Hockey and the sounds of silence

Mark Whiting
Published: June 24, 2008

Where’s the beef? Last night was the NHL draft and nary a word in Potomac News. I went online and saw other teams discussed, but nary a word regarding the Caps.

During the first round of playoffs, I understood the games ended after the paper was put to bed and expected no coverage that day, but nothing the day after either? 

YET, when Boston beat Los Angeles in basketball and the game ended after 11:30 p.m., there was coverage taking up over half the front page of the sports section! Amazing. The Potomac News can’t
get online, watch tv., listen to a radio, or call someone at the game to get proper coverage of a local team, but hold the presses George, Boston beat the Lakers! 

We got so scant coverage when our new coach got coach of the year and our star player received four awards.

Some wonder why the sport of hockey hasn’t taken off even though the local team at one point was a contender and is again for the Stanley Cup. 

I don’t wonder. Hockey gets little or no media coverage in this area. Potomac News refers to the Caps as a local team.Yeah right. We should expect this actually, after all even the area high school
hockey players get completely dissed by Potomac News. High school players in the area are lucky if anything is mentioned regarding them more than twice a year. 

Yet, we must be sure the other sports get front page! Sad when the “local” paper can diss through silence a local team and high schoolers because the editors haven’t a clue what the sport is about.
Again, where’s the beef?

MARK WHITING

Triangle