's something that happens during the play-offs that make the games so much fun to watch. I can't bring myself to watch during the regular season. Play-offs are a different story.

I don't know any of the players. I don't have any favorite teams. I don't really care who wins it all, but if I'm home at night and a game is on, I'll probably check it out.