Hear Me Out
I know that most of you will go your entire lives without thinking "Hmm, I wonder if there's a hockey game on tonight," but I intend on spending the next couple of paragraphs telling you why you should.
A lot of people remarked that they really didn't miss hockey at all last year during the strike. I pretty much agreed, although I contend that the world would be no worse off without the NBA as well. But I remembered how exciting the Hurricanes' playoff run was a few years back, and I kept the flame alive, so to speak.
This year, I got to see the Canes live (thanks be to aho) and I learned a little about how the game works. Despite what the untrained eye may perceive to be chaos on ice, a hockey game is actually more like carefully choreographed...ok, it still looks like chaos to me.
But it's fun chaos. I'm beginning to see some basic strategy, which to me looks kinda like a high school soccer game at warp speed. Except that the passing is intricate, the footwork amazing, and...so my soccer analagy breaks down.
The point is that the NHL season is really, really long and watching hockey takes a little more effort than taking in a basketball game. But it's much more rewarding, and not just because of the fighting. It's rewarding because eventually the season ends and the playoffs start, and then everything goes crazy.
Something about the playoffs brings out the best in the NHL. The players go hard, all the time, and pull out some interesting moves. And every game is a classic. Double and triple overtime is more or less inevitable. Thanks to the new rules (I don't know what they are, but the guys on ESPN talk about 'em all the time), the game is faster and scoring is up, which means a more exciting experience for the novice fan. The Canes pulled their goalie with two minutes left in regulation last night and scored in the last minute to tie the score at 6-6 (they lost in double OT, though.) That's twelve goals in three periods. That, my friends, is fun to watch.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't deny the truth in front of me: playoff hockey is the most exciting professional sports event in America. I've seen Superbowls and World Series and the Kentucky Derby and the finals of the U.S. Open (in three sports) and I just can't find anything quite like this. Towards the end of the game the players act like the world is ending. And every so often a team goes on a power play, meaning that for one and a half to five minutes my heart is going to be pounding. It's like aerobics or something.
So I recommend you join in the fun. Not only will you enjoy the experience, you'll enjoy feeling like a non conformist when you ask your friends the next da y "Can you believe how well Paul Kariya is playing? Best rookie I've ever seen." And since you'll be new to the sport like me, you won't be lying about that last part. The best way to get into any sport you don't know well is to pick a player or team to root for and just pull for them blindly until you start to pick things up. That, or find someone who knows what they're talking about, but that one' s a little harder. Better hurry though, the Canes are down 2-0 and the next couple of games are gonna be in Montreal. They need all the positive mojo they can get.
A lot of people remarked that they really didn't miss hockey at all last year during the strike. I pretty much agreed, although I contend that the world would be no worse off without the NBA as well. But I remembered how exciting the Hurricanes' playoff run was a few years back, and I kept the flame alive, so to speak.
This year, I got to see the Canes live (thanks be to aho) and I learned a little about how the game works. Despite what the untrained eye may perceive to be chaos on ice, a hockey game is actually more like carefully choreographed...ok, it still looks like chaos to me.
But it's fun chaos. I'm beginning to see some basic strategy, which to me looks kinda like a high school soccer game at warp speed. Except that the passing is intricate, the footwork amazing, and...so my soccer analagy breaks down.
The point is that the NHL season is really, really long and watching hockey takes a little more effort than taking in a basketball game. But it's much more rewarding, and not just because of the fighting. It's rewarding because eventually the season ends and the playoffs start, and then everything goes crazy.
Something about the playoffs brings out the best in the NHL. The players go hard, all the time, and pull out some interesting moves. And every game is a classic. Double and triple overtime is more or less inevitable. Thanks to the new rules (I don't know what they are, but the guys on ESPN talk about 'em all the time), the game is faster and scoring is up, which means a more exciting experience for the novice fan. The Canes pulled their goalie with two minutes left in regulation last night and scored in the last minute to tie the score at 6-6 (they lost in double OT, though.) That's twelve goals in three periods. That, my friends, is fun to watch.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't deny the truth in front of me: playoff hockey is the most exciting professional sports event in America. I've seen Superbowls and World Series and the Kentucky Derby and the finals of the U.S. Open (in three sports) and I just can't find anything quite like this. Towards the end of the game the players act like the world is ending. And every so often a team goes on a power play, meaning that for one and a half to five minutes my heart is going to be pounding. It's like aerobics or something.
So I recommend you join in the fun. Not only will you enjoy the experience, you'll enjoy feeling like a non conformist when you ask your friends the next da y "Can you believe how well Paul Kariya is playing? Best rookie I've ever seen." And since you'll be new to the sport like me, you won't be lying about that last part. The best way to get into any sport you don't know well is to pick a player or team to root for and just pull for them blindly until you start to pick things up. That, or find someone who knows what they're talking about, but that one' s a little harder. Better hurry though, the Canes are down 2-0 and the next couple of games are gonna be in Montreal. They need all the positive mojo they can get.
posted by Nialator at 8:47 PM
3 Comments:
I couldnt agree more about the intensity and fun that playoff hockey provides. It is like 100x better to be in the building, but I learned to watch hockey by watching the playoffs.
Keep bloggin about the canes and keep the mojo workin. I will try to keep my jinxey mcjinxeypants in its place.
hey so i dont even know if this will help me at all, but do you live in Mount Airy, and if so, do you know Megan Carriker?
i hope you get this and email me or something.
email is habitual_rain@yahoo.com
Why for is my name on here and who is the person with the habitual_rain email address..?
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