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You are here: Home / Sports / I Don’t Understand

I Don’t Understand

by John Cole|  May 16, 201311:50 pm| 118 Comments

This post is in: Sports

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I honestly do not understand why the NHL is not popular than it is. I mean, I absolutely love the sports I played (soccer, lacrosse, etc.), I love sport I didn’t play (college basketball- the NBA is just ten pounds of suck) and I am near fanatical about the NFL, but hands down, the best sport in my view is playoff hockey in the NHL. I know many of you do not feel the same way, but if there was playoff hockey every night of the year, I would never watch another Steelers game, despite how much I love them.

But NHL playoff hockey is that good, and I do not understand why more people don’t get it. I will watch every damned game (and, consistent with these season, will, as I watched every single Pens regular season game and have watched every playoff game played to date).

So why do you all not like it?

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118Comments

  1. 1.

    Glennsyank13

    May 16, 2013 at 11:50 pm

    The dumb fights.

  2. 2.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    May 16, 2013 at 11:52 pm

    I have had it on good authority that to become a hockey fan, one must see it live. The tee vee machine just doesn’t do it.

    I have never seen it live, so I cannot speak to whether it would make a difference to me.

  3. 3.

    Joseph Nobles

    May 16, 2013 at 11:52 pm

    1. Never played it.
    2. Never grew up watching it
    3. Can’t keep track of the puck

  4. 4.

    pokeyblow

    May 16, 2013 at 11:53 pm

    I’m no sports fan, but do enjoy watching hockey in person.

    Offered seriously: perhaps the puck is too small and moves too fast for effective TV presentation.

  5. 5.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    May 16, 2013 at 11:53 pm

    If you don’t like hockey, you are worse than Obama.

  6. 6.

    Wallace

    May 16, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    Part of the problem is there are too many playoff games. The regular season hardly means anything. Baseball is boring as hell, but the playoffs and the World Series are semi-exciting. And I think the exclusivity of it helps make it seem more interesting, because you don’t have to pay attention to as many games for as long a period of time.

  7. 7.

    dollared

    May 16, 2013 at 11:55 pm

    Looooove hockey. But the pro game is too many fights, not enough skating and passing. If the rinks were 20% bigger, everything would change.

    I was a college hockey season ticket holder, and it had all of the advantages and none of the disadvantages.

  8. 8.

    Joseph Nobles

    May 16, 2013 at 11:59 pm

    Has someone publically noticed that the topmost post on the blog is now also in the Recent Posts sidebar? This is a good thing!

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:00 am

    Who said I don’t like it? Fuck the Red Wings (Chelios stealing bastards).

  10. 10.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    May 17, 2013 at 12:00 am

    Some of the most exciting sporting events I ever attended were the home playoff games the first time the Sharks qualified. I have also been to MLB playoff games, and while they were fun, they were no comparison to the NHL.

  11. 11.

    condorcet runner up

    May 17, 2013 at 12:01 am

    hands down, the best sport in my view is playoff hockey in the NHL.

    Especially since the advent of HDTV. The NHL may just be the single biggest sports league beneficiary of higher resolution consumer televisions. Watching in HD basically makes it easier to follow the puck, and if you follow the sport regularly, you can basically predict where the play is going anyway (probably comes much more naturally to people who played soccer or even lacrosse … Any sport with a constant flow basically)

  12. 12.

    Eric U.

    May 17, 2013 at 12:03 am

    any sport where the announcers have to explain “that was a good clean hit” multiple times in a game is not the kind of sport that can hold my interest. I was watching the playoffs sometime around a decade ago, and one of the stars was knocked out, basically a career ending hit by a goon. “that was a good clean hit” was the end for me. It was assault, the goon was just looking for a reason to injure the star.

  13. 13.

    condorcet runner up

    May 17, 2013 at 12:03 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Absolutely. Although that hasn’t stopped me from wearing my now-throwback Chelios captain’s jersey each night the hawks play (“here come the hawks the mighty … Blaaaackhawks!”)

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    May 17, 2013 at 12:05 am

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:

    Definitely a crappy teevee sport, although now with hidef, I can finally see the fucking puck.

    It’s not enough, but it’s better than it was.

    I’d rather watch “Slapshot” again than watch a game, or match or whatever they call those fightin’ things. I guess what I’m saying is

    Bring me the Hanson brothers!

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2013 at 12:06 am

    As you asked –

    Don’t like skating.
    Don’t like sports.
    Don’t like fights.

    And the Stanley Cup is a pig-dog ugly trophy.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    May 17, 2013 at 12:07 am

    @condorcet runner up: Hmm. I’ve always loved hockey live, and always hated it on TV, because you can’t get any sense of the ice on TV and you can’t (or couldn’t) see the damned puck. Maybe I should try again now that there’s this durned newfangled HD thingamajiggy.

