Hockey Vs. Football: Which Sport Wins?
Comparing the Two Greatest Sports Ever Invented
Physical Skill
Let's face it, out of all the real sports these two require the most physical skill. In football, linemen have to be powerhouses, yet remain graceful enough to stay light on their feet. Receivers have to possess physical strength, soft hands, and the ability to hold onto the ball during the frequent times they get drilled while going across the middle. Oh yeah, and then there are those one-handed catches while trying to get both feet inbounds. I still don't know how they can instantly quit the running motion in time to drag a foot before they cross a sideline. Football requires endurance, the ability to fight through pain, tremendous power, and grace. Hockey, on the other hand requires all that and more. Take all the skills necessary to play football and turn the grass to ice. Reduce the body's contact with the ground from a pair of flexible feet that can grip the field to two thins blades of metal that don't bend, don't adjust, and don't offer much balance. Turn a football into a hard disc that flies around at speeds over 100 mph. Now try to control a puck and head towards the goal while the defender can pretty much do anything he wants to stop you. Remember, receivers can't really be messed with after five yards. Hockey players can mess with you almost anytime. And, if you're thinking about playing hockey, you might want to take a boxing class or two. EDGE: hockey.
Mental Skill
Sure, there are plays in hockey, but not nearly as many as in football. QB's must read the defenses and make split-second audibles based on what they think they see. Once the ball is snapped, they have to scan the field to see who might be open, all the while wondering if they're about to get blindsided by someone resembling a speeding minivan. Football players must know the entire play book and all the little codes and signals that alter each play. Linemen have to determine where a blitz might come from right before they get smashed in the mouth. And this all has to happen in a matter of seconds. EDGE: football.
Pain
Football hits hurt, there's no doubt about that. And I don't envy those linemen getting punched, jabbed, and chop-blocked every down. Yet, not only do the open-ice hockey hits rival those thrown in football, but you can also get slammed into boards, Plexiglas, and metal goalposts, not to mention experiencing other painful factors such as sticks and pucks smacking you in the face, stomach, shins, ankles, and everywhere else. Don't forget that guy who wants to punch your nose in until it pops out the other side of your head. Here, we may have to make a distinction. Hockey leaves more bruises, but players don't take them every minute like some football players do. Thus, the all around pain factor goes to hockey, but the frequency of pain factor goes to football. EDGE: even.
Single Game/Season
Hockey games are exciting, but the season often doesn't hinge on one or two games. You have over eighty games to right a sinking ship in hockey. You only have sixteen in football. This almost makes each football game a must-win situation. For the fans, sometimes week five in football can feel like a playoff game. You have to love it. EDGE: football.
Overtime
Hockey and football both had horrible overtime systems. Hockey fixed its version. Who doesn't love a thrilling couple of rounds of short overtimes followed by a winner-takes-all shootout in which fans get the gift of lone shooters vs. lone goalies? It's beautiful. It doesn't matter who wins a coin toss and games don't end with an anti-climactic, conservative decision to kick a thirty yard field goal on third down. EDGE: hockey.
Playoffs
Football playoffs are exciting, but a couple of bad bounces can mean the end of the line for a better team. Don't get me wrong, the single elimination style makes every down a crucial one, but there's is nothing better than watching you're favorite team battle back from a two-game deficit to force a decisive game seven. Plus, the final three minutes of a hockey playoff game in which a team is down by only one goal are perhaps the three most suspenseful minutes in sports. Fans know they'll get a ton of shots, an empty net, and an ulcer from praying that the puck either goes in or stays out. Don't forget that by games six and seven, the two teams usually hate each other and are out for blood. EDGE: hockey.
Highlights
What's sweeter than a 60-yard Tomlinson run during which he breaks three tackles and the ankles of two more defenders that can't even lay a finger on him? How about a fingertip catch in the back corner of the end zone or a 99-yard interception return by Champ Bailey in the playoffs? Perhaps Jaromir Jagr or Teemu Selanne, or Sidney Crosby finessing the puck around, over, and through legs, sticks, and pads. Or Nabokov, Hasek, or Giguere sprawling on their backs to stop three, four, and five shots, while players pile up on top of them? Is it really any wonder why at least half of every Sportscenter Top Ten Plays of the Week end up being hockey or football highlights. This one is too close to call. EDGE: even.
By a narrow margin, hockey pulls out the win. Just thank your lucky stars that when football ends, a glorious hockey season is in full swing and heating up. Once the Stanley Cup is handed out in June, you can almost taste football's preseason. If you haven't given one or the other a chance, well, maybe ice-dancing is more your type anyway.
