Kellerman’s take has some validity
Max Kellerman used to be one of the sound and intuitive voices broadcasting boxing for HBO. He was measured in what he said, precise and professional, and almost always you learned something from his words.
Now Kellerman works on an ESPN show called First Take, the key word being take. He works opposite Stephen A. Smith, who screams and yells and shouts basketball about as well as anybody can shout basketball. And Kellerman, by character, has had to learn to shout back.
That’s the show.
So when Kellerman says that “nobody cares about hockey — it’s not one of the four major team sports,” — he incites the rabid hockey-loving community and plays to his audience.
But there was some truth in his words. I spend about two months a year in Florida now. I watch a lot of First Take and ESPN. If you watch the network, you honestly wouldn’t know the NHL exists. If you watch First Take, unless there’s a Zamboni driver in goal for Carolina, you won’t hear about hockey.
But in all his theatrics, Kellerman was wrong about saying the NHL isn’t one of the Big Four. It is No. 4. But he’s not wrong in saying “nobody cares about hockey” in America. On Friday, The Athletic, the impressive online sports service, let go a disproportionate number of hockey writers among the 46 people cut across Canada and the U.S. One of them covered the Florida Panthers, which are rarely covered by the newspapers in South Florida. Why? Because few demand it in that part of the country.
Hockey in America struggles in many markets for coverage and attention. It is No. 4 among major-league sports. It’s always been No. 4. But if you include NCAA football and basketball as major-league, it’s probably No. 6. That’s where Kellerman was right, even if he worded it improperly.