Actually I have played football.
I speedskate, and even at my slow speeds of about 25 mph hitting the pads leaves really ugly bruises. I don’t really want to think about the impact of my body with another body crashing in behind it… ouch. I wouldn’t exactly call hockey a sport for wimps… On the other hand, football players dont play more than once a week for the same reason that rugby players don’t - the game is too damn rough. Granted, football is a lot less rough than rugby, but neither one is exactly a walk in the park. I’m glad to see there are a few other enlightened folks here. grin
Ok football has 3 time outs per half. You are right, that clearly makes Hockey a much tougher sport.
Karma, just admit hockey is for pussies and football is a real sport so we can all go home happy? K thx
“If you think Col/Det is a rivalry I have to assume you werent pre-90s hockey fan.” Yeah, I actually agree (especially on your points regarding Bettman ruining the game. Doesn’t that guy just LOOK like a rat??). I guess you can point to any games involving the original 6 as rivalries, but I am a pre-90’s fan, so I should clarify what I said. Det/Col is the only “rivalry” which ESPN seems intent on/capable of promoting. I think we agree on the primary issue here, so to steer the discussion in another direction: baseball, basketball, and football all have their “marketable players.” hockey does not. who is on your list of candidates?
Karma…time to admit defeat girl…too bad :(.
Couple of things though…if hockey players played 100% every game, they couldn’t possibly compete in all of their 80-something matches. I have the utmost respect for them as athletes, and it is a truly demanding sport, but the playoffs are the only time they give 100% (just my opinion).
Also, in terms of which type of hit is worse, think about the trajectory of the hit and what you’re being hit with. Footy players are launching themselves (through the air) and hitting you with forearms, shoulders, and spearing with their helmets. Hockey players will hit you hard with hips, sticks, and forearms too, but rarely is the hitter flying through the air (not to mention the fact that there are rarely “gang hits” in hockey).
If you are going to make a list of non-Tmen who played football, I think to be fair you should consider a similar list for hockey. Start with Mr Selfless himself, Alexei Yashin. Move accordingly through Ed Belfour, Eric Lindros, Dale Hunter, Alex Daigle (and to a lesser degree, Nikolai Khabibulin and Mike Peca), Petr Nedved, Bob Probert, Tom Barrasshole, Marty McSorely, Billy Tibbetts, and, although I’m hesitant to put him on this list, Theo Fleury. I shouldn’t even need to remind you that even Patty Roy’s record isn’t flawless. And just to clarify, I’d vote for hockey any day over football. I just don’t think you’re making a fair argument.
Hockey is dead, eh? You obviously have never been to Detroit.
Karma: Yeah, the Red Wings suck I agree. But wasn’t it the Red Wings that beat the Avs like 9-0 or something in the PLAYOFFS last year? That would be pretty embarassing, I imagine. 
Football, rugby, rugby league. I live for the game of the oval ball! I’m from New Zealand and as a New Zealander’s point of view, I love to play and watch rugby, but if there is one American sport I love to watch it is gridiron (followed closely by basketball). To be honest, I’ve never really liked watching hockey because sometimes it just gets too damn hard to follow the puck when its travelling at bloomin’ 1000mph (all I see is the camera panning wildly from left to right and back again). Then maybe I am a bit slow from all the knocks I’ve taken while playing rugby, but maybe they should put some multicoloured highlighted flashing lights on the puck or something (just kidding).
Football would be a bitch to play though. Too many specialist positions. I would hate to be one of those players who comes on for a few seconds each game to kick a goal. Infact, don’t they have a specialist player who does the punt kicks and another one who kicks the goals? I also heard from someone that the holder is also a specialist position (all the player does is come on to hold the ball for the kicker to kick). Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Just one thing, howcome whenever the topic of ‘toughest sports’ come up on here, Aussie Rules comes up? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not just a Kiwi with sour grapes, but I have played the game before and watch it occasionally but no-way is this sport considered rough! The rules allow tackling but it rarely happens at all. Aussie rules players mostly avoid contact, prefering to pass or kick the football as soon as possible (it is more like soccer than anything else). Too bad they have that stupid rule where they have to bounce the ball every few metres to further discourage running contact play.
from your last messege i got the feeling that you iggnorantly assumed i was some gang banger… i am not, im not some grease ball either, i am a white male who graduated second in my class. oh and one more thing i was referring to canadain basketball, not that shitty stuff you americans play, we are able to play a lot rougher over here. basketball can be a lot rougher than you may think, i have gotten away with throwing someone over my shoulder a few times (from my martial arts training) when they reach over my back and guess what refs got no idea what just happened so they don’t call it. post players do a lot of dirty stuff too, punches to the kidneys, most players try to hit opponents with their elbows, and giving a good kick while going up for a rebound to the balls of someone around you will almost ensure you get the rebound. hockey sucks, the all wear a bunch of gear that even if they do get hurt it doesn’t hurt much, come on now. piss on hockey.
I can’t understand how anyone can stand to watch a game of football? It absolutly suck’s. It’s so damn slow you will be sitting there waiting and waiting for a play to happen then something stupid will happen like the guy will run half a foot and get taken down then you have to wait for another half hour before the play resume’s. With hockey it’s wide open all the time , continious play.Yes we do have our breaks from icing and such but you can see a hockey game go 10 mins straight with no stoppage. As for which is tuffer on the human body i don’t know and don’t really care. All i know is i have saw a hell off alot of hockey players get a friggen puck in the head go back and get like 50 stiches then come back on 10 mins later and finish the game. But it does not matter to me which one is more violent all i know is i would never trade my hockey for any other sport.
