If you read this corner of the Internet with any regularity, you will find that I have little use for the NBA.  Part of it has to do with the fact that I find basketball, especially at the pro level, to be excruciatingly dull and part of it has to do with a personal vendetta against NBA commish David Stern which is a different topic for a different day.

I am, however, a huge fan of the NHL.  I had the privilege of covering the league for two plus seasons while I was working in Nashville and still have several friends connected to the league. I guess my comfort level with hockey is that it was a sport I played as a kid, the team I cheered for (the Blackhawks) were good when I was a kid and I find it far more exciting than the NBA.  When I was a young teen, hockey was the bigger of the two sports with CBS or NBC showing the Stanley Cup Playoffs and CBS showing the NBA Finals on tape delay after the late local news.  In fact, the NBA almost went bankrupt in the early 70's, thanks to the bidding war they had with the ABA.

Besides all that, basketball is the sport of kings while hockey is the sport of the working guy.  Look around any NBA arena and you'll see movers, shakers and captains of industry.  Look around a hockey rink and you see Joe the Plumber.  And with the economy in the tank, lots of the movers and shakers are giving up their NBA tickets.

Despite what NBA fans want to believe, attendance at NBA arenas and NHL rinks is almost identical.  New NHL stars like Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews have revitalized the game.  The death of Dollar Bill Wirtz in Chicago has sparked a hockey renaissance in Chicago.  This, and a rebellion against the NBA culture has sparked a renewed interest in hockey.  Finally.

What went wrong with the NHL over the last few years?  Several things.  The biggest was not renewing their contract with ESPN.  When you are in bed with the leader, they are your best friend.  When you are not, they ignore you.  The difference in hockey coverage on ESPN has been like night and day since the league moved its'  business to NBC/Versus.  Now that ESPN has the NBA, you'd think it was the NBA channel and that hockey is the equivalent of Lacrosse.  Even when they were on ESPN, the worldwide leader treated them like a bastard cousin, openly pining for the NBA. 

Of course, hockey is still struggling.  There are still a few too many teams in markets that people aren't interested in.  The commissioner of the NHL may be one of the worst in modern sports history and the reformers keep trying to take the best parts of the sport away because they think that's what fans want.  But, it's still exciting and people across the country are starting to realize it again.

Here's hoping the NHL stays on the radar.