Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Friday, May 09, 2008

NHL>NBA

There's an article in today's OC Register (way to go, Earl) comparing the NHL playoffs and the NBA playoffs. While I could do without all the "NBA players are selfish, NHL players are great" (it comes across as vaguely racist to me), he does bring up a good point about how much more intense the NHL playoffs are than the NBA. You'll see more physical play after one whistle in hockey than you'll see in an entire NBA game. I don't know, I think I like that feeling that at any moment, someone might get punched in the face. There's that line that other sports don't cross that makes them less appealing to me. I'm a barbarian, I guess.


This also reminded me about a soccer match I was watching the other day. Two guys were going for the ball in the corner and one kind of shoved the other to the ground. The guy who got shoved bolted up and got in the other guy's face. There was no one else around, though, so they both kind of looked around after a while as if to say, "Hey, someone break us up." Finally the ref made it over and pulled them apart while they were still jawing. I'm sorry, but I can't respect a sport where guys aren't giving it every last thing they got.

Mike's article earlier is another point: guys don't sit out NHL playoff games because they're in pain. The judgment call isn't if it hurts, it's if they can't physically play. For example, a broken foot? You play because you can still do everything you need to do physically. Basically, the only things you're going to miss games for is if your head or your knees are fucked up. Anything else? You man up and lace up your skates. In contrast, Kobe has been lauded as a warrior because he is playing through an injury to his pinkie. That wouldn't be brought up in hockey because you're expected to play through something like that. That's why hockey is awesome.

6 comments:

walkinvisible said...

while i'm all for your arguments, sometimes the hubris of the injured player pisses me off (read: chris pronger's presumed attitude in the 06 olympics). as in, "i'm a better player with a broken foot than dan boyle is healthy."

[guess it depends on the depth chart, hunh ?]

[just another reason to hate pronger]

Anonymous said...

After the sharks lost a wcqf game, I flipped over to the Lakers game and saw Sasha Vujacic take an elbow to the neck. He was face down on the floor, writhing in pain, as if someone was eating his lower intestines. Unbelievable.

Thats when I thought, you pussy. Thats the difference between the nba and nhl.

I remember Drew once saying that the passion needed to get the cup is unrivaled. Players don't play for money once the playoffs start. Their last paycheck comes on the last day of the regular season. The race to the cup is all about getting your name, you father's name on that cup forever.

Anonymous said...

As much as I like watching the way the plays develop in soccer and basketball, I can't stand watching the fouls (or I should say "fouls") in either sport.

Any particular play by Manu Ginobli makes Mike Ribiero look like Cam Neely.

brokeyard said...

Basketball is bad, almost as bad as soccer. I actually saw a guy get kicked in the shinguard once and fall down and need medical assistance.

Then they showed the play in slowmo and we could see that -- *GASP* the other guy's foot missed his shin! so the guy basically fell down... and cried for mommy for 10 minutes.

Bryan said...

If I remember correctly when the Ducks played the Coyotes in the playoffs, oh so long ago, Jeremy Roenick (or maybe it was Tkachuk) had broken ribs frozen to that he could play. Think about how often players come back right after an injury to play. When you break a bone and the doctor tells you 6 weeks, thats the recovery time where you can go about your daily life, not start taking checks into the boards. It's pretty amazing.

Kathleen said...

I've always wanted to compare the NFL and NHL in terms of injuries (the psychology of the two sports seems to be similar), but I haven't found any way to do that that wouldn't be ridiculous conjecture.

Especially when NFL teams are often secretive even after the season (like Brady's sports hernia he played with for much of 2005).

I guess I don't really have a point, other than NFL > NBA and NHL > NBA.

(And hi! I'm a lurker who enjoys the site immensely, so thanks!)