Would NFL players still be hilarious obese if they played more?

[TCO]

Fighting is not integral to hockey. Play it some time. Similarly pro wrestling is a travesty and pro bozing a bit wierd also.

[MRT144]

fighting is just baboonery dressed up as psychological advantage. its sad that they have to resort to fighting and not just try and win through strategy. when an entire strategy involves crashing and setting up one timers then i guess you have no choice.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Asher


Huh?

Fighting is an integral part of the game.

Yeah... the only "sport" in the world that encourages and allows fighting, and calls it "part of the game"... HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHA

I guess the sport itself isn't good enough. They need fighting as an intengral part of the game to add any interest.

It has nothing to do with making the game interesting or losing fans (you'll find most hockey fans are not interested in wrestling or boxing, for instance), it's just a dynamic to the game that makes it what it is.

Then why does every other hockey league ban it... most "experts" claim that international hockey is faster, more exciting, and doesn't need fighting to get people to watch.

Just a bush league... with thugs that need to fight to keep fans interested. a minor sport.

[Asher]

Originally posted by MRT144
fighting is just baboonery dressed up as psychological advantage. its sad that they have to resort to fighting and not just try and win through strategy. when an entire strategy involves crashing and setting up one timers then i guess you have no choice.

^^

Simpleton Americans not understanding complex dynamics.

Hockey is an emotional sport. Far more emotional than football, baseball, or basketball. If you or GP actually watched a serious amount of real hockey, you'd have seen plenty of games that completely turn around based on a single fight.

There are studies that back this up.

http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/hockey/story.html?id=72ac5d5d-9ba9-433a-8d26-1431d3b5d45f&k=95840

Positive side to dropping the gloves
Fighting in NHL helps your team win, statistics show

Despite increasing public unease over violence in hockey, a statistical analysis of NHL data by university professors shows that on-ice fighting is a good strategy for team success.

An intensive numbers-crunching of five years of statistics shows major penalties -- those most often issued for fighting -- increases the total points of the offending player's team and decreases the number of goals scored by their opponents.

Hockey goons must be careful, however. Only major penalties help win games; minor penalties lower a team's success, according to the analysis.

The team of professors at the Department of Economics and Business at Colorado College in Colorado Springs and the School of Business at the University of Sioux Falls analyzed data for all NHL teams from the 1999-2000 season through to 2003-2004.

The study compares the effect of penalties -- both minor and major -- on several factors indicating team success. The study looks at team points (the points awarded to a team for a win or a tie) as an indicator of a team's offensive outcome and at goals allowed (the number of times an opponent scores) as an indicator of defensive success.

The professors have measured the precise effect of a major penalty: For each penalty minute served, a team accrued 0.07 points and decreased their opponent's scoring by 0.24 goals.

They attribute the positive effect of a major penalty versus the negative impact of a minor to the emotional rush sparked by fights.

"The bottom line is, whether you measure it in terms of wins or if you measure it in terms of goals allowed, your major penalties help your team," said Aju Fenn, a professor of sports economics at Colorado College and an author of the study.

"It is clearly not the act of laying a guy out that is going to help your team win, but it spurs the team on, it rallies your teammates and prompts them to dig deeper," he said in an interview.

The numbers back up something Joe "Thundermouth" Watson has known for decades. The former Philadelphia Flyer defenceman during the team's Broad Street Bullies era, when record-breaking penalty minutes were drawn, said a brawl energizes the players and the fans.

"When we played back then, we were rough and physical and we were much more successful," said Mr. Watson, who remains with the Flyers as an executive.

"People love the physical aspect of hockey. We had a couple of fisticuffs in our game last night and it brought the biggest cheers of the game," he said.

Even though Mr. Watson's on-ice career ended with one of the worst leg breaks in league history when he was checked into the boards in 1979, he maintains that the intense, physical aspect of hockey is essential to the game.

When there was a fight, he said, the impact was energizing: "The players on both sides stand up and bang the boards and claim their guy won. You congratulate your guy whether he won or lost. It spurs the guys, it gets the adrenaline running and it intimidates the opposing team if you won the fight."

[Elok]

You know, most people watch sports as a recreational thing. Having to invest considerable mental energy just to understand what the hell is going on is not recreational nor relaxing. At least, I don't think so.

And please be more consistent in your trolling. You can claim that Canadians are more sophisticated, intelligent individuals than Americans, or you can claim that they're dumb ice apes who need to work themselves up into a mindless testosterone frenzy to play well. But claiming both within a few minutes of posting time just looks silly.

And if you're going to talk about fast, brutal, and therefore "manlier" sports, doesn't America host that UFC crap on Spike TV? You know, the "sport" that literally just consists of two guys Muay Thai'ing each other until one blacks out?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ming
Yeah... the only "sport" in the world that encourages and allows fighting, and calls it "part of the game"... HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHA

I guess the sport itself isn't good enough. They need fighting as an intengral part of the game to add any interest.

It's a complete lie to say there would be no interest in hockey without fighting.

Fighting in hockey is a very minor part of it, but integral, and it generally takes place when games are lopsided and the losing team needs to turn it around. Hockey, being an emotional game, gets great benefits out of emotional displays.

The guys that fight eachother are often good friends. They'll fight on the ice then go out for dinner after. They'll laugh and congratulate eachother while sitting in the penalty box.

It's a game that's far more than statistics and points, which is why most Americans -- being soulless businessmen or stupid rednecks -- don't comprehend. Call it goonery or whatever you want, but it's the most dynamic sport in the world and being physical is part of it.

