Ice Hockey - Can it be considered a Television Viewer Sport?
Ice hockey is a great sport; it is fast paced, very physical and highly entertaining. It is the national sport of Canada and is played in countries where they have an abundance of snow. Ice hockey is also a very violent game with brawls breaking out regularly and players being seriously injured. The sport is a winter extension to regular hockey that is very popular in countries that don’t have too much snow. But the fact which is interesting to see is how can Ice Hockey be considered a viewer’s sport?
Having watched Ice Hockey a few times on television, I found it very interesting to view. I couldn’t understand the rules to begin with, although the basic concept was not too hard to understand; 5 players and a goalie trying to shoot a small black puck into the opposing team’s goal, but what was interesting was the unbelievably fast paced nature of the sport. The question that came to my mind after a few minutes of watching was where was the puck? All I could see were two players who I assumed had possession of the puck and they were fighting to steal it off each other while each trying to make their way to the other team’s goal. What was even more interesting to me was how the spectators sitting in the arena could follow the action, the only way I ever knew a goal had been scored was when a horn blew after there was a lot of activity around one team’s goalie. The puck was virtually invisible and impossible to see from the camera following the action.
How can the people watching the game from the stands follow the action of the game? They probably couldn’t see the puck either but being diehard hockey fans they could probably sense the puck and where it was at a particular time in the game. After years of hockey viewing the fans must have gotten an acute sense of the puck and how to read the players body language to determine where all the action was taking place on the rink. The only way to know that a goal has been scored seems to be a red light going off above the goal and a gaolie who looks dejected and the other team celebrating. Even watching the goal on TV, the puck actually going into the goal and beating the goalie cannot be seen except in slow motion, and even in slow motion if you blink it’s gone, the goal is scored and the commentators are saying how good the goal was and you missed it because you had to blink.
Another aspect that makes Ice Hockey so compellingly viewable is the violence. Most games that I have seen have had a brawl take place in them. It starts with 2 players and then the rest join in, with fists flying and sticks being swung around. The odd thing about it was that for some reason, probably personal safety, the referee seems unwilling to stop the battle royale taking place inside the ice rink. I think they feel that the players will eventually stop fighting and then they will step in and award penalties and time in the box for the offending players. Besides the brawling, the game itself is pretty violent with players getting body checked into the side boards on a regular basis. Players have even crashed into the goalies and the goalie, player and goal go flying in the process.
To come back to my original point, maybe the fast paced nature of the sport along with the level of violence and genuine excitement level that comes from watching a game of Ice Hockey all make up for the fact that most of the time the object that has to be scored to win the game is hidden from view. So what if the puck is shy and hides during most of the game at least we get to see a stick to the face once in a while.
Tags: