Hockey Makes You Tougher...

It looks like "Waikiki Hockey" has caught Olympic fever. With our special "Bizarre Olympic Moments" we haven't done a post on hockey in almost a week. That needs to change.

As any hockey fan knows and this classic advertisement clearly demonstrates….hockey fans aren’t like other fans.

The fans in particular make going to a hockey game such a great experience. It’s so rare you find fans with such a passion for the game. It’s just too bad the players can’t appreciate them more.

Like this guy, he went to the game to cheer on his Oilers in their game against their arch rivals the Calgary Flames. Being a good sportsman he offered Flames assistant-coach, Guy Lapointe a drink and look what these crazy hockey players do:


Or this guy…obviously a huge Rob Ray fan -- who isn’t after all -- decided it would be a good idea to go on the ice to introduce himself to Rob during a game. Talk about an over-reaction.


The Flyer fans in particular get such a bad rap. They are always so well behaved and polite. Like when this fan congratulated renowned meathead Tie Domi on a good fight. A simple thank you would have sufficed but Domi instead gave the fan a face full of water. Luckily, Domi is so soft that no damage was done to the fan.


This kind of behaviour isn’t something that's new either. It has been going on since the 1970’s. A New York fan coming back from the toilet get blind sided by Terry O'Reilly. Shameful.


From looking at these clips, we’ve figured out one thing…going to a hockey game will definitely make you tougher.

Sounds of the Game...

In 1952, Foster Hewitt called the first hockey game on television. There have been a some advancements in hockey broadcasts since then ... some good, some entertaining and some very bad.

One thing that seems to be done a lot more frequently is having the players mic'ed up. Watching a clip of third line winger Matt Cooke would be pretty uneventful ... put a microphone on him and we've got some broadcasting gold.

Same is true for the stars as shown in this clip with Dany Heatley and this clip with Crosby and the Penguins.

See Malone ask for a fight in the beginning of the last clip? I've heard about this happening in the league but I've never seen it as blatant as that ... that is, until I saw this clip of a George Laraque & Raitis Ivanans fight. Laraque was even nice enough to wish Ivanans good luck for the upcoming punch-up. When I first saw this I was a bit amused. But as it sunk in, I've decided I don't like this practice one bit. Let's do a mini poll. What do you think of the Laraque vs. Ivanas clip? Embarrassing or Entertaining? You make the call ... leave a comment to place your vote.

As entertaining as it is to see players singing along to a song or joking around with their team mates you get the feeling the real sounds of the game would involve a few more f'-bombs and a lot more shouting. I want to see the mic'ed up players trash talking each other. Obviously, not very TV friendly but it would be entertaining.

I found a really good example of what I imagine would be a more realistic example of a 'sounds of the game' clip ... Brian Bellows getting an absolute mouthful from some Penguins in the 1980's:

That's what I'm talking about. When will the networks start broadcasting "R" rated hockey games?

Since this is likely the greatest hockey clip ever caught on tape we have no choice but to induct the Pittsburg Penguins into the Hall of Fame. Congratulations to the Penguins, we know they are thrilled.