What I have to put up with

With this being a UK-based Anaheim Ducks blog, I'm sure you would come in expecting to see something about what it's like to be a hockey fan - let alone a fan of this particular team - here in England, where the majority of folks either don't know what it is or think it's "That thing that's a bit like football but with silly rules and big men."

Yes, the generic ignorance towards this sport is a real gear grinder of mine, especially the comparisons to soccer. You see, the British way of doing things is to compare something that's unusual and foreign and that you refuse to learn more about versus something that's mildly similar, homegrown, and more familiar. Said "comparisons" involve making generically ignorant snarky comments about the new, unusual and foreign thing whilst refusing to mention any flaws that the more familiar game might have. Essentially, Hockey is "Football on ice", American Football is "Rugby for wimps", Baseball is "Glorified Rounders", and Basketball is "something something Netball". This is the type of person who will pay God knows how much money on seeing an NFL International Series game for the purpose of making fun of it, comparing it to Rugby, and pissing off the fans around them who are just trying to enjoy the game.

Which brings me to my next point. While I was looking for a suitable image of the O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) for my first blog entry, I came across this article on the NHL Premiere games between the Ducks and the Kings that took place back in 2007. Yeah, said article is five years old, but it's still mildly annoying to read. Granted, it's not completely ignorant and nowhere near as bad as what I've just written above, and the writer does come across as if he's at least tried to do a bit of research, however he misses out on a few major points.

"It’s entirely in the nature of ducks that they can fly under the radar, but only in fairy tales do kings arrive unannounced. Nevertheless, even those who would count themselves fans of ice hockey may be surprised to learn that the O2 Arena this weekend hosts not just one, but two clashes between a pair of North American professional teams. And not just a pre-season slapabout, mind you."

Actually, we already knew about these games well beforehand. That's why all the tickets sold out. Then again, "Those who would count themselves fans" aren't necessarily true followers of the game, they may be the type who simply picked a random team but don't care about them enough to actively follow them. Yet even that crowd was aware of the games happening in London, and I'm pretty sure a number of them went.

"These are the opening fixtures of the brand new regular NHL season and count as home games for last term’s champions, the Anaheim Ducks, as they migrate across eight time zones to host their local rivals from 35 miles down the highway, the Los Angeles Kings."

Technically the Kings were hosting the Ducks. They are owned by AEG, the building is also owned by AEG... see where I'm going with this? And no, they weren't both home games for the Ducks. They both split home games so that neither So Cal team would lose out an on another home game. Ticket revenue is important for pro sports teams, after all.

"It’s the equivalent of Manchester United opening their Premiership defence against Blackburn in San Francisco, which these days doesn’t sound so outlandish given the top clubs’ regular pre-season tournaments in Asia and the States." 

Are obligatory football references the only way to keep your target market interested in your article?

"Even then, that the honour of the first regular season game in Europe should fall to London is still a surprise given that Scandinavia and former Soviet territories provide a sizeable proportion of the NHL’s players, and therefore foreign fanbase, while we don’t seem to have provided one player ever and for the most part could barely care less."

I'll agree with the writer here, London did seem like an arbitrary choice for the NHL (and guess what, they never came back!) Also, did I mention Steve Thomas, who by the way is English-born and went to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals with the Ducks, and whose career in the NHL spanned 20 years?

"The sport probably has most in common here with rugby league in that it’s fiercely popular in areas of the North (and also Canada), but attempts to spread the game’s appeal southwards have met with only limited success. Despite posting some record attendance figures the game is struggling for television audiences and therefore to secure its status as one of America’s Big Four sports." 

So he at least researched a point about hockey not being as popular. Go figure. 

"And just in case you’re thinking that fella (Wild Wing statue) in the picture looks strangely familiar, ice hockey’s top team were founded a mere fourteen years ago by the Walt Disney Corporation as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, inspired not so much by the live action movie concerning the classic misfits-to-heroes rise of a youth hockey team, but more by the animated series that was inspired by that movie and featured a team of that name which consisted of wild fowl pucksters of a similar nature to those martial artist amphibious reptiles you may have encountered."

Um... what? As much as I prefer the animated version of the Mighty Ducks over the film series: the NHL team was named after the movie, simple as that. The cartoon series debuted in 1996 which, by the way, was a mere eleven years ago at the time this article was written. That was loosely based on the NHL team, not the other way around. Although I'm surprised he knew the animated series existed at all.

"The name was only altered in 2005 when Disney sold the franchise. Nobody involved seems to find any of this particularly unusual."

Again, no. The name was shortened a year after the team was sold, in 2006. Yeah, I know, I'm being pedantic. But rebrands for major sports teams don't simply happen overnight. They require a lot of time to develop. Unlike, say, here in the UK where football's team names lack any imagination whatsoever and the teams can't think of anything better than Town Name United or Town Name FC despite the United Kingdom having a LOT of history to draw from for inspiration - oh, look at me, being generically ignorant towards my country's own National Sport.


"We await the Super League debut of the FilmFair backed Warrior Wombles of Wimbledon with much anticipation."

The Ice Hockey Superleague which he is referring to doesn't exist anymore. And it didn't exist five years ago either. In fact the league folded in 2003, and the Elite Ice Hockey League was formed to take its place.

Again, this article isn't anywhere near as ignorant as some of the crap I've heard from non-fans before. And I'll give him credit for at least trying to do a little research on the Anaheim Ducks considering this was published to a website that claims to cover pretty much everything happening in London.

I can't believe I just sat here ranting about an out of date article. But, it's things like this that can make being an NHL fan in this country difficult, and I'll be sure to talk about more another time.