I have gained a reputation for bashing baseball. In the past year, I have written two columns for The Post that have clearly targeted America’s beloved pastime, in one of which I insisted readers should watch hockey instead. Here is the much-delayed second installment of why the NHL trumps the MLB:
I have sat in the bleachers and watched the lights flicker on for night games from Cincinnati to Chicago. I have been a bleacher bum, overpaid for tickets from scalpers and paid $8 for a bag of peanuts. My nostalgia for baseball is overwhelming.
Reminiscing on baseball is like remembering how your great-grandparents house used to be. At first you thought it was fantastic — there were always shrieks of enjoyment when you walked in the door, and cookies were always plentiful in the bottom kitchen cupboard.
If you stay for more than a half-hour, you start to realize it is terribly boring. There was always a stench stemming from old peanut butter jars hidden behind the discolored flannel couches, which seemed to be in constant use from your great-grandfather who, ironically, was always watching baseball.
With the arrival of the NHL playoffs, it’s obviously nowhere near the scene described.
For instance, there have been five overtime playoff games as of Sunday evening, including one triple-overtime game between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues on Thursday. Heads have been targeted and have rolled as a result; such as when Chicago’s Brent Seabrook was suspended three games for a targeted hit on St. Louis’ David Backes.
Bodies have been thrown across the ice for the sake of their teams, as seen when Colorado’s Erik Johnson slammed fearlessly into an empty net to prevent an opposing goal, giving the Avalanche time to take the lead in the game’s final minute.
Unlike the MLB, where brawls are noteworthy enough to grace the lead of a sports highlight show, players in the NHL gravitate toward opposing players on nearly every stoppage in play.
The NHL is like your other set of great-grandparents. It always starts out as fun and games when you first get there, but when their neighbor comes over and finds their weak spot — i.e. politics, religion, the war(s) — punches will fly, verbally and physically. It can get out of hand, but you cannot help but instigate and pound on the glass.
The MLB has its playoffs, but add a healthy dose of desperation to an already physically demanding sport where speeds of 20 mph and above are the norm, sticks are used weapons against foes and blind hits are retaliation, its apparent: hockey is a sport you can’t keep your eyes off.
@ColinHanner
ch115710@ohiou.edu
