Just for fun. :-)

http://www.sportstvjobs.com/resource...are-tough.html
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Awesome, great read Admiral :-)
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Very entertaining read! I remember that hit on Kariya! Ouch.
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Humorous article and I did laugh, but they need to give baseball another look.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/base...l-to-the-face/
Luis Salazar loses eye


http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/n...ory?id=2945798
Coolbaugh dies after being hit in head by a line drive.

http://oldschool.blogs.pressdemocrat...h-that-killed/
Ray Chapman killed by being hit by pitch.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/sp...l/12score.html
Pitcher Herb Score loses sight after being hit by a line drive.


http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/569065
Tony Conigliaro hit in face by pitch, pretty much ruined his career.


http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun...ts/sp-shaikin1
Steve Yeager had a splintered bat lodged in his throat, piercing his esophagus.


http://www.sportsvideodaily.com/wp/i...owing-a-pitch/
Dave Dravecky shatters his arm by throwing a pitch.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/bas...ewers_pirates/
Jason Kendall breaks ankle/bone protrudes from his leg on his way to first base.




And don't forget about Randy Johnson killing a bird.:-)
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http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=3364800

Nuff said :-)
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I remember seeing the Clint Malarchuk incident. That's was friggin' sick!
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That's an entertaining contrast, Mr. 'Hog, and a good read. But there's being tough, and then there's being a bloody idiot.

Otherwise, call me back when the regular season in hockey actually starts to mean something . . . and starts drawing more than flies. :-)
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I first started watching hockey when I was 16 years old as I took up ice skating. I never understood how these world class/professional hockey players were lucky to make it 90 seconds in a shift on the ice. I also never understood why these guys fight all the time

I started playing hockey in a midnight league when regular skating sessions were over. I got a quick sense of the frustration experienced by hockey players with all of the bumping, poking, tripping, and beatings in just a fun league...case closed.

Sure, it's nice to be a great basketball shooter, a nice hitter in baseball, or a great passer in football, but for my money, the professional hockey player has the biggest combination of skill between skating and handling a puck on a stick than any other sport out there.
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I don't know about the players, but hockey "fans" busted up Vancouver
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Nothing like destroying your own city when you win or lose a championship, seems like you should go to the other teams city to riot DUMBA$$'s
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I honestly only think the toughness of hockey players can be matched or surpassed by MMA fighters or a similar sport (boxing, wrestling, martial arts etc).
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And the Bruins proudly celebrated on their ice...Go Bruins
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I remember seeing a ref fall over, and someone skating over his fingers and severing them. Gruesome. Saddest part was the crowd jeered him as he skated off with his hand in a towel dripping blood.
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Great read, Tom...

I expected to see Tuomo Ruutu mentioned. His first game with the Hurricanes back in February 2008, he took a stick to the face and needed 40 stitches to close a gash that went from the brow above his left eye to his nose.

He came back in and played... :-)
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http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

I like both games my son plays both. I have attended both this year. I kind of assume your joking given baseballs 162 regular game season. Talk about months of meaningless play. So many fans have been seen falling asleep at ballgames. I think when you look at attendance percentage you will see that based on most arenas seating around the 20k or less mark hockey draws consideably better then you imply. Percentage wise much better yhe BB. With 40% of teams selling out all home games and majority of teams at 90+%
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QFMFT.

This is the exact reason we introduced our son to hockey, in my opinion they are the most physically fit athletes in the world, and they have mad skills.
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The Red Sox have sold out every game since 2003. :-)
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Especially before they had visors, helmets, and the armor they call pads now. My dad used to go to a lot of games as a kid and told me story after story of goalies taking a puck to the face (bare face), dropping to their knees and putting their face in their hands. A pool of blood starts spreading around them. They then leave for about 10 minutes to get stiched up and would play the rest of the game. Still no face protection. Unreal. Those guys were flirting with the edge between tough and crazy.
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And the Yankees consistently draw about 10,000 more each game than they do in Fenway . . . due of course to its greater capacity. As with most everything, if you build a good product, they will come.

As for the "regular" season significance, I don't refer to the fact that baseball plays twice as many games as does the NHL, but rather to the fact that how one does in those games means more over the long haul. Of the 30 MLB teams only 8, or 26%, make the playoffs. In hockey, twice as many of the 30 make the postseason, or just over half of them. To me, this means you can be a hair UNDER mediocre, and still be rewarded.

Finally, baseball has been a part of the American consciousness for a century and a half, and is one of OUR sports. Hockey is NOT native to the USA, and despite the protests of its rabid fans, is little more part of the consciousness of the average American than is soccer. Sorry, but them's the facts, Jacks. :-)
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Soccer? Don't go there. Check TV ratings on hockey vs anything outside the 4 major sports and it's not even close. In fact NHL has had significant ratings increases in the past couple years. The NBA's labor issues could help even more given their seasons are are at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, I know hockey is more of a regional sport. Expanding into the deserts and sub-tropics was a bad idea. The NHL was a better product when there were about 24 teams. However, rule changes/enforcement have helped bring it back quite a bit.
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