The Call of the Cup

[Hazard]

Just finished watching a nail biting Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Now my Bolts are off to battle Calgary for the Stanley Cup.

[Grok]

Hockey.  Keep that crappy ice dancing off my forum!

[Hazard]

I'd rather talk about hockey than basketball or baseball. At least hockey is a real man's game.

[DarkMinion]

Hockey sucks.

[Raven]

Hockey's pretty cool.

[Newby]

Hockey is awful.

[Akamas]

Hockey is awful.

Is it because you can't play it, or you don't understand it?

[Hitmen]

Hockey is awful.

Is it because you can't play it, or you don't understand it?

You don't have to suck at something or not understand it to think that it's complete garbage.

[CrackS]

Hockey isn't garbage. It's probably the most physically and mentally demanding "team" sport.

[Grok]

Hockey isn't garbage. It's probably the most physically and mentally demanding "team" sport.

Not a chance.  Let's line up the best 5 NFL linebackers and 5 of your best 5 hockey twerps, see who can knock who out first.  Btw, no gay sticks allowed.

[Raven]

Hockey isn't garbage. It's probably the most physically and mentally demanding "team" sport.

Not a chance.  Let's line up the best 5 NFL linebackers and 5 of your best 5 hockey twerps, see who can knock who out first.  Btw, no gay sticks allowed.

I'd put Chris Pronger, Scott Sullivan, Darren McCarty, Donald Brashear, and Jeremy Roenick against any 5 linebackers the NFL has to offer ('cept maybe that loonie Romanowski ). No facemasks allowed.

[DarkMinion]

Someone like Derian Hatcher could go up against an NFL linebacker, but there aren't many.

[Hazard]

As much as I love football, and view football as a better overall game than hockey, I would say that hockey is a more physically and mentally demanding game. If you've watched any of the Stanley Cup Playoffs you would see some of the major licks that hockey players take in stride. The difference is, in hockey you have no recovery time, you have to keep on skating 100%. In a hockey game, the players are moving full speed for 60 minutes, end of story. Football isn't a full 60 minute game as hockey is, football has its huddles and timeouts, and all that jazz. There aren't nearly as many breaks in hockey.

[Grok]

Big difference, "full speed" in hockey does not mean at a sprint.  Even when it does, it relies heavily on momentum and frictionless ice.  NFL players are not just running against friction of grass, but getting hit in the opposite direction.  In hockey, most hits are at a significant angle, while making the change of direction dramatic for the camera, but largely reducing the force applied by the collision.  Hockey players are better conditioned than baseball players, by far, but I don't see them being nearly equal to the average football player in strength, conditioning, or speed.  Endurance is probably the only category in which hockey players exceed football players, but in that case, let's talk about NBA comparisons.

[Hazard]

You seem to loose sight of the fact that NFL wide recievers are running full speed for what? 5-10 seconds? Then get a 35 second break. Then run for another 5 seconds. Then another 35 second break. Then run for 10 seconds. Then another 35 second break.