Am I the problem with the NHL today?

I’m what has become wrong with the NHL over the last few years.

It was Tuesday night and I was just relaxing in the house and wanted something to watch. Of course, my first inclination is to watch sports. The choices I had were to watch game five of the Celtics/Pistons basketball series or watching my usual crappy reality TV shows, accept for A Shot of Love with Tila Tequilla, even I have standards. I ended up watching the basketball game, enjoyed it, then viewed my nightly set of Simpsons/Seinfeld at 9 p.m., Family Guy at 9:30, Scrubs from 10-11, Seinfeld at 11, King of Queens/bedtime at 11:30 and went to sleep content.

The problem with that is that I forgot that game three of the Stanley Cup Finals were on between the Red Wings and Penguins.

This is a problem.

When I was a little kid, my two main sports loves were the Mets and the New York Rangers. I’ll always stay loyal with baseball, however, I still have a place in my sports rooting heart for the NHL.

I used to stay up at night watching old Rangers games with such luminaries as Mike Richter, Mike Gartner, Brian Leetch, Tony Amonte, coach Roger Neilson and don’t even bring up the 1992 season, when the Blueshirts had the best record in the league, won the President’s Trophy, had a 2-1 lead in their series against the defending champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and somehow the Rangers blew it.

Frickin Ron Francis. I still dislike that dude to this day for scoring that goal that turned around that series.

But a funny thing happened. The Rangers somehow acquired Mark Messier from the Oilers, which was huge. He brought a winning attitude and didn’t give a crap that the Rangers hadn’t won a Cup since 1940. He was the perfect man to become my sports hero and replace Dwight Gooden, who turned out to be a huge disappointment.

Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Rangers/Devils, Rangers down 3-2 in the series and playing in Jersey. Messier guarantees victory, he has a hat trick, changed my life, for real.

So, during my formative years of the early 1990’s when the Mets stunk and the Giants were way too inconsistent, I loved my Rangers.

And when the Rangers finally won the Cup in 1994, it was the happiest sports moment of my life, besides the Giants winning the Super Bowl in 1990. It came at a time when I would live and die with every win and loss and would let that dictate my life. I’ve become smarter and working in sports takes away that intense passion, however those were fun times.

I would go to Rangers games and wish deadly harm to the Islanders, Flyers, Devils and Penguins in that order.

I would rather raise my child a fan of that hillbilly college in East Tennessee that wears orange then cheer for the Islanders. I would rather get kicked in the testicles with a steel tipped boot 10 times then cheer for the Flyers. Make that 20 times for the Devils, I really, really hate the Devils.

The Penguins, they’re a rival of the Rangers too, but I actually have always respected them, even though they beat the Rangers in this year’s playoffs.

I’ve liked the Pens because they have always represented blue-collar sports to me. I just like the city of Pittsburgh, very underrated by the way, and of course, Lemieux.

Lemieux was the second-best player ever to play hockey in my opinion. Even Gretzky couldn’t F with Mario at Lemieux’s peak. Problem is Mario’s peak was shorter than Wayne’s, so Gretzky is the greatest, which is fair. However, give me Mario and Wayne at their peaks and I take Mario. Disagree with me all you want, but it’s the truth.

Actually, I take that back. Here’s the top players all-time for me. One is Gretzky, he’s just the greatest. Second, Mario. Third, Gordie. Fourth, Orr. Fifth, Roy. I’ll have a more in-depth list in the future.

So what does all of this have to do with the Cup Finals game?

Ten years ago, I would have watched the hockey game, without a doubt. However, things have changed.

I moved from NYC and went to Nashville and really got into other college sports like basketball, football and baseball. I learned about international soccer and really fell in love with it, particularly leagues in England, Spain and Italy. My strong interest in Mixed Martial Arts has also taken a lot of time.

I only have so much time to follow certain sports while leading a normal life. Hockey became a casualty to this.

The thing that really affected my viewership of hockey was the lockout. The pathetic dispute between the players and owners cancelled a season and it eliminated my passion for hockey.

Its slowly coming back and there are some exciting young talents in the game like Crosby, Ovechkin (this year’s MVP, in my opinion) and a cast of others that are making the game good again. Some rules changes have helped as well.

Hopefully in a few years, I can regain my passion for hockey and will not forget a Stanley Cup game is on TV.

Especially since I really don’t like the Red Wings (they’re like the Yankees of hockey, either you love them and respect the tradition and buying of championships or you despise them, I’m in the latter.) and would like to see them lose to the Penguins. Game four is on Saturday and I’ll try my darn best to watch it. For old school sake.