00:00U.S. 2, Canada 1 in overtime.
00:04You can say that about the women also.
00:06The women, the American women beating the Canadian women.
00:09Much more dramatic fashion there.
00:11They had to tie it with under two minutes to go.
00:13They had a sixth attacker out there.
00:15The women did.
00:15But both tremendous games.
00:18And that was a great way to spend a morning yesterday
00:20watching the men's hockey team beat Canada 2-1.
00:24People already weighing in on the base power text line question I posed.
00:28And I thought about this as I was watching the game.
00:31Every time I watch a hockey game that I'm invested in
00:34or I go see a game live even that I'm not invested in,
00:38it's just such a great live sport.
00:39I do feel like, man, my hope or my wish
00:43that we would get professional hockey here in Houston
00:47definitely gets amped up in those moments.
00:49Watching that yesterday, I'm like, God, I forgot
00:51just how much I enjoy a hockey game that I've got a rooting interest in.
00:56I just, and even if you don't, maybe you've watched hockey
00:59in the Olympics and here and there, and you think,
01:01yeah, I think I could get into that.
01:03I don't think a lot of you guys out there are understanding
01:06and appreciating just how nice it is to sit in a freezing cold room.
01:11And when we've got one of these random 80-degree days in January,
01:15that it's nice to just go into a cold arena
01:19and have to wear a heavy sweater to go watch a sporting event.
01:23Yeah, if you can't do it for the love of the sport,
01:27at least do it for the love of your internal thermostat.
01:30Yes, yeah.
01:31I found myself feeling that way, though.
01:33I'm sure once this wears off, it'll dial back,
01:36and my temperature for wanting a hockey team in Houston
01:40will still be, yes, I would love that.
01:41That would be great.
01:43I don't know how anybody that's in what we do, Seth,
01:45could not want one here just because that's more sports to watch and cover.
01:50Well, and they've done a good job of it in places
01:53that didn't already have a hockey tradition.
01:55There are multiple southern cities now in the U.S.
01:58that did not have much of a hockey desire or anything for hockey to begin with,
02:02but they've gotten into the culture of it.
02:06It helps a lot, too.
02:07Well, in Las Vegas, remember, they were just really good immediately.
02:11Yeah, they made the finals their first year, if I'm not mistaken.
02:13Tennessee, they've been good at times there, too.
02:15It also helps when there's a lot of – I think when you look at the southeast
02:19or you look at Las Vegas, there's a lot of transplants there,
02:22and that makes a difference.
02:24I don't know.
02:24Houston's got a lot of new people in it.
02:26I don't know what the percentage is of northern transplants.
02:30I know there are a lot of people from Colorado that work in Houston now
02:33because of oil and gas.
02:34Yep.
02:36And do they become Houston fans immediately,
02:39and are they going to stay there with their entire lives?
02:41I don't know.
02:42I don't know what the market research is.
02:44Someone hasn't given it to me yet.
02:46Here's the base power text line research.
02:49Text message, we need, all caps, a hockey team here.
02:53It's a travesty that we don't have one.
02:55Text message, you look at the two recent expansion hockey teams.
02:58One of them did really well and got to the finals.
03:00I can't remember what – I can't remember they may have even won.
03:04The Texans were not afforded the same luxuries as the previous expansion teams would.
03:10They hurt the expansion – that hurt the expansion Houston hockey team,
03:14so that didn't happen again.
03:15I think you're reaching there.
03:16And all of a sudden, because Houston's expansion football team doesn't experience immediate success,
03:21that expansion hockey 25 years later isn't going to work.
03:24Yeah, no, no, no.
03:25And that's ridiculous, especially because they achieved really big financial success,
03:30which is what the league really cares about.
03:31In terms of attendance and everything, that's been just fine.
03:35Right, and the other 31 owners would love nothing more than another tomato can
03:40to beat up on in the league, right?
03:41Right, right, yeah.
03:43As long as they're making money.
03:45Attendance this year, Las Vegas is leading the league in attendance.
03:49The Florida Panthers are second.
03:51Yeah.
03:52Tampa – oh, wait, no, no, no.
03:53I'm 100% wrong on all of this.
03:55I take it back.
03:55Tampa's second.
03:58Florida is, like, fifth.
04:00And Florida are the defending champions.
04:02Yeah, yeah.
04:03Like, two teams that – you know, two cities where you just didn't think,
04:08oh, yeah, you should definitely slap a hockey team.
04:09The Vegas one is interesting.
04:11They're not as high as that.
04:12I was reading the thing sorted out wrong.
04:14Well, the only reason I say that is, you know,
04:16Vegas is the rare town that is driven by tourism, you know, across the United States.
