My poor compatriot. I feel his pain regarding the seemingly complete lack of interest in professional hockey, especially by the major networks. Like him, I also don’t understand how soccer can be so immensely popular yet hockey is so easily forgotten when they are similar in so many aspects. However, unlike him, I have very little interest in soccer or hockey so I really don’t care! But, since this medium is all about opinions, I shall elaborate.

I think both games have serious hurdles to get over if they are ever to be of interest to me as spectator sports. On a base level, the action in soccer is too damn slow and the action in hockey is too damn fast! Even a diehard soccer and hockey fan will admit these primary shortcomings with their favorite sports.

So what would I suggest to fix these fatal shortcomings? I’d start with the simple suggestion of making soccer fields smaller and hockey rinks larger.

Think about it and it just makes sense. Why make the slow guys on foot travel so far chasing a ball that is unhindered by boundaries, yet have the guys carrying sticks flying around at top speed confined to such a small walled in space? The poor soccer players have to run the full length of that giant field only to see the ball bounce ahead of them out of bounds, fully belittling the immense amount of energy & effort they just put forth. on the other hand, the guys on skates, who could easily glide to the other end of the rink don’t even have to because, lucky them, the puck is walled in with no place to go but back around the goal & right back into play!

(Now, I am fully aware of the effort it takes to play ice hockey. So much so that the professional hockey player only spends 30 seconds or so on the ice at a time. But that still can’t compare to running all over a soccer field.)

Changing the size of the playing field would also correct the other fatal flaw in these two sports - focusing on the action. You obviously can’t miss the action in soccer, unless you simply tune out from boredom. Yet even the most fervent fan of hockey can’t possibly keep up with what is happening to that tiny puck flying between all those payers at those great speeds! Make that puck travel the length of a soccer field and you afford the viewer a little more time to catch up to where it is. Shorten the soccer field & the action goes up as the players have little time to react to the ball. Soccer speeds up and hockey slows down without greatly changing the game. Sure it’ll change the way it’s played, but the basic rules won’t be affected. It’s a similar suggestion to what baseball does with pitching mound changes or what many are thinking when they suggest a larger field for professional football. Don’t change the game, just modify the dynamics of how it’s played.

I believe this one simple suggestion would greatly affect the viewability of these two lame spectator sports. Watch hockey on a pond & watch an indoor soccer game and you’ll get a glimpse at what I am suggesting.

peace~

Popularity: 2% [?]