More problems for the NHL

The Detroit News has another great story today about the dismal state of the NHL. Specifically, it focuses on the league's declining abysmal television ratings. Check this out...

Meanwhile, ABC’s five regular-season broadcasts averaged a 1.1 rating, or less than 1.2 million households. That’s a 21 percent decline from the 2001-02 season’s 1.4 rating — the NHL’s high-water mark for the network in terms of ratings.

By way of comparison, the 2003 U.S. curling championships drew a 1.4 rating on NBC last March , and a Duke-Connecticut women’s basketball game on CBS last month got a 1.8 rating.

Beaten in the ratings by women's basketball, and by curling? The XFL used to beat hockey when it was on their air too. And these people don't think that there are some problems that need to be fixed?

But wait, it gets better. Scroll down to the bottom of the article, and you see Gary Bettman's future solution. A more open game? Nope. More offense? Nope. It's High Definition TV. Yup, that's right, folks. The NHL is going to be saved by HDTV. Fans just don't watch it because they can't see the game's detail. Forget about making the game better. People will start watching it again when TV's get better!

“I’m pretty bullish on TV,” Bettman said. “If you’ve ever seen our game on high-def, it’s unbelievable. HDTV will help all sports, but I think it will help our sport the most.”

God I hate that stupid fucknozzle Gary Bettman. Gary Bettman's answer to every problem is "better marketing". This guy thinks that if you own a restaurant that serves deep-friend dogshit, then the way to get more customers is to change the color of the special sauce on the dogshit, not to serve better food.

No wonder Canadians hate us so much.