Outdoor hockey absurd??

[bduff54]

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/258614

just a different take on things

[billspwn]

personally i think it'd be awesome if the NBA did a game on asphault, lol.

[pigpen65]

just a different take on things

I'm not getting the point. That's it's a novelty? no shit. Does anybody really need that explained to them? Just the same, it will be a great event and i think Buffalo and the fans are happy to have it, whether it's a novelty or not.

[Bay Side]

What a fool.....Cox, Something differant is always good and fun!! Fans will love it!!

[bduff54]

i don't agree with him at all, just posting it for conversational purposes.

The leafs could win the cup and he would still find a negative about the team.

[nehemiah]

typical whiny canadian.

if they played it in toronto - he would be creaming his jeans.

[bduff54]

typical whiny canadian.

if they played it in toronto - he would be creaming his jeans.

actually he wouldn't, he is a negative reporter. He always find the bad in everything.

[г]

Outdoor hockey is appreciated by a lot of Canadians, just we'd rather play than watch. Obviously folks in the bigger cities may not have the oppourtunity to experience it as much as we do in the smaller centres.

I play pickup on our neighbourhood outdoor rink @ 10-12x a year.
I grew up in Southern Ontario, so played 99% of my hockey as a kid in indoor rinks, but my same generation up here in North Bay and the smaller towns would only have played in indoor rinks for playoffs and tournaments. League play and practices would have been on outdoor rinks, square corners and all.

[21]

I stopped reading after he started ranting about basketball on asphalt and baseball in a cornfield. What is his point? I hope he made it eventually.

[bduff54]

his main point is the fact that it is a regular season game. like if the sabres of pens miss the playoffs by one point and this game is played in a hail storm they will look back on it in disgust.

[SabresBlueGold]

Okay, what a retard. First of all, the NHL has said that they will make every effort to avoid inclement weather by moving the game to a different date if necessary. If the outcome of the game will be affected by weather, they do have contingency plans in place for a make-up date.

Second, his comparisons in other sports make no sense. Baseball already plays outside you tool. There's no comparison to be made there. Same too with the NFL. If the NBA had the means (and I'm sure they could get a court onto a football field) I'm sure that they would have great success having an outdoor game. And he references some asphalt court in the middle of a city as a venue. Did he miss the fact that the game is on a state-of-the art portable ice surface and not on some frozen pond in Lackawanna? Take note also that the ice will be maintained and regulated. We're not pumping water onto the field-turf and setting up cardboard dasher boards.

I understand that this guy's schtick is constant sour grapes, but he comes off as a whining idiot whose attempts to make a point are sorely off base. When this goes off as a huge success and teams are lining up to have their city host the next Ice Bowl, I wonder if his column will harken back to his statements and admit how out of touch he was. I doubt it.

[smashingt2312]

He probably couldnt get tickets, thats why he's complaining.

[bduff54]

lol, he will be there i bet.

[amico1990]

his main point is the fact that it is a regular season game. like if the sabres of pens miss the playoffs by one point and this game is played in a hail storm they will look back on it in disgust.

Really? So lets say hypothetically Buffalo misses the playoffs by 1 point. Jan 1 they play the pens at the ralph before 74000 in an never before seen spectacle and lose in a shootout 7-6. They garner 1 point, instead of 2, and dont make the playoffs. Your saying that the fans/team will lack back in disgust on this game...not one of the other 81? dont think so

This would never have been written if Toronto was playing Montreal.

[bduff54]

trust me, if it was toronto vs montreal he would have ripped it even more. He would have said both teams are very average and have no marketing ability to the united states.

[г]

'The Sabres have won the coin flip and they elect to receive'

[Bay Side]

Sabres will win by a FG!!

[pi2000]

how will anybody in the stand be able to actually see what's happening in the game?

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/6f/fullj.getty-76706322rs001_buffalo_sabre.jpg

[SabresBlueGold]

how will anybody in the stand be able to actually see what's happening in the game?

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/6f/fullj.getty-76706322rs001_buffalo_sabre.jpg

Well, it's going to bbe a bit hard to see the puck, but I have season tickets fro the Bills in the upper deck and you can see pretty good detail down on the field even from up there. The pictures that you see of the field from the stands are a bit misleading as it doesn't give you a proper perspective on depth peception. Not to mention, some of those photos are taken with a fish-eye lens to get the widest angle possible, which further distorts the depth ratio.

However, if you still can't see things on the ice very well, just look up at the big screen. The Bills' new HD big screen is dynamic and clear and you won't miss anything if you're watching the jumbotron. Some people may have to just settle for being there and watching most of the game on the "outdoor HDTV" but hey, being there for this is half the fun, isn't it?

[kritter65]

Sabres will win by a FG!!

Who's gonna win first at the Ralph, the Sabres or Bills ?

[mshafer71]

What a douche!...his arguments against the game are absurd or weak at best. $20 says he is at The Ralph on the 1st.

[г]

Who's gonna win first at the Ralph, the Sabres or Bills ?

Sabres

[Southside]

If he really is Canadian, he should be deported. Preferably to a place that Hockey players never lose their teeth.

Must I stress....(somebody play some hockey theme music her--please)
This is an opportunity for Hockey to revisit and celebrate its roots. Its true beginnings.
The Frozen pond, Pond hockey by any other name....

No other sport could really pull this off....

Think football...a game played on a shortened field, no forward pass--leather helmets even....COULDNT DO IT.

Think Basketball..a game played--not on asphalt, but originally a substandard, shortened court--and with bushel baskets, no less, for hoops...Think converse high tops...COULDNT happen...wouldnt be the same.

But Hockey....Yes, Hockey. The open air, sure a few minor rules may have been different, but the open air days still enjoyed the advent of the forward pass...although the goalies and the players may not have always worn masks, but with the exception of the players we can still find evidence that the goalies began to wear masks in some of those open air games of old.

No other major sport could pull it off....And I swear to God I will groan each and every post that brings up some sort of auto-racing--PLEASE--who the hell thought that autoracing of any variety was comparable to ay the true four sports?
Ratings be damned! True sport comes with no machine other than the individual on a team...excepting of course --the olympics...but thats different...

Anyways...Those poor, misguided southerners.....cant we send missionarys down there to install ice rinks?
Perhaps a "Hockey For Humanity" type organization to go down with volunteers and build those poor bastards some ice rinks.........

Anyway, I digress...
Hockey and its heritage --the only sport that can truly--authentically--celebrate its roots...On Ice....

God, I cant wait for tomorrows preseaon game.......
IMAO
Southside