Not Humbled (Yet) League

We've all heard Jeremy Roenick's comments about fans who feel NHL players are greedy. J.R. thinks any fan who feels that NHL players are greedy can smooch his backside. Oh, and they can stop watching hockey altogether. There is the problem, Jeremy. No one was watching in the first place.

Roenick's sentiments reveal what the NHLPA has gotten wrong from Day One. The players and their union viewed themselves, and their league, on an equal plane to other sports, mostly notably, the NFL, NBA and MLB. There's the rub. The National Hockey League is closer to being compared to Major League Soccer than the Big Three.

That comment isn't going to make my fellow Detroit fans too happy, but it's painfully true. The NHL is simply not a big time sport. We here in the U.S., and especially in self proclaimed Hockeytown, consider the NHL one of the "Big Four" along with Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. However, nothing could be further from reality.

We've been down this list before, but just as a refresher for Mr. Roenick, hockey falls behind the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA Tour, NASCAR, NCAA football and NCAA basketball. In terms of television ratings, you can add poker, bowling, fishing and probably rodeo. That puts pro hockey pretty far down the list of must-see sporting events in North America.

The NHL may have had games aired on the same television networks as other sports, but they never had the ratings, fan base or revenue streams that other sports enjoyed. Yet, the NHLPA stubbornly refused to back down during this labor impasse because they had the perspective of being equally as big, both in popularity and revenue, as professional baseball, football and basketball. The players acted like big fish in a little pond, only to find out they are barely little fish in a very big pond.

The players were never able to see the forest for the trees and Roenick's comments reveal they still can't. J.R. can take some solace, however. I don't think the players are greedy at all. Nope. I think they are naive. Naive to the point, well, to the point of absurdity. That, and they are arrogant. But I don't think the NHLPA is greedy.

Does that mean I can get your approval to watch, J.R.?