Hockey is a sport of Skill and teamwork and it's really hard to play. Much repsect for hockey players. They have a lot of class on and off the ice. Basketball, not so much. It is a sport of freakishly tall people and not lots of character off the court nor on the court. Seems like a lot of babies with bling. Tall babies.
2006-12-31 13:59:35 · 6 answers · asked by Harry Merkin 4 in Sports ➔ Other - Sports
I can only answer this question for the United States, as I would imagine that in Toronto, which has both a NHL and a NBA team, that the Maple Leafs are a much more respected team than the Raptors, and hockey is a much more respected sport. Culturally speaking, people value the sports which represent their societal values. Hocky is a sport which epitomizes great teamwork. This is emphasised by the scoring system which equated the assist as being as important as the goal scored. It is also a game where you cannot aquire great statistics on a bad team. Basketball is a game that can be taken over by a great player. Individual players, such as LeBron James and Allen Iverson can score incredible numbers on losing teams. The United States, while societally giving lip service to "team effort" glorifies incredible individual achievement.
However, it is negligent to deny the amount of skill it takes to play basketball. The NBA reject piles are filled with tall players who didn't have the skill to compete. Manute Bol (7' 7") is a great example of someone who didn't have the skill to compliment his size. Comparably, NBA All Star Dwayne Wade is 6'4" and 212 lbs and NHL future Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 6'4" and 235 lbs. It isn't a huge difference.
Hocky is a sport that is not played at the vast majority of high school in the United States. Nor is it played in a great number of colleges. However, every high school and college in the United States has a basketball program.
It didn't help hockey at all when the NHL cancelled the 2005 season.
2006-12-31 14:30:33 · answer #1 · answered by lustatfirstbite 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's not respected because they're allowed to beat each other down. Might as well go out to the playground or join WWF Wrestling if you participate in a sport where you're allowed to kick the s.hit out of a player you don't like.
At least basketball players get reprimanded for beating each other down. Ha. But I catch your drift. I personally prefer football to both.
Anyway, I can't hate hockey altogether. I hail from the school boasting the women's and men's team 2006 college hockey champions: U Wisconsin-Madison.
2006-12-31 14:03:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think its a matter of marketability. Hockey leagues at the youth and high school levels are generally scarce except in concentrated areas of the midwest and northeast. Becuase it is not easily accessible to everyone, its kind of hard to market so its not in the spotlight.
With that said, we don't know what kind of character hockey players have off the ice because like you said, no one cares. If they do act up off the ice, who would deem it newsworthy to put into the media? I mean, looking at what goes on on the ice, how much character does one need or what kind of character would one have to have to cheap shot somebody with their back turned or engage in a fist fight becuase they got the puck stolen. Let be realisitic people.
2006-12-31 14:20:10 · answer #3 · answered by Bama Grad 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
exposure. With the greater population, especially in the lower 48 states; basketball is of most viewed and much less expensive to participate in as well.
2006-12-31 14:36:56 · answer #4 · answered by unit663 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hockey is a joke. If it's so classy, why are they always fighting with each other and why the hell doesn't the league suspend them when they do??? The TV ratings are awful and basically no one cares about it in the US outside of a few areas.
2006-12-31 14:02:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
i dont know why but i do know this....its a little of football
2006-12-31 14:07:52 · answer #6 · answered by Kelly D 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