Question for people who don't ever watch NHL Hockey

What do you dislike about the sport?

If you are one of those who consider Baseball, Basketball, Football or Soccer (or all) way above Hockey, I am curious as to your answer.

It is you huge sports fans who love most of the primary sports and always ignore hockey who epitomize the reason why the ratings for NHL games are so low on TV. So I have asked the question to get down to the root of the problem.

I will answer the opposite question because Hockey is my #1 sport...

It is the best because:
-- 60 minutes of gameplay
-- Ends quicker than Basketball, Baseball and Football because of less stops in play. Example: The Detroit Pistons and Red Wings were both on at 7pm one night. The Wings game was over 15-20 minutes earlier than the Pistons because b-ball has more stops in play.
-- Checking
-- The idea of a powerplay (5v4, 4v3, 5v3)
-- Raw gameplay - it's a free for all for the puck and no team has possession of it
-- Hard to score, gotta come up with wicked plays to score

So what do you dislike about it -- the reasons why you don't watch?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Can you gather your thoughts as to why that is? You are also a great example of a non-watcher. Take some time to answer if needed.

Tear the sport apart if you want, too. Give it to me completely straight - I won't be offended because it's not like I created it or something.

Also: Which sports do you like then? Everyone that replies to this thread please mention that -- thanks!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

There is plenty of strategy that teams try to formulate and execute -- but the difference between a strategy in, say, Hockey VS Basketball is that you are moving so fast in Hockey that you have to be precise when you fly down the ice and pass it to teamates. It's definitely a fast sport. In B-ball you can dribble down fairly slow and stop and start to pass to people.

The "low scoring" argument seems pretty over used by non-watchers. Plenty of games end in 6 goals or higher in total. How about I do you guys a favor and say that each goal should be worth 7 points meaning that if the score is 2-1, it is really 14 to 7 like on Football. Are you happy that the number is higher now? I can make the argument that Football is low scoring too, because most games end in only 2-3 touchdowns being scored. The only difference is the higher value of "6" for a touchdown.

Then there are soccer lovers... now there's a sport with very low scoring and minimal shots on goal.

To me, Hockey is a shot on goal sport. Games usually average 60 shots on goal which means there are 60 counts of excitement: *Deep inhale* "will it go in???!!"

Basketball is too high scoring. To me, the best part to watch of any game is the last few minutes because the rest of it is just playing catch up.

Keep the comments coming -- and be brutal!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The last minutes of any game are best, of course, but in b-ball i'd rather only watch the last bunch of minutes. In other sports I'd want to watch a lot more.

EDIT: I wanna throw in that low scoring is GOOD. Not extremely low scoring though (like Soccer where things take forever and shots on goal are small). Low scoring makes for a more dramatic sport (excluding the last few minutes of any sport where they are all exciting). B-ball seems to be the only high scoring one. I mean, in an average football game we see a few touchdowns, a few field goals, etc. In baseball the scores are around the same as hockey, and in soccer its very low.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The reason why Soccer is last on my list (but above boring shit like Golf, Tennis, Bowling on Television) is because of how long it takes for anything exciting to happen. You mentioned rare shots on goal. At least with hockey, the playing arena is smaller than a soccer field and you know when there is a charge at the goal and an eventual shot on goal, anything could happen. Get's exciting.

Edit: But I don't recommend Hockey for you, pansy, yet, because look at the LA Kings record: 9-13 and 4 overtime losses (totaling 17 losses). lol.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I wouldn't ever refer to hockey as "slow hockey". It's a way faster moving sport than the major sports on TV.

I guess one thing you don't get is how incredibly tired players get after a shift. That's why each shift has to be a minute, then rest on the bench, then go back out when told for another minute.

See interviews right after games with players? The players are panting in and out and trying to talk about the game during the interview.

So if players move slow it's because they get tired as hell.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Rita the Carpet Cleaner

I've been put off from most sports. Overpaid nonsense.

Hockey is highly underpaid in comparison. The average rate is under a million for a full season.

FELIPE NO

What other players?

You mentioned absence of rules. Untrue.

You also mentioned going behind the goalie as if it was bad. If you actually watch one game you'd see how important it is to leave a few feet behind the net. It's for passing mainly.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I remember in the 90's they used to put a purple blob on the puck on television so it could be followed perfectly for the newbs. Now TV quality is great and HDTV is out.

Jam it back in, in the dark.