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If you look at all of the interviews in hockey, rarely do you see anyone being an idiot. Everyone is respectful, they talk to the media, answer their questions and don't have a huge ego. Majority of the time they are humble and not screaming on the camera or whining.
Compare that with Football and Basketball and it isn't even funny.
If you look at all of the interviews in hockey, rarely do you see anyone being an idiot. Everyone is respectful, they talk to the media, answer their questions and don't have a huge ego. Majority of the time they are humble and not screaming on the camera or whining.
Compare that with Football and Basketball and it isn't even funny.
What causes this?
Agreed! Will not say to much on the subject but culture and up bringing of course has a lot to do with it. Baseball for the most part is on par with Hockey as well.
Possibly because they get to beat the crap out of people on the ice and that gets rid of a lot of frustration ? Compare that to NFL where you are not allowed to hurt peoples feelings pretty much.
I think the culture of the sport is a little bit different ....... the unwritten rules are different
However, so is the coverage
A coach just got hit with a 15 game suspension for going after an opposing teams dressing room between periods - after insulting the bench during the game
Coach meltdowns during the game aren't exactly infrequent where you'll get some chirping towards the other teams bench ......... why doesn't this happen much in the NBA where the benches are also within earshot?
There is also a whole lot of chirping and talking during the games - much of it is pretty blue in nature - guys who do it frequently will just get the "agitator" tag and life moves on
There was the handshake line a couple years back when the Kings went to the cup and they beat the Coyotes where a couple of the coyotes gave Dustin Brown and absolute earful
Also it's not uncommon for players to take shots at each other after the game ....... there is a ton of talking in hockey
Classy? Hockey team members are famous for beating each other frequently. They are polite on camera only because they got their aggression out during the game.
Some body mentioned the "unwritten rules " in hockey.
Here a few of them.
Don't bad mouth a guy , you might end up being traded to HIS team, next year.
Some players are tough guys, whose job it is to protect their "skilled players ". Tough guys have their own set of "rules ", such as you take off your helmet, before you start throwing punches, as a way to prevent the other guy breaking his hand on the helmet. Once you both fall to the ice, you stop fighting, and let the linesmen separate you. You don't pull the other guys sweater over his head, as that is considered a goof move, and really bush league stupid. You don't kick with your skates, and you don't slew foot a guy, by tripping him in a clinch.
With the "third man in " rule, the star player knows that he may have to drop the gloves and wrestle, but he will also get a faster end to the fight, by the officials. Throughout the history of the NHL, the skilled star players have all ways had a "protector " usually a defense man, who would step in and straighten out a opposing player who was playing too dirty. Geordie Howe was an a exception, a star who was also a very hard man in the corners. A great scorer, but was also a high penalty minute guy, and lets remember that he played professional hockey, until he was 51 years old !! Long enough to play on a line with his two grown sons in the NHL.
Now, about being polite. About half of the over 700 players in the NHL were born in Canada. Most of them are from small towns, where they grew up dreaming of " going to the big leagues " and watching "Hockey Night in Canada ' on CBC TV every Saturday night all winter long. Their parents supported that dream, with long car rides to the rink at 5 am in the dead of winter, and travel to tournaments in far away towns. Few if any of them lived in a public housing project, or were known to Police. They all had to go to school and get good grades, or they weren't going to stay on the team. At age 14, if they were good enough, they were off to play minor hockey, and at 17 , if they were good enough, they were playing junior A , or higher. At 19, some of them were NHL drafted, and playing in the American League, and a few, like Sid Crosby, were playing IN the NHL.
At every step of the way, their coaches and foster families were teaching them that they were going to be watched, by everyone, and being a jerk was NOT the way forward to the future. Even 16 year old hockey players in Canada are interviewed by the local paper and radio station and being well spoken is stressed by their coaches.
A final point. In Canada there are NO sports scholarships given by Universities. None. If you are a outstanding academic student, you can get financial support, but no body in Canada goes to a University as a hockey player. We do have University sports teams, but they are not recruiting grounds for the NHL or the NFL or the NBA. They are for sport as fun, not future professional sports careers.
Contrast that to many US colleges that spend millions of dollars on football stadiums, and yet their players cannot speak without mumbling and stumbling through a simple answer to a question.
Jim B.
Toronto.
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