Since my dad took me to my first Islanders game, featuring my first Bobby Nystrom fight, in the early '80s, I've always thought live hockey was cool, but I never really felt the game. Any close match with a packed house is exciting. I'm not saying it's not. And waiting for an overtime goal in the postseason is nerve-wracking. But I always feel like NHL games are happening and not developing.

In the NBA, players get hot and cold and pile up fouls, and strategies are thusly affected. NHL teams, it seems to me, just kinda play, and I don't know how much thinking is going on. I know it's not that simple, and I'm clearly not close enough to the game to appreciate it.

But I don't see anything in the NHL that resembles such water-cooler-debate-inspiring moves as yanking a starting pitcher in baseball or going for fourth down in football.

Five reasons I'll take the NBA over the NHL:

1. Statistical categories. Hockey has assists, goals, points, saves, and maybe a few others I'm not aware of. Basketball doesn't quite have the numbers football or baseball do, but it blows hockey out of the water.
2. I can pronounce the name of every NBA player, and I know what country they're from (for now).
3. I don't get a chance to watch either sport live. I've been to a few WHL hockey games, and the intensity is awesome. But since I'm viewing from the tube, basketball is just easier to follow.
4. Hockey is a tease. You can go full periods watching players fumble around with the puck in about a 50' area, and it never goes in the net. It's frustrating. You can usually get 20 points a quarter in an NBA game... unless you're from Denver.
5. The "Even I can do that!" factor. I can yell at the TV when an overpaid baller messes up a bounce pass or lay-in. I can't open my mouth when watching hockey, because I can't even skate.

As much as i preffer watching hockey to basketball, I think basketball is the better bridge. More people can get into basketball because they can go out and play it, where as hockey is almost an investment. In order to player better basketball, all you need is a ball; if you have a good basket, your set. Hokcey requires hundreds of dollars in equipment (approaching a thousand if your a goalie), and then you really need to get into a league to play, where insurance fees/medical bills can be enormous.

why hocky doesnt work

you never ever ever see anything that you have never seen before....theres only so many ways to put the puck in the net and 98% of them are the exact same

Come on buddy! If you're gonna diss it, spell it right at least.

Why do I love hockey? Think back one year ago today.

I thought the debated was over the pros and cons of the individual sport, not whether you liked one over the other?

NBA - I'll side with the cons. Charles Barkley IS a role model whether he wants to be or not. Shawn Kemp was and is a disgrace to the game. Off-court behavior is important because it speaks to the integrity of the players who represent the sport.

NHL - Don't know it that well b/c I am a southern boy raised on football, baseball and basketball (in that order). However, I do like the playoffs and the fact that it is truly an international league (just kidding, Canada is just the northernmost state).

What if I said neither?

I lived in Colorado. I love the Avs. I'm a hockey fan. But there is just no way to get up to watch a game on the tube after you have seen one in person. Unless it's the playoffs, it just isn't exciting. Plus, there is something unsatisfying about getting emotional over a game that you know can end in a tie.

The NBA is a joke. Talk about a bunch of over paid street ballers and cry babies. In the next 2 or so years we will see the last of a dying breed of NBA players retire: the ones who remember the glory days of Michael, Larry, Magic, Isiah and Dominique. When they are gone, the percent of players in the NBA with any class at all will fall to about 1.5%.

I, instead, offer up college basketball as a bridge. For as much as the NBA sucks, I can watch the likes of any NCAA team play against anyone, anytime and not be angry.

sorry captain spelling bee
what happened 1 year ago today?

One year ago today, in one of the most memorable gold medal games to have ever been played, Canada defeated the US in men's ice hockey.

The game featured great goals and was a nail-biter right up until the last two minutes.

Unlike Olympic basketball, the victor was actually in doubt at the start of the game.

I just can't get into basketball anymore, I could go on and on about all the things (or players) I don't like. But really pro basketball is just not exciting...All but the last 2 minutes, which takes 20 minutes to play. Boooorrrrinnnnggggg ZZZZZZZZ

Give me hockey any day (of course I am biased since I've been playing it since I was 5)

Oh god, the gold medal game from the Olympics? The fact that we even have to wonder what happened a year ago tells us it was not as impactful as hockey fans want us to believe.

In Canada it was a huge, cultural deal. In the U.S. we just said, "too bad."

Last year's World Series (including the Angels, for Christ's sake) drew a higher per-game average TV audience than that hockey game. That's a fact.

as exciting as it is...go ask anybody but super hockey fans what the 10 most memorable moments in hockey are...granted im not a fan but i get my dose of sportscenter every night and i know enough about it. i cant give you 1 moment beside the usa olympic one..and thats watching the sport...have fun trying to play hockey out of high school...its expensive and you need many people, and equiptment, and ice time...i know this isnt the subject but anybody can have fun playing basketball with people at their level...and you can play with anywhere between 1 and 10 players...and you can play till your old...just cant do that w/ hockey....
AND....while we are at it we can look at the athletic point of view in that you dont HAVE to be an amizing athlete to do it...some pros are just pure brutes..argue all you want but its true

Hockey, hockey, hockey.

'nuff said.

I'm sure if the USA had won that hockey game, there would be a different attitude to it. Like the world's most watched game - soccer, if the USA aren't the best at it, you guys seem to pretend that it isn't really that significant. Trust me, when the Dream Team won those gold medals, the rest of the world said "who cares", because basketball is only really big in one country. It's a minor sport everywhere else. At least with Ice Hockey, there is a genuine international contest of some sort.

