Why do most sports fans not realize how great a game hockey is? Part Deux?

Question

LOL, it has to have a ball? No one told me this, wow I didnt realize. Fact is no baseball, basketball or football player could handle the game of hockey, while hockey players quite frequently play the other 3 sports in their off time. Some people need to educate themselves on the SPORT of hockey and see how great it is, before they opened their mouths

Answer 1

They simply do not understand the rules.

And the NHL is constantly changing things around, so people who arent huge hockey fans have trouble staying up.  The ordinary sports fan watches a game and cant distinguish between penalties (inconsistent refs) and things like offsides and icing.

Answer 2

I'm gonna go with the fact that we have a scary trend where people would rather watch a bunch of baboons in spandex capris chase each other for a ball, jump on each others spines, steal the allegedly foot shaped object, run a few feet with it, repeat, repeat, repeat, end with an Icky Shuffle. Even more tragically, those Turf Capades get more coverage, advertising, etc.

I won't say I understand why everything is everything in hockey, but if I get it, it can't be that hard to wrap your brain around.  I do agree with what you're saying about the speed, I think it initialy semms like a lot fo back and forth, especially if a newbie doesn't know what to look for during those passes, etc. Its very obvious when someone makes a tackle, then parades around beating his chest like king kong. That signals to me, Captain Football Retarded, that somebody just did soemthing kind of good. Right? Right? Guys? Whereas, in hockey, if someone comes up with a nice pass, narrowly overts a big hit, sets up a good screen, someone who doesn't know to look for htose things isn't going to recognize it without the Tribal Dance of sports celebration.

Answer 3

I would have to say the reason that sports fans dont follow hockey is because Hockey is not a sport.  

One of the following three things must be met in order for something to be considered a sport.

1) Must have a Ball and a Defense. (Basketball, Baseball)

2) Can be considered a Track & Field event.

3) A sanctioned fight. (Boxing, UFC)

As you can see, Hockey meets none of these standards, and is therefore disqualified from ever being considered a sport, in its current form.

Answer 4

They did know how great it was.... until Bettman started s******g with the game and ruining it.

Answer 5

I am a huge hockey fan and I have been for a long time. I try to convert people into hockey fans especially people who like football. I think not being on ESPN hurts the sport tremendously. I also don't think it is popular because it is an expensive sport to play. I find if anyone that is not a fan sees a game live they become a fan.

Answer 6

Up north, they do for the most part. It's in the non-traditional markets that there is a problem. One of the main issues is they don't understand the game and/or the rules, and since they don't get exposed to it at an early age, it's difficult to get people to pay attention. They're already fixated on Baseball or Football.

Another issue (and I always get thumbs down for this, but it's true) is in the non-traditional markets, which I have lived in quite a few (grew up in NY), the sports fans don't like the fights. I know the hard core Hockey fans do, but when I've talked to people over and over about Hockey (again - non-traditional markets) they almost all say the same thing, they think all the fighting is silly.

A third, lesser reason, is they say there is not enough scoring. (even though in Baseball AND Footbal there can be huge gaps between scoring). I think what happens is the constant action is just too much for them, kind of a sensory overload.

Answer 7

There are breaks appox. every 4 mins for TV timeouts. This is good for old men drinking beer.

**** Holy c**p Ronnie...have you never watched a football or basketball game?????????????

*** 288...what are you saying? Southern USA sports fans can't walk and chew bubble gum at the same time? (watch hockey and drink beer at the same time). That's a stretch.

  **** Brian....check out the attendance for NHL and NBA games. I think you'll be surprised.

Answer 8

I read a few years ago that most Americans prefer sports with, as some of you has already said, breaks so they can take a second to gulp some beer before the next action arrives. In a "now, now, now" society, most of them doesn't want to wait the four minutes for that.

Tom, it's because people don't understand why they fight because fighting is a primal thing that's in the subconcious and, really, who understands their own subconcious. In the western society, anything that's primal, we don't understand, and the core of being human is bad: violence, s*x, L*****n p**n, Megan Fox...gotta get my mind out of the gutter....

Slayer, basically, yeah. Hey, that's just what I read in a newspaper, not something that I came up with.

Answer 9

People watch whatever ESPN promotes. They dont have the rights to the NHL because they thought the league would stink after the lockout (which it kinda does). ESPN shows about 1.5 minutes of highlights of hockey during a full hour of sportscenter during the playoffs and about 30 seconds during the reg season. Without any time on sprtscenter or any games on ESPN most of Americans know more about what Brittney Spears is wearing that day then they know whats going on in the NHL world. Once ESPN buys the rights back to the NHL and stop promoting ghetto NBA, it will be a more popular game. BRING BACK NHL2NIGHT ON ESPN2!!!!

Answer 10

Everyone here seems to get it - television is breeding a public with an incredibly short attention span.  Football and baseball are very episodic - I can't speak for basketball as I've not watched enough of it.

Hockey IS easy to understand, or at least get the gist.  I went to my first game, and fell completely in love because by the end, I could see goals getting built from the defensive zone.  I couldn't have said that, back then, I could just see what was happening.  That, and the fact that these boys did it all on skates...  I have tried to skate!  I had no reliable  point of reference, either, having never been interested in sport in my entire life.

No, hockey demands a lot of a person's attention, and therefore the lazy people prefer other sports.  It's their loss, and honestly, apart from getting a decent network to broadcast it, I worry that hockey getting more attention would harm it more than help it, by turning it into a circus like the rest.

Answer 11

The NHL is considered one of the four major professional sports leagues in the USA, along with Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. Hockey has the smallest total fan base of the four leagues, the smallest revenue from television, and the least sponsorship. In contrast, hockey is the most popular of these four major sports in Canada. The NHL fan base is also the most affluent and well educated of the four.

Answer 12

why stop? i keep my keg right next to the couch. i only get up to provide the toilet with some refreshments