  17. 17.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    May 17, 2013 at 12:07 am

    @Eric U.: Do you watch football?

  18. 18.

    burnspbesq

    May 17, 2013 at 12:08 am

    For me, the huge expansion of TV coverage of college lacrosse sucks the air out of the room from early April until Memorial Day weekend. Quarterfinals this weekend: Cornell – Ohio State and Syracuse – Yale on Saturday, and Denver – Evil and Duke – Notre Dame on Sunday. The Sunday games are at Lucas Oil Stadium; if you’re within driving distance of Indy and are lax-curious, this is a great opportunity for you.

    Plus, the hockey team I cheered for as a kid has mostly sucked since winning the Cup 19 years ago. Put the Rangers in the conference final and I will be there.

  19. 19.

    Comrade Dread

    May 17, 2013 at 12:10 am

    I’m not a fan because it seems like every 4 or 5 years just when people are starting to realize that professional hockey is a thing and start watching it, there’s a flipping lock out that cancels half or all of the season.

    If I want that much dysfunction in my life, I’ll spend more time with my family… or hanging out on conservative blog comment boards.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    May 17, 2013 at 12:10 am

    @NotMax:

    And the Stanley Cup is a pig-dog ugly trophy.

    Yeah, the cup does look like it should be dropped under a bus.

  21. 21.

    ? Martin

    May 17, 2013 at 12:11 am

    They still play hockey? Who knew?!

    After the Easter Epic, there wasn’t much point watching any more. Leave on a high note.

  22. 22.

    The Dangerman

    May 17, 2013 at 12:13 am

    Same problem that soccer has; people want to see scoring. The NFL didn’t take off until passing managed to overcome the 3 yards and a cloud of dust crowd (see Knox, Chuck).

  23. 23.

    condorcet runner up

    May 17, 2013 at 12:13 am

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: make no mistake, nothing beats being there live. But the home viewing experience really has evolved. As an added bonus, you get the most enthusiastic play-by-play guys, most of them Canadian (which is always hilarious to listen to) and all of whom go completely nuts whenever someone even comes close to scoring.

  24. 24.

    MattR

    May 17, 2013 at 12:14 am

    @Comrade Dread:

    I’m not a fan because it seems like every 4 or 5 years just when people are starting to realize that professional hockey is a thing and start watching it, there’s a flipping lock out that cancels half or all of the season.

    This. Screw the owners. I still watch some college hockey, but the NHL has finally lost me.

  25. 25.

    burnspbesq

    May 17, 2013 at 12:17 am

    @NotMax:

    And the Stanley Cup is a pig-dog ugly trophy.

    Compared to that horrid piece of junk that Chelsea picked up yesterday? I beg to differ.

  26. 26.

    Brandon

    May 17, 2013 at 12:17 am

    Bettman?

  27. 27.

    Anne Laurie

    May 17, 2013 at 12:17 am

    Believe it or not, Cole, some people — even sports fans! — just don’t like watching people hitting people. Everyone jokes about the drama-flops in soccer, but there are people who genuinely don’t enjoy watching two people collide on purpose. And the violence in televised hockey is more obvious — when Slap Shot first came out, a lifelong hockey fan was explaining to me that real hockey wasn’t anything like that. He turned on the tv to demonstrate, and one player had just bodychecked another into the boards & was taking off his gloves to start hitting him. So a guy on the other team came up and hit the first player with his stick. In the ensuing melee, several guys deliberately slashed at each other with their sharp, bladed skates. Obviously there’s more to hockey than fighting (and it’s probably improved since then), but a lot of newbies never get past witnessing their first camera-friendly hockey brawl.

  28. 28.

    DH

    May 17, 2013 at 12:19 am

    Violence Mr Cole. If they drop the fights, I agree that Hockey may be the best sport in the world. Look at this way, if you fought like hockey players fight outside of the hockey rink, you would be in jail. For many many years.

  29. 29.

    cbear

    May 17, 2013 at 12:22 am

    1. Because of the “offsides” rules. That’s some stupid shit right there.
    2. Because you love it so much and we just enjoy provoking you.

  30. 30.

    Bill in Section 147

    May 17, 2013 at 12:23 am

    Didn’t even get it till I lived near Canada in the late 70s and only got Canadian TV. Then I moved and stopped watching it. Went to a live game (Sharks) and can see and enjoy it more that way – if I had the where-withal I would get season tickets but I don’t like it as much on the tube.

    TV coverage has really improved and they are better at showing the game as opposed to the puck but now my life and other things prevent me from following closely enough to view it through the camera.

    I feel the same about the NFL. I go to 10 games a year and watch about three on TV. NBA I enjoy a live game about once every five years but don’t watch on TV at all. Baseball, I like TV, Radio, Live, from Little League to the Pros but only my teams. I don’t watch playoffs or the World Series unless my teams are playing and I can get the local feed.

    The visuals of the national broadcasts are great but the commentary is crap. I hate when broadcasters make it simple for the National audience.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2013 at 12:24 am

    @burnspbesq

    No idea what that refers to.

  32. 32.

    LayedBackGuy

    May 17, 2013 at 12:25 am

    I live in Michigan; used to be a wings fan, but mostly because the woman I dated were such fanatics. I don’t follow sports in general; not my thang. My dad used to have season tickets, and I’ve been to at least a dozen Red Wings games, some playoff and even finals games.

    Watching hockey is like watching speed chess. You have to really understand the game, and all of the rules, to really appreciate and enjoy what is going on! Even after having watched so many games, I still needed my lady, my dad, or my mom to explain to me the finer points of strategy and rules of the game, to really enjoy the action.

    To those of you who think the game is too violent…Hah! Today’s hockey is much tamer than that of the 60’s and 70’s. Mikey Redmond sometimes talks of the days when the players were getting the old school “Chin Music” going, and the players enforced the rules in their own special way…

  33. 33.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    May 17, 2013 at 12:25 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Oh, Sweet Baby Jebus! Dollar Bill Wirtz was a terrible fucking owner who didn’t want to pay Chelios what he was worth. Don’t blame the Wings for having a player and picks that the Hawks needed to build depth- and whether Eriksson and the two picks panned out is on the Hawks, too.

    And while we’re here, how do you think Habs fans feel about trading Chelios away for an aged Denis Savard and a second-round pick?

  34. 34.

    pseudonymous in nc

    May 17, 2013 at 12:25 am

    It’s a regional sport that rarely succeeds in new markets, iffy to televise (better in HD), and the league hasn’t done itself any favours over the past decade. But I like it. I like the way in which momentum can shift on a macro and micro level, the way that pressure builds up, and how it rewards improvisation.

    I have to say, though, that I prefer the Olympics to NHL, especially when it’s on the wider rink.

    @NotMax:

    And the Stanley Cup is a pig-dog ugly trophy.

    There I agree with you. It’s all base. The original cup with a proportionate base is not ugly.

    @burnspbesq:

    Compared to that horrid piece of junk that Chelsea picked up yesterday?

    The UEFA Cup? Your sense of taste is lacking.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:25 am

    @DH: If you hit people off pitch the way rugby players do during a game, you would be in jail. Karate competitions involve multiple assaults and batteries, unless you consider the consent factor. And so on.

  36. 36.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    May 17, 2013 at 12:26 am

    This Sharks-Kings game has improved quite a bit since the end of the first period.

  37. 37.

    red dog

    May 17, 2013 at 12:26 am

    TOO many games
    TOO long between periods
    TOO many hooligans
    TOO many non-American players
    Playoff are great and half the league is in them so why bother with the regular season. I was an avid fan and had season ticket to the St Louis Blues for their first two years then my life interfered and I tried but all interest was lost. Much prefer college hockey.

  38. 38.

    TaMara (BHF)

    May 17, 2013 at 12:29 am

    I love hockey, but only in person. We have the Avalanche, but even more fun is the minor league Eagles.

    OT: has anyone seen the latest fauxrage from today? Marines are disrespected by being made to hold Obummer’s umbrella.

    This was my baby brother’s response on FB (he makes me proud):

    Maybe the marine was proud to hold the umbrella for the president. Not everyone who is in or was in the military is part or believes in the tea party or the conservative movement. That is his commander and chief and a big part of the military in following orders. I went and fought in a war that bush my commander and chief got us into and I did stuff everyday that sucked way worse the standing in the rain. So why use this marine for propaganda or pushing a political agenda??

  39. 39.

    Mornington Crescent

    May 17, 2013 at 12:29 am

    Ice hockey has traditionally been a regional sport. That said, the Chicago Blackhawks have a good team and I enjoy watching them, and watching a game live is a lot of fun.

    On another note, for some reason I’ve been unable to get this theme song out of my head lately:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXhiKZz0wEo

    Still, it can’t be as bad as this being stuck in your head:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_PZPpWTRTU

  40. 40.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    May 17, 2013 at 12:29 am

    @LayedBackGuy:

    Mikey Redmond sometimes talks of the days when the players were getting the old school “Chin Music” going, and the players enforced the rules in their own special way…

    As much as I love Mickey, I love Paul Wodds’ color commentary on the radio even more. Nobody says, “That was an old fashioned B.C. two-hander,” better.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:30 am

    @Mornington Crescent: You bastard.

  42. 42.

    hilzoy

    May 17, 2013 at 12:31 am

    Enforcers.

  43. 43.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    May 17, 2013 at 12:33 am

    @Mornington Crescent:

    You’re either up late or early. I usually catch those on THiS just before I go to sleep.

  44. 44.

