Now Introducing XBA (eXtreme Basketball Annihilation): The rules are simple.. there are no rules! No referee! And (did I mention?) no holds barred! Much like Prisonball, players step into the Thunderdome wearing their rags to represent their set. Players score points by making shots into the basket or each other by any means necessary. If you get your shit rocked, then you should have played better defense. Join us this Friday for the first game of the season or be a B.A.N. the choice is yours!
I don't get why hockey isn't more popular. It's fast, physical, great action, impressive skill. And ya, it's just a mild infraction if you straight up fight someone.
The barrier to entry is extremely high. Didn't really get popular on TV until very recently with the advent of high definition. Taking just those 2 things in to consideration it isn't played by a ton of people and as a mass watched sport it is very new. With all that said, I have never taken anyone to a hockey game that wasn't fully entertained (including many non-sports fans).
Football is so popular because all you need is a ball and a couple of jumpers for goalposts. All my friends would enjoy hockey if they watched it, but they don't have a passion that comes from playing it all their lives.
It's expensive as hell at every level. Building rinks that can keep ice cold enough for consistent play in everywhere that isn't a tundra is expensive. That makes buying ice time expensive and something you have to specifically schedule because the rink is juggling with every other team that wants to play. Gear is also expensive (although the NHL has some programs to try and mitigate that cost, it's limited in where the NHL is and a drop in the bucket). There's also the problem of the few PoC who do get past that are very often tokenized and/or alienated. I love hockey and have played all my life, but it's not hard to look at the game and see why it struggles to gain traction.
Imo it's the best sport in the world. But it's really expensive relative to the other popular sports so a lot fewer people have the opportunity to play and learn it which results in fewer fans.
Accessibility. I was a decent hockey prospect at a young age, I got recruited for a higher level than travel but I had to pay somewhere around $8-10,000 and that’s excluding equipment which is at least another $1k. A decent hockey stick could set you back $200-300 alone, and you can easily end up breaking it next game. My parents were poor as shit growing up as immigrants (they’re well off now) and tried everything to keep me in the game but eventually I decided I couldn’t do that to them
I play high school hockey, and holy shit I enjoyed nhl before I started playing, but now after I have a whole new appreciation for the game. With other sports, like soccer (which I also played), you can go from playing and understanding to watching professional and still thinking it’s better than yourself and impressive, and you can kinda relate it to things you do or don’t do and can get better by watching.
because most people dont play hockey, due to climate condition. I am Canadian, it's easy for me in the winter to just go to the local outside arena and play for free, I doubt you can do that in Spain or Mexico or Brazil etc.
You can literally play soccer anywhere if you have a ball. Doesnt have to be a soccer ball too. Thats why its so popular in poorer countries since its one of the best way to spend the time and thats how I grew up. Whereas hockey requires a lot of gears and most importantly ice. A lot of places dont have the luxury to maintain an ice skate place for people to casually play hockey.
I think the problem is the all around costs and requirements. Any high school can get enough grass to have a football team (either kind of football) but hockey isn't so simple.
The other replies are all valid points, I'd just like to add that the NHL having a history of doing a shit job at marketing the sport also doesn't help.
NHL sucks with marketing and has atrocious broadcasting deals, sports broadcasting has always fucked over local fans. Also hockey is difficult to introduce to more financially struggling communities due to the maintenance of an ice rink and the expensive equipment required to play, way harder than just laying down concrete and putting up a couple basketball nets
Well, there have been 4 lockouts since 1992, one of which cancelled an entire season. TV viewership was eliminated during stoppages, TV deals were voided. It was a mess to be a non-local fan. Even when they came back, the popularity for anyplace outside of that teams locality was gone. I remember one season after they came back, the only hockey I could find on tv was on the outdoor channel on cable tv.
If its expensive to do, you cant imagine yourself doing it, you wont have done it growing up, and it wont be interesting to you lacking the context to get into it.
May be a lot of people can't relate to hockey as they can't play it themselves. There are few places in the world you can play it and even in those places you have to be kind of well off to get into the sport.
It's hard for me to be a fan of my local team (Krakens) when ESPN blocks their local games out for not being sold out. Local games are usually 6pm which is when people get off work or are stuck in traffic and few people want to deal with Seattle traffic after getting off work. So less people buy the tickets and less people get to watch which means less people are interested over all. It's the whole reason I got the Disney+ bundle but now I see how worthless it is.
People tend to watch what they played growing up, so while its not expensive to watch hockey, the chances that you grew up playing hockey vs backetball, soccer or football is slim, so less fans due to less exposure.
A significant amount of NFL games also end 2-1 or something similiar, it's just that you decided one point is worth 7 somehow so that it's not "boring" meanwhile you watch 1 hour of commercials per point.
There's a very famous story here in the UK where a goalkeeper actually broke his neck at the highest level, continued playing and finished the game, received his medal with a crooked neck and only 3 days later found out he had broke it.
lmao, i'd argue hockey fights are even more 'real' than boxing fights, because in boxing, the entire ruleset is focused around how you beat the other person up.
Canada is that big, gentle giant that never gets mad, but if he does then the offending country will be Captured and renamed new Canada just to piss them off
Sledge (not the sport the slang), psychological damage is the way you get into your opponents head. Fistfights might let you break bones but getting into opponents heads and appearing intimidating will mean they wont be the same facing you again. You might make them angry leading to loss of concentration for them. :)
It also keeps the teams playing fair. You tend to rethink a heavy check into the boards if you know the 6'4 250lbs enforcer will be on your ass for it.
Enforcers are there to make it so people don't pull stupid shit. I can't remember the player, but he did a really nasty check, realized what he did, and his first reaction was a shrug, he dropped his gloves and turned to the incoming enforcer. He knew he pushed too far and was about to get his face punched in.
American Football (line) players: Hey, I know we're on opposite teams, but me and my lineman buddies are gonna hit up the buffet after the game. You guys did a hell of a job, wanna come with us?
Calcio Fiorentino/storico is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s played shirtless in the mud and you are encouraged to punch and kick each other mercilessly to get a ball in a goal.
My favorite reaction to fights is in baseball, you can tell the announcers are totally into it, but they have to pretend to be embarrassed for the sport of baseball for some reason lol.
We should add fist fights to everything. Workplaces, boardroom meetings, classrooms... Just the threat of being punched in the face will keep people from acting like jackasses. Bad eggs can get away with a lot these days and there's a brajillion bureaucratic hurdles to leap to hold them accountable.
I've always thought nascar would be way more exciting if they were legally allowed to fight in the pits. Maybe a mandatory stop every 50 or 100 laps to sort out any problems.
The thing about fighting in hockey is that it's typically a response for injury another player or a dirty hit. Imagine in soccer a player goes to his guy rolling around dying on the ground and asking him "Are you actually hurt?" Before fighting
Not even mad half the time. More just “hey, I fought you that one time because you wanted to, so you owe me a fight now because we’re playing like shit.”
Really wish they'd take fighting out of hockey and make it its own sport. Major League Ice Boxing, where skates and jersey are required, but gloves and pants are optional. Same teams as NHL, hold it before or after (or both!) regular season NHL games.
No, soccer is the ultimate troll sport. The object is to piss your opponent off and get them thrown out. Allowing fist fights would act as a pressure valve and ruin the rage dynamic.
Dank
Yeah! More fisting in sports!
A little confused but you got the spirit
Chess anti-cheating expert has entered the chat
Oh, you just beat the shit out of each other? Bleeding? Broken nose? Fractured orbital?
Now Introducing XBA (eXtreme Basketball Annihilation): The rules are simple.. there are no rules! No referee! And (did I mention?) no holds barred! Much like Prisonball, players step into the Thunderdome wearing their rags to represent their set. Players score points by making shots into the basket or each other by any means necessary. If you get your shit rocked, then you should have played better defense. Join us this Friday for the first game of the season or be a B.A.N. the choice is yours!
Brilliant...now we got a huge guy theory and a serial crusher theory
Yeah! I love volleyball! Especially in Wisconsin!!
Especially watersports
More fisting everywhere!
I agree and skip the foreplay.
Serious question: does the gear worn by hockey player's influence to go all out and want to rip each other's heads?
Exactly less balls more fists
Ah reddit. Wholesome award for a fisting joke. Nothing says hole-some like fisting
I don't get why hockey isn't more popular. It's fast, physical, great action, impressive skill. And ya, it's just a mild infraction if you straight up fight someone.
The barrier to entry is extremely high. Didn't really get popular on TV until very recently with the advent of high definition. Taking just those 2 things in to consideration it isn't played by a ton of people and as a mass watched sport it is very new. With all that said, I have never taken anyone to a hockey game that wasn't fully entertained (including many non-sports fans).
As a futbol fan who moved to Canada i firmly believe that Hockey would be popular in Latin America if we had real winters
It was a pretty poor TV product until HD. Was just too hard to follow the puck on most home (and honestly even bar) tvs
Football is so popular because all you need is a ball and a couple of jumpers for goalposts. All my friends would enjoy hockey if they watched it, but they don't have a passion that comes from playing it all their lives.
