Hockey vs. NASCAR/Golf

[stormstarter28]

I can't understand why so many people rip on hockey and say it's "boring" when NASCAR and Golf are so popular. I'm not saying they're terrible to watch, but how can hockey be more boring? NASCAR events take way too long, there are rarely good crashes (1 or 2 per race), and the end of the race is the only really exciting part. Golf is also extremely long, and I like to watch it occasionally, but let's face it, it can be very dull. Hockey has constant back and forth action, very athletic players, physical contact with plenty of big hits, shootouts are exciting, and it allows fighting! How is this boring to you people, yet so many will watch these other "sports"?

[Green Kool Aid]

I think they are all terribly boring.

I understand the appeal of hockey and golf.

However, NASCAR just boggles my mind.

[LionelHutz00]

Do any non-morans actually say that they don't like hockey because it's boring? There's plenty of action; much more than golf, nascar, baseball, etc. I don't watch it because I just don't find it interesting. I think that many other people feel the same way, but don't have any way of expressing it, so they just say it's boring.

[jalapenoguy]

im not a fan but with espns coverage of nascar now you guys must have seen the finish of daytona this year. that is the exact reason why nascar is so popular with the wonderbread/budweiser sect. crap. that was entertaining to anybody.

hockey had a chance and blew it with the work stoppage. golf is popular for one reason, tiger. americans love dominance. look at the yankees, duke bball, usc football and the bulls of the 90;s/

also a reason why the patriots are not as embraced as they should be. they have never come accross as a dominant team.

[HajiShirazu]

Well it would help if hockey was actually on a TV network that doesn't require you to buy some $234924893 package with a channel I would never watch for any other reason to see it. I actually don't know why hockey isn't more popular. Probably because nobody plays it and so it is hard to understand the game. Plus there are lots of canadians and euros which never goes down well with us.
Nobody watches golf either unless it's tiger woods or a major. Golf is only entertaining when there is drama, but it is an excellent sport for that purpose. I love golf but I couldn't care less about half the tournaments each year and the other half only mean something to me if tiger is playing. I don't even care about all four majors, if tiger is not in contention I will basically only watch the masters, US Open, and maybe the british open if it is other big names, oh, and the ryder cup. I mean, honestly, if tiger is not in the tournament, it's basically like watching minor league golf, and watching minor league sports on TV is stupid.
I don't understand nascar. I have given the sport a chance in the last couple weeks and can't get through more than 30 laps without wanting to do something else. Maybe I will turn it on at the end of the race, but for the most part I don't care who wins either. Everything I have ever heard says that going to a race is like the greatest sporting experience ever, but I just don't get it on TV. It would be boring anyway but I never really feel like I know everything that's going on in the race which makes it even less entertaining, despite the fact that I think they do a pretty good job for a most part with the TV coverage. I don't really see how it would be much more entertaining even if I understood more about the sport, since you only ever see about 5% of what goes on in a race anyway. In football you have the great catch, the big hit, the sick run. What do you have in nascar? "Oh my god, Harvick made a sick, sick wedge adjustment on that last pit stop! He was fighting looseness in turn 3 before but those tires are getting maximum grip now! Look at him pass those cars, he's moved from 11th to 8th in 2 laps, what a great run for him today, this will really help him in the points standings!"

[vin17]

[ QUOTE ]
hockey had a chance and blew it with the work stoppage.

[/ QUOTE ]
The work stoppage didn't 'blow' anything for the NHL. It simply accelerated the decline of the NHL is the US. Look, save for the American Original Six franchises and a few other successful expansions/moves (read: Buffalo, Colorado, Minnesota), hockey is a niche sport in the US. Always has and always will be.

The NHL were fools were not taking ESPN's TV contract. Granted, less money, but they needed that national exposure. Gary Bettman keeps saying that attendance ratings are up, but he's full of it.

The NHL launched an aggressive marketing campaign titled 'My NHL' to go along with considerably significant rule changes that were intended to appeal to everyone, including me (which they did). However, there still is a ways to go. And unfortunately, it appears as though the refs (by far the least envied referring job of the 'Big Four'), are starting to let things slide again.

The future of the NHL in the US looks bleak. At least half a dozen teams need to be moved/eliminated. Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax all need teams.

[DrewDevil]

I am from Texas and I'm sure I would love hockey if I'd grown up in a hockey town. As it is, I never played it or watched it--at all--as a kid. Now, I don't really understand the game that much and can't really follow it on TV very well. Also, I think you need a team to really get behind before you can get really into a sport, and I don't have a team like that.

I will never understand the appeal of Nascar on any level.

Golf is a beautiful game and I love to watch it on TV; I think the Ryder Cup is one of the most exciting events I watch on TV, period. I am already counting the days until the Masters. Most people don't understand this either.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]

I am from Texas and I'm sure I would love hockey if I'd grown up in a hockey town. As it is, I never played it or watched it--at all--as a kid. Now, I don't really understand the game that much and can't really follow it on TV very well. Also, I think you need a team to really get behind before you can get really into a sport, and I don't have a team like that.

[/ QUOTE ]


Much of this is true of course.
But you would be surprised at some of the cities that do really well with hockey even in southern cities where most of the populace knows nothing about the game before getting their team.

Nashville pretty quickly was absolutely crazy/nuts for their NHL team.
I think Dallas has had pretty good fan support as well.

In the minor-leagues, Oklahoma City has consistently been one of the best drawing teams in the country at around 10k fans a game and it's not like they have a ton of hockey players in the area.
Yeah, there are some kids who skate. But mostly it's adults who are coming out because they dig the excitement.

Shreveport, Louisiana also draws well. Another team with good attendance in that league is the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

That's pretty different from being a fan of the major-league game where you are watching games on TV and talking about playoff matchups around the water-cooler though.

Just saying that it's not impossible for a Texan who didn't grow up with the sport to actually enjoy it and start to understand it a little after attending a game or two.

[DrewDevil]

Oh, I agree with you 100%... it's just that there are so many sports ahead of hockey in my queue, as it were.

I'd just rather watch some random college b-ball game between Niagara and Wright State than go watch the Austin Ice Bats, even though I'm sure I'd enjoy the Bats if I went.

[4 High]

I love hockey, its up there right behind baseball for my 2nd favorite sport.