    JoyfulA

    May 17, 2013 at 12:34 am

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I saw a hockey game live. It’s about the same as on TV. The tiny little puck is invisible, and you have to figure out where it is by where the players are flailing toward.

    Then the players stop to fight, which isn’t exactly a fight because everyone’s bulkily dressed, like for winter on the ice, and it’s all very awkward.

    And I played field hockey, so at least I have some idea of what’s going on.

    Then again, I like pro basketball, which can be as graceful as ballet without so many mannerisms.

  45. 45.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    May 17, 2013 at 12:34 am

    @hilzoy:

    Fighting has dropped off a ton since the NHL added the second ref.

  46. 46.

    Mornington Crescent

    May 17, 2013 at 12:37 am

    A hot dog makes her lose control.

    Sometimes a hot dog is just a hot dog.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2013 at 12:38 am

    @Mornington Crescent

    Even worse.

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:44 am

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): I was friends with one of Bill’s grand-daughters in college.

  49. 49.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 17, 2013 at 12:45 am

    Because I don’t really care for any sport.

  50. 50.

    mdblanche

    May 17, 2013 at 12:45 am

    I just don’t like Canadians. There, I said it.

  51. 51.

    ellie

    May 17, 2013 at 12:47 am

    Who says I don’t like it? GO RED WINGS!

  52. 52.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    May 17, 2013 at 12:48 am

    And, the refs just gave the Kings a gift 5-on-3 power play which, of course, ended up in a goal.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:48 am

    @mdblanche: Even Lauren Bacall? WTF?

  54. 54.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    May 17, 2013 at 12:49 am

    @The prophet Nostradumbass: make that two goals. What a fucking joke.

  55. 55.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:49 am

    @ellie:

    GO RED WINGS!

    See, that’s just wrong.

  56. 56.

    different-church-lady

    May 17, 2013 at 12:51 am

    I have never seen it live, so I cannot speak to whether it would make a difference to me.

    Much easier to follow live, because you can see where all the players are — thus the play makes more sense.

    HD has made hockey on TV better, not so much because of the higher resolution, but because of the wider aspect ratio — you can see more players in the wide screen than in the 4:3 frame.

    I loved hockey on TV as a kid, but back then it was more of a passing game than a dump and chase game. And you saw more open ice hip checks, more wrist shots, more finesse. You also saw even more fights, which I never liked, and still don’t.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    May 17, 2013 at 12:52 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Even Lauren Bacall?

    Unless Canada annexed Brooklyn while Coolidge was in office, methinks you mean someone else?

  58. 58.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    May 17, 2013 at 12:55 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, grandpa was cheap. Her dad (or uncle, if that’s the case) isn’t. Scotty’s kid is doing a bang-up job as GM, and Joel Quenneville is a coach of whom I’ve always thought highly.

  59. 59.

    sublime33

    May 17, 2013 at 12:57 am

    @red dog: “too long between periods” – I will take that any day over an NBA game that requires 35 minutes to complete the last 3 minutes of action.

  60. 60.

    Tripod

    May 17, 2013 at 12:57 am

    I choose to spend my time and money on other forms of entertainment.

  61. 61.

    Mark Lass

    May 17, 2013 at 12:58 am

    Olympic hockey with the larger ice is more about the skating
    NHL hockey with the smaller ice is all about the checking and the Rodney Dangerfield joke.
    Did I mention that I am in Los Angeles and have never skated in my life and that the closest I get to ice is in my cocktails
    Jack Kent Cooke, the original owner of the Kings had a great quote about lack of fans for the sport. He was informed that there were 300,000 Canadiens in LA “Now I know why they left Canada: They hate hockey!”

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 1:01 am

    @NotMax: My fuck-up. Oops.

  63. 63.

    Origuy

    May 17, 2013 at 1:12 am

    Sharks: Shitty playoff team, or shittiest playoff team to ever touch blade to ice?

  64. 64.

    JR

    May 17, 2013 at 1:12 am

    Hockey:

    I was at the fights the other Friday, and a hockey game broke out!

    Frankly, if they arrested the “enforcers” and put them in jail, and stopped the “body checking” and such, that would help. The rules are nonsensical, there is no strategy, the tactics are invisible, the puck is invisible. What’s to watch, a bunch of guys flailing around on the ice? Not even good comedy.

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 17, 2013 at 1:13 am

    @Origuy: There are places that should not have hockey teams.

  66. 66.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 17, 2013 at 1:19 am

    I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out.

  67. 67.

    TG Chicago

    May 17, 2013 at 1:57 am

    So why do you all not like it?

    I like hockey okay, and I like the NFL better. But the world’s best sport is Australian Rules Football.

    You can complain about not enough people watching hockey, but I can’t even see Aussie Rules in the middle of the night anymore. It sucks.

