http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html
Impressive offer.. not that I can see it really happening. I wonder if the deal is an all or nothing deal?
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html
Impressive offer.. not that I can see it really happening. I wonder if the deal is an all or nothing deal?
That would be hilarious.
Want more people interested in the sport? I suggest teaching people about hockey and how things work and get rid of the violence in the game. I understand that some physical contact within the game is going to happen but these brawls are ridiculous. If you want the sport to be more widely recieved then make it so a family can watch it. Like football.
I know I would never let my son watch hockey because of the violence in it and that just makes him think it's okay to do it because these grown men are doing it.
Those are my thoughts anyhow. Take or leave them :)
Yeah make it so a family can watch it like football where girls are taught to be cheap whores and boys are taught to break each other's legs off. You know what I was taught in high school football? Go for the guy's weakest points in his body. Kill da bitch. Yeah football's so much better.
Please.
Want to permanently KILL hockey for good? Get rid of fighting.
It's no different than boxing.
Of all the hockey fights I've ever seen (hundreds?) I've only seen about 5 where either of the guys was even bleeding. Most of the "fight" is the two guys making sure they don't get hit.
Anyway.
this 3.5 billion dollar deal will never happen. It would be a dream come true for teams like Nashville....Florida etc. But teams like the Red Wings and the Rangers will NEVER EVER do this. They operate in the black, and are doing so even now through merchandise. Why would they want to sell a money maker?
Dude It's already dead. Wake up! Why do you think they're trying to salvage it.
If you want more interest in a wider audience your best bet is going to be changing your target market and making it marketable to that market.
hockey isn't hockey without the fighting and hitting. it's pussy figure skaters with sticks
That's very untrue. If you look at any other league below the professional league you are not allowed to fight. It's a way to attract some people to the sport and they didn't succeed.
Hockey's not dead. It may not be mainstream in the US, but its thriving in other markets.
Maybe thats a good indication as to why its not a good idea?Quote:
It's a way to attract some people to the sport and they didn't succeed.
Hockey is a contact sport, end of story. I would much prefer if they cracked down on the dirty playing, though. And thats part of what fighting is about, ensuring that things don't get too dirty.
But taking away the contact? Might as well put a blue aura around the puck.
Sheesh.
You misunderstand me.
I understand the sport is contact by checking. I don't mean take that away. I mean the damn fist fighting. Football is a contact sport too and they do everything to keep them from getting into fist fights. I'm not saying it's not going to happen but it seems to me that hockey promotes the brawls and encourages it.
When it comes to 'violence' in hockey, I find it's easiest to break it down into three distinct categories:
1) Fighting
2) 'Clean' contact
3) 'Dirty' contact
The fact is that any contact sport is going to have a bit from each category. As much as I think the visceral joy of hockey fights is great, I don't think the game would be doomed without them. However, I believe clean contact is absolutely essential. I've watched and played in games where checking was prohibited, and honestly it sucked. It's like hockey + roofies, or making the NFL into a touch football league.
When it comes to toning down NHL violence, I think the only category that qualifies is 'dirty' contact, best exemplified by the Todd Bertuzzi - Steve Moore incident. Keep the fights, keep the punishing body checks, but stop it somewhere short of causing disability :P. (Since Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the season, I'd say the keep-it-clean message came across pretty clearly)
I really have trouble believing that hockey has lost popularity because it is too violent. A hockey hit is like a football tackle, it just looks cooler because the guys are moving faster and often slamming into a wall :P. There are several proposed rules changes that intend to speed up the game and increase offensive production when/if the league returns. While this is a case where the damage has already been done, I think those types of changes would do much more good than trying to crack down on violence.
Quote:
Originally posted by Isaviel
Want more people interested in the sport? I suggest teaching people about hockey and how things work and get rid of the violence in the game. I understand that some physical contact within the game is going to happen but these brawls are ridiculous. If you want the sport to be more widely recieved then make it so a family can watch it. Like football.
I know I would never let my son watch hockey because of the violence in it and that just makes him think it's okay to do it because these grown men are doing it.
Those are my thoughts anyhow. Take or leave them :)
I have just one thing to say:
Worst. Idea. Ever.
If anything, the fighting actually INCREASES the sport's popularity.
that's fine I guess I am not a hockey fan of what today's NHL fans like.
*hugs isaviel*
It's okay. We still love you.
Quote:
Originally posted by Leshrak
*hugs isaviel*
It's okay. We still love you.
:cheek
As much as I didn't like having to fight in my days of playing Junior, I understood the point of it and was willing to do it on occasion.
