Strolling through Torrey Pines Golf Course during the Buick Invitational, you’re struck by just how popular golf has become.
You know a sport is popular when there are clueless fans wandering the course who assume that a sand wedge is that little shovel you use to build castles on the beach.
Another sign is the little children crawling between people’s legs just to catch a glimpse of mega-star Tiger Woods.
And most importantly, there’s the media. CBS gave the Buick Invitational six hours of weekend time. All national media covers golf, and Tiger’s victory was on the front page of ESPN.com.
All of these factors combine to signal what many people have known for a long time – golf has replaced hockey as the fourth major sport in this country.
The attendance tells the story. Over 41 games, the NHL attendance-leading Montreal Canadiens drew almost 900,000. In one event, the 2007 Byron Nelson Championships, the PGA drew more than 260,000 people.
Of course, TV time is even more telling. While golf is a fixture on CBS for half the year, you’ll be forced to find Versus to watch the NHL. Is anyone really going to sit through the end of the Professional Bull Rider’s event to watch San Jose play Nashville?
So what happened to cause the current situation, in which practically no one cares about hockey? It’s as much about name recognition as anything else.
A sport can’t be big without a recognizable name. Michael Jordan made basketball famous. The current crop of NBA superstars, headlined by LeBron James, keep hoops in the headlines. In pro football, there’s Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and a plethora of other marketable big-name stars. Baseball has Bonds.
Many sports fans can name the entire starting lineup of at least one NBA team. Those same fans would struggle to name five NHL All-Stars.
The sport’s biggest star is 20-year-old Sidney Crosby. Do you know who Sidney Crosby is? Would you have caught it if I spelled his name Sydney Crosby? Probably not unless you’re wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey right now.
There have been plenty of articles written about which sport will replace hockey. Writers tout the merit of lacrosse and soccer as potential place fillers for the void that the NHL left.
Don’t be fooled though. There’s no void. When hockey was consigned to the penalty box that is Versus because of the strike, golf never yelled “Fore.” It merely took over. And just like Tiger’s recent dominance at Torrey Pines, there looks to be no end in sight.
– Devin Kunysz is a marketing senior.
– This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.
