Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 MisterMoon wrote:

 AustonT wrote:
Meh. Hockey isn't huge here. I remember when they build the Coyotes the arena I was mildly excited. The rest of Phoenix must have felt roughly the same way. They don't make money here. It doesn't help that I'm an old school Bruins fan, I like to see violent, ugly, physical hockey...you know: North American hockey. All these Slavs and Russians that actually know how to skate are ruining the game. The rink the semi-pro team in my home town played in is now a storage facility for the local Coca-Cola distributor...Hockey is dying as a sport because there's just no where to play it anymore in college, like wrestling. Thanks Title IX. At least my school in the middle of the desert has a rowing team...

Before blaming Title XI throw a little blame on the ungodly amount of scholarships which are given for football. It's basically 3 or 4 sports! In any case it hasn't stopped many schools from having hockey where it's more culturally accepted. Many Big 10 schools manage to support hockey teams, and wrestling for that matter.

Also, I think that the thugish nature of the game, with frequent fighting et al. is one reason why hockey won't really catch on nation wide.

Really "many" schools maintain hockey teams. There are almost 350 D-I schools and 59 D-I hockey teams, several of which are actually D-2 and 3 schools. So your definition of "many" and mine are vastly different. And if you want to defend Title IX you should thank footballs 85 scholarships for making field hockey, rowing, and golf possible. You should also thank revenue sports like football for bringing home the money to pay for the scholarships, equipment, and facilities those sports couldn't pay for on their own. What sport produces the most excess revenue you ask?: Football. The top three earning sports: football, basket ball and hockey;just the men's teams and hockey actually operates at a loss these days. So yeah I totally blame football for producing enough net profit to keep college sports alive.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 kronk wrote:


I have been to two minor league hockey games in person, and I'm of the opinion that Hockey on TV is boring, but Hockey in person kicks major ass. Even if I don't know what the penalties are.

I think more than any other sport Hockey is better live.

^^^^ this... a x1000 times.

Hockey is very hard to watch on TV for the uninitiated... but, once seen live, you'll "get it".

I never liked hockey... till I went to a college and then an NHL game and watched in person.

I am from the state of hockey. The uni I went to apparently is one of the best D3 schools in the nation for hockey (not in MN though). My high school had the best girls team when I went there, and are still pretty good. They are about the only high school team we have that wins anything.

Football sucks, live or on TV.

edit: I have to add, I loved watching the Vikes win yesterday and the Pack lose. My 3 roommates are hard core Packer fans. They joy of being Minnesotan in Wisconsin during football season!

 whembly wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 kronk wrote:


I have been to two minor league hockey games in person, and I'm of the opinion that Hockey on TV is boring, but Hockey in person kicks major ass. Even if I don't know what the penalties are.

I think more than any other sport Hockey is better live.

^^^^ this... a x1000 times.

Hockey is very hard to watch on TV for the uninitiated... but, once seen live, you'll "get it".

Same here I went to one Islanders game in person, after that I was sold on them.

Easier than Fething futbol, I literally didn't understands offsides in soccer until two years ago. IT'S NOT EVEN THAT DIFFERENT. The throw ins confuse me to this day.

I live in Chicago, and hockey is fairly big. That sometimes surprises people, but it makes sense when you consider the 'Hawks are an O6 team. That said, there was a lull in popularity during the dark days* that were the closing years of Old Man Wirtz's life.



*You fire Messmer because he started working with the Wolves? Really?

 AustonT wrote:
Easier than Fething futbol, I literally didn't understands offsides in soccer until two years ago. IT'S NOT EVEN THAT DIFFERENT. The throw ins confuse me to this day.

For some reason I never thought to use the Spanish word to describe soccer. I'm doing that from now on.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

sparkywtf wrote:

I am from the state of hockey. The uni I went to apparently is one of the best D3 schools in the nation for hockey (not in MN though).

