COMMENTARY: NHL experience offers what the NFL used to be

There are three things you have to know about me.

First, I live and breathe conservatism, capitalism and patriotism. USA, USA, USA! I love my country. No surprise there.

Second, I’ve loved the NFL since I was 5-years old — in particular, my Dallas Cowboys. To me, life is about God, country, family, business and my Dallas Cowboys.

Third, for me, hockey has never existed. I’ve never checked a hockey score in my life. On a scale of 1 to 100, the NHL has always registered a 0 on my scale. The NHL and MSNBC were always at the same popularity level at the Root household.

Then along came the most ignorant, out-of-touch NFL commissioner in history, Roger Goodell. He banned and fined teams and players from celebrating or glorifying Jesus, the heroism of 9/11 or police officers killed in the line of duty. But he refused to enforce or punish NFL players who wouldn’t stand for our national anthem — even though it’s already in the NFL rule book that players must stand. TV ratings crashed, ticket sales crashed, merchandise sales crashed. Millions of Trump supporters and voters such as me were disgusted and tuned out the NFL for the first time in our lives.

The NFL will be a case study at business schools across America for years to come on how you ruin a billion-dollar brand by offending your own customers. The NFL chose to stick a middle finger in the face of its core audience — macho men who love sports, love America and love President Donald Trump.

Enter the NHL. In particular, our own Vegas Golden Knights. It’s rare that anyone changes their stripes at age 56. But this columnist has been converted overnight from an NFL fan to an NHL fan. The Vegas Golden Knights are brilliantly turning the NHL into the new NFL. It’s cool to love hockey!

Have you been to an NFL game recently? My buddies in Los Angeles attend Rams games. They cannot take their wives or children. The audience is filled with thugs, hoodlums and lowlifes who “catcall” every attractive woman, scream obscenities and threaten anyone who looks their way.

I just attended my first NHL games this season. I brought my three youngest children. I’ve found a new home. The Golden Knights experience is welcoming, fun and electric. It’s everything the NFL used to be. It’s everything American sports should be.

The crowd is wonderful, family-oriented and — above all else — patriotic. There are Vegas families with children everywhere. The entire audience stands proudly for the national anthem — most of them with their hands on their hearts. It’s a 100 percent safe environment. My seat neighbors were the nicest, warmest, welcoming people. We were all entertained for three hours at the highest level.

And here’s the best part. At one point in the middle of the game, the announcer asked everyone to look at the giant monitor. He then introduced a mom and dad and their 18-year-old son. He announced to the crowd that mom is a U.S. Marine, dad is a U.S. Marine and their son was leaving the next day for Marine boot camp. The crowd went wild.

Some 18,000 fans got to their feet and gave a thunderous, sustained standing ovation. The kind of ovation you’d expect for the president of the United States. Louder than for the introduction of the Knights to the ice. Louder and longer than when our Knights scored a goal. The hair on my arms and legs stood up.

I was proud to be an American … and a Las Vegan. It was certainly the greatest moment of a young U.S. Marine’s life.

That’s my kind of crowd. That’s my kind of sport. That’s what America should be about. I loved the game. My kids loved the experience. We now follow the team. They are our Vegas Golden Knights!

How smart is the NHL? Brilliant. How smart is our own Golden Knights owner Bill Foley? Genius.

The NHL is the new NFL. Go Knights!

Contact Wayne Allyn Root at Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com. Hear or watch the nationally syndicated “WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show,” from 3 to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now and at 5 p.m. on Newsmax TV.