Bout time for some Hockey smack talk

About the black thing... Years ago I remember hearing (white) people say that the reason blacks don't play hockey because they aren't able to become good skaters becuase they have weak ankles. That's just bulls**t... when black guys are given a fair shot to develop they often turn out to be excellent hockey players.

The real reason is that it's mostly a socio-economic issue. Over 50% of the players in the NHL are Canadian, and there are quite a few black people in Canada, especially in the Toronto area. So why do so few blacks play? Well, most of my black buddies when I was growing up were more into basketball (and this was before Toronto had an NBA team), simply becuase they had more opportunity to play basketball. They were also into baseball a little and also into football, because you could play those sports through school starting in jr. high.

Hockey is very expensive to play and it takes a very large commitment from the parents. I'm not saying that my black friends were poor or their parents didn't care enough to shuttle them around the city for games and practices several times per week, but they were mostly working class people with large families. It's just not feasible for mom & dad to work shift work at 50+ hours a week and have several kids in hockey, especially since very few other black parents were doing it.

Also, hockey is a little unique in that you have to play it from a very young age to get to the highest levels. A kid can't expect to start playing at the age of 13 or 14 and make it to the pros. It's not impossible (i.e. Steve Thomas), but most pro hockey players probably started playing before they were 8 years old. I stared playing at 5, which I think is pretty common around here. So bottom line here is that a determined 13 year old kid could get a paper route or something and save his money so he could buy equipment and registration fees, but he would never be able to play at a high level because he hadn't had a chance to develop properly from a young age.

Back to the topic at hand here... I'm seeing a Philly & Detroit final this year. But sorry Wings fans, the west is too deep, and the Wings will have to go thorough the likes of San Jose, Anaheim, and Vancouver to get to the final. They might be all worn out by the time they get to the finals. (Watch out for Vancouver in the second half... the just signed Mats Sundin and they still have cap space to get a big name player at the trade deadline.)

Since I'm a Leafs fan I never have much to cheer about. All I can hope is that they do very poorly this year and somehow manage to get a good draft pick.