In case you haven’t noticed–and trust me, you haven’t–the
National Hockey League is in the midst of a contract dispute
between the owners and the players.

With constantly escalating costs and escalating salaries, it was
only a matter of time until something had to give.

But a funny thing happened on the way to picket line: Nobody
cared.

The NHL has long been looked upon as the third cousin, twice
removed, of the mainstream sports market.

And with every passing day of this labor dispute the apathy,
which was prevalent to begin with anyway, has grown, leaving little
room for sympathy.

It seems that the players, and owners for that matter, forgot
something when they decided to stop their season prematurely:
Nobody cared to begin with.

We aren’t talking about baseball or even basketball here. Hockey
is a sport hanging on by a thread because a fringe group of
hooligans and a small market of intrigued spectators still find it
amusing to go to the arena once or twice a week and cheer on
legalized assault on ice.

The support for the sport was lacking even before the work
stoppage. Who knows what will happen when it finally ends?

Ten years ago, Major League Baseball players went on strike,
despite major public outcry and their very cushy salaries.

I remember much of that year. The Expos looked like a serious
World Series threat. Tony Phillips was battling to hit .400;
likewise, Matt Williams and Ken Griffey Jr. were both trying to
best Roger Maris’ home-run record.

The final games were cancelled, and the strike lasted into much
of the next season. The concept of “replacement players” soon
spawned an evil stepchild: the replacement fan. It took years for
the adoring public to reclaim their pastime.

Then seven years ago, the National Basketball Association’s
owners locked out their players, pre-empting a strike and leaving
the stars to their own devices because of their escalating salaries
and stagnant revenues.

The fans were furious. First Jordan left and now this. It was a
black mark that the league is still trying to recover from. But
it’s starting to.

But then there is hockey. For a league that has been around for
87 years there is a sincere disinterest in the sport.

Sure it’s complicated, and sure most players have an IQ that is
directly related to the number of teeth they still have; but there
has to be some other explanation for the pure indifference that
even the most avid of sports fans show it.

Maybe it’s because the game was spawned in Canada. But in all
fairness, lots of good things have come from Canada, including
Molson Blue, the sport of curling, Shania Twain and Molson
Ultra.

OK, say their contribution to modern society is limited to
ridiculous sports, bad beer and a country singer, but that’s more
than Iceland ever gave the world.

So let’s get back to it and figure out why people just don’t
care that there is no hockey this year. I mean, there is no daily
counter on SportsCenter.

In fact, it garners barely a mention. There aren’t any
commentaries in local papers pleading for the return of this weird
mutation of Ringling Brothers on Ice.

And I don’t hear sports radio yelling about their Zamboni
withdrawal.

To be fair, though, I’ve never been a big fan of hockey, and
I’ve never hesitated to make that known. It might be because it’s
too slow, or even too fast.

Or maybe it’s just because I have a tough time following games
that are not sports.

For whatever the reason, I take solace in knowing that I’m not
alone, and the sporting world agrees with a collective yawn.

I know that apathy runs thicker than blood, and, for better or
for worse, there is comfort in the fact that I won’t have to see
Barry Melrose and his silver mullet weeknights on ESPN.