ESPN Poll: "Do You Care About Hockey?"

[jkrdevil]

I am not a racing fan but I find it ridiculous that people can say that a race car driver is not an athlete. Everyone can drive a car, but not everyone can drive it at speeds that sometimes top 200 mph all the while maneuvering through 40 other cars all driving the same speed in a car and firesuit that regularly get hotter than 100 degrees, they do this for three hours by the way with no break, no halftime. This is without mentioning the accidents that occur causing horrific injuries, that they have to go through weeks of physical training to overcome, don't tell me they aren't tough either, Rick Mears won the Indy 500 with two broken feet. They participate in a sport where the chances of death are greater than any other. To say that these men and some women are not athletes is ridiculous. I would even make a case that the guys in the pits are athletes as well, changing four tires on a car in under 14 seconds. Come on

Well, there is a great chance of death for a construction worker working on building a skyscraper, but does that make then athletes. And my ac broke on my car this summer and it was close to 100 degrees out does that make me an athlete.

I don't think anyone said driving a racecar is easy, but the drivers aren't athletes. The car does 90% of the work and car isn't powered by humans it's powered by an engine. Auto racing is in the same class as golf, bowling and fishing. If it is common place to have your participants in thier late 40's onto their 50's then it is not an athletic sport.

[Suigi]

Look, you want racing? Watch the World Rally Championships, American LeMans Series, or the All-Japan Grand Touring Championships.

Any of those three offer a fast-paced balls-to-the-wall alternative to NASCAR and F1 (which is an acronym for Ferrari Won...Again).

As for the poll, it's interesting how NASCAR and NHL are antipodes of each other.

One's founded in the South, and involves a lot of repetitory action and big crashes.

The other's founded in the North (as in Great White), and involed a lot of tactical action and big goals.

[paynomind]

We have done this before, and I'm sure we will do it again, but a driver in an auto race is most certainly an athlete.

Absolutely.

If you dont agree, you don't know the facts. You simply dont.

I understand that humans are full of differing opinion and that makes the world go round. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. But this is a simple matter of fact. Guys who drive cars at the highest levels, are athletes.

Hundreds of pounds of force that they must exactly actuate, for hours upon end. Extreme tests of hand-eye co-ordination, while the hands and feet perform different tasks. Aerobically exhausting, muscularly testing, and nerve-wracking.

Driving at its highest level takes a skilled athlete. 100% fact.

[lost_limey]

Race Drivers are certainly athletes. I know in F1, the guys are in peak physical condition, they have to be, to avoid the G-forces snapping their necks like twigs.

[JQK]

Driving at its highest level takes a skilled athlete. 100% fact.

<mr garrison> BZZZT! WRONG! Try again, dumbass </mr garrison>

[The_Admiral]

But, about NASCAR, it's hard to do..it really is. It's not as hard as playing Football, but it's not as easy of Basketball or Baseball.

Yeah I can hit 99 mph fastballs like nothing, anyone can

[Saintsfan]

I was thinking about this. And I reckon one reason that the NFL is so popular is the a,mount of games. A 16 game regular season is perfect for football. I wonder if an 82 game regular season is great for hockey. I wonder if they shouldn't try and cut that figure to say 40-50? And shorten playoff series to best of 5 before the Stanley Cup final series, which could remain as best of 7 maybe. I wonder if hockey needs to take a lkess is more strategy now. Reduce the fixture league, maybe contract by 4-6 teams, (But not teams insiede of Hockey's traditional home in the North). I  other words stop trying to compete with the NBA and  start to fond its own niche.

Yeah, the season could be trimmed a bit, but at most, down to 70 games. And the playoffs must remain four rounds of best-of-seven. The Stanley Cup is the most difficult trophy in all of sports to win. Seven-game series create legends and become classics in their own right. If these people in the "Durty" aren't gonna watch anyway, stop trying to get their interest. It's been said many times here at CCSLC, but the NHL must really stop trying to grab casual fans and instead try coddling us serious die-hard fans.

Oh, and the PA would never agree to contracting some teams. They'd lose 100+ jobs in the process. And we all thought getting a new CBA was tough...

I wasn't saying that this would happen, but I think something drastic needs to be done to restructure the NHL. I don't think contraction would be easy and I don't think there is a snow balls chance in hell that it will, but I do belibeve the season needs to be shorter. Sell out every venue as often as possible, ratrher than playing to empty seats every night. The best way to do that would be to shrink the schedules.

As for the post season, would 5 game rounds really be less exciting than 7 game series?

Its not about attracting casual fans its about providing a better package for real fans.

[wheateater]

True. Very true.

But I consider myself proud that there is no easy way to win the Cup. Nothing against baseball, but there are only 3 rounds and the first one is a best-of-five. For that sport, it's good, because if you're playing somewhere up north with no dome, it can be difficult playing in late October and into November, if the postseason was lengthier. Five-game series have an increased potential to provide upsets (which is good sometimes...particularly if the Yankees lose ), but seven-gamers require a team to win four times, and for a weaker team to upset a stronger team, it's that much harder. Likewise, you must win four games, not three (right, Yankees? ). Plus, I like the grind and hatred that develops in seven-game series. Teams play each other so much that they really begin to dislike one another (i.e.- Avs vs. Wings).

Five-game series can be very exciting. There's less room for error; if you lose the first two, you're in deep :censored:. However, if the favourite wins the first two games, the underdog still has wiggle room in a seven-gamer (i.e.- LA Kings vs. Wings, 2001), and that's what makes it great. Hockey needs the seven-game series. It's what turns the so-so fan into a maniac fan when their team plays in them. It's all the NHL's got right now.

[the_cynic]

NASCAR! There for a while I thought I was the only one who disliked it.

[winters in buffalo]

boys boys... simple argument here... and for the record i cant stand watching baseball either unless its playoffs...

while im sure driving in NASCAR isnt easy i wouldnt consider it a sport... there is no physical or athletic skill and the definition of sport is...

sport  Pronunciation Key  (spôrt, sprt)

n.

1 a Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

1 b A particular form of this activity.

2 An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

3 An active pastime; recreation.

so unless hanna-barbara release teh technology for the flintstone mobile for NASCAR to use i cant consider it a sport... way to make a living, entertainment, ok... sport sorry not by definition

Actually, by definition #2, it is a sport.

I would argue that racing takes as much, or more, physical strentgh and skill than these sports: archery, equestrian, shooting, bobsled, curling and luge - all events in the Olympics, the measure of the best athletes in the world.

The amount of strategy invloved is probably on par with baseball, and it requires a significant amount of teamwork.

[Slickster]

My issue with NASCAR being a sport is that it, unlike the sports WiB just listed, requires a machine to compete in. With equestrian events, you've got to deal with another living, thinking animal and work in concert. With NASCAR, the driver has to control a purely manmade machine. Yes, it takes skill and concentration of the highest degree. But then again, the people who play in (and win) $1 million Halo tournaments have similar concentration and hand-eye coordination skills. Is computer gaming, then, a sport? What about boat racing? What about plane racing? What about the people who play DDR all day? If you say NASCAR is a sport, then you go down a slippery slope of saying 'requires skill and concentration = sport' to the point where Mathletes will be on ESPN2.

[CZzyzx41]

I honestly believe because only mostly Hockey fans submit in it.

But, about NASCAR, it's hard to do..it really is. It's not as hard as playing Football, but it's not as easy of Basketball or Baseball.

So is Chess. But heck ESPN2 apparently believes the National Spelling Bee is a sport so why not?

[Suigi]

And in the U.S., National Hockey League action is placed on that same channel with Chess and Spelling Bees.

Good :censored:in' grief.