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World Cup

zeke said:
yes, as I said, no other major professional sport uses the olympics as their showcase.
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It makes sense for basketball and hockey. Which is why they've been at the Olympics for almost as long as the games have been played in the modern era. It makes less sense for other sports due to the limitations of the games themselves/the limited length of Olympic competition.
 
leafman101 said:
There were 6,700 people at a 7000 seat arena in Russia and 14,000 in a 17,000 seat arena ins Czech. They care all over the world. For the exhibition games.
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So they can't even sell out the games? You do know that almost every game in the Czech Republic for the 2015 World Championship (a tournament many NHL fans make fun of) was sold out?
 
JaysCyYoung said:
So they can't even sell out the games?
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Like i just posted. They literally sold out exhibition games in all of Canada, US, Russia, Sweden and Finland. For exhibition games. Looks like the few here are the exceptions. Sure looks like a lot of people caring all over the world.
 
Watching the games, or buying a ticket to a pre-tournament game (especially in countries where they almost never get the chance to watch these players in person) does not automatically equal genuinely giving a shit about the outcome of this tournament.

I've watched a couple of games myself, with my "give-a-shit meter" remaining firmly on zero.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
It makes sense for basketball and hockey. Which is why they've been at the Olympics for almost as long as the games have been played in the modern era. It makes less sense for other sports due to the limitations of the games themselves/the limited length of Olympic competition.
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what does this even mean?
 
LeafGm said:
Watching the games, or buying a ticket to a pre-tournament game (especially in countries where they almost never get the chance to watch these players in person) does not automatically equal genuinely giving a shit about the outcome of this tournament. I've watched a couple of games myself, with my "give-a-shit meter" firmly remaining on zero.
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Lol. See even the people who "don't care" are tuning in. Everyone wants to watch and play in this thing that no one cares about.
 
leafman101 said:
Lol. See even the people who "don't care" are tuning in. Everyone wants to watch and play in this thing that no one cares about.
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Yes, a die-hard hockey fan who talks hockey on an online message board almost every day is tuning in to watch hockey after about three months of having no hockey to watch.

It's a remarkable affirmation of the relevancy of this tournament, I tells ya.
 
zeke said:
what does this even mean?
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I already explained it.

Rugby would be a huge Olympic event given its global popularity. The reason they have a Rugby World Cup (which itself only dates from 1987) is because the Olympics are only two and a half weeks long. You cannot have proper recovery time in that span for even half of the games required in the tournament. Guys would get killed.

Cricket takes forever to play unless you went with a one-day international test match format, which the Olympics have considered, but it's still not "true" cricket.

Those are the two most popular sports in the world after football and basketball, but they aren't in the Olympics for reasons that have nothing to do with the Olympics not being the pre-eminent sporting platform.

Hockey has been played at the Olympics since 1920. Basketball has been played since 1932 or 1936 (can't remember which one).
 
LeafGm said:
Yes, a die-hard hockey fan who talks hockey on an online message board almost every day is tuning in to watch hockey after about three months of having no hockey to watch.

It's a remarkable affirmation of the relevancy of this tournament, I tells ya.
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Yes it is. High levels of interest make things relevant. This argument is getting so weird. Just admit you like it and you don't have to feel bad about enjoying it.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
I already explained it.

Rugby would be a huge Olympic event given its global popularity. The reason they have a Rugby World Cup (which itself only dates from 1987) is because the Olympics are only two and a half weeks long. You cannot have proper recovery time in that span for even half of the games required in the tournament. Guys would get killed.

Cricket takes forever to play unless you went with a one-day international test match format, which the Olympics have considered, but it's still not "true" cricket.

Those are the two most popular sports in the world after football and basketball, but they aren't in the Olympics for reasons that have nothing to do with the Olympics not being the pre-eminent sporting platform.
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So hockey just happens to be the only major professional sport in the world for which the Olympics "makes sense", even though participating in them ****s up an entire regular season?
 
leafman101 said:
Lol. See even the people who "don't care" are tuning in. Everyone wants to watch and play in this thing that no one cares about.
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Canadians watch the Spengler Cup in numbers large enough for TSN to justify broadcasting the games during the height of the Christmas season, during which they compete against the World Juniors, and draw pretty good viewership totals.

