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		Fans not missing absence of NHL By David Zizmor November 1, 2004

	SAN JOSE - Anyone who is an actual NHL fan is going to miss the game, but on the whole, I don't believe the average fan in the United States is going to miss hockey all that much. If you look at a few cities where you have the traditional powers or traditional teams, the Chicagos, Detroits, the Rangers, the Bruins and maybe a few other cities like that - places where hockey is a tradition in the area - hockey will be missed in those select cities, but overall we're not going to miss it too much. Start looking at places like Dallas, Nashville and Arizona. Tampa Bay might miss out simply because they're the defending Stanley Cup champs, but overall, fans of the United States aren't going to miss hockey. Hockey in the United States is really a cult sport and there is no way you can compare the fanaticism Canadian hockey fans feel to what the American fans feel. Here in the U.S., it's a secondary thing, really a fourth or fifth priority down the list. I hate to say it because I'm a huge Sharks fan and I thought the team really had a good shot going into this season contending for the Stanley Cup. I would have guessed the Sharks would have been one of five or six teams people would have been picking to make a good run for Lord Stanley's Cup. It really disappoints me to not have a hockey season and not be able to watch the Sharks make a run. For the most part, I don't think people are going to care that much. Hockey has had so many problems in the last few years and it's such a difficult sport to watch on TV to begin with that people are barely going to notice that it's not there anymore. Economic consequence: Obviously this will have a big impact. You're talking about at least 15,000 people every time you have a game coming downtown and going to bars, to the restaurants before and after the game, and bringing a lot of business to the merchants. San Jose is having a tough time right now, just because that's a lot of people over the course of 41 home dates that the Sharks would end up having. Hopefully, whoever is running the schedule at HP Pavilion will at least do a good job of booking some of those now open home dates that were supposed to be filled by the Sharks. Knowing how the Arena is run and the shows they're able to book there, I imagine there will be some decent shows to fill the bill while the Sharks and the NHL remained locked out. David Zizmor does commentary and writes features on this site. Dave also hosts Sportstalk. Go to the main page and click on real audio or catch Dave on KVVN 1430 or KLIB 1110 Radio.