  68. 68.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    May 17, 2013 at 1:59 am

    I think it’s a general problem I have with games imvolving goalies for some reason. Love basketball (play as much as watch), and football is a bit like chess with people (formations, matchups, personnel packages, offensive and defensive philosophies) so I love that too, but soccer puts me to sleep. Hockey isthe same game with different equipment, and the players fighting rather than the fans. Any attempt onmy part to watch either game results in *snooze* SCORE!!! OH WHAT A SHOT! *rouse and blink* huh, what? What’d I miss?

  69. 69.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    May 17, 2013 at 2:02 am

    @TG Chicago: aussie rules was better when the scorekeepers at each end dressed like Tom Wolfe

  70. 70.

    Batocchio

    May 17, 2013 at 2:04 am

    I love hockey. A good game has the beautiful passing and weaving of a good soccer game, but accelerated and in a smaller area. I went to see a great Caps-Pens game 14 years ago or so and was hooked. Rough end for my team (the Capitals) this season, so I guess I’ll root now for the Kings or Blackhawks (secondary loyalty). The best game I saw live was the Caps versus the Flyers years back; the Flyers went up three goals, the Caps narrowed the lead to 1 in the 3rd period, then Peter Bondra scored the game-tying goal in the last 0.6 second of regulation. The place erupted. (Scoreless overtime, and this was in the no shootout era, but boy, seeing a good hockey game live with loyal fans is phenomenal.)

  71. 71.

    Pooh

    May 17, 2013 at 2:04 am

    John Cole, you’re objectively wrong about the NBA.

  72. 72.

    mclaren

    May 17, 2013 at 2:07 am

    Because NHL hockey is assholes beating each other up with sticks, and even worse assholes (the crowd) cheering with crazed bloodlust.

    Fuck ’em all.

  73. 73.

    SRW1

    May 17, 2013 at 5:09 am

    Playoff hockey? Meh!

    But the Yanks gave the Ruskies a flogging and will now meet the almighty Swiss.

  74. 74.

    chrome agnomen (temporary kiwi)

    May 17, 2013 at 6:13 am

    late to the party, but playoff hockey is the best spectator sport out there.

  75. 75.

    Schlemizel

    May 17, 2013 at 6:36 am

    2 things turned me off the NHL
    I got sick and tired of the goonballs that every team has to have. This goes well beyond the occasional (but all too frequent) eye removed with a stick or brain destroying head smash to the ice. The very best players are not allowed to play the game as they are hooked, held and interfered with constantly.

    No human is capable of playing hockey full out for the number of games the NHL demands. The result is that all players take nights off. Sure, they are on the ice but if you know hockey you can see that they are not really working. I don’t blame them, they are probably in pain from all the goon work done on them and the normal physical exertion required. But it makes for a crappy game.

    What makes the payoffs different is that they are usually played cleaner, often the worst goons get no ice time, and everyone is busting their butt every night.

  76. 76.

    Schlemizel

    May 17, 2013 at 6:39 am

    @SRW1:

    Thanks! I have not mentioned the world games here because I have caught shit when I did it in the past. The US women beat Canada in one of the toughest, fastest and hard fought games of hockey just a couple of weeks ago. Right now the men are on a tear & appear to be unstoppable. The games are very very very good.

    They play clean, fast and with heart putting it all out there every night.

  77. 77.

    Steve Crickmore

    May 17, 2013 at 6:47 am

    Why I don’t like to follow hockey as much now? Well, many years ago, you could actually see and identify the players, when then didn’t have visors, helmets and masks on. Then, they had more individual styles of skating, shooting and stick handling, which is almost a lost art nowadays. The arenas themselves all look alike now on televison, whereas before, in ‘the original six’ ,they were almost historic sites with totally different ice dimensions. Even the spectators nowadays wear practically the same jerseys to the game, the same laundry. It is about rooting for your laundry, because the players and mangement seem to change every few years, even the franchises for a while, when they weren’t on strike which shows how much the players and the owners value the season and their fans and cheapens the Stanley Cup. And as others have pointed out, the blood lust encouragment of fighting, including the entire team banging their sticks on the boards, to cheer their gladiators on to knock each other brains out, which sadly but not surprisingly often results, in long term brain damge to the enforcers or goons, and premature death.

  78. 78.

    gianni

    May 17, 2013 at 7:11 am

    Why isn’t ice hockey more popular? This clip from The West Wing gives a pretty good synopsis of why.

  79. 79.

    nathaniel

    May 17, 2013 at 7:37 am

    I do really like playoff hockey, but I don’t watch it that often. In fact while I am a huge sports fans and will watch most sports, I don’t watch any of them other than football that often. It comes down to time, in order to truly appreciate hockey, you must do what you do and watch every game, or close to it. I just don’t have the time to do that. However I do have the time to watch football one or two days a week for a third of the year, and I can certainly watch every game of the team I am following.

