I spent the last 3 days in SoCal for work and trying to find hockey scores is harder than a Scott Stevens open ice hit. I am used to minimal hockey coverage in the Bay Area but in SoCal you have the best team in hockey (last year at least) and the only sports news in LA is when/if Kobe will be traded. I don't know about SoCal but the joke here in San Jose is that there are only 17,496 (capacity of the Shark tank) hockey fans in the Bay Area and the fringe fan will never embrace the sport because they didn't grow up with it. A winless basketball team gets twice the coverage the Sharks get. It has been said that the Sharks would have to win a Stanley Cup (or at least get to the finals) to get full-fledge media coverage. My short experience in SoCal shot down that theory. You have the Stanley Cup Champs and I have to check the bottom line of Sportscenter just to get any hockey scores. I used to hate all the bandwagon fans who would show up at the Tank just for the playoffs and pretend they have been fans for life. My friends and I always hated intermissions during playoffs games as the concourses were packed and playoff games were "the place to be." I always disputed the fact that the Bay Area was an "event town" and thought the Sharks could draw these rabid fans throughout the season. Now I don't know if hockey will ever be more than the 4th major sport. Does it really matter though?
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