Why are hockey players boring?

[Varan]

Someone had a thread about the next new personality and it got me thinking about the perceived personality of hockey players in general.

If you compare hockey to the NBA or NFL, or even baseball for that matter, the NHL would be DEAD LAST at 4 when it comes to personality. Why is that? I've seen Russell Westbrook have pre-game dances with his teammate, and LeBron and Danny Green dance on the sidelines because of a nice play, crazy celebrations and all. But Subban got killed for "bobbing his head to music" for crying out loud. Why? Don't even get me started on how OV was crucified earlier in his career.

Why is it like that? Are they supposed to be boring? Come on man....

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[tntkid]

Because they are not attention whores.

 

[Captain Bowie]

They aren't as much as people make them out to be. The League in general does a poor job of marketing the personalities that do exist, like PK Subban, Brent Burns, ect.

 

[iMissKovy]

I had a question like this the other day. I think it's because hockey is an especially blue collar sport. Blue collar people tend to be the type that just shut-up and do their work. not always of course, but typically. I really wish it wasnt like this. Its a very boring culture. Ill tell you this right now, the NHL would be much more popular and make alot more money if it wasnt like this.

 

[Frosty415]

Brent Burns and Joe "4 goal" Thornton are not boring.

PK is not boring

Kessel is not boring

Chris Pronger and his physics were not boring

 

[ZiGOODejad]

maybe because they're just regular guys who get paid to play a sport they love.. and not show boat to the world about it?

 

[TheAngryHank]

Players need more money phones!!

Not really.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I had a question like this the other day. I think it's because hockey is an especially blue collar sport. Blue collar people tend to be the type that just shut-up and do their work. not always of course, but typically. I really wish it wasnt like this. Its a very boring culture. Ill tell you this right now, the NHL would be much more popular and make alot more money if it wasnt like this.

Hockey is anything but a blue collar sport. It's a rich man's sport. Most players have had a decent upbringing, except the ones that grew up on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Those NA kids in the NHL don't come from a blue collar background at all.

 

[Benedict Kovalchuk]

I had a question like this the other day. I think it's because hockey is an especially blue collar sport. Blue collar people tend to be the type that just shut-up and do their work. not always of course, but typically. I really wish it wasnt like this. Its a very boring culture. Ill tell you this right now, the NHL would be much more popular and make alot more money if it wasnt like this.

Isn't this the exact opposite of things though? Hockey tends to be a more white-collar affair given the funds and time required. White collar culture tends to be more cautious, boring, and sterilized than blue collar culture, or sometimes just a pale imitation of blue collar culture at the mass level.

 

[Blufreezy]

Think the nhl really pushes to be overly family friendly and push the “gentlemen’s game” bs .. not that it’s not.. but it’s not as much as it comes off as..

 

[Pay Carl]

read a thread on Ho-Sang if you want to know why they all act boring

 

[Whaleafs]

If you want something to watch for the guys with "fun personalities" maybe The Bachelorette is more your thing

 

[TheAngryHank]

I find it odd that Don Cherry gets on players for showboating then wears his stupid jackets.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

The sport itself is a blue collar sport. But i've always been curious to see how much more athletic and generally better the sport would be if more black people played. Considering how theyre generally much more athletically gifted

Black people don't dominate every sport. I'll take soccer for example. The most dominant players come from all sorts of ethnicities, not just black. The best players in the world are a little guy from Argentina and a machine from Portugal. The latter is one of the greatest athletes ever and certainly the best athlete today. He can run like an Olympic sprinter, he has incredible stamina, he can jump higher than the average NBA player, his legs are super powerful and his coordination is out of this world.

Back to hockey, I believe that the mentality of the sport is outdated. The antiquated mentality is deeply rooted inside the hockey culture and preserved by dinosaurs like Don Cherry.

Be classy, be a good Canadian boy, be this, be that. If you look back at Cherry's teams, they were anything but classy. They were bullies.