It's expensive as hell at every level. Building rinks that can keep ice cold enough for consistent play in everywhere that isn't a tundra is expensive. That makes buying ice time expensive and something you have to specifically schedule because the rink is juggling with every other team that wants to play. Gear is also expensive (although the NHL has some programs to try and mitigate that cost, it's limited in where the NHL is and a drop in the bucket). There's also the problem of the few PoC who do get past that are very often tokenized and/or alienated. I love hockey and have played all my life, but it's not hard to look at the game and see why it struggles to gain traction.
Imo it's the best sport in the world. But it's really expensive relative to the other popular sports so a lot fewer people have the opportunity to play and learn it which results in fewer fans.
Confused Canadian noises
Accessibility. I was a decent hockey prospect at a young age, I got recruited for a higher level than travel but I had to pay somewhere around $8-10,000 and that’s excluding equipment which is at least another $1k. A decent hockey stick could set you back $200-300 alone, and you can easily end up breaking it next game. My parents were poor as shit growing up as immigrants (they’re well off now) and tried everything to keep me in the game but eventually I decided I couldn’t do that to them
You cannot see the puck 🏒😔
fellow hockey player 🤝
I play high school hockey, and holy shit I enjoyed nhl before I started playing, but now after I have a whole new appreciation for the game. With other sports, like soccer (which I also played), you can go from playing and understanding to watching professional and still thinking it’s better than yourself and impressive, and you can kinda relate it to things you do or don’t do and can get better by watching.
because most people dont play hockey, due to climate condition. I am Canadian, it's easy for me in the winter to just go to the local outside arena and play for free, I doubt you can do that in Spain or Mexico or Brazil etc.
Hockey is very popular in like a dozen countries and just... not played in most of the rest. It's weird.
The barrier to play might be a big part of it.
I can never see the puck.
You can literally play soccer anywhere if you have a ball. Doesnt have to be a soccer ball too. Thats why its so popular in poorer countries since its one of the best way to spend the time and thats how I grew up. Whereas hockey requires a lot of gears and most importantly ice. A lot of places dont have the luxury to maintain an ice skate place for people to casually play hockey.
I think the problem is the all around costs and requirements. Any high school can get enough grass to have a football team (either kind of football) but hockey isn't so simple.
It's just a lot more expensive to get into.
The other replies are all valid points, I'd just like to add that the NHL having a history of doing a shit job at marketing the sport also doesn't help.
NHL sucks with marketing and has atrocious broadcasting deals, sports broadcasting has always fucked over local fans. Also hockey is difficult to introduce to more financially struggling communities due to the maintenance of an ice rink and the expensive equipment required to play, way harder than just laying down concrete and putting up a couple basketball nets
Well, there have been 4 lockouts since 1992, one of which cancelled an entire season. TV viewership was eliminated during stoppages, TV deals were voided. It was a mess to be a non-local fan. Even when they came back, the popularity for anyplace outside of that teams locality was gone. I remember one season after they came back, the only hockey I could find on tv was on the outdoor channel on cable tv.
If its expensive to do, you cant imagine yourself doing it, you wont have done it growing up, and it wont be interesting to you lacking the context to get into it.
May be a lot of people can't relate to hockey as they can't play it themselves. There are few places in the world you can play it and even in those places you have to be kind of well off to get into the sport.
It's hard for me to be a fan of my local team (Krakens) when ESPN blocks their local games out for not being sold out. Local games are usually 6pm which is when people get off work or are stuck in traffic and few people want to deal with Seattle traffic after getting off work. So less people buy the tickets and less people get to watch which means less people are interested over all. It's the whole reason I got the Disney+ bundle but now I see how worthless it is.
And don't forget, if you break the rules you go to the no no box.
People tend to watch what they played growing up, so while its not expensive to watch hockey, the chances that you grew up playing hockey vs backetball, soccer or football is slim, so less fans due to less exposure.
I find it really hard to keep track of the puck on tv. But love watching it live
Because people are slow. And they need more scoring
Ehh I stopped a soccer game just to fistfight a guy
And you got red-carded and booted I'm sure.
I did this in chess club once
Fans don't count
You are lying so hard. Stop embarrassi g yourself. Tough guy.
Story time?
Baseball has some classics
I didn't realize baseball had so much fighting in it wtf
Bro since when was baseball so violent?
