Why are sports the no fun zone? (re:NSH/LV)

[Drake1588]

The point of sport is indeed to entertain. Yet OP, you purport to define what is entertaining to every soul, where what you are really doing is offering your own perspective. It is no less valid than anyone else's perspective, but it is not universal.

Some people find that sort of sideshow stuff to be anything but entertaining. Many find the entertaining aspects come with the tension, the drive, the commitment, the seriousness, if you like, with which they seek a win at all costs.

Take that away and indulge in storylines and you end up with an All-Star game, and a lot of hockey fans find that as exciting as watching paint dry. To many, the ASG - with its gimmicks, trick contests, props and costumes - is not at all entertaining.

Personally, I'd find sending Subban out there to go up against his brother when PK is o'fer his career in that situation to be utterly lacking in entertainment.

 

[Sniper99]

Bautista and his bat flip was sacrilegious even though it's now an iconic moment in Toronto sports history.

NFL players can't celebrate anymore, the list goes on.

Sports are an entertainment industry, entertain us!

Where have you been all year? Puig was bat flipping when he was walked this year. A lot of players did.

Have you not watched ANY NFL this year. The NFL lightened up and the players have been doing all sort of celebrations. relay races in the end zone etc. Watch some sports a little more often.

 

[Soundgarden]

Because it's a game between two teams looking for two points, not a Disney movie. It's a cool moment that they played against each other, and considering they're in the same conference it'll happen again, but it doesn't need to be anything more than that.

 

[HFpapi]

The point of sport is indeed to entertain. Yet OP, you purport to define what is entertaining to every soul, where what you are really doing is offering your own perspective. It is no less valid than anyone else's perspective, but it is not universal.

Some people find that sort of sideshow stuff to be anything but entertaining. Many find the entertaining aspects come with the tension, the drive, the commitment, the seriousness, if you like, with which they seek a win at all costs.

Take that away and indulge in storylines and you end up with an All-Star game, and a lot of hockey fans find that as exciting as watching paint dry. To many, the ASG - with its gimmicks, trick contests, props and costumes - is not at all entertaining.

Personally, I'd find sending Subban out there to go up against his brother when PK is o'fer his career in that situation to be utterly lacking in entertainment.

Since you claim I'm trying to imperialize the definition of entertainment before proceeding to offer your own definition, how about we try to imagine a more objective truth.

I saw many comments on Twitter and Reddit asking why P.K didn't shoot. IIRC, even the NHL.com postgame report mentioned the fact that he didn't shoot. Now why would they do that? When has it ever been note-worthy that someone didn't shoot? This was a rare and unique chance for a fun moment. If P.K skated to centre ice to get ready for a shot, the entire arena would have started buzzing.

I'm not as salty as I seem about this particular incident, it's the underlying principle that I hate, the same one that gave us boring trap hockey and emphasizing blocking shots over skill and creativity. I don't want to watch boring 1-0 grind it out fests, win or lose. I watch sports to be entertained. NHL will never be on the level of the NBA imo because the NBA embraces excitement

You guys keep repeating that the objective of the NHL is to win games...no it's not....it's to make money. If there was no money involved, we wouldn't be discussing this.

 

[BM14]

It's not about your entertainment as a fan; it's about winning.

Know why you put "4th line scrubs" out in a blowout game's PP? To reward them for their hard work and rest your stars as God forbid an injury were to happen to them on that shift.

Doesn't sound like hockey is the sport for you to follow.

 

[HFpapi]

It's not about your entertainment as a fan; it's about winning.

Know why you put "4th line scrubs" out in a blowout game's PP? To reward them for their hard work and rest your stars as God forbid an injury were to happen to them on that shift.

Doesn't sound like hockey is the sport for you to follow.

Breaking: Sports fan wants to be entertained. Is told maybe hockey isn't for him.

It won't be the sport for anyone to follow if they keep down this path of having 5 men in body armour falling down in front of the goalie so they can stop pucks getting through to eek out another 1-0 victory in front of 7,000 snoozing fans in Raleigh

Let me guess, Ovechkin's "hot stick" routine offended you?

Pavel Bure would be in the press box in today's game for not tracking back on D

 

[BM14]

Breaking: Sports fan wants to be entertained. Is told maybe hockey isn't for him.

