NHL Gets Inveterate Hockey Basher Jay Mohr As Host For Its Award Show

The NHL has announced that Jay Mohr will host the 2010 NHL Awards in Las Vegas next Wednesday, which is probably exciting to you if you’re a bro living in 1996. The broadcast will also feature appearances by Mark Wahlberg and Snoop Dogg, which means that the real difference between this and the MTV Movie Awards is the number of times Twilight wins an award (I think it’s less for the NHL).
In a press release for the upcoming event, Mohr supposedly claims the job is a huge honor and that he’s super stoked (possibly not his words), him being a huge hockey fan and all, of course. Problem is, for a guy who is a huge hockey fan, he’s certainly spent a lot of time decrying how much the sport sucks, as outlined by Yahoo!‘s Puck Daddy.

From a Sports Illustrated column he wrote in 2005:

I am frequently asked who my favorite teams are, and I always give the same response: “Yankees, Knicks, Jets and screw hockey.”

From a piece he wrote for Fox Sports in 2007:

“Hockey sucks too. I can’t root for a guy whose name on the back of his jersey has no vowels. I also don’t think a sport is legitimate if its inception depended on the weather.”

From an interview with Jets Insider in 2008:

JAY MOHR: I love the Yankees. I’ve never been into hockey and sadly I’m a Knicks fan.

And, as Puck Daddy points out, there was the time he hosted the Jim Rome Show and said “hockey sucks”.

So what we’re saying is the award for Most Disingenuous Interest In A Sport For The Purposes Of An Award Show Hosting Job goes to...

[pauses for dramatic effect, hams it up for the audience]

...Jay Mohr!

[gives dap to Jay Mohr when he arrives at the podium]

A lot of comedians who touch on general sports topics tend to go with the ol’ “hockey sucks” chestnut because it’s the least popular of the major sports in this country. Mostly because the majority of celebrity comedians who deal in sports commentary are horrible (if you have trouble identifying these people, recall anyone who has appeared on The Best Damn Sports Show Period.