04:23As compared to all the other professional sports.
04:25Or it's not, you know, L.A., you could say, and New York.
04:27And there's other – obviously, there's tourism in other cities.
04:30Vegas' main industry is tourism and people coming in from out of town.
04:34Amy and I had talked about going to see a Golden Knights game
04:38when we go to Vegas in a few weeks.
04:39There just isn't one.
04:40So I always wonder with Vegas, with all the sports,
04:44and eventually they're going to have all four of the big professional sports there,
04:48how much of it is people that – you know,
04:54going to Shin Lim or something like that, you know.
04:56When was the last year of the Arrows?
04:59Which version?
05:01Yeah, that's what – well, because they – the more recent one, the 2000s one.
05:06Oh, like – probably like 2014, 2015.
05:10Okay, here, I got to pull.
05:11Oh, it was 2012-13.
05:132012, okay, yeah.
05:13They were getting good attendance, like 7,300 in 11-12.
05:18Yeah, and that's minor league, too.
05:206,700 in 2012-13.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Houston, to me, I would think if I were in the NHL –
05:27and I know – look, I know that Houston as a city is – can be –
05:32and I hope nobody takes this the wrong way.
05:34We can be a bit of a bandwagon city.
05:36You know, if the teams aren't playing well, then there will be empty seats
05:40and there will be late-arriving crowds and all of those things.
05:42I think we all know this about ourselves.
05:43There's going to be late-arriving crowds when they're doing awesome.
05:45Right, right, right.
05:46So, you know, could Houston – could Houston support a hockey team
05:52through thick and thin?
05:53I think we'll support anything that's winning.
05:55Would they support it through thick and thin?
05:57Because I will say this.
05:58Those are expensive tickets.
06:00I don't know if people realize.
06:02They are the most expensive tickets.
06:03Well, one of the things, though, too, is – I mean, that's –
06:06if the youth hockey – if youth hockey in Houston were stoked
06:12because of it, then you kind of create a culture around it –
06:15Yeah.
06:16– that might be – like, Houston's got a whole lot of affluent suburbs
06:21and places where people – it's hard to make the varsity team
06:24in a lot of sports because the schools are so damn big.
06:27I could see Houston youth hockey really picking up if there were an NHL team here,
06:34and then that becomes an attendance driver in and of itself.
06:38It snowballs.
06:39My other question that I have for the people is the patriotism
06:43that you may have felt yesterday.
06:44If you were on my side of the World Baseball Classic debate,
06:49which is I don't want any of the guys from my team playing in it,
06:53go on with your event.
06:54It's an awesome event.
06:55I just don't want any Astros playing in it.
06:57And were you more understanding after watching that gold medal game
07:00of why people who are baseball fans, especially in baseball-playing countries,
07:06are so staunch about wanting their favorite players to play in the WBC
07:11and represent their country?
07:12And I was more understanding of it.
07:13Not to the extent that I'm happy Jeremy Pena is playing in the World Baseball Classic,
07:17but I'm more understanding of it.
07:20You're more understanding of it.
07:21The blind spot we have for it is that the Olympics have just been around a whole lot longer.
07:27And it just has more emotional importance to us who grew up watching the Olympics.
07:32I think for some of the non-U.S. countries where they haven't had a chance necessarily
07:38to really show their best in baseball, that even though the World Baseball Classic is new,
07:47it can take on a lot more of an emotional impact.
07:50And out of respect to the actual players in Major League Baseball,
07:54so many of them are foreign-born right now,
07:56that obviously we're not going to have the same feel for it as they do,
08:00as being able to represent their home country
08:02against some of the other best baseball players in the world.
08:05Oh, totally, totally.
08:07I saw a funny meme yesterday of some guy in a batting cage pitching
08:13and maybe 20 feet from the backstop,
08:18and with a horrible throwing motion saying,
08:21here's Canada getting their revenge on the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic.
08:27Does Canada have a team?
08:28I'm sure they do.
08:29I'm guessing they do.
08:31I'm sure they do.
08:32Right?
08:33Who's the best Canadian baseball player that you can remember?
08:36I don't...
08:36No, I'm not talking about a Montreal Expo.
08:38No, no, no.
08:39Yeah, I'm not...
08:40I'm sure there's...
08:41Yeah, I'm guessing that there's at least one or two we're missing on here
08:46that I should be naming off the top of my head.
08:48Oh, Logan Allen is pitching for Team Canada.
08:51Okay.
08:52There you go.
08:53Sounds like they've got a real great shot.
08:55They've got...
08:55They've got Liam Hicks as a catcher.
08:58Okay.
08:58Yeah.
08:59I would say that meme sounds about right.
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