TheShrock: Um, yeah. I kinda did avoid every rock solid argument brought up against hockey and for football…wonder why? Maybe because I’m not Demo Dick. He’s the one that is great at intelligent, unbiased, fact-supported arguments and I just wanted to have a littel fun with you all. And maybe also because I ran into a guy that was so adamant about football, he couldn’t see anything wrong/screwed up with it. When I run into someone like that I just have this irresistable urge to play Devil’s Advocate and goad them. And that’s exactly what I did here. Of course I avoided anything but what would support my position - that was the entire point! Funny how a lot of others did the same and no one is jumping down their throat…
Cam: I didn’t lose, baby. I WON!! I got a little excitement going on the boards. THAT was my entire point. They’d been a little slow the last few weeks, what with the technical difficulties most of us have been experiencing (no fault to T-mag, shit just happens when you upgrade equipment/service) and lack of stimualting topics (at least in my estimation).
Eric Hallstaff: Dude, thank GOD at least you, and a select few others, got it! Yup, that was my entire point.
J: Hon, chill. I meant you no personal insult and I know nothing about Canadian basketball. I quit watching basketball after high school because here, in the States, it became overrun with gang-bangers and thugs. There may be (just maybe) some good athletes in it but I'm completely ignorant on that score. It's just not something I take any pleasure from watching.
Now, since a lot of you brilliant debators forgot to read the last portion of my previous post, here it is again…I’ll even BOLD if for you…
And for the record…I think the NFL and the NHL are both awesome sports. Sure, I like each one for different reasons and there are pies in each league and hero’s in each league (well, maybe I like the NHL just a wee bit more). Hell, I wouldn’t spend $7,300 to have season tickets to both the Bronco’s (true blue, South Stand, Raider-hater) and Avalanche (Red Wings SUCK) if I didn’t! I do however, have a sense of humor about my teams and my players and can still call a pie-hole a pie-hole even if he’s on one of my teams.
So, in conclusion, have a little o’ fun…stand by your sport and your team…learn to take a good natured ribbing…‘cause after all, I ain’t mad at ya, I ain’t got nothin’ but love for y’all.
How can someone say that a football player is flying at you faster than a hockey player? That is just ignorance. Hockey players check with their shoulders and elbows and they are flying at you at speeds football players could only dream of. I’m not trying to say football is not a tough sport I’m just trying to stop the ignorance towards hockey by the people on this board. Also most hockey players today average 210 to 235 pounds. Even little Theoren Fleury weighs 180 at a height of 5’6
“…Granted, football is a lot less rough than rugby…”
Not now, not ever. :)
Yes, punters and place kickers are usually seperate specialists and the list goes on. The guy who snaps the ball to the holder is also a specialist who often plays no other position. the holder is usually a back up receiver or Qb. There are specialists at many positions. there are defensive linemen who only play agains the run and others who come in only to play the pass. Same with some linebackers. There all also running backs who only play on running downs and ones to replace them for blocking purposes on passing downs. (ie.Emmit Smith) football has definately evolved into a game of specialists which, I think sucks. The days of the multi dimentional, pure athlete is quickly fading in football. It really takes away from the sport.
So you did this knowing you were wrong just to piss everyone off? Good work gearhead
"The days of the multi dimentional, pure athlete is quickly fading in football. It really
takes away from the sport. "
So... play rugby - where every player must be able to fill in anywhere on the field. Where play does not stop every ten seconds (the longest amount of time EVER played continuously in football). Where the game is 2 halves, each 40 minutes long. Where play only stops when someone is bleeding, and then only long enough to get them the hell off the field.
Ahh... a real sport! *grin*
Funny as in the comparisons were funny and the post was fun to read. The discussion/pissing contest that has ensued has been good too. I love sports and have played just about all of them (although not hockey), so I like the discussions on this forum (mainly b/c this forum is not made up of your “average Joes”).
Hockey is ballet on ice. It is much more technical then football and the players are much better conditioned. Yup they do sprints on the Ice, Burpees on the Ice, etc. And they think, the plays are dynamic and players play 2 ways offfence and defense.
If it looks easy, watch jagr thread through 2 players to score, or someone score while 2 guys are trying to haul them down.
Or watch someone standing in front of the net while 2 defenseman are trying to move them, that player gets a pass and scores while another guy is literally banging him with the stick.
best game there is… Lacrosse is pretty close
MrP: Good grief, man. Try having a sense of humor. It really doesn’t hurt that bad.
KC: I hope you caught that the “What is so funny” thing was Joe Pesci in “GoodFellas”. If you didn’t catch that then I guess it wouldn’t seem funny to you. Great line. Great movie. Nope, our dear beloved forumites are not your “average Joe”. Some are great, and some need to rediscover their funny bones.
As a rugby player, that is really quite shocking to me. How in the world would you manage to distinguish a world class NFL ‘snapper’ compared to an ordinary one when the task itself is so mundane. Heck, I’m sure there is a lot of room for error when snapping the ball back with the big men from the other team trying to get at you but do simple jobs like that in football really justify a position? I think a better thing for the game would be to just get rid of the punters and goal kickers as specialist positions and just have one of the players on the team learn how to kick! For their own fun and enjoyment, athletes should be talented, they should have at least some skill beyond what they specialise in. I would hate to play football only to come onto the field doing the exact same boring thing in every game. Quarterbacks get to do a lot of stuff, but I would have to be paid a lot of money to want to play in some of the more boring positions.
I have played in every position in rugby except for hooker and halfback (and I’m sure I may well play halfback one day). I’ve locked the scrums, made some big tackles and kicked for goals and punted for field position too and I’ve made some mean side-stepping kick returns from fullback. Rugby may not be as glamourous as football to watch due to the lack of missile tackling and huge collisions, but it sure is a hell lot more fun to play.