For clarity I just mean watching hockey. As far as American sports go hockey is so much more appealing than football or baseball. It has all the suspense of baseball, the speed of basketball, and the physicality of football plus everyone's skating. Plus they're not constantly taking penalty shots and pretending to get hurt like in basketball. Also strangely enough illegal hockey streams are the only ones I've seen where no one is saying racist/homophobic/transphobic/other reactionary shit.
Though it's better with HD now, it's still tough to see the puck, especially when scoring. Just waiting for the siren to go off all the time. That's how I feel about it on TV.
So many schools and cities have baseball and football teams of many levels, so more people have actual experience with those games even if it's little league. The collegiate level has very few hockey teams as well. Although there are teams all over America it's very much a Canadian sport.
I completely agree about the puck being hard to see on screen. They should superimpose a glowing red aura over it so it's easier to catch.
They did this already. And it made the game look like you were watching a video game lol
this is still sick as hell imo, just imagine how much cooler it'd be with modern technology
I've never played hockey in my life, I'm just talking about watching it. I'm also blessed to have grown up in a place where you don't need to pay for ice time because the pond will freeze in the winter so all you need is a stick and maybe a helmet. This goes onto my view that cities where it can't snow should not be allowed to have hockey teams because then it's entirely exclusive to the rich. Also why tf is Tampa Bay one of the best teams seriously wtf
It’s def the puck. Hard to casually watch the sport because most people can’t follow it. Baseball and basketball also sound a lot better on radio. And idk hockey is full of white guys. I’m sure there’re just not as racist because there’s not as many black players.
some good points about the prohibitive cost but i'd also mention it's a really regional sport for the most part for regular people. Ice hockey isn't something a chunk of the country can do in the winter cause we don't have ice, at least not enough to play hockey, and ice rinks are also not super common in a lot of places either. plus it's quite expensive to upkeep a ice rink compared to an indoor gym or outside field. I knew a few kids growing up that did roller hockey with like 2 or 3 friends but it never really had any school teams here in the bay area (as far as i know) and i'd imagine it's kinda similar in other places. A lot of people stick with sports because they may go professional or get a scholarship but i feel like hocky has much less, definitely much less money put into like say high school/college football. Personally I wish we had more hockey, it was always a more interesting sport to me than most ball sports.
What about street hockey? That was commonplace during the summer.
Personally, I like set piece plays, which football has.
More generally, I think one factor might be that ice hockey takes a much more particular environment that other sports. Football, soccer and basketball are all easy to play with your friends growing up all over the country.
Another question: why isn't field hockey a bigger sport in US? Also, why is field hockey a "girls sport" in US?
I know very little about field hockey. I think it's primarily a "girls sport" in the US for the same sexist reasons softball is a "girls sport," that is, people see it as being less violent and dangerous and thus "more suitable for girls." Where I grew up we had a uniquely strong culture around girls ice hockey and hockey was generally more accessible than for people in warm climates so I considered it more egalitarian than other sports. Also lacrosse was the stereotypical rich kid sport, along with American football.
I love hockey. Used to watch it a lot more but don't now. The simple reason is the ads (so I'm just talking about the NHL here). Sports are just a vehicles for delivering ads and selling shit. But the NHL takes this to an extreme. With those big ads around the blue line, it feels like their getting to the point of covering the playing surface with ads, which other sports don't do. That's in addition to the ads along the boards, on jerseys, and superimposed on the netting. It's just past a tipping point for me.
I explain this to hockey fans and they think I'm crazy. They don't get why seeing a screen full of ads would bother me if I love hockey. I can't help but think the excessive amount of advertising even relative to other sports is a turn off for more casual fans, idk.
The level of advertising is insane but it doesn't feel any worse than football. Plus I watch streams with an adblocker on so that helps a bit. The ads in the middle of the game that pop up and block the screen are the worst.
IMO it's exponentially less intrusive than football, which is pretty much unwatchable for me, especially during the playoffs.
The new digital ads on the boards are a bit distracting, but other than that I don't even notice the other ads on the playing surface. With NHL games, the commercials during the periods are scheduled at 6, 10, and 14 minutes into the periods, plus the clock doesn't run when the game is not being played, so it's not like football where you often get 10 seconds of action in between long-ass commercial breaks.
NHL games have one of the best action to total game length ratios out amongst televised sports. https://imgur.com/y0wErLS
Idk, because hockey players are kinda dicks?
Not out of any malice, just because they grow up in an environment where playful aggression is rewarded.
I love hockey, but I kinda fell off the past few years.
People always tell me they have trouble following a hockey game, but I think if they just watched a few games they'd get it. It's like soccer, but faster and in a more compressed state.
I don't watch or follow hockey but I went to a hockey match live once and it was a blast. Super fun
Expensive to play, kinda hard to watch. Better than baseball/football but much worse than like soccer/basketball/cricket