If you don't want a physical game, go back to your Golf and ballscratching baseball and let the men play.

Hockey is the ultimate man-sport. It may be considered a minor sport in parts of the world where being a "man" involves launching cruise missiles against third world countries, but it's a major sport in the parts of the world capable of understanding it.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Asher
Simpleton Americans not understanding complex dynamics.

Hockey is an emotional sport. Far more emotional than football, baseball, or basketball. If you or GP actually watched a serious amount of real hockey, you'd have seen plenty of games that completely turn around based on a single fight.

There are studies that back this up.

Simpleton Canadian thugs... typical that all they can understand is brute force and fighting instead of the sport.

What can be said about a sport that requires a fight instead of skill to make a difference.

And anybody that thinks hockey is any more emotional than other sports just doesn't understand and is blind to reality. Check out a college football town on game day... with over 100,000 screaming fans the players live and die over a short schedule.

Unlike watching NHL players go through the motions, almost emotionless during a long a silly regular season that only elimimates the really bad teams and is pretty meaningless overall. But they do manage to get a little more emotional for the play offs.

[MRT144]

emotional sports with fighting means baboonery. how many hockey players went ivy league or hell, college?

and the point stands, judging people on their tastes in cars is idiotic if you all drive snowcats

[Asher]

Originally posted by Elok
And please be more consistent in your trolling. You can claim that Canadians are more sophisticated, intelligent individuals than Americans, or you can claim that they're dumb ice apes who need to work themselves up into a mindless testosterone frenzy to play well. But claiming both within a few minutes of posting time just looks silly.

A smart person realizes that emotions are a very important aspect of play, and utilizes that. There's no inconsistency here. If anything it backs up the point about Americans being too dumb to understand more than the superficial level of games.

[Asher]

Originally posted by MRT144
emotional sports with fighting means baboonery. how many hockey players went ivy league or hell, college?

I take it you don't watch NCAA hockey? A lot of hockey players go to college, or after they retire go get MBAs or degrees. Many become lawyers.

And if you include fighting with baboonery, well, that's your own prerogative. It boggles my mind that a nation that unilaterally attacks other nations, slaughtering tons of civilians, can take any kind of moral stance against two professionals consensually engaging in fisticuffs to spur on a team.

and the point stands, judging people on their tastes in cars is idiotic if you all drive snowcats

I'm not judging people on their taste in cars. No need to keep backing up my point about superficial Americans, MRT.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ming
Simpleton Canadian thugs... typical that all they can understand is brute force and fighting instead of the sport.

Until you can display even basic understanding of the subject matter, I strongly recommend you continue making shampoo adverts or whatever your specialty is. Reading comprehension has clearly failed you in this thread.

And anybody that thinks hockey is any more emotional than other sports just doesn't understand and is blind to reality. Check out a college football town on game day... with over 100,000 screaming fans the players live and die over a short schedule.

That's absolutely nothing. Hell, those guys don't even get moved enough to fight eachother. They're not fighting for pride or for team, they're fighting for a good spot in a draft and positioning themselves for the future.

While the fans are no doubt excited -- after all, football is all most Americans understand or care about -- it is not the most emotional sport. Soccer's fans are more emotional than Football's, and Hockey's players are more emotional than Football's as well.

Football is mediocrity, defined. Something Americans have perfected and patented.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Asher

I take it you don't watch NCAA hockey? A lot of hockey players go to college, or after they retire go get MBAs or degrees. Many become lawyers.

And if you include fighting with baboonery, well, that's your own prerogative. It boggles my mind that a nation that unilaterally attacks other nations, slaughtering tons of civilians, can take any kind of moral stance against two professionals consensually engaging in fisticuffs to spur on a team.


I'm not judging people on their taste in cars. No need to keep backing up my point about superficial Americans, MRT.

i dont even drive a car. I dont support attacking other nations.

[Elok]

Yes, and to work up emotions we have cheerleaders, pep talks with the coach, the crowd getting involved, victory displays after TDs, stuff like that.

Oh, and one time there was this case where a runningback stopped in midplay, pulled down his pants, tore off his jockstrap and waggled his penis as a threat display. He then began scuffing the astroturf with his cleats, moving back and forth, drumming on his helmet to produce a threatening rhythm.

He had his hand around his backside and was about to throw his feces at the nearest tackle, who at that point looked quite frightened, but then the refs tasered him and dragged him off the field in a net. He was expelled from the league and shipped back to Montreal. And the game hasn't been the same since. Sad, really.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Elok
Yes, and to work up emotions we have cheerleaders

Cheerleaders are there to work up dicks.

pep talks with the coach, the crowd getting involved

Happens in all sports.

victory displays after TDs, stuff like that.

You mean the ridiculous dancing? That's perhaps the most retarded part of football. The players ALL look ridiculous doing it, and it doesn't serve to add anything to the team. Rather, it's taking away from the team -- it's part of Football's individualism rearing its head. It's only so much a team effort until they get a touchdown, and then it's all about the guy doing his gay dance in the endzone.

[Ming]

You seem to be the one with the problem... EVERY other hockey league in the world doesn't allow fighting. It is not an intergral part of the sport... just some cheap crap that the NHL needs to get people to watch their boring product. You seem to be ignoring that, and proving just how silly your sport is by defending fighting instead of stressing the skills required.

NO OTHER league allows it... because it's just thuggery, which won't be stopped because the NHL knows that it's fans are more interested in fighting than the actual sport... a bush league league.