drew2797

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So who do you like in the Cup finals? As much as it'd be nice to see the Flames win it, I highly doubt they can beat Tampa 4 times.
Drw

subucni

I have my money on Tampa. I think the combination of St. Louis, Lecavalier, Fedotenko, Modin, and Khabibulin will easily take care of Iginla, Gelinas, Neimenen, and Kiprusoff. Tampa in 5.

Why did the Avs have to lose?

aquadude

hockey sucks. who watches hockey?

subucni

That hurts. You are a bad person. ESPN ranked hockey 2nd on its list of most difficult sports to play (Boxing was first). The problem is most people don't understand the rules and don't give it a chance because they are stuck in a rut of watching football and baseball. Hockey is the fastest of the major sports (anyone who says NASCAR is a sport should be shot), the players have the same kind of flashy skills as NBA stars, the hits are harder than those in football, and the game has constant non-stop, back and fourth, action, which can't be said for Baseball. Nothing in pro sports is as nerve wracking as a multiple OT deciding game in the NHL playoffs, where one mistake, or one lucky bounce can send one team home for the summer, and give the other a chance at hoisting the greatest sports trophy in the world. Nothing else compares to Lord Stanley's Cup.

The other problem is hockey doesn't get much national exposure. Sure, during the regular season you can catch maybe 2-3 games a week on national TV, but that's not nearly enough. Nothing pisses me off more than when regular season MLB highlights (which are usually pretty boring) are shown on SportsCenter before NHL playoffs.

Hockey players play for the love of the game so much more than any other sport. Sure, you have a few guys like Jagr and Yashin who are nutbags when it comes to wanting more money. Even so, they are nowhere near the greediness of A-Rod, but then you have other guys such as Selanne and Kariya who both took HUGE paycuts to try for the chance to play for the Cup (too bad we lost ). Kariya played for 1 mil this year, and Selanne for like 3.5. Both guys coulda made over 10 mil/year easy. Hockey players don't show off like guys in the NBA or football players. In hockey, It is all about the 20 guys on the roster every game. You play for the glory of the team and those around you, not for yourself. In football, guys like Terrel Owens try to think of the flashiest celebration possible when they score. In the NHL, everybody celebrates in the same, modest way. Aside from the problems with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, pro hockey is the way sports should be played.

The thing that makes hockey so much less visible in the country's eyes is a lack of marketing. Since you don't have guys who are out soley to make extreme amounts of money and be famous (like everyone in the NBA, MLB, or NFL who sign huge advertising contracts), people don't see the big figures of the game as much.

If you don't like hockey, or don't understand it, go one time to an NHL game and sit in the lower bowl of an arena. If you can understand what is going on, the sheer skill, speed, and toughness of the game should win you over. If not, you are no better than Todd Bertuzzi and Marty McSorely, who are the reason hockey gets a bad rep for being violent.

Ahhh, rant over.

mxpxbigd285

lets hit up the dictionary.

SPORT: Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

now.

go get in a car on a 100+ degree track

drive at 140 mph

and try to control it for 500 miles, usually around 3 hours.

THEN tell me its not a sport.

im not a huge NASCAR fan myself, but please, if youre trying to defend hockey (i have nothing against hockey) dont go and try to slam other sports in the same breath.

subucni

I'm sorry, but i REALLY don't think racing in general is a sport, in the same sense as hockey/basketball/soccer, etc. There's a reason they're referred to as "motorsports," because a distinction needed to be made between something where the biggest difference between two competitors could be an engine (ie something not controlled by a person's athletic abilities), and sports that are considered such in every sense of the word.

I have no qualms with considering racing as a motorsport. I like watching grand prix (not Nascar or oval track of any kinds though). In my opinion, this kind of thing just doesn't fit my idea of what a true sport is.

Anyway, back to hockey... I was happy to see Andrychuk win a cup finally, and it turned out to be a great series (even though alot of people didn't watch any of it). Game seven was one of the most exciting games I've seen.

pifly44

I totally agree that hockey is suffering from a lack in marketing. The NFL has the best marketing team I can think of (if you don't believe me, research the TV contracts the NFL has). Hockey needs to find some sort of marketing plan that will get people excited and make the market more open for people to come and watch. When teams (such as the Penguins) get high draft picks but can't afford to have them play for the entire season to save on paying roster bonuses due to lack of attendence, you know that the sport needs to take a good look in the mirror to try and remedy the situation.

Even though it is considered one of the "4" major sports, hockey gets far less attention than it should. It is quite fun to watch and interesting once you pick up the rules. I'm not the biggest hockey fan in the world (since I come from Cleveland) but I will say that if there's a good hockey game on I will watch it (and playoff hockey is better, OT playoff hockey is the best). The last 5 minutes of game 7 were some of the most intense minutes of sports watching in my life. Very few games can give you that adrenaline rush from watching on TV.

michaeljohn

This should be moved to Sports Forum

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