But they're crazy about hockey in Dubai!!!!
Alas, such pleas have apparently fallen on deaf ears at the NHL media relations offices.
As SI's Michael Farber (who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dad in Family Ties) reports in his hockey blog , the NHL turned down a request for credentials from Al-Jazeera.
While my initial reaction was to post a joke about hockey and the Middle East (see this title to this entry), upon further review I'm curious why the NHL said no. As Farber noted in his blog, it's not like a ton of media outlets are banging down the door to get a chance to cover this event.
But now, my reaction to my reaction to my initial reaction (don't you live my live thought updates?) is this: the NHL probably thought it was better to turn down Al-Jazeera and endure a few jokes than to look totally desparate by actually approving the credentials of a network that is shown in areas of the world that might actually be more apathetic about hockey than even Tampa Bay.