Hockey is Back!!! :AKA: And The Rangers Are Already Pissing People Off...

There are not enough words in the English language to declare my elation over the simple fact thta hockey has returned. I'm not even overly upset over the shortened schedule. In fact, truth be told, I'm even more excited by it. It means there is more ridding on each game, and multiple games being played every night. I realize this is probably hell on the players, but me? I'm practically jumping for joy. One of our Mail Room Guys at work, admitted to being a hockey fan and now unfortunately has to deal with me constantly talking hockey with him.

I have literally spent every night for the past 2 weeks frantically checking/rechecking game plays/scores on my phone. Thursday of last week, I worked late and spent a majority of my after hours screaming at my phone.

As I've mentioned before, you can read it here if you missed it, I am a hockey fan for life. Predominately an Islanders fan, meaning I'm used to disappointment, although thus far they're not totally tanking this season, and consequently I have an instilled disdain for The New York Rangers.

I don't even wanna discuss the fact that Taylor Pyatt has now joined the enemy. A moment of silence was held…

But that is beside the point. The point, in case you've yet to gleam it, is that I am an Avid hockey fan, who is also, and this may come as a shock, of the female persuasion. In layman's terms, I'm a hockey chick.

Side bar: some people find the term "chick" as slightly offensive, given what I'm about to discuss, however I much rather prefer it or hockey girl or hockey woman, and as this is my rant, I'm using it.

As some of you may know, this past Friday an article was posted upon The New York Rangers Official Fan Site. This "fan" written article, and I use the term loosely here, was entitled: "A Girls Guide to Watching The Rangers", and a link to this article was posted by the Rangers' official twitter account.

This was a mistake off EPIC proportions. The backlash on this "article" was so severe that it was removed from the sight in less than an hour and the tweet containing the link was also deleted.

Didn't get a chance to read it? Well fear my lovelies, for this is the internet age, and once something has been put on the Internet, it lives forever. To get a better look at it, you can click here to read the article in its entirety, as some wonderful person has typed it up for all to see.  Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait.

Photo Credit: Yahoosports

There you see how laughably offensive that was? First off the implication that a female's only interest in watching a sport is to please a man is down right insulting. The fact that this drivel was supposedly written by a woman make it even worse. And for the record The Boy and I raced out to buy tickets to the home opener in which such fever of which I've never felt for any sale.

Studying the roster? Really? How bout just watching some games? Take it from a chick who's team is CONSTANTLY changing, you watch the games you'll learn names. And while yes, learning the team members is important, remember watching a hockey game  is FUN, not a final exam.

The one paragraph that absolutely kills me though is the "You need to sense the tension at certain points in the game and let them do their jumping, screaming and cheering thing. You can tell if something huge has happened by their reaction, and if you're absolutely lost, wait for the replay. There's always a replay after a major play." Really? Let "them" do there screaming cheering thing? Ask any of the guys I've gone to games with and they'll tell you this chick is screaming, cheering, chanting, sometimes cussing, just a loud, if not louder than any of them.

I'll admit that I laughed out loud at this PR nightmare The Rangers managed create for themselves. And they did do it to themselves, for even if you argue it was a "fan" written article, someone of some sort of official capacity had to have approved it and/or at the very least, tweeted the link.

Is there a possibility that there is some bias to my opinion on all of this? Meh, I will admit to a bit of glee over the fact that it is The Rangers wading through the shit storm this has become, as opposed to another team, however, I would be offended regardless of which team (or teams fan base) were responsible for it.

Look, I get it, the Powers That Be in the sporting world, don't know how to market to the female half of the species.  And on a somewhat related note on the NHL (and sports league in general) Pink jerseys are only acceptable during Breast Cancer Awareness month, and even then, not really. Just because you make it pink, doesn't mean a woman is gonna automatically drool over it. And to those women wearing them to games? I fully admit to judging you. Also, on the subject of terrible marketing ideas, the "woman's" cut jerseys look awful, the long sleeves make it look oddly disproportional. Real fans still want "Real" jerseys, just better sizes please.

But lets be honest here, talking down to us, is NOT the way. It only pisses people off. How about making tickets more affordable for one? Or making the players a bigger part of the community, I know, I know I'm getting all nostalgic for the Islander glory days, but hear me out. I got hooked on this glorious sport when I was a child. The best way to experience is to watch it live. So let's get people, men, women and children excited to go watch a game.