Okay Paul, here are more specific reasons why hockey is better, as told by someone who actually plays the game...

Top Five Reasons Why Hockey Is Better Than Basketball:
by Will K., an 11 year old hockey goalie.

1. You can run into opposing players on purpose without getting ejected- it's a contact sport, and that's okay.
2. Hockey players are stronger, faster, smarter and nicer than basketball players. Plus, they don't whine as much.
3. Hockey is more of a team sport; can't just have one superstar on your team.
4. You can be short and still be good.
5. It's just plain better.

Although "it's just plain better" is quite a dynamic argument...

March Madness is the only conceivable option for a football - baseball bridge. It's got the drama, it's a showcase of great athletes, and (hopefully) the players aren't overpaid yet.

For some of these kids, it's their last chance to play in front of an actual crowd. There's nothing more exciting than every player treating each possession like it's life or death.

I don't care what the 11 year olds of the world are saying.

Hands down hockey is the better game and here's why
1) the last twenty seconds of the game doesn't
take twenty minutes to play
2) sudden death overtime
3) unless you're falling down or its got a motor
there's no faster game on the planet
4) shift changes 'on the fly' what other sport
permits you to change players while play
continues?
5) you have the body contact of football, the
hand eye co-ordination of golf, and puck
movement as quick as any fastball in
baseball
6) If a fight breaks out you get two sports for
the price of one
7) acrobatic goalie saves are the equal of any
basketball dunk
8) Don Cherry and Coach's Corner
9) The intensity, commitment of hockey players -
they play with broken bones, stiches,
bruises; none of this "I've got a sore toe,I
can't play" bull. 'Guts, grit and
determination' means something in hockey.
10)Hockey players give more back to the
community than illegitimite children
PS. Better question what's the better bridge between the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the next season?

I am a fan of both sports. But when it comes down to it, hockey is far more entertaining than basketball.

Hockey has a certain intensity that allows players to be aggresive. Basketball, with rules constantly changing (refer to post 1994 when they started clamping down on hand check courtesy of the Knicks) it is hard to understand what a player can and can not do anymore. Plus, have you ever seen a basketball player try and fight?!? It's one big slap-fight!
On top of it, how entertaining is it to watch a seven-foot basketball player slamdunk a ball on a ten-foot basket?
At least a hockey player needs to be able to score on an obstacle that is slightly bigger than the goalie guarding it.

Captain Canuck, you are now officially my 11 year old's hero. ;-)

Don't have time to get into the reasons right now, but I vote Hockey, by a long shot.

Hockey is still a sport? Funny, I thought they did away with that game years ago. The only reason 90% of the fans watch it for the fights.
Basketball is just as boring, but at least you know the players and what crimes they are committing this week. Tell me that everyone didn't watch the Knicks games after Latrell Sprewell beat up his coach, waiting for it to happen again.

Personally I think the sports between baseball and football suck. Who watches racing anyway? Pool tournaments are more exciting.

LETS GO WHALERS!

Im a jackass, I meant the Warriors!

There is nothing more punishing than trying to win the Stanley Cup.
Sorry but th NHL rules over the NBA.

This is supposed to be about which league is a better bridge between football and baseball, not personal enjoyment of the sport you play. The fact is neither are a great bridge; football ends in late january, baseball begins in late march/early april. The "dead zone" is juts that: the weak, way too long regular season of both the NBA and NHL. Sure, if it's your favorite team that is competing fot the annual ".500 team that gets the 8 seed in the playoffs and promptly gets blown out of the NBA playoffs" or "team that sneaks into the playoffs because it has 20 ties , then manages to make the Conference Finals in hockey", then its a great old time. For everyone else, its just filler. They should just start televising saddistic beatings and call that a sport. Oh, Im sorry Mr. Tyson, you must have slipped my mind.....

24 comments and not one mention of curling?

Going to vote for hockey.

However if you want a truly interesting sport to fill the dead time with go with rugby. After taking the twenty minutes it takes to figure the sport out it is a blast. What other sport will you hear the words "He running towards the goal line, OH WAIT HE'S HIT, HE'S DOWN...WAIT A MINUTE HE IS WIGGLING TOWARD THE GOAL LINE!"
Other than American football there isn't a sport more fun to watch while drinking.

Curling, I was gonna say that!!

I am totally biased. I love hockey. To me, it is the epitome of sportsmanship.

Hockey promotes team play. Not one person can carry the entire came. In basketball, you have selfish ball hogs that will cry if they don't get the ball every play.

Hockey is hard. How many people can skate. Then add to it the fact that people are trying to knock you off your skate. You need to be in better physical condition to play hockey than basketball.

When you see a hockey game in person, you're hooked, there is no turning back.

And ah yes, the Gold medal game. Those were happy days.

1980 US Olympic Hockey Team - US vs USSR - nuff said.

Hockey by far.

In the NHL, the players at least have class.

In the NBA, you have a bunch of overpaid whiners that are in and out of court as the weeks go by.

There's no question hockey is the more entertaining sport, its fast, its physical, and theres plenty of drama. ive tried to watch basket ball and found it ok but nothing compared to hockey. By the way both sports were invented in Canada.