Why has hockey remained so popular for so long?

Answer 1

== == Hockey has been able to change with the advent of new technology, such as fiber material sticks and skates, and modernizing rule changes, such as the video replay and two referees. The speed and skills of the players have improved and even the size of the players have gotten taller and heavier over the last 30 years. The average NHL player of the 1960's, would not get a second look from modern era hockey scouts now. A player who is less than six feet tall and under 190 pounds is not going to get much of a look in today's scouting reports, and if he can't skate really well and shoot hard, he is not going to the "big show" at all. Hockey is the fastest team sort in the world, with constant action all the time. Compare that to Baseball, where the fans fall asleep all the time, or soccer where scoring some times doesn't happen in a whole 90 minute game, and the players are more worried about their hair being nice looking than the game . Compare hockey to Basketball, where players sit out a game due to a finger injury or because they fell on their elbow. Hockey players play "hurt " all the time, and consider it a badge of honor to come on to the ice after taking facial injuries, with a couple of dozen stitches in their mug. My best reason to like hockey as a sport..........the players are nice guys who are humble and take the time to talk to the fans, even when thay have a plane to catch, a 4 hour flight, and won't hit the hotel bed until about 4 am in the next city, where they will play in less than 12 hours. Pro hockey players have a greulling schedule with games about every second day. In January, the Toronto Maple Leafs will play 13 games in 29 nights. Compare that to American NFL players who only play a 16 game football SEASON.