So you went to St. Norbert, or one of the UWs?

 dogma wrote:

sparkywtf wrote:

I am from the state of hockey. The uni I went to apparently is one of the best D3 schools in the nation for hockey (not in MN though).

So you went to St. Norbert, or one of the UWs?

I went to one of the UWs for 2 years. Didn't go to a hockey game till the last one of the year last year, when we won in OT, exciting game for a first time.

Nobody that I know of really cares about it, except the one guy from up north. it's boring on tv... but then again so is every sport to me. Being AT a hockey game, well, that was an evening well spent.

then again, its not like we've had a lake freeze over to play on or any of that stuff since it doesn't even get cold enough to snow...

sparkywtf wrote:
I never liked hockey... till I went to a college and then an NHL game and watched in person.

I am from the state of hockey. The uni I went to apparently is one of the best D3 schools in the nation for hockey (not in MN though). My high school had the best girls team when I went there, and are still pretty good. They are about the only high school team we have that wins anything.

Football sucks, live or on TV.

edit: I have to add, I loved watching the Vikes win yesterday and the Pack lose. My 3 roommates are hard core Packer fans. They joy of being Minnesotan in Wisconsin during football season!

You can also add fuel to their fire, by pointing out that lowly Oregon State beat the Badgers on Saturday in football Just doin' my part ya know.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

sparkywtf wrote:
I never liked hockey... till I went to a college and then an NHL game and watched in person.

I am from the state of hockey. The uni I went to apparently is one of the best D3 schools in the nation for hockey (not in MN though). My high school had the best girls team when I went there, and are still pretty good. They are about the only high school team we have that wins anything.

Football sucks, live or on TV.

edit: I have to add, I loved watching the Vikes win yesterday and the Pack lose. My 3 roommates are hard core Packer fans. They joy of being Minnesotan in Wisconsin during football season!

You can also add fuel to their fire, by pointing out that lowly Oregon State beat the Badgers on Saturday in football Just doin' my part ya know.

Oh I fueled the fire. Brewers, Badgers, and the Packers lost... while the Twins, Vikings, and Gophers won. It was a great weekend.

It's one of the most popular sports here along with soccer. It's hard to say which one of them is more popular. Media seems to prefer to write about our local hockey league rather than the NHL though.

 Fervor wrote:
It's one of the most popular sports here along with soccer. It's hard to say which one of them is more popular. Media seems to prefer to write about our local hockey league rather than the NHL though.

isn't there too much, ya know.... snow for playing soccer up there?

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Fervor wrote:
It's one of the most popular sports here along with soccer. It's hard to say which one of them is more popular. Media seems to prefer to write about our local hockey league rather than the NHL though.

isn't there too much, ya know.... snow for playing soccer up there?

That and the constant threat of polar bear attacks, I like to think, are the reasons why the Swedish soccer team is so bad. :(

 Fervor wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Fervor wrote:
It's one of the most popular sports here along with soccer. It's hard to say which one of them is more popular. Media seems to prefer to write about our local hockey league rather than the NHL though.

isn't there too much, ya know.... snow for playing soccer up there?

That and the constant threat of polar bear attacks, I like to think, are the reasons why the Swedish soccer team is so bad. :(

Bad??

have you seen Scotland play??

Scotland play?

Thats a new one to me. I do think Scotland is more of a rugby nation to be fair.

 Azza007 wrote:
Scotland play?

Thats a new one to me. I do think Scotland is more of a rugby nation to be fair.

I was gonna suggest the same thing... I mean, it's difficult to get larger people to move in a "soccer manner", or much more so than it is for them to be able to actually make contact with another human being without Academy Award winning acting.

 Azza007 wrote:
Scotland play?

Thats a new one to me. I do think Scotland is more of a rugby nation to be fair.

Rugby fans are the minority despite being better at it than as a sport, until you factor in homeless people. I kid you not Scotland are Homeless football world champions, and we have several world championships in elephant polo

 Fervor wrote:
It's one of the most popular sports here along with soccer. It's hard to say which one of them is more popular. Media seems to prefer to write about our local hockey league rather than the NHL though.

