Bout time for some Hockey smack talk

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dusterdon

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Yes, folks. the big Red machine is cranking up again. Around here in the big "D" people have been saying "what's wrong with the wings?" The guys have slipped to only the third best record in the NHL. Well after this weekend, and knocking some Flash and Awe into the Hawks and the rest of the league, I'm here to announce that "The Wings are Back!" I think that they're ready to breakout and show the rest of the league what the playoffs are going to bring. A shark's worst nightmare and a bedtime story for a little bruin.
 
Question:

Not to be nasty, but why is hockey so dominated by white dudes?

I never see any black dudes and always wondered how's come?

I know there have been a handful of black guys throughout the years but I find it interesting that it's one of the only sports not dominated by black men.
 
I never thought about that cudaspaz
We have some great members here that might shed some light on that.
 
1 in every 8hockey players are born in the U.S. most hockey players are from canada,russia,sweden,finland and other european countries were theres not many blacks. So in other words each hockey team in the NHL has like 3 american players on average and face it hockey isnt a sport that the blacks get into,like football or basketball.
 
I think the large majority of black folks live in the south and there isn't a lot of hockey being played down there. I don't think there's many white hockey players from the south either, don't know, just guessing.

Red Wings will be tough to beat, goal is their only potential weakness. I'm on the west here so it's go Canucks, can't see them beating the Wings or San Jose :munky2:
 
I think in order to be involved in a sport you have to be exposed to it at a young age and play up through the ranks. If you think about it, how many cities in the U.S. have a strong youth hockey program, whereas you can find a basketball hoop on just about every garage in the U.S., and how many flag football games did you play as a kid?? Or how about little league?? The exposure to these sports is open to every kid in the free world, but name me the closest hockey rink or outdoor pond where they play drop in hockey to your house??? Not to mention the cost of all the equiptment needed to play hockey. I can get a basketball game together with just a ball and a hoop, or a football game with just a ball. Now if you remember Grant Fuhr, you know that he was one of the best goalies in the league, Period!!! Few and far between, sure, but it takes exposure as a kid to develop an interest in the game, which is sorely lacking in just about every city in the U.S. One last thing, GO WINGS!!! Geof
 
IMO-
Northern league...and..very expensive sport to play as a youth...not saying the "black" can't afford...but baseball, football and Basketball are very affordable and convenient.
Same reason Soccer is huge in third world countries....all ya need is a ball.

Hockey = cold temperature, a rink, expensive ice time, expensive equipment, early hours of practice, expensive travel cost.
I played as a youth in Idaho...from 1978-1987...never saw or played against a black player...but then as a kid (or adult) I never cared...justed wanted to play hockey.

Aloha

oh...GO BLACKHAWKS! Neat seeing hockey in Wrigley.
 
The Flyers are comming out of the East - Book it!! Thier offense is deeper than just about any team in the NHL right now - even Detroit. The D seems to be finding it's game, and with Parent and Jones back for the first time this season, it's getting pretty deep too. Goal tending could be an issue - although they seem to score enough goals to offset some goal-tending deficiencies. But, both goalies have the ability to play solid hockey, so i'm not too worried - we made it to the Eastern finals last year with the same guys in net.

No other team has as many double-digit goal scorers at this point of the season (6 for the Flyers, and that's w/ Briere out for about half the season so far). No other team is even CLOSE to the # of short-handed goals scored - our PK is leathal. The PP is #1. Leading goal-scorer in Carter. Only problem is that they had a slow start - ever since, they've been racking up the points. Not to mention, the Atlantic is BY FAR the toughest division in the NHL; with all the divisional games now, that just shows what kind of competition they've played against so far this season. The Bruins are having an amazing season, but they've also had a fairly easy schedule so far this year - they'll come down to reality in the second half.

SC Final: Flyers/Sharks
Cup: Flyers!!!
 
cosgig said:
I think in order to be involved in a sport you have to be exposed to it at a young age and play up through the ranks. If you think about it, how many cities in the U.S. have a strong youth hockey program, whereas you can find a basketball hoop on just about every garage in the U.S., and how many flag football games did you play as a kid?? Or how about little league?? The exposure to these sports is open to every kid in the free world, but name me the closest hockey rink or outdoor pond where they play drop in hockey to your house??? Not to mention the cost of all the equiptment needed to play hockey. I can get a basketball game together with just a ball and a hoop, or a football game with just a ball. Now if you remember Grant Fuhr, you know that he was one of the best goalies in the league, Period!!! Few and far between, sure, but it takes exposure as a kid to develop an interest in the game, which is sorely lacking in just about every city in the U.S. One last thing, GO WINGS!!! Geof
Click to expand...

That's kinda what I was thinkin too.
 
The Wings,,pleaseeeee did'nt my boys the Boston Bruins just SPANK them a couple of weeks ago..thats right you know the #1 team in the league,if Boston stays healty NO ONE will beat them they have all aspects of the game covered...
 
stroked 340 said:
The Wings,,pleaseeeee did'nt my boys the Boston Bruins just SPANK them a couple of weeks ago..thats right you know the #1 team in the league,if Boston stays healty NO ONE will beat them they have all aspects of the game covered...
Click to expand...
No doubt they're on a roll, but they'll fall back to earth soon. I think they'll be battling it out for the East w/ the Flyers in the PO's - the flyers victorious, of course.
 
