cal4life;841899629 said:

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Kings fans are die hard in a sea of poser fans. Great run. Amazing, dominating run actually.

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The Ice Lakers just won Stan Lee's Cup and you are complaining about poser fans?

BowDowntoWashington;841894406 said:

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I'm more of a casual hockey fan. Hockey games are great to go to in person, but I don't watch regular season hockey on TV. The playoffs have been awesome and it's been exciting to see the Kings do so well. I used to be a pretty big Kings fan prior to the lockout.

In terms of popularity, the Kings are probably the 5th most popular professional team in LA after the Lakers, Dodgers, Clippers, and USC football.

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I would rank the Kings ahead of USC football in terms of number of fans. USC football has its fair share of fans, but don't forget that 1) the vast majority of USC football fans are alumni of the school, which excludes a large part of southern California, and 2) recent football team performance aside, USC does still split the southern California football market with UCLA pretty evenly in terms of numbers.

edwinbear;841899635 said:

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I would rank the Kings ahead of USC football in terms of number of fans. USC football has its fair share of fans, but don't forget that 1) the vast majority of USC football fans are alumni of the school, which excludes a large part of southern California, and 2) recent football team performance aside, USC does still split the southern California football market with UCLA pretty evenly in terms of numbers.

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I don't have any facts to back this up but after watching over 30 years of college football, I really think the majority of SC fans are NOT alumni of the school but just regional SoCal fans who either back a winner or know someone or some family that went to SC...I personally have several friends in SoCal that are huge fans but never went there....seems like SC has always had a reputation of bandwagon fans. You may be right but I've always heard this from not only SC fans themselves, but from many people.....

Ya baby ya! Very happy for long suffering Kings PBP announcer and class guy, Bob Miller.

Never been a Kings fan, or hockey in general, but I got sucked into this post-season. Man, I'm hooked. It's been so much better than the NBA finals. Questions for you hockey enthusiasts:

Are the playoffs typically this entertaining? I know the Kings had a historic run and all, but is it still exciting otherwise?

I hear the regular season is no where near as fun, is this true?

I did root for the Kings all the way thru, not as a band wagoner (i doubt I'll ever be a fan), but I needed some angle, and my inner West Coast/East Coast dichotomy exploded into an EFF Jersey mantra.

Ok. Gotta admit. I was flipping through the channels and saw the lst 6 minutes of the game and actually watched the rest of it. The fact that they score 2 points in less than 10 seconds was amusing.

Playoff Hockey is by far the best postseason in all of sports... That said, the regular season is somewhere along the lines of basketball where each game doesn't really matter and they don't have the sudden death thrill of OT that can go on indefinitely.

Overall you can't beat football for a full season, but playoff hockey is incredible.

briloker;841899702 said:

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Playoff Hockey is by far the best postseason in all of sports... That said, the regular season is somewhere along the lines of basketball where each game doesn't really matter and they don't have the sudden death thrill of OT that can go on indefinitely.

Overall you can't beat football for a full season, but playoff hockey is incredible.

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Playoff hockey is great, and I love how they still do the handshake line after every series, even after some of these teams get into real fights. Compare that with the NBA, where they get into silly slap-fest non-fights, then sulk afterwards.

I also like how the nature of the NHL playoffs rewards teams with heart and guts and toughness (Kings), as opposed to teams with lots of skill but no heart (Sharks). Memo to Doug Wilson: please learn something from the Kings' example, blow up this sorry underachieving aging core group and start over ASAP.

socaliganbear;841899677 said:

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Never been a Kings fan, or hockey in general, but I got sucked into this post-season. Man, I'm hooked. It's been so much better than the NBA finals. Questions for you hockey enthusiasts:

Are the playoffs typically this entertaining? I know the Kings had a historic run and all, but is it still exciting otherwise?

I hear the regular season is no where near as fun, is this true?

I did root for the Kings all the way thru, not as a band wagoner (i doubt I'll ever be a fan), but I needed some angle, and my inner West Coast/East Coast dichotomy exploded into an EFF Jersey mantra.

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Hockey is much more like a small-court, fast-moving version of soccer than basketball. Many people appreciate both, as I do to some degree. I think basketball is a ton better on TV and the athletes in the NBA are far and away the best in any of the 4 sports, but hockey is jaw dropping in person. Hockey also depends more on depth and the quality of the team whereas basketball is still extremely superstar-centric.

Basketball's about swells of momentum (series of slightly important events - baskets and stops - happening in series over spans of 5-15 minutes), whereas hockey is much more breakneck (rapid and sudden extremely important events with no warning). Both have their appeal.

The basketball postseason hasn't been bad but what just happened with the Kings is pretty rare.

Congrats to the Kings fans. In general, once my own team is eliminated, I tend to root for a team with a fan base that has gone a long time without seeing a championship. The Kings definitely fit that bill.

510Bear;841899708 said:

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Playoff hockey is great, and I love how they still do the handshake line after every series, even after some of these teams get into real fights. Compare that with the NBA, where they get into silly slap-fest non-fights, then sulk afterwards.

I also like how the nature of the NHL playoffs rewards teams with heart and guts and toughness (Kings), as opposed to teams with lots of skill but no heart (Sharks). Memo to Doug Wilson: please learn something from the Kings' example, blow up this sorry underachieving aging core group and start over ASAP.

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Meaning Marleau really has to go...that guy has no guts and no heart. Thornton still does a very good job. Doug Wilson usually does a decent job but this year he screwed up the trades getting rid of Setoguchi and the other forward for guys who really didn't excel...not even Winchester who was great at Minnesota..I think he'll be better next year cause it takes some time for guys to gel....our blue line and penalty killing were awful. Plus our goalies really have been only a little better than average. Both Nabby in he last couple of years here and Niemi, who both have great skills, still gave up the easy goals....I mean wristers off the wings or slap shots near the blue line...neither seemed to be top 10 though Nabby used to have great years and Niemi won the Stanley Cup last year.....

It always seems like we are one or two players away from the whole thing.. I also think McLellan who was a superb coach and teacher with the Red Wings is way to passive ....he needs to create a fast attacking offense coupled with a blue line that is at least above average.......but I've really disliked Marleau for a long time now....he is good only if surrounded by great players and is horrible in the playoffs.

Funny effect of hockey's having three periods: If you go to a game you can save a little money by sitting down by the home team's goalie to start the game. The thinking is that people would rather sit in their team's offensive end, so tickets cost more on the side where the home team is shooting for 2 of 3 periods.

socaliganbear;841899677 said:

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Never been a Kings fan, or hockey in general, but I got sucked into this post-season. Man, I'm hooked. It's been so much better than the NBA finals. Questions for you hockey enthusiasts:

Are the playoffs typically this entertaining? I know the Kings had a historic run and all, but is it still exciting otherwise?

I hear the regular season is no where near as fun, is this true?

I did root for the Kings all the way thru, not as a band wagoner (i doubt I'll ever be a fan), but I needed some angle, and my inner West Coast/East Coast dichotomy exploded into an EFF Jersey mantra.

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Playoff hockey is awesome because every goal is so important so every rush, every power play, every clear, is a big deal. Extend that over a playoff series and you can get drained with emotion. It's like a huge soccer/futbol game on steroids. However, there's nothing like the World Cup. An entire country is stressing out over every 50/50 ball, a cross, a shot on goal, etc.

NHL has the best playoff in sport but that only points out how lame the regular season is, lacking both in intensity and hitting. I am also not a fan of how teams are now approaching playoff hockey. Clog up the middle, bang along the boards and create a scrum in front if the net. It's boring. The league has to open up the ice more. The game has too many advantages for brawn vs speed

Well the Sharks did win. The Kings GM and Coach are ex Sharks

GB54;841899782 said:

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NHL has the best playoff in sport but that only points out how lame the regular season is, lacking both in intensity and hitting. I am also not a fan of how teams are now approaching playoff hockey. Clog up the middle, bang along the boards and create a scrum in front if the net. It's boring. The league has to open up the ice more. The game has too many advantages for brawn vs speed

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Kings were scrappy but enormously fun to watch in with their crisp passing and buzzing around the net. Kings have plenty of skill players (Brown, Doughty, Williams, Carter, Kopitar, Stoll). If anything, it was New Jersey that employed that approach.

Kings broke their 45 year drought.

Time for Cal to end its 54 year drought (at least to make the Rose Bowl). Add 22 more years since Cal actually won the Rose Bowl haha.

Someone pointed out that the Kings have $17 MILLION in cap space! If they use that to add one or two more stars to a young core group with no aging stars like the Sharks, Wings, and Canucks have.....face it, they'll be head and shoulders over the rest of the West (and probably the NHL) for awhile.

As depressing as this is, it'll be an interesting experiment.....if the Kings win multiple consecutive Cups and create a dynasty, will L.A. start caring about hockey?