Published by Chim Rickles
Hilarious. Intelligent. Arrogant. View profile
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50 Comments
Post a Comment(continued)... In hockey usually 1 or 2 players are left seriously injured. In football usually everybody has minor injuries except possibly the kicker.
Because of the style of contact in football, playing more than 1 game per week doesn’t work, since almost everyone on the team needs to have a short recoup period.
Though in footballs defense, they DEFINITELY take the cake when it comes to cheerleaders =)
I think people fail to realize SPEED in hockey.
In football 2 lines of guys continually ram into each other for the entire game.. There's lots of repetitive useless contact, including alot of helmet on helmet contact. Because of this constant contact every game linesmen are covered in minor bruises and possibly minor concussions.
In hockey they are trying to take helmet contact out of the game COMPLETELY because of the speed at which it happens. Even 1 "big hit" in hockey that includes the head and it could be a career ending hit. Hockey players can play more than 1 game per week because there isn't a lot of "useless" contact. If you don't have the puck, you can't get decimated. So as a player you can use skill / fineness to avoid most contact.
Long story short, hockey has much harder devastating hits. Yet football has waaaay more repetitive minor contact, plus a few nice big hits when a running back / receiver gets nailed.
In hockey usually 1
Hockey vs. Football II: Death Match
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7806840/hockey_vs_football_2_death_match.html?cat=9
ive also been seeing people comment on newton's second law (the F=m*a equation). everyone is forgetting one key factor that makes hockey tougher than football: energy. the equation for energy is 0.5*mass*(velocity)^2. since hockey players skate much faster and football and hockey players wear comparable equipment, except helmets, hockey players bodies must absorb much more energy when taking a hit than football. and hockey players get hit many more times a game than football players (probably 5 times a shift not counting slashing and cross check if you're standing in front of the net), i would give hockey players the edge in toughness
i love both sports but have only played hockey as i am canadian. nothing can match the back and forth of hockey but football is suspenseful when a team that is down to its last possesion marches down the field and has the last play to get a touchdown or a field goal as time expires.
i guess the only question to ask is why europeans like soccer so much? like really why do they like it so much lol?
Once i went to a fight and a hockey game broke out
Football has had no shortage of people who have become paralized, broken bones, and concussions. Hockey has also had injuries of that nature, though probably not as many paralized in recent years, however, I have yet to hear or see anyone in Football have their jugular cut with a stake, or had a testicle removed because a puck cracked their cup.
And lastly, your AVERAGE hockey player has missing teeth, rarely does a hockey player have all his teeth.
Everyone seems to really discount the affect of ACCELERTAION in the Force = Mass * Acceleration equation. Now lets suppose you get one of the bigger linesman, say 450 lbs with padding and we somehow manage to get him running at record NFL pace, which would typically be done by a running back or wide reciever, which would roughly be about 19 mph. 450 * 19 = 8550 ft/lbs, impressive and I would never want to be hit with that. But, if you compare what you can get hit with a comparative NHL player, say 260 lbs with padding, but is moving at the all time record pace of 35 mph, you have 260 * 35 = 9100 ft/lbs! That is 550 ft/lbs more force, 6% more at maximum. Now granted, the average player in the NFL is more like 350 lbs and runs at 15 mph, which is 4900 ft/lbs, where as an NHL player is more like 230 lbs and stakes at 28 mph, that is still high at 6440 ft/lbs, still much greater on average and by a much larger percentage. Also take into account, that NFL hits are usually in the same r
I personally think that the physical brutality. Both sports have an average 60 minute game, with short shifts and longer breaks (5-15 second plays for football, and 30-90 second shifts for hockey), but the NHL season is 82 games long, the nfl is 16. In the NHL, there is an out of bounds and you can stop or run into a soft human being if you don't get hit and land on relatively softer grass or turf. In the NHL, there is no out of bounds, except hard wooden boards and plexi glass laced with metal supports, assuming you done get it and land on hard ice.
Now to illustrate why hockey hits are far more brutal than football hits. Yeah, there are some big dudes, and I certainly hope this comment never pisses one off to violent rebuttle, but everyone seems to really discount the affect of ACCELERTAION in the Force = Mass * Acceleration equation. Now lets suppose you get one of the bigger linesman, say 450 lbs with padding and we somehow manage to get him running at record NFL pace, wh
If football players played at the rate hockey players did (82 games per season) none of them would live past 40. If they played more than twice a week, it'd be stupid. Football wins this argument by a long shot.