Wow, I didn’t know that could even happen in baseball
Man I thought baseball was boring... Lil bro brought the bat out lmao
Woah that’s some crazy shit
Never let your teammates down
And here I thought baseball was boring, wild shit
Some real brawls in there ffs. I can’t believe how soft the MLB has gotten over the last 5-10 years
Wait was the guy injured majorly? He took the fall pretty har
To be fair, baseball has some amazing brawls
You got me good. I was actually looking forward to a good compilation
That's worse than Nolan Ryan bruising his knuckles on Robin Ventura's skull.
This would be great if I didn't immediately get an ad
There’s not really flopping in baseball at least. Just gotta play the game.
I fuccking hate you 😂
s u s
fuck you
Nice try. Apollo > you.
We should have a sport which is a reverse tug of war, where two teams of men try to push a double-ended spear into one another.
Sounds like that old euphemism for sex ed, the bees and the bees.
We do.
I wonder how you would push that while also not being entirely out of the way of the spear.
How was this not an ancient blood sport??
Ass to ass?
The phalanx was kind of like that
Yeah man that 0-0 draw game was fantastic!
“In World Cup soccer, Mexico defeated Cameroon one to nothing. Or as it’s known in soccer, a blowout.” - Norm McDonald
A significant amount of NFL games also end 2-1 or something similiar, it's just that you decided one point is worth 7 somehow so that it's not "boring" meanwhile you watch 1 hour of commercials per point.
This is a cultural difference.
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL DRAW
A team got 4 shots on target! So thrilling!
Hockey
Greg Campbell playing with a broken leg
Rich Peverly died, paramedics revived him and he tried to get back into the game.
[удалено]
There's a very famous story here in the UK where a goalkeeper actually broke his neck at the highest level, continued playing and finished the game, received his medal with a crooked neck and only 3 days later found out he had broke it.
I had a hippy room mate in college. He used to criticize the violence of my sport, boxing.
Based.
lmao, i'd argue hockey fights are even more 'real' than boxing fights, because in boxing, the entire ruleset is focused around how you beat the other person up.
"Do you want to fight?"
"what a nice guy"
I like rugby. We trample each other, and then laugh about it after the game
Anytime someone talks about how tough certain players are, I bring up rugby player
i like american football because the object of it is to throw someone as far as you can sometimes
You buy drinks for each other!!! Its the craziest thing!
Nah play rugby and you don’t even need to punch anyone, you get all that anger out just running into them
They do that in hockey too, but then still fight
Tbh football players don't use any padding so even small looking hits can be painful
Tbh there's a lot of flopping too
Also the boots have cleat studs which hurt like hell if they whisk your ankle.
Neither do rugby players and you never see them writhing on the ground like a toddler only to be totally fine 30 seconds later when the ref moves on.
And even if they look like small touchs it's 2 things moving at hight speeds into each other
The hits where they don't even seem to touch each other hurt the worst!
And hockey has a penalty for embellishing a hit with league fines even if the ref misses/doesn't call the penalty.
Derek Bogarde the bogeyman
Rest his soul 😢
Canada is that big, gentle giant that never gets mad, but if he does then the offending country will be Captured and renamed new Canada just to piss them off
If they piss us off more we'll call them Quebec 2
2021 Washington Capitals moment
The NYR have been fined 250k for this comment
Hocky fighting is a show of skill. You have to balace on a zero friction syface whilst attacking and dodging the other person. A true show of power
Personal experience, it takes very little skill. You just throw hay makers with zero technique and stay on your feet.
Most hockey fights don’t require much skill, it’s normally just trading hits. (Source I’ve been in a few)
MMA fighters: “that’s… why I’m here”
First one is like anything that includes celebrities
Sledge (not the sport the slang), psychological damage is the way you get into your opponents head. Fistfights might let you break bones but getting into opponents heads and appearing intimidating will mean they wont be the same facing you again. You might make them angry leading to loss of concentration for them. :)
It also keeps the teams playing fair. You tend to rethink a heavy check into the boards if you know the 6'4 250lbs enforcer will be on your ass for it.
The broad street bullies man..
Enforcers are there to make it so people don't pull stupid shit. I can't remember the player, but he did a really nasty check, realized what he did, and his first reaction was a shrug, he dropped his gloves and turned to the incoming enforcer. He knew he pushed too far and was about to get his face punched in.
Wait until he hears about calcio florentino. The single most badass sport in existence.
Is that the Florence Italy sport?
Went to a fight and a hockey game broke out
Fist fights in fencing would be intriguing.
Chess with fist fighting sounds interesting
Isn't that
My school had an anti-bullying event were they took us all to a hockey game and the whole school was so into the hockey fights.
