Trust me, it's going to be worth it this year. The Blackhawks have an amazing team... anyone I've gotten to give it a chance and watch at least 3 games start to know the players and rules and realize hockey is an awesome sport. The Blackhawks color/play by play team this year is going to be awesome as well, they're going to realize their audience might not be hockey die hards and will explain everything as such. I've been to quite a few Peoria Rivermen games in my years, so trust me, I do understand and enjoy hockey. I just think it will be hard for me to form the 'personal' attachment to players I'm not familiar with. But yea, I fully plan on giving it a chance this year. So I'm at least one conformer for your cause this year! :) edit - the part about the announcers understanding their context gives me hope...they're going to probably have to dumb down their commentary at least a little for this year.