NHL Playoffs

What is this average joes (great TV show). Of course hitting a 95 MPH fastball is hard for someone who has never swung a bat. Only pros can hit speeds that high. That's like me askiing you to score on Henrik Lundqvist (it will never happen).

The fact of the matter is that anyone walking through a park can activley participate in every other major sport in north America. Sure if I play baseball I may strike out every time, but I can play defence, or stand in the batters box, draw a walk and run the bases.

Running, catching, jumping, throwing (all required to participate in baseball, football, soccer) are skills that are learned/developed at the toddler stage of development and allow me to be a part of the action.

If you pass by an arena and are asked to play a game of pick up (having never skated before), at best you will spend the next hour on your back doing snow angels, or grabbing onto the boards for dear life or just standing in 1 spot as people play around you like you were a pylon (and I won't even discuss passing, shooting or stick handling. That's just unfair). You will not be able to participate and if you try to touch the puck, you will fall (balance on a slick surface with skakes that are 1/8 of an inch thick.

I'm a massive sports fan, I watch it all, and appreciate the skill each one requires. It's like comparing apples and oranges though. Not only does hockey require it's own skill set, as does each sport (batting, kicking a soccer ball, using a stick in hockey), but has the additional difficulty of playing on a surface, ice, that without a lot practice, can make the most athletic guy/girl look very uncoordinated/foolish.

[I apologize for the length of this post.. got carried away... ]

Hockey is a great sport. You get to seriously beat up your friends and shake hands when your done. Players start learning how to be tough at a young age. There is no checking at lower levels but my 10 year old knows how far he can push it without taking a penalty. He can use his body to send a kid flying down the ice on his back... He's fast and draws a lot of tripping penalties, hops back up and sprints back to the play.

To play hockey you have to be able to skate. That does not mean just gliding – you have to have good deep edges, inside, outside, backwards and forwards. You need strong legs & core. You have to be able to stop on a dime and change direction in seconds. You need to be fast. You need a powerful stride. You need to do all this while holding a slender stick and finessing a puck, wearing thick padded gloves. You need to be able to keep the puck while not looking at it, quickly determining your next move. Using your body to keep opponents away, checking them into the boards. Trying to fake out the goalie and get a shot off while being challenged by defenders. Hockey players are not completely protected with pads. You have to be tough enough to get slammed with a puck or stick and continue to play.

I don’t play (I do skate) but have experienced the pain of getting hit with the puck (and it was not a rocket shot by an NHL player) it took my breath away. I think I still have a bruise from it. I’ve seen some really tough stuff watching U18 games! Those kids get away with things you don’t in the NHL! The refs just can't catch everything.

I would say: 1) Hockey, 2) Rugby and 3) Football
And… Go Caps!

I'm a Leafs fan (no jokes please the last 7 years have been tough enough)

Also a Leafs fan, and I am old enough to have seen them win a few Cups!!!!!

I am incredibly jealous. The last time the leafs made the playoffs I was 18 and in highschool (27 now). At this rate I could go my entire 20's without seeing the Leafs in playoff hockey (but yet I'm still a die hard fan).

despite their woeful last 8 years of playing

Got you beat. I am a Toronto fan and have had to deal with 40 years of woefulness