You take out the fighting you invite people's inevitable frustrations that always happen in such high intensity environments and people will get those frustrations out in other ways (ie cheap shots). As a prime example of this, I would recommend anyone to watch or play in a Christian exhibition hockey league...
As for selling the league as a whole. I'm one of the big hockey fans (being Canadian and all)... but I'm at the point of - you may as well do it, they really cannot screw things up anymore than they already have, maybe this will work out.
What does any of that have to do with WATCHING it? Sorry, everything you said above is just silliness and cliche.Quote:
Originally posted by Tanjable
Yeah make it so a family can watch it like football where girls are taught to be cheap whores and boys are taught to break each other's legs off. You know what I was taught in high school football? Go for the guy's weakest points in his body. Kill da bitch. Yeah football's so much better.
Boxing should be banned forever. It is not a sport. Everything about it is bad and it needs to cease to exist.Quote:
Originally posted by Tanjable
It's no different than boxing.
Good analogy there. :p
Counterexample: Muhammed Ali.Quote:
Originally posted by Aristotle
Boxing should be banned forever. It is not a sport. Everything about it is bad and it needs to cease to exist.
What was exactly so good about Muhammad Ali? Draft dodgers do not provide a good counterexample against an argument that everything about boxing is bad.Quote:
Originally posted by Grantref
Counterexample: Muhammed Ali.
In fact, the fact that he's messed up right now is just one of the myriad of attributes as to why boxing is bad.
ESPN.com actually did a special article on NFL football, and how it's sadly common practice to grab the other guy's nads in order to make him lose grip of the ball during a scramble. Facemasks, hitting a guy in the knees, and other such actions make football players perhaps the dirtiest athletes in sports.
Besides, as a nation we love kicking the crap out of each other in sports. The WWF sells out EVERYTIME it has a show, and it's not even a sport. For those kinds of fans, fighting is about all they would ever watch hockey for.
Fighting or not fighting has little or nothing to do with why the NHL has no audience base. 0-0 scores have everything to do with it. Absolutely no marketable players has everything to do with it. Who does the average American know in hockey after MAYBE Wayne Gretzky? Who's retired.
It also has to do with hockey being a VERY international sport. Jagr (or any other such player) can break every record the NHL has, and he will never be an American sports icon. Cause he's not from here. But in the Czech republic, he's a huge star. Americans desperately need homegrown, American hockey players as icons to get really attached to the sport. Every other American sport has em except hockey
It has been what, 25-30 years since his last fight?Quote:
Originally posted by Grantref
Counterexample: Muhammed Ali.
Come on.
And look at the guy. Boxing absolutely destroyed him. He is a mental and physical cripple thanks to boxing.
Sorry, boxing has to go.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tanjable
Besides, as a nation we love kicking the crap out of each other in sports. The WWF sells out EVERYTIME it has a show, and it's not even a sport. For those kinds of fans, fighting is about all they would ever watch hockey for.
Kind of like Romans butchering Christians in the Colosseum? Let's face it. Mankind has always been enthralled by bloodshed, violence, aggression. Since the beginning of civilization entertainment has come in the form of gladiators. Maybe by a different name. But it's always been brutal and bloody. Let's face it. If it weren't for regulations football players would be running around without pads on doing what they do. Or they'd have spikes on their shoulderpads. Something would be there to make it more violent than it already is.
Not saying that's good or bad. But it's something to think about.
Honestly, whenever I have seen pictures or video of fights in hockey it makes the sport look childish to me.
In the successful professional sports, I think they aren't strict enough about fighting. But thank god they are somewhat strict.
Play the goddamn game. What about sportsmanship? Getting in a fight is the ultimate breakdown in sportsmanship.
Fighting, outrageous taunting, etc. have no place in sports.
I've been to quite a few semi-pro games and the fighting was way worse than in an NHL game.Quote:
Originally posted by Isaviel
That's very untrue. If you look at any other league below the professional league you are not allowed to fight. It's a way to attract some people to the sport and they didn't succeed.
Fighting isn't the problem in hockey, there really aren't that many fights in an average NHL game. The problem is that the media gives the fights attention, especially since that is usually the most exciting part of the game. What hockey needs is more scoring so that there is something else exciting to get attention.
:clapQuote:
What hockey needs is more scoring so that there is something else exciting to get attention.
Fighting in hockey is WORSE at the amateur level, not better. Professionals at least have some semblence of skill...I've seen some guys at the amateur level who are basically goons on skates placed on the ice and given a push.