The 115th in our 118-part series.
The Hockey Blogosphere
For the last 12 years or so, we’ve been living in a veritable Plato’s Cave when it comes to hockey. We’ve been watching the projections on the walls — games, playoffs, championships, highs and lows, great plays and great players, bone-headed mistakes and disastrous trades, everything that’s made up the NHL over that span — but for all we knew these events were only shadows, and nothing more. By dint of having almost no friends who like hockey, and by dint of having so little faith in the MSM’s ability to correctly and interestingly analyze the game, we’d been reduced to watching our favorite sport in a vacuum. And then a beautiful thing brought us out of the Cave and into the brave new world of engaging in and interacting with the hockey universe — the hockey blogosphere.
We gave up on the Hockey News when we realized if Richie Chere was the Devils correspondent; why were we trusting what the other reporters were saying about the rest of the teams? We gave up NHL2Night when we realized John Buccigross was killing our souls. We gave up on caring about what NHL talking heads had to say when Al Morganti declared Patrick Roy was going to Philadelphia. So it was with much glee, relief, fascination and joy that we discovered there was a huge community of smart, clever, witty, interesting and thought-provoking hockey fans publishing commentary all over the wondrous interwebs. From the sublime to the ridiculous, hockey blogs deliver all the goods — humor, insight, analysis, game recaps, injury reports, trade rumors — but all in an environment that embraces and encourages fan dialog. No more are we at the mercy of beat writers who hate their teams, anchors who have no knowledge of the game, and talking heads whose ivory tower keeps their heads firmly rooted in the clouds. We now have more access to hockey writing than ever before, where everyone who is passionate about hockey has equal say, from newbie fans to insiders.
We’ve written that the past season rejuvenated our love of hockey; a big part of that hockey renaissance was having a community to belong to that understands hockey like we do, approaches it like we do, and loves writing about it as much as we love reading about it. Thank you, hockey bloggers, all of you, for your tireless work to forge one of the most energetic, intelligent and vibrant corners of the internet.
Hockey bloggers are kind of like enablers. They encourage my addiction for hockey. :D
Hockey bloggers are kind of like enablers. They encourage my addiction for hockey. :D
And that’s a bad thing, why? Hee hee!
Heh so true.
It brings a tear, Pookie!
The hockey blog has been about the best thing to happen to me in a long time. I was sick of ESPN (I might have been too over-zealous at first and burned out on them) and I was tired of reading the same AP article with a slightly different headline on the same 20 MSM sports sites. And I was so depressed by The Hockey News, because I had such high hopes for it. The Dallas contributor was usually Mike Heika, and while I really like him, I can get that shit at home!
Then I discovered Off Wing Opinion and Covered In Oil and Battle of California I never looked back.
And, best of all, IPB has helped me peek out from behind my potted plant on a couple of sites that I’ve loved but that never knew I was there.
Great post. And I love what you picked to illustrate the ridiculous. :D
Patty! When are you going to star your blog? I want a Patty blog!
I don’t know Katebits! Now would probaby be a good time. But I don’t have any good ideas. I’d just be rambling.
I guess I could point out that I just realized that Nolan Baumgartner is all kinds of hot. :D
I was tired of reading the same AP article with a slightly different headline on the same 20 MSM sports sites.
Isn’t that the worst? And with more and more newspapers cutting back on their writers, that’s only going to get worse.
And, best of all, IPB has helped me peek out from behind my potted plant on a couple of sites that I’ve loved but that never knew I was there.
I remember being so nervous about leaving a comment on Kukla’s Korner just after the A-S Break. It’s so freeing to realize that commenting isn’t scary! I’m so glad you didn’t hide behind your plant here! And I was so excited to see your name in lights in Margee’s SqueeView of the Stars!
And I love what you picked to illustrate the ridiculous. :D
That was my favorite post of the entire off-season!
I’d just be rambling.
What are the rest of us doing but rambling? Ramblings the whole point! :)
Patty, you just described my experience with the MSM to a tee! It was this drawn-out burning-out on it, then a period of dark depression, then finding water in the desert in the form of so many of the HLOGers! And there’s been no looking back since! Like zot, I was so happy to find such a great group of enablers out there.
Patty, at least you know about hockey! i have a hockey blog and I don’t know shit! GET A BLOG, GIRL!
…at least you know about hockey! i have a hockey blog and I don’t know shit!
But you’re a writer. This is where my plan falls apart. :D
And I was so excited to see your name in lights in Margee’s SqueeView of the Stars!
I felt famous!
When y’all posted my reason to love hockey way back at the beginning of the summer, I told everybody I know! It was the equivalent of being published!
It was the equivalent of being published!
Aww… I feel so proud of you now! :D
When y’all posted my reason to love hockey way back at the beginning of the summer, I told everybody I know! It was the equivalent of being published!
I’m so glad we could be a part of that! I have a coworker who writes for a big-time library blog. I mentioned that we were going to be inviting our readers to send us reasons they love hockey. He made this frowny face and said, “Don’t do it. That’s a terrible idea. You never, ever want to give up any ownership or authorship of your blog. Terrible, terrible idea. You’d be stupid to do it.” I thought for a minute and then simply said, “I don’t think you know what kind of readers we have at IPB. I think they’re going to be great posts!” And I was right! You guys sure showed him!
I have spent all summer marveling at the awesome posts you all wrote, and with each one we put up, I thought “Take that, Pookie’s grouchy, loser co-worker!”
Maybe your coworker would get better readers if he respected the intelligence of his readers. So there, crabby library man! (Says the girl who did not contribute a reason to love hockey…)
The hockey blogosphere was totally a catalyst in making me a bigger hockey fan then I previously was. I love the newfound social element of my hockey fandom.
I love the newfound social element of my hockey fandom.
Isn’t it the greatest? I had absolutely no idea that would be a by-product of blogs/blogging. It’s such a nice surprise to find such awesome people!
Maybe your coworker would get better readers if he respected the intelligence of his readers.
He also asked me once how we here at IPB handle nasty commenters using hurtful words. I’m like, “What? People leave nasty comments with hurtful words in the blogosphere?” I told him about that ridiculous Rangers fan who dropped by earlier in the summer and how everyone here just either ignored him, or called him on his shit in a clever, arch, intelligent way (thanks, Earl!). My coworker was like, “Oh. Well then. I’ll guess I’ll just keep deleting the comments on my blog.”
(Says the girl who did not contribute a reason to love hockey…)
You’ve still got time! Don’t you want to add that to your list of zillion things you need to get done before you leave? :)
Great, great reason to love hockey!!! I know I’m a day late on this comment, but I think it’s important to reiterate what everyone has already said. The blogosphere is vital to the fans of our sport more so than any other, only because the MSM either ignores or belittles it, undeservingly of course. Bloggers like Kukla, IPB, Mirtle, BoC, TWC, Chen, Swenson, Bfloblog, etc. (I could go on!) are simply incredible people and have brought all of us fans together from the far corners of the real world with their insight, humor, and passion.
And IPB…oh IPB….I absolutely love having a place to hang out during the day and just bullshit about hockey! With knowledgable and articulate fans! It’s incredible. You gals have something special here, keep up the good work.
andrew, thanks for piling on! I really, honestly don’t know what we all did without the blogosphere. It’s expanded my hockey universe vastly, while making the hockey world a lot smaller!