American Football (line) players: Hey, I know we're on opposite teams, but me and my lineman buddies are gonna hit up the buffet after the game. You guys did a hell of a job, wanna come with us?
You should watch chess games then
This meme actually happened
There’s so many clips like that from mic’s up players
Occasionally they do start as gentlemanly as depicted in the picture up there
That brawling on the field bullshit just sucks.
Candian Apology Videos are just hockey fights that get projected on tv
Hockey refs: I like where this is going.
Nolan Ryan has entered the chat
Can we get this in Snooker please
Ironically in hockey countries you are generally safe but in some soccer countries you can get hacked up by a machete
Soccer punishment: Red card for you! You're banned from this game! Get the hell out of my stadium!
On ice, with blades strapped on their feet...
Calcio Fiorentino/storico is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s played shirtless in the mud and you are encouraged to punch and kick each other mercilessly to get a ball in a goal.
Yeah until the NHL decided to input rules that made fighting happen less
If some runs at you at mach 3 in metal plated shoes and hits your shin its gonna hurt, a lot.
man, don't you just find it weird when somebody in a sport simply just falls down and isn't even hurt but acts like they're hurt anyways?
Barber hipsters can"t fight, wrong template
Football takes diving too far.
Have you seen south America's football matches? Some looks like WWE matchs, even more the lower categories
May I present Australian Rules Football.
More fighting and I think they should incorporate a penalty box into all games
The refs: we’re now boxing refs making sure this is a fair, clean fight.
Here comes the rugby
There are plenty of sports that are literally fighting already.
Australian football: damn my leg is dislocated. Let me just relocated right now.
Shoutout to
Lol.. full respect to hockey.. 1 openly have an enforcer 2 throw off gloves and mostly punch to a head in a helmet!
le hockey players are so heckin tough!
Full on football fights are pretty damn vicious
My favorite reaction to fights is in baseball, you can tell the announcers are totally into it, but they have to pretend to be embarrassed for the sport of baseball for some reason lol.
I got punched and worse all the time playing soccer.
I would actually watch fUtBoL if they were allowed to throw hands
We should add fist fights to everything. Workplaces, boardroom meetings, classrooms... Just the threat of being punched in the face will keep people from acting like jackasses. Bad eggs can get away with a lot these days and there's a brajillion bureaucratic hurdles to leap to hold them accountable.
I've always thought nascar would be way more exciting if they were legally allowed to fight in the pits. Maybe a mandatory stop every 50 or 100 laps to sort out any problems.
It's funny because more and more hockey fans are starting to think that fighting should be removed from the game.
Basketball players getting ejected for looking at the ref too long :😮
I get to watch hockey for free, for context I drive the zamboni at my local arena
Mandatory comment on Jeremy Roenick’s jaw getting destroyed
So you're saying that you want to...
Basketball flopping is hardcore now. Thanks LeFlop.
The thing about fighting in hockey is that it's typically a response for injury another player or a dirty hit. Imagine in soccer a player goes to his guy rolling around dying on the ground and asking him "Are you actually hurt?" Before fighting
American football is just legal team combat
Ever heard of a game called Kabaddi 👀
Its like a mini game in the main game.
Introduce yellow and red cards in hockey and see them turn into football/soccer players.
You two were bad, go sit in the time out box for 5 minutes right next to each other and think about what you did.
Rugby Players: You still have ears?
Another reason why Canadians are better than us
Anyone’s tough when you’re covered in heavy padding and are holding a stick
I remember an old MAD Magazine that proposed a version of baseball where the batters get to use their bats while running the bases.
Yea. Like how we added boxing to chess!
As we say in Canada “I went to a fight and saw a hockey game”
Holy fuck. Give your balls a tug you tit fucker.
Hockey should be more popular. Problem is probably the price to play and lack of ice vs any random area with a ball
I always wanted to start up a full contact golf league.
This is why it’s the second best sport to come out of Canada.
I could get a concussion if I ever played hockey but I’d still play it
Not even mad half the time. More just “hey, I fought you that one time because you wanted to, so you owe me a fight now because we’re playing like shit.”
Really wish they'd take fighting out of hockey and make it its own sport. Major League Ice Boxing, where skates and jersey are required, but gloves and pants are optional. Same teams as NHL, hold it before or after (or both!) regular season NHL games.
No, soccer is the ultimate troll sport. The object is to piss your opponent off and get them thrown out. Allowing fist fights would act as a pressure valve and ruin the rage dynamic.