NHL
Every year, about this time, water turns into ice and one of the most action-packed and physical games played takes place.
Hockey is filled with intensity and desire to win. The same can’t be said about basketball.
Have you ever watched a midseason pro basketball game? It’s boring and slow. The players seem apathetic and don’t seem to care about winning.
To hockey players, nothing means more than winning the Stanley Cup. The Cup represents one of the most fought over and coveted trophies in sports.
Hockey is the closest we get to having a huge international following as well. Since soccer has been pretty much shunned in America, hockey fills the void as the international phenomenon that we follow.
Hockey players may be the toughest of all athletes. They take a brutal beating on the ice from vicious cross checks or jumping in front of pucks.
Hockey players have heart and toughness, and that’s not even the best part of hockey.
In basketball, every trip down the floor results in a score. In hockey, goals are scored few and sometimes far in between.
Every time a goal is scored, emotion pours out of every player or fan.
If that were to happen in a basketball game, everyone involved would be tuckered out before the end of the first quarter.
In the end, hockey is filled with passion and power. The games are fast and fierce. Basketball games are just sluggish and boring. Stick with hockey.
– Bill Hopkins
NBA
If I say the names Alexander Ovechkin, Sydney Crosby, Alex Pietrangelo or Chris Pronger, what comes to mind?
Well if you are like the majority of Americans then absolutely nothing comes to mind except you might think those names are pretty sweet and hard to spell.
But if I were to say the names Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal or Dwayne Wade, you would automatically know what I am talking about. That is what separates the NBA from the NHL.
Even if we take and see what the two biggest stars that each league has produced, the NBA wins hands down with Michael Jordan over Wayne Gretzky.
In this country, the NBA is better known than the NHL. The NBA produces more star athletes that are recognizable to the average person than the NHL.
Even when you are watching the NHL what are you going to see when you watch the commercials? Most likely a Nike commercial with either Kobe or Lebron in it showing off their new shoes.
Also the games are far more exciting. The NBA simply has more appeal with the high flying dunks and half court, buzzer beater finishes than that of a sport where the final score is usually less than five goals.
The only thing the NHL might have an edge over the NBA in is the fights. But while they don’t happen as often in the NBA, when they- do they get violent. Do I even need to mention the Pistons-Pacers brawl from a few years ago?
So simply put, the NBA is better than anything the NHL can produce. They have more star power, much more exciting games and all around a bigger fan gathering here in America than the NHL does.
– Hayden Shaver