BTW - I repeat - the Bruins have had a cake walk so far in terms of scheduling. Let's see where they are in the second half of the season when they will actually have to play some playoff-bound teams.
 
Ten bucks says that the Bruins will self destruct and go out in the FIRST round! Like all of the other supposed "good" teams from the wimpy eastern conference. As for the flyers, Last time I remember them playing the Wings in the finals.....Does the word BROOM mean anything?
 
dusterdon said:
Ten bucks says that the Bruins will self destruct and go out in the FIRST round! Like all of the other supposed "good" teams from the wimpy eastern conference. As for the flyers, Last time I remember them playing the Wings in the finals.....Does the word BROOM mean anything?
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lol, does 1997 and 11 years ago mean anything? You know what else is funny, in the past several seasons, the wings, in one of the weakest divisions in the league, have colapsed in the po's - they won;t repeat this year.

Please - the east is every bit as strong as the west - that's an old wives tale. Since 1990, the East has taken the cup 9 out of 17 times.

I agree about the Bruins this year, though. Take a look at thier schedule so far. The only decent team they've played more than once has been the Habs. Other than that, it's Buff-a-blo, Thrashers, and the Florida teams. Second half of the season and they're in for a rude awakening.
 
cudaspaz said:
Question:

Not to be nasty, but why is hockey so dominated by white dudes?

I never see any black dudes and always wondered how's come?

I know there have been a handful of black guys throughout the years but I find it interesting that it's one of the only sports not dominated by black men.
Click to expand...

More and more all the time. Black guys should excel at the sport. Genetically they have way more fast twitch muscles and it is a game of speed. Off the top of my head I can think of a few greats. Grant Fuhr, possibly the best goalie of the 80's. Donald Brashear one of the toughest guys on the ice. Mike Grier, Jarome Iginla and Fred Brathwaite. More and more every year.
 
About the black thing... Years ago I remember hearing (white) people say that the reason blacks don't play hockey because they aren't able to become good skaters becuase they have weak ankles. That's just bulls**t... when black guys are given a fair shot to develop they often turn out to be excellent hockey players.

The real reason is that it's mostly a socio-economic issue. Over 50% of the players in the NHL are Canadian, and there are quite a few black people in Canada, especially in the Toronto area. So why do so few blacks play? Well, most of my black buddies when I was growing up were more into basketball (and this was before Toronto had an NBA team), simply becuase they had more opportunity to play basketball. They were also into baseball a little and also into football, because you could play those sports through school starting in jr. high.

Hockey is very expensive to play and it takes a very large commitment from the parents. I'm not saying that my black friends were poor or their parents didn't care enough to shuttle them around the city for games and practices several times per week, but they were mostly working class people with large families. It's just not feasible for mom & dad to work shift work at 50+ hours a week and have several kids in hockey, especially since very few other black parents were doing it.

Also, hockey is a little unique in that you have to play it from a very young age to get to the highest levels. A kid can't expect to start playing at the age of 13 or 14 and make it to the pros. It's not impossible (i.e. Steve Thomas), but most pro hockey players probably started playing before they were 8 years old. I stared playing at 5, which I think is pretty common around here. So bottom line here is that a determined 13 year old kid could get a paper route or something and save his money so he could buy equipment and registration fees, but he would never be able to play at a high level because he hadn't had a chance to develop properly from a young age.

Back to the topic at hand here... I'm seeing a Philly & Detroit final this year. But sorry Wings fans, the west is too deep, and the Wings will have to go thorough the likes of San Jose, Anaheim, and Vancouver to get to the final. They might be all worn out by the time they get to the finals. (Watch out for Vancouver in the second half... the just signed Mats Sundin and they still have cap space to get a big name player at the trade deadline.)

Since I'm a Leafs fan I never have much to cheer about. All I can hope is that they do very poorly this year and somehow manage to get a good draft pick.
 
If you cut my arm I bleed BLUE & WHITE baby!!!

Go Leafs Go!

I know they don't stand a chance so I guess I will have to go with the Canucks (Mats Sundin) that is...


I do like the Penguins to make it to the final in the East.
 
Rob said:
I think the large majority of black folks live in the south and there isn't a lot of hockey being played down there. I don't think there's many white hockey players from the south either, don't know, just guessing.

Red Wings will be tough to beat, goal is their only potential weakness. I'm on the west here so it's go Canucks, can't see them beating the Wings or San Jose :munky2:
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Rob that is the craziest statement ive ever heard. look at baltimore ,detroit and new york. Most of the blacks are not in the south. I think theyre pretty much everywhere. Maybe its too cold in Canada or there isnt as many freebies in your welfare system.
 
Well one thing as my cool azz bro (cosgig) spoke of earlier is in every school in the country as well im sure in most of the world there is a basketball hoop,baseball/football field and teams to use those facilities. With hockey you have to travel &carpool to an ice rink! And not every school has a hockey team to compete with other schools. I know when we were growing up, we lived just outside of Detriot but only a handful of our friends played hockey, but probably 98% of them played little league and basketball and some played football. Even in high school I couldnt tell you who played on the hockey team or even if we had a team and I knew everyone in my class. I dont think its so much a color thing but a convienience thing to the families who deal with it. What was the one guys name that got hurt intentionally what 1 or 2 years ago? He was a black player and very good! By the way-GO WINGS!! they will show who is boss when the time is right!!
 
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