  80. 80.

    Ash Can

    May 17, 2013 at 7:47 am

    Late to the party, because I was too busy watching playoff hockey to pay any attention to what was going on here.

  81. 81.

    NorthLeft12

    May 17, 2013 at 7:55 am

    I am a Canadian and have not watched a regular season NHL game in many years. As others have commented, the pace and emotion in regular season versus playoffs is just not there. Also, too many freaking fights. I will watch some playoff games, although even those depend on the teams or players playing. I am a Leafs fan so that may partially explain my recent lack of interest in the playoffs.
    I do very much prefer the international hockey games. The Junior World Championship at Christmas/New Years is a must watch every year for me and both sides of my family, as is the Men and Women’s Olympic hockey. Particularly games with Canada, the US, Sweden, Russia, and throw in Finland too. The Czechs can also put out a good team every now and then too.
    The bigger ice surface, zero tolerance for fighting, and the emotion in these games puts them well above whatever the NHL regularly does.

    But in general, I would watch hockey [any hockey] well before basketball [some of the March madness games can be entertaining but in my mind not worth the huge investment in time to see the odd thriller], baseball [meant for background noise on the radio], and college football. I’ll watch the Detroit Lions play, but have less than zero interest in any other NFL games.

  82. 82.

    drew42

    May 17, 2013 at 7:55 am

    “The NBA is just ten pounds of suck.”
    “So why do you all not like hockey?”

    John, you’ve had to power to answer your own question all along. Just search your soul, and try to figure out what drove you to write that first sentence.

    As for me, one reason I hate hockey is that the sound of skates scraping ice sets my teeth on edge. Just thinking about the sound gives me the willies.

  83. 83.

    brantl

    May 17, 2013 at 8:22 am

    Because regular season hockey is all a fight-fest. Why jump in only at the end. It’s like saying 99% of War and Peace is just tedium, but the last 10 pages are AWESOME!

  84. 84.

    Fubar

    May 17, 2013 at 8:32 am

    @mdblanche: I don’t like the canadiens. There, fixed it. Now it makes sense.

  85. 85.

    Kylroy

    May 17, 2013 at 8:40 am

    Because I live in Wisconsin, a state that despite a proud hockey tradition has NEVER had an NHL team.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 17, 2013 at 8:41 am

    60 mins of watching 10 guys skate in circles (while 2 others barely move, and no wonder, look at all the shit they are wearing) chasing after a little black thing I can’t even see. And seeing it live is even worse as then you have to add bad seating, smelly sweating drunks, and screaming idiots. I’d rather watch the Cards lose to the Cubs.

  87. 87.

    OhNoNotAgain

    May 17, 2013 at 9:00 am

    I know I’m breaking the spirit of the conversation here, but I don’t think a lot of the posters have even seen an NHL game recently. The fighting is all but gone (at least in comparison to 10-20 years ago), hits to the head are severely punished, and the play is getting faster and more fluid. As for scoring, at least it takes some actual talent and outstanding effort to score, as opposed to sports like basketball that amount to spending a couple of hours (of which, the last 2 minutes of the game take half of that actual running time) to see who scores last. Don’t even get me started on the snooze-fest that is the NFL that just makes your entire Sunday free time its personal bitch.

    As for the “violence” of hitting, you have to play the sport to understand that the players’ bodies are entirely covered in padding and very hard plastic and the boards/glass (most of the rinks) have “give” to them. Therefore, what looks particularly violent isn’t nearly as bad as it seems. Some of it is actually violent, no doubt, but most of it doesn’t hurt the players as much as it appears. One of my worst injuries was cracked ribs on the right from getting checked into the top of the boards in front of one of the benches. The reason for the injury ? My pants were riding too low because I didn’t have on suspenders, so my kidney/rib protection wasn’t where it was supposed to be on my body.

  88. 88.

    Hoodie

    May 17, 2013 at 9:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’d rather watch the Cards lose to the Cubs.

    You must really hate hockey. It would be more interesting if they played on bigger rinks and cut down on the contact to emphasis passing and precision. A lot of NHL games seem to disintegrate into a mad scramble with lots of errant passes and few quick breakaways. For live games, get rid of that insipid pounding Thunderdome background music.

  89. 89.

    jake the snake

    May 17, 2013 at 9:22 am

    I think that my problem with hockey is the same one I have with futbol. It seems to me, for the most part, scoring is almost by accident. Hockey is fast moving, and soccer is to some extent, but the
    defense has to make a mistake for a team to score. Plus, you have to be more familiar with it than
    I am to notice the subtleties.
    I think both would be more interesting games, if you took away the goalkeeper. You would have more scoring, and I think more interesting strategy. To me both games have much effort, and little result.

  90. 90.

    Anna

    May 17, 2013 at 9:55 am

    It goes too fast and the puck is too small to follow.

