I'll Pass, Thanks

I was asked today if I was getting excited for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey. Knowing that I'm a bit of a hockey fan, you'd think I would be, right? Except I'm not. Quite honestly, I don't care. I have many issues with this tournament - cost to fans, impact on players, potential injuries - but the one thing I fail to find in this tournament is meaning. It feels forced with the whole "who owns the game of hockey" commercial on Sportsnet, and I'm here today to tell you that HBIC will not be reporting on any of the happenings at the World Cup of Hockey.

The commercial I referenced is below, but I fully admit that I change the channel when it appears. Here it is, and I'll go through what I don't like about it below.

I find it to be insulting in that Tomas Plekanec and the Czech fan will always have Nagano despite some of their country's recent hockey successes. The American fan references the Miracle On Ice game, yet I'm guessing he didn't witness it due to his age while ignoring all the success that Hockey USA has had since that game. All of the fans reference Olympic successes, but the World Cup of Hockey is not the Olympics nor will it ever be with the stupid North American and European teams.

I also find the commercial incredibly sexist as all of the fans are male. There are a couple of female fans, but the NHL, NHLPA, and Sportsnet are doing a serious disservice to the portion of the market with the greatest area of growth by not including women as serious fans. Watch it again. I guarantee you can count the number of women fans in the commercial on one hand.

Maybe you're thinking you'd like to take in a game, though. You're thinking, "Teebz, you're so cynical, and I'm going to see Canada play the USA because I love this game." Well, I am cynical, but you're probably going to spend a lot of money to see a faux-international tournament if you want to take in that game. Tickets for the Canada-USA game at the Air Canada Centre on September 20 will run you anywhere from $148 in Sections 318 and 319 to $3900 in the lower bowl! At this point, you'd be better off investing in gold. At least that will increase in value!

"But Teebz," you say, "what about the memories?"

Cram it with the memories. If the NHL makes a dump truck full of money off this, their participation in South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be rather moot since the NHL makes almost zero money off its Olympic participation. You know, the Olympics. It's that event all of those fans and players referenced in the above commercial. Yeah, THOSE Olympics.

You've officially entered a World Cup of Hockey-free zone. I won't talk about it, I won't post highlights from it, and I certainly don't care for it. There will lots of coverage on Sportsnet and ESPN, so make sure to get your fill there if you want to read about the players and games despite how meaningless this event is.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!