It won't be the sport for anyone to follow if they keep down this path of having 5 men in body armour falling down in front of the goalie so they can stop pucks getting through to eek out another 1-0 victory in front of 7,000 snoozing fans in Raleigh

Let me guess, Ovechkin's "hot stick" routine offended you?

Pavel Bure would be in the press box in today's game for not tracking back on D

Breaking: Sports fans want their team to win a championship over being entertained in a 5-1 game.

Double breaking: Random person on the internet says sports will be dead because playing a 2 way game is against his version of entertainment.

 

[TheBradyBunch]

I disagree. The principle of sports is friendly competition. If people like it, it's nice. But it's not the goal of any sport.

Exactly. Sport was borne out of friendly competition, professional sports were borne out of the general publics willingness and desire to spend money in order to watch.

 

[daver]

I don't understand why players don't wear clown noses more often.

 

[BM14]

I don't understand why players don't wear clown noses more often.

Or why don't players take a selfie before they block a shot?

 

[aufheben]

Breaking: Sports fans want their team to win a championship over being entertained in a 5-1 game.

Double breaking: Random person on the internet says sports will be dead because playing a 2 way game is against his version of entertainment.

Since you claim I'm trying to imperialize the definition of entertainment before proceeding to offer your own definition, how about we try to imagine a more objective truth.

I saw many comments on Twitter and Reddit asking why P.K didn't shoot. IIRC, even the NHL.com postgame report mentioned the fact that he didn't shoot. Now why would they do that? When has it ever been note-worthy that someone didn't shoot? This was a rare and unique chance for a fun moment. If P.K skated to centre ice to get ready for a shot, the entire arena would have started buzzing.

I'm not as salty as I seem about this particular incident, it's the underlying principle that I hate, the same one that gave us boring trap hockey and emphasizing blocking shots over skill and creativity. I don't want to watch boring 1-0 grind it out fests, win or lose. I watch sports to be entertained. NHL will never be on the level of the NBA imo because the NBA embraces excitement

You guys keep repeating that the objective of the NHL is to win games...no it's not....it's to make money. If there was no money involved, we wouldn't be discussing this.

You're both separating winning from entertainment.

 

[BM14]

You're both separating winning from entertainment.

Disagree. I'm separating winning a season long championship vs winning a singular game 6-1 instead of 5-1.

 

[HFpapi]

Breaking: Sports fans want their team to win a championship over being entertained in a 5-1 game.

Double breaking: Random person on the internet says sports will be dead because playing a 2 way game is against his version of entertainment.

Not sports in general, just the ones with old school outlooks that don't want to adapt. Isn't the NHL behind the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA basketball and football, NASCAR, and losing ground to MLS in the States? And aren't some Canadian teams having attendance issues this season?

 

[aufheben]

Disagree. I'm separating winning a season long championship vs winning a singular game 6-1 instead of 5-1.

I'm just saying it still boils down to entertainment. Maybe I misread your previous post.

 

[BM14]

Not sports in general, just the ones with old school outlooks that don't want to adapt. Isn't the NHL behind the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA basketball and football, NASCAR, and losing ground to MLS in the States? And aren't some Canadian teams having attendance issues this season?

MLS has how many Canadian teams vs American? How many MLS players do you follow on social media because of their outgoing personalities?
How many immigrants come from countries where soccer is a popular sport?
Has nothing to do with the fact that some teams are already out of championship contention, does it?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Since you claim I'm trying to imperialize the definition of entertainment before proceeding to offer your own definition, how about we try to imagine a more objective truth.

I saw many comments on Twitter and Reddit asking why P.K didn't shoot. IIRC, even the NHL.com postgame report mentioned the fact that he didn't shoot. Now why would they do that? When has it ever been note-worthy that someone didn't shoot? This was a rare and unique chance for a fun moment. If P.K skated to centre ice to get ready for a shot, the entire arena would have started buzzing.

I'm not as salty as I seem about this particular incident, it's the underlying principle that I hate, the same one that gave us boring trap hockey and emphasizing blocking shots over skill and creativity. I don't want to watch boring 1-0 grind it out fests, win or lose. I watch sports to be entertained. NHL will never be on the level of the NBA imo because the NBA embraces excitement

You guys keep repeating that the objective of the NHL is to win games...no it's not....it's to make money. If there was no money involved, we wouldn't be discussing this.

Now you're asking the right questions and answering yourself at the same time.

A bit of internet outrage over what would have been a cool quirk doesn't mean the game isn't fun, and frankly, it's better than it's been in a decade as far as I'm concerned.

Plus, that game gave us this, so it's not like it was some total loss because PK didn't shoot on his brother

I mean in the grand scheme of things I'd like to see more personality but you're taking an easily explained event as a microcosm of some grand anti-entertainment phenomena that you're greatly exaggerating.

 

[Sniper99]

Not sports in general, just the ones with old school outlooks that don't want to adapt. Isn't the NHL behind the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA basketball and football, NASCAR, and losing ground to MLS in the States? And aren't some Canadian teams having attendance issues this season?

Where are you getting that from?

Ottawa I believe is the only team struggling with attendance.

 

[Anglesmith]

 

[sandysan]

I already know most people are going to say this is dumb, who cares, overreaction etc., but this stuff bothers me tbh.

So the scene tonight: Nashville vs Las Vegas, game goes to a shootout. On one team you have P.K Subban, and in goal on the other team, his brother Malcolm. Laviolette, you know what to do right? SIX Nashville shooters, none of them P.K. Surely it wasn't lost on him that the entire arena would have loved to have watched a brother vs brother showdown. It almost would've had to have been a conscious effort not to pick him, knowing it's what everyone wanted. It's not like P.K is a scrub, he's a top 3 player on the team skill-wise. But no, Mr. Serious has to consult his army of advanced stats analysts and make a very meticulous decision because hockey is life or death and making the fans happy is not in the equation.

We see this all across sports. I get that GM's and coaches want to win and not get fired, but these people are multi-millionaires because, and only because, fans find sports entertaining. The sacrosanct principal of sports should be entertaining the customers #1, winning #2.

Raptors fans will remember when Norm Powell was crucified for throwing down a huge windmill at the end of a blowout even though it brought everyone to their feet

Bautista and his bat flip was sacrilegious even though it's now an iconic moment in Toronto sports history.

NFL players can't celebrate anymore, the list goes on.

Sports are an entertainment industry, entertain us!

you got those two mixed up, lest this become the WWE.

Anyone who is willing to lose pretty over win ugly should find something else to do with their time. The point of ANY REAL athletic competition (professional or amateur) is to win. anything less and its acting.

this isnt my opinion, its the definition of competition.

 

[biturbo19]

I do think the parity of the league, and the rise of analytics have sucked a lot of the joy out of the game. So many players and situations now are just boiled down to the numbers and probabilities...always leaning toward the "safe" choice because that's often what best keeps a coach employed.

It's the fans too though. There's so much less credence given to "intangibles" and peripheral things like "style". Entertainment value for many fans these days seems to be found more on a spreadsheet than in the game itself. Especially when the season is so long, and for long stretches of the year starts to feel like an absolutely mindless grind...just waiting for the playoffs to arrive.

It's always on full display when it comes to the WJC every year. There's just so much more joy, excitement, passion, emotion, etc. packed into that tournament than you get in an entire NHL regular season. The coaches often don't have the same degree of "safe" options available because of the volatility of young players, and the idea of WJC analytics hasn't proliferated nearly so extensively as in the NHL. Particularly because it's such a small sample, it'd be hard to find value in much of it. The volatility of that short sample breaking fans and teams alike to be far more impulsive, emotional, passionate and buy into "intangible" things like "the good ol' days".

 

[Dabeast]

but NFL players can celebrate now

 

[untouchable21]

According to P.K. Subban Stats | Hockey-Reference.com Subban is 0-4 in penalty shots in his career.

I get why Laviolette didn't put him out there, there's probably more experienced players on the team when it comes to penalty shots.

0-4 in penalty shots? Are we talking penalty shots or shootout? I'd be very surprised if PK has had 4 penalty shots in his career.

 

[Lapa]

0-4 in penalty shots? Are we talking penalty shots or shootout? I'd be very surprised if PK has had 4 penalty shots in his career.

It's shootouts, my mistake