Why I Love Hockey

                "It's too violent."' "'It's boring." "I can't see the puck." These are just some of the reasons many extra space before reasons people don't like hockey. These are the same reasons, unfortunately, that hockey has not become very popular in America. This is a sad fact for many different reasons. One of the main reasons is due to the fact that in 2004, the National Hockey League (NHL) locked out due to labor issues. The 2004 lock out put a dent in the sport that they are trying to repair even today. Even with making drastic rule changes; the sport is still trying to be rectified. However, despite these issues, the NHL is a sport that I love for many different reasons. First off, I feel that hockey is the most difficult sport in the world to play. I've had a few debates with people who would say that baseball would be the most difficult sport to play. That argument could be very valid for many reasons. After all, hitting a round ball with a wooden bat coming at you at over 90 MPH sometimes could make that debate an open and shut case for baseball. However, here is my defense to why I feel hockey is the most difficult sport to play. You have 5 guys with pieces of wood that the hold called a hockey stick. Now do you think they have a big basketball or beach ball to slap around? No! They have a little black circle made of rubber that they have to make sure they don't let go too far ahead of them. Now they are not running, no, no, no. They are skating as fast as they can ON ICE! Finally, once they get to their destination, this is not like football where you run into the end zone to score. Once you get to the point where the goal is, you have a person whose main goal in life and why he can put food on the table for his family is to stop you from getting that little rubber puck past him.  Now, with all due respect, tell me that's not a difficult ability to here too before after respect master. Most of all, the reason I love hockey is for the off-season antics or lack thereof. Again, let's think about this logically. In football, you have Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg and being convicted of a felony. In baseball, you have Roger Clemens and his steroid debacle (Remember, Andy Pettite "Mis-remembered"). Also, in basketball, you have Ron Artest picking fights before you against innocent fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills in the Pistons/Pacers game.  On top of all of this, in college football, you have absolutely deplorable recruiting violations. Things so awful that I'm sure Woody Hayes is spinning in his grave. Now that we know all this, name me a scandal in hockey. Guess what. YOU CAN'T. The reason I love hockey is that for the most part, there are no scandals. Now, as I've written before, I'm not saying that things in hockey don't happen. However, when it comes to hockey, one of 3 things happen in regards to scandals. One, scandals don't happen. Two, if they do happen, the players aren't charged (Example would be Sean Avery who shoved a police officer but was not charged.) or three, when scandals do happen, it is often taken care of either in the team's locker room or by the commissioner of the NHL.  For these reasons, I feel that hockey should be revered rather than being a back page story on your local sports page or the final highlight on a slow news day on SportsCenter. That will never be though, because the fact is hockey is too clean cut of a sport. So for me, here's to hockey, the last real sport in the world.