Blade tape is horrible. They only sell due to marketing with nhl players. If you want to try other blade tape alternatives, there is Tacki-mac which has a lot better feel. You can do the old fashion tape with tape wax(or any kind of candle wax), or you can try 3M products.
http://www.3m.com/intl/ca/english/ce...liquidflex.htm
This is one of their newest ones, I haven't tried it, but a friend of mine just tried it in our last game yesterday. He seemed to like it. It almost has that same texture as those textured paint you roll on garage floors/patios.