Although it may be hard for some people to say and even harder for others to come to grips with, hockey just isn't all that it's cracked up to be. In the past few months this thought has been thoroughly solidified in my mind. The recent lockout has only shown that hockey is simply not as worthwhile as America's other major sports at both the professional and amateur levels.

Before you start attacking with your sticks and skates, hold on a second. Ask yourself: "Why do I care about an entire NHL season being cancelled?" Is it because you miss the excitement of rooting on your favorite team? Or is it because you miss the Canadian hockey analysts' mullets on ESPN? Whatever kicks you get from watching hockey, you can get them someplace else, and so can the rest of America. According to a poll on ESPN.com, 73 percent of the 146,514 Americans who voted did not care whether the NHL cancelled the 2004-05 season. There are just too many other exciting sporting events going on in America for potential fans to lament the loss of the hockey season.

The NHL's season begins in late fall and runs until early- to mid-summer. In this time span, the NFL season winds down and fans prepare for the playoffs (the most exciting part of any sports season), the NBA season begins and ends (with the NBA finals falling in the same time frame as the Stanley Cup finals) and college sports are running non-stop (most notably the BCS and the NCAA Tournament). Perhaps most importantly, Major League Baseball's season ends in October and then begins again in March. There is just simply no way that hockey can compete at the same level as these other mainstream sports for attention and fan base. As statistics have shown, when a lockout of this magnitude occurs, it only heightens the disparity in fan base between hockey and other mainstream sports in America.

Hockey is also very difficult to watch both on television and live. When watching the sport on television, the puck appears tiny and it moves so quickly that by the time you can find it on the screen, it has changed hands. With a sport like soccer or basketball, this problem does not exist because the ball is considerably larger. This is not to say that sports should be slow and monotonous, but fans should not need the rewind button to follow a game. It is also difficult to see plays in hockey develop if you do not have an in-depth knowledge of the game. The camera focuses on the puck and all of the players aren't always on the same screen. In a sport like football, fans can see all of the players and what they are doing before and during the play. In addition, at the professional level, hockey often becomes more about violence then about the game itself. Fights break out all the time on the ice, and fans cheer it on. Although the crowd's apathy is most prevalent at the professional level, it is created at the amateur level.

In its purest sense, the sport can only be played in the bitter cold, and in the winter, whereas all other major sports can be played in every season but winter! It is easier for young children and those learning to play a sport to play basketball, football or baseball because they can play them anytime and because they can play them in just about any setting. Economics can also influence the apathy of potential young fans learning to play the game. Those who live in poorer parts of the nation or do not have a lot of money cannot play or learn to play hockey. Rinks and gear are too expensive, as is ice time. The potential sports fan growing up in the ghetto is probably unlikely to try to furnish pads, a stick, a puck, nets and ice in order to learn how to play hockey, when there are a million basketball courts in the surrounding neighborhoods and all you need is a ball.

All major professional sports experience labor issues and usually most sports fans are upset over lockouts, strikes and work stoppages. However, the apathy that America's sports nation has expressed over hockey's lockout clearly shows that hockey is on the third tier of the sports world. Sports fans are drained of their passion and desire for entertainment by more exciting events in the NBA, the NFL and the MLB. Many people grow up with the concept that hockey is useless because they don't live near the ice, they can play another sport with greater ease, or they just don't like the cold. Whatever the reason, the amateur levels of hockey aren't helping the pros. Hockey is on the decline in America, and unless it can miraculously become a better sport, figure skating is likely to replace it.

Dykens can be reached at adykens08@amherst.edu