  91. 91.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    May 17, 2013 at 9:57 am

    I hate it because you like it. It gives me pleasure to hate the things you like. I used to love hockey. Huge Pens fan. I had a shrine to Mario Lemieux in my garage-turned-mini-hockey-rink. When I found out how much hockey meant to you, I went crazy with the Zamboni and destroyed it.

    Now I just seethe at your Hockey Open Threads, plotting my revenge.

  92. 92.

    OlFroth

    May 17, 2013 at 10:03 am

    @OhNoNotAgain:

    Checking and hits are part of the game, but the gloves dropping fights infuriate me. Just once, I’d like to see a player drop the gloves, and have the other look at him with contempt and just skate away.

  93. 93.

    Woodrowfan

    May 17, 2013 at 10:36 am

    It bores me. But, to be fair, so do football, soccer and basketball. To my untrained eye it looks like a bunch of people running around at random. Might as well watch an anthill.

    Baseball though is different. I’ve read a lot about it and what to look for, so I love watching it. (I’m one of those geeks who keeps detailed score cards).

  94. 94.

    Never Date w/in the Division

    May 17, 2013 at 10:41 am

    I agree with Cole. It’s the best. I’m from Boston so it’s part of the culture here. Yesterday the town was humming with excitement in anticipation of last night’s game. If you can see it live you will be hooked. Annie L. is right that some are turned off by the fights. I may cringe, but I can’t imagine the game without them.

  95. 95.

    Pete

    May 17, 2013 at 10:49 am

    Grew up in Chicago in the 80s. The Hawks were literally *never* on TV, unless you had cable, which we did not. Their TV deal screwed a lot of the city out of one of the local teams. Plus, with the 83 Sox, 84 Cubs, 85 Bears and then the era of Jordan, who had time for flippin hockey?

  96. 96.

    newtons.third

    May 17, 2013 at 11:03 am

    Best guess: The changing on the fly. It is difficult to keep up with the 18 skaters that interchange so frequently, and to understand how the matchups work is quite difficult.
    Then there is this from West Wing

  97. 97.

    David

    May 17, 2013 at 11:13 am

    I’ve always thought Hockey was just wrasslin on ice.

  98. 98.

    Joshua

    May 17, 2013 at 11:52 am

    @jake the snake: This. I can’t watch a game where the team that plays better regularly doesn’t win. At least in soccer the team that plays better usually does win. In hockey I can’t even be bothered to figure out what’s going on because it doesn’t seem to matter.

  99. 99.

    Slim Shady

    May 17, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    Sorry I”m late to this thread. The last (timeout on the floor) 45 seconds of (another timeout) the Knicks/Pacers(tweet, stoppage in play, we’ll be right back) was (inbounds, tweet! timeout) so thrilling (and a steal! Timeout Knicks) I couldn’t pull myself (timeout pacers) away (officials timeout) from (there’s another break in the action, we’ll be right back) the teevee. Okay I lied, I didn’t stay to the end so as far as I know they’re still playing.

  100. 100.

    KXB

    May 17, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    Who wants to watch winter sports in May? Also, the owners found it cheaper to move to warmer climates, where kids do not play hockey. No one showed up for the victory parade when LA won the cup last year. OTOH, when the Blackhawks won a couple of years ago, thousands of people turned up in Chicago, because there is a long storied history of hockey in this town.

  101. 101.

    tommyspoon

    May 17, 2013 at 12:36 pm

    1. Silly looking fights. (Here, let me help you up! Bam! Here, let me help you up!)

    2. It looks terrible on TV. Seriously. It’s too fast to get a feel for what’s going on. Watching hockey live is infinitely better. (Football is the inverse, BTW.)

    3. Ties. Hate ’em. Get rid of them.

    4. Offsides and icing rules are confusing to a layman. I’ve had several folks try to teach them to me and I still don’t get it.

  102. 102.

    Linnaeus

    May 17, 2013 at 12:53 pm

    Well, you’re certainly not talking about me, John. I love hockey, and especially playoff hockey. Folks don’t like it, well, that’s their choice. I’ll watch an NHL playoff game over any NFL game anytime.

  103. 103.

    dave

    May 17, 2013 at 1:06 pm

    Believe it or not, I actually find playoff hockey to be too exciting. Its fucking stressful when your team can basically win or lose the game within any five second period. You can’t look away or get up and leave the room unless its a commercial break and your stomach basically does flip flops the whole time.

    I don’t really need that level of stress at this point in my life.

    The reason I love baseball is because i can sit down and watch and the chances of anything exciting happening in a given at bad is so small that I can just relax and enjoy myself.

  104. 104.

    EthylEster

    May 17, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    What other sport argues that fighting is absolutely essential?