The NHL under 'Little Hitler' and his hole cronies is nothing more than a giant joke... (and a really bad one at that!)

The best hockey to watch is still the World Juniors every Christmas season! Now THAT is hockey!

 whembly wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 kronk wrote:


I have been to two minor league hockey games in person, and I'm of the opinion that Hockey on TV is boring, but Hockey in person kicks major ass. Even if I don't know what the penalties are.

I think more than any other sport Hockey is better live.

^^^^ this... a x1000 times.

Hockey is very hard to watch on TV for the uninitiated... but, once seen live, you'll "get it".

I completely agree. Go to one live game, and you'll realize what you're mising.

I'm from St. Louis, and like other people have said, it's home to the Cardinal Nation...but we still have a large hockey following, and the Blues fans are some of the best hockey fans around

Well, we're only 4 days away from a lock-out now... Looks like there will be no NHL this year.

Experiment 626 wrote:
Well, we're only 4 days away from a lock-out now... Looks like there will be no NHL this year.

We'll see. There is more hope this time though. In 2004 they were divided on a Cap/no cap business model. This time they are disputing their shares of the income. They are really far apart on the numbers but at least this time they are talking the same language so to speak.

Well in my house it's a big deal, but I grew up in a household with an extremely dedicated hockey fanbase. Avalanche do okay though so more north of here there's fans.

 Eldarain wrote:

Experiment 626 wrote:
Well, we're only 4 days away from a lock-out now... Looks like there will be no NHL this year.

We'll see. There is more hope this time though. In 2004 they were divided on a Cap/no cap business model. This time they are disputing their shares of the income. They are really far apart on the numbers but at least this time they are talking the same language so to speak.

Probably just lose some of the year, not all of it.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 Eldarain wrote:

Experiment 626 wrote:
Well, we're only 4 days away from a lock-out now... Looks like there will be no NHL this year.

We'll see. There is more hope this time though. In 2004 they were divided on a Cap/no cap business model. This time they are disputing their shares of the income. They are really far apart on the numbers but at least this time they are talking the same language so to speak.

Probably just lose some of the year, not all of it.

One can hope... But Bettman is a big enough ftard that he'll flip fans the bird and let this drag out just so he can earn a bit more money. The guy is pure poison to the sport, and he and his ilk have done everything in their power to ruin the game.

I mean, before this gak came along, there had never been a single strike/lockout. Since Little Hitler's come to power though, this will be the 3rd time the players have been locked/gone on strike!

I personally think if it comes to a fully lost season due to strike/lockout.. the NHL will never recover. As it is, I think that they have barely recovered from the last one (if you can say that they indeed have recovered fully)

This is a very interesting (if somewhat long-winded) read on the looming lookout.
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/bob_mckenzie/?id=404989

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I personally think if it comes to a fully lost season due to strike/lockout.. the NHL will never recover. As it is, I think that they have barely recovered from the last one (if you can say that they indeed have recovered fully)

Actually the NHL came back big time. It was bigger than ever. That's why the owners are willing to lock out the players. When Bettman was asked if he's worried about losing the fans he actually said: No, they came back last time. There's no fear of losing the fans for the owners...which is probably why we shouldn't watch when it comes back. But we will; well all the other Canadians will. I'm pretty sick of the NHL and it's problems.

To be honest a lot of the NHL problems just confuse me. I don't know much about what happened last time or what the problem quite is this time. A lot of the stuff goes over my head. Every time I try to read about it I just space out.

On the plus side, going to the last EPL pre-season game tonight; Slough Jets vs Swindon Wildcats and to the first match of the season on Saturday. Hockey week ftw.

No one* around here missed the NHL when it was on strike last time. No one* will miss it this time. This is Football country.

*No one except a few transplants from up North (waves hand vaguely North).

The important thing is the Maple Leafs are the worst team ever: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/espn-ranks-maple-leafs-the-worst-team-in-pro-sports-1.946851