12/21/24
April 20, 2017
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
The Jaguars play only two true home games the first eight weeks of the season. A third home game in that period is in London, and it's followed up a week later by a road game vs. the Jets. They also end the season with two road games.
posted by rcade at 11:13 PM on April 20, 2017
Whoah! Viktor, watch where you're going!
posted by NoMich at 07:56 AM on April 21, 2017
Why are hits like that still legal? I guess the question explains why I can't watch too much hocky, eh?
posted by billsaysthis at 11:35 AM on April 21, 2017
The NHL will be a far better place the day Duncan Keith retires but that was pretty much a textbook hit. Stayed low enough for all contact to be below the shoulders but no knees were threatened. Well executed, rather see a dozen like that than the stickwork and 'second point of contact' headshots that are the norm these days.
posted by deflated at 12:01 PM on April 21, 2017
That's a gorgeous, clean, textbook hit by Keith. If Arvidsson has his head up, like they teach you from pee wees (or does checking start at bantam now?), he avoids it. I fail to see how anyone could find that objectionable. Billsaysthis, why do hits like that rub you the wrong way? Not saying your thoughts are invalid, just genuinely curious.
posted by tahoemoj at 05:54 PM on April 21, 2017
I can never understand why some hits are clean and some are obstruction. That's something I prefer about soccer, the contact is minimal and the point is to have skill in possession or out. The hits and the fights in hockey make the sport too much like boxing or MMA on ice, and just turn me off. Why are the hits okay in NHL but not international play?
posted by billsaysthis at 03:15 PM on April 22, 2017
The skater with the puck is fair game. Any other skaters are off limits.
According to this site, fighting is way down. Why is that? Because teams need to roll four competitive lines now. Since you need skilled skaters, the time of the barely-able-to-skate goon is done.
I believe that checking is allowed in the international game. The penalties for egregious hits, though, are much harsher than in the NHL game. And since the international game's rink is so much bigger, the play is much more spread out.
posted by NoMich at 03:50 PM on April 22, 2017
The hits and the fights in hockey make the sport too much like boxing or MMA on ice, and just turn me off.
While I certainly respect your right to hold whatever opinion you choose on hockey, I think that this particular statement indicates that you watch only selected highlights, if you watch it at all. This statement, to me, is the functional equivalent of the casual American sports fan who never watches a soccer game, and comes out of the woodwork every four years to complain about diving at the World Cup. The flow, grace, and beauty of the play, as well as the incredible skill and speed of the players, is ignored, and the focus is only on the violence. it's a tough game, to be sure, played by tough athletes, but incredibly violent (but legal) hits like the one at issue here are extremely rare.
Why are the hits okay in NHL but not international play?
That hit would have been legal in international play.
posted by tahoemoj at 01:21 PM on April 24, 2017
I hear what you're saying. But for me the hits and fights happen often enough to turn me off. I don't ignore the rest, I just wish there were more of them and less of this.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:33 AM on April 25, 2017
Fair enough. If you don't enjoy it, you don't enjoy it, and last time I checked, nobody had appointed me the SpoFi arbiter of taste.
posted by tahoemoj at 12:43 PM on April 26, 2017
MLB's new baseball magnet: Josh Harrison