    Hockey is the ultimate “for manly men only” sport.
    I’ve been watching the Sens on CBC and have heard the announcer mention several times that Segei Gonchar “doesn’t like to get hit” and how that affects his play. Why doesn’t he just call Gonchar a fag?

  105. 105.

    OhNoNotAgain

    May 17, 2013 at 1:56 pm

    @OlFroth:

    Happens all of the time. “Pest” players do it a lot to goad the other team’s player into a penalty. It’s a penalty if one player drops his gloves and tries to fight, but the other doesn’t. It’s literally “it takes two to tango”. :-)

  106. 106.

    OhNoNotAgain

    May 17, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    @tommyspoon:

    #3 Ties: they did get rid of them, in 2005, with the introduction of the shootout.

  107. 107.

    Bill

    May 17, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    I like hockey. i take my kids to a few AHL level games every year. (My city doesn’t have an NHL franchise.)

    I don’t watch the NHL:

    1. Because it’s too damn hard to find on my cable system. (I think games are now on HGTV II or something).

    2. There are too many games, and in particular too many teams in the playoffs. I don’t have the time to settle in for what seems like six months of playoff games.

    3. I have sports I really love that eat up my limited sports viewing time. (Baseball being the top of the list.)

  108. 108.

    Heliopause

    May 17, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    “So why do you all not like it?”

    Because it’s evolved into a bunch of muscle-bound 220 pounders locking up at center ice, dumping the puck in where a few more 220 pounders lock up over it in the corner, then it gets dumped out to center ice where they lock up again. 98% of any given game absolutely nothing of interest is happening. The goals are accidental and you have no idea one’s been scored until you see one side raising their arms. The “highlights” on the evening news consist of some poor bastard getting blindsided by a dirty hit and sent to the hospital. Playoff games are the worst soporifics of all, with six scoreless overtimes of exhausted skaters playing not-to-lose.

    I was never a big fan but I did consider it at least a little bit watchable until, say, 1990-ish. There was still a place in the game for the slightly-built skill-type.

  109. 109.

    LarryB

    May 17, 2013 at 2:25 pm

    If they want to boost their ratings they need to follow the other majors and put their players in spandex. Buns away!

  110. 110.

    Roy@ESU in Tejas

    May 17, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    I love Olympic hockey, but the NHL version with the smaller rinks and the near-constant fights just doesn’t do it for me. That said, a Game 7 in hockey is just about the best thing in sports.

    And I hate to say that you’re wrong about the NBA — it has the best athletes in the world and in LeBron James, they’ve got the most complete player of any sport playing today. College basketball is awful beyond belief — and may be, after banking, the GOP, and college footmaball, the most corrupt organization in the country. In fact, as someone else on the interwebs has put it, “College sports are to college as genital warts are to genitals.” They can’t die soon enough.

  111. 111.

    pseudonymous in nc

    May 17, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    @TG Chicago:

    I can’t even see Aussie Rules in the middle of the night anymore. It sucks.

    You can pay the AFL US$100 or so for streaming rights. If you want to follow the season, it’s not a horrendous amount of money.

    Or there are… places where you can watch streams.

  112. 112.

    RandomOrily

    May 17, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    @Glennsyank13: worst boxing there is.

  113. 113.

    ArlingtonRob

    May 17, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    I’m with you completely JC.

    In my mind nothing compares to ice hockey, especially if one is fortunate to be the fan of a talented club. For you it’s the Pens, for me it’s the Blackhawks.

    Perhaps our clubs will meet in the finals once again.

  114. 114.

    Fine Swine

    May 17, 2013 at 7:48 pm

    I do think it’s a regional thing. Down here in the south/midwest, hockey really isn’t even on the radar. We don’t grow up watching it and we certainly don’t play it. The obsession here in Wildcat country is college basketball. College football and the NFL take up much of the rest of our sports attention. I’ve tried to watch hockey but, to me, it’s as boring as soccer. Hell, baseball bores me to tears as well, but at least I can see the ball.

  115. 115.

    Wally Ballou

    May 17, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Neither Redmond or Woods are a patch on good old Sid Abel.

  116. 116.

    Bonnie

    May 17, 2013 at 8:15 pm

    It takes too much time with little to show for it; such as at the end of three periods the score is 1 to 0 and the 1 was scored in the first five minutes of the first period. Too violent and, yet, very boring.

  117. 117.

    Ol Froth

    May 18, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    @OhNoNotAgain: @OhNoNotAgain:

    Interesting. I’ve lost track of all the Penguins games I’ve watched and I’ve never seen that happen. That of course, doesn’t mean it never does, just that I’ve never seen it.

  118. 118.

    Ol Froth

    May 18, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    @OhNoNotAgain: @OhNoNotAgain:

    Interesting. I’ve lost track of all the Penguins games I’ve watched and I’ve never seen that happen. That of course, doesn’t mean it never does, just that I’ve never seen it.

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