Watching from the outside

Well tonight we get to see if Chicago can finish off Vancouver and if they made the right move in bringing their luggage for San Jose was a smart idea or an over confidant statement. Since it's the playoffs it isn't surprising to have a wide variety of people tune in to watch the game, especially as Sharks fans who have a vested interest in the outcome. Yet this got me thinking about the regular season and people's watching habits. While its perfectly reasonable to tune in to watch your team play or perhaps and end of season game that effects your teams standings, but what about all those other games played the other teams day in and day out during the regular season? How many of those do we tune into.

I know for me personally, I watch hockey just about every chance I get. The motivation is pretty simple since I am very much into fantasy hockey so an extremely interested to see how individual players perform. But the most interesting aspect of watching other teams battle day in and day out you get a great view of the teams from the outside. Without having your heart invested into the teams you get a chance to look at them through a somewhat more objective lens. It is enlightening to read the blogs pertaining to the teams and how their fans react and over react to each call and game. You can't help be left wondering if your own fan base acts the same way and I think in many ways we do.

While I think it's important for fans to have passion for their team, I think a fine line exists between opinions based on facts and one based on bias. You can easily state facts but even facts can be colored by bias when stated in a specific way to sell a certain message. Some of these comments and opinions you'll agree with and others, not so much. But in the end it's important to not let it get to you. As TM said, "You can't get too high and you can't get too low". So take what ever you read as just another voice in a sea of thoughts. Enjoy the games and be happy that we are blessed to be able to spend our time on watching such an amazing sport.

Also if you haven't seen what Five Hole Fanatics has written I highly recommend you check out what they wrote today.
http://www.fiveholefanatics.ca/2010/05/exposing-nonsense.html