Canadians will watch anything hockey-related. That isn't a reflection on the value of anything. 27 million Canadians watched part of the last Olympic final. Do you think this event will draw anywhere close to those numbers when peak numbers for the 2004 edition were a 4 million average and over 6 million peak?
 
zeke said:
So hockey just happens to be the only major professional sport in the world for which the Olympics "makes sense", even though participating in them ****s up an entire regular season?
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Are you full potato? I already mentioned basketball several times. It is the premier event of the international basketball calendar too, which is arguably the world's second-largest sport.

And no one cares if the league goes on hiatus for two weeks thereby postponing some stupid mid-February game between Anaheim and Florida. The quality of hockey is of an infinitely greater level and far more compelling.

Domestic soccer regularly goes on hiatus for Euro, Copa America, CAF, and the World Cup/qualifying games for those events.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
Rugby would be a huge Olympic event given its global popularity. The reason they have a Rugby World Cup (which itself only dates from 1987) is because the Olympics are only two and a half weeks long. You cannot have proper recovery time in that span for even half of the games required in the tournament. Guys would get killed.

Cricket takes forever to play unless you went with a one-day international test match format, which the Olympics have considered, but it's still not "true" cricket.
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But isn't that the same logic here. Participating in the Olympics isn't practical for the NHL either. Thats why they don't want to. Putting it in the summer Olympics solves a lot of problems.
 
It doesn't take much care about this specific tournament to watch some games. We're starving for hockey and this is the most anticipated Leaf season in many years. We want to see Matthews light it up.

Without that angle, doubt I'd watch a second of it.
 
leafman101 said:
But isn't that the same logic here. Participating in the Olympics isn't practical for the NHL either. Thats why they don't want to. Putting it in the summer Olympics solves a lot of problems.
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It's perfectly practical. The NHL is just greedy as hell and doesn't care about its fan-base or players if they feel that they are getting short shaft financially.
 
Volcanologist said:
It doesn't take much care about this specific tournament to watch some games. We're starving for hockey and this is the most anticipated Leaf season in many years. We want to see Matthews light it up.

Without that angle, doubt I'd watch a second of it.
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Ok but is that why arenas are selling out all over the world for exhibition games? Because of the Leafs and Auston Matthews.

People care. You don't. But lots of people do. Enough to make this thing a huge success.
 
I would say that even score glancing, or highlight watching would at least register on the give-a-shit meter. 3/10?
 
leafman101 said:
Ok but is that why arenas are selling out all over the world for exhibition games? Because of the Leafs and Auston Matthews.

People care. You don't. But lots of people do. Enough to make this thing a huge success.
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A lot of fans are hockey starved. A lot of people are boycotting this event. I've said it many times before: I'm sure it will make money and justify the NHL holding it. But it will never have much value decades from now when people are comparing international teams or talking about great international tournaments, or which accolades added on to a particular player's career.

You can point to Eric Lindros making the 1991 Canada Cup roster as a seventeen year-old as a huge achievement in his career. This tournament doesn't have the same sense of value or credibility.
 
leafman101 said:
Yes it is. High levels of interest make things relevant. This argument is getting so weird. Just admit you like it and you don't have to feel bad about enjoying it.
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What's weird is your bizarre, obsessive need for everyone to be as into this tournament as you are.

I've never argued I wouldn't watch it or that there would be no entertaining hockey at all in the tournament, only that I'm not a fan of the format, and won't care much about the outcome. For some reason, you can't seem to just get over that and enjoy the tournament on your own terms.
 
leafman101 said:
Ok but is that why arenas are selling out all over the world for exhibition games? Because of the Leafs and Auston Matthews.

People care. You don't. But lots of people do. Enough to make this thing a huge success.
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Not aiming this at you or anyone in particular, but I don't conflate my personal opinion with whether or not shits are given in a general sense.
 
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