 

[Frosty415]

Players need more money phones!!

Not really.

oh man I remember that LOL

 

[Whaleafs]

Back to hockey, I believe that the mentality of the sport is outdated. The antiquated mentality is deeply rooted inside the hockey culture and preserved by dinosaurs like Don Cherry.

Be classy, be a good Canadian boy, be this, be that. If you look back at Cherry's teams, they were anything but classy. They were bullies.

The effects of too much soy in the modern diet

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Because they are not attention ****es.

Apparently having a personality is being an "attention whore" these days.

Or maybe other leagues aren't uptight and stuck in the past when it comes to keeping their players tightly leashed in an attempt to promote an, as pointed out by @Eazy for Kuzy, antiquated and outdated facade that is designed to make its players eschew every single shred or personality and individuality in order to conform to some ridiculous notion of hockey being idealistically sportsmanlike.

The few players that dare try and break the mold in an attempt to bring the sport into the 21st century are immediately admonished, repudiated and brought to heel as evidenced by the furor that surrounds PK Subban or Alex Ovechkin any time either does anything that doesn't conform to the old boy's club mentality.

Sports are entertainment. Hockey already has a demographics problem and a tiny segment of the population it appeals to compared to every other professional sports league on Earth. If the game is ever going to be grown beyond being a fringe sport and appeal to non traditional demographics, the dinosaurs are going to have to realize that personalities draw eyeballs to the game as much as the on ice/field/court product does. That's the reality.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

The mentality of the sport is that team is more important than individual, and how you represent yourself when making public appearances reflects on your teammates. This is why so many interviews with players are "boring". But, I'll almost guarantee you that off camera, they aren't like what you see on TV.

 

[Orfieus]

Someone had a thread about the next new personality and it got me thinking about the perceived personality of hockey players in general.

If you compare hockey to the NBA or NFL, or even baseball for that matter, the NHL would be DEAD LAST at 4 when it comes to personality. Why is that? I've seen Russell Westbrook have pre-game dances with his teammate, and LeBron and Danny Green dance on the sidelines because of a nice play, crazy celebrations and all. But Subban got killed for "bobbing his head to music" for crying out loud. Why? Don't even get me started on how OV was crucified earlier in his career.

Why is it like that? Are they supposed to be boring? Come on man....

1) Only rich people can afford NHL calabure training needed to make the NHL now
2) Kids are groomed from a very early age (9-10)
3) GMs like quiet kids

 

[HockeyAddict]

Historically, Canadians made up the majority of players and its not in our DNA to be brash & outspoken... now Canadians are less prominent however there are more Europeans (Swedes, Russians, Finnish etc) who also aren't brought up to be that way and I'm 100% good with that.

 

[HockeyAddict]

Sports are entertainment. Hockey already has a demographics problem and a tiny segment of the population it appeals to compared to every other professional sports league on Earth. If the game is ever going to be grown beyond being a fringe sport and appeal to non traditional demographics, the dinosaurs are going to have to realize that personalities draw eyeballs to the game as much as the on ice/field/court product does. That's the reality.

Soccer is pretty damn popular and I don't think they have a WWE type attitude either... not every sport league has to have over-the-top individual personalities as part of its culture for it to be entertaining.

 

[KlefDown]

Honestly no real answer tbh.
It's one of the reasons why NHL will never be as big as MLB, NBA, NFL or even MLS. It just don't bring that appeal

 

[bob27]

Sportsmen in general aren't particularly... charismatic. Being well spoken in interviews is probably not a skillset that most of these guys are interested in developing.

 

[Hynh]

Soccer is pretty damn popular and I don't think they have a WWE type attitude either... not every sport league has to have over-the-top individual personalities as part of its culture for it to be entertaining.

Soccer is the world's most popular sport because it is a good sport that doesn't cost anything to play, you can play it everywhere and you can easily adapt to groups of players that are small or large.

 

[Moncherry]

Sean Avery had "personality" and he was reviled.