The Glade 4.0

I have been a sports fan my whole life. Thanks to my Dad, I grew up watching Eagles football, and we had season tickets to the Phillies baseball games.

Strange thing about my love, though, is that I enjoyed only Philadelphia sports. I would never watch any other baseball or football game, unless Philly was involved.

When my family situation went to hell, I wasn't able to watch many games with my Dad anymore because my mom always got in the way. Eventually, I moved out and what happened next is somewhat weird. I discovered that I did not enjoy watching football or baseball by myself. I grew bored with them. I thought they moved to slowly and I couldn't maintain my interest.

This is how I discovered Hockey. I found a sport that was fast, didn't stop much, had plenty of contact and lots of skill involved. I took to it quite fast and, of course, I was a Flyers fan.

Only recently am I now starting to appreciate the sport, not for just watching my home team, but for the game itself. Much to Oonagh's chagrin, in addition to watching just about every Flyers game that is televised, I am now finding myself looking forward to watching more games. Last night I watched Buffalo shut up the Pens fans right quick in the first period after the Pens goal in the first minute, only to blow the lead in the second (Damn you Crosby...He is good, though) and then make a fine comeback and almost tie it in the final minutes.

Anyway, all this blather for me to just say that I really love the sport of hockey. I wish I could play it, I know my son is going to grow up watching a ton of it with Daddy, and maybe he'll show an interest in playing.

/blather off

_________________
This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

Glad someone else appreciates the best sport on the planet.

You should look into your local arena for men's pickup / shinny leagues. I am certain there is something you could join. If you can't skate, which I'm assuming is the case, there are always public skating times to help you learn. It is seriously awesome to go whipping down the ice with the wind in your face hehe

Tried this route last year. Got a few free lessons from the local ice skating rink, but with baby coming, I wasn't able to find the time to squeeze in anymore skating.

Same for trying to learn to rollerblade better. I just don't have the time to be able to get away.

I am going to keep trying though now that baby is here and the Wife and I are adjusting to the new schedule.

_________________
This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

One of those sports I just never get, at least in the professional incarnation. I've watched it live, though, in Europe, and it was enjoyable. Glad you like it, though.

Now, if you can explain "icing" or "offsides" to me, that might be a step in the right direction. I still don't get the rationale behind it, even if I have an inkling of how it actually works.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Preface: I'm no expert.

Icing - There is a red line that divides the rink in two. If you "dump" the puck from your side of the redline all the way across the goal line at the other end and the opposing team touches it first, that is called Icing and the face off is brought all the way back to your side of the ice (right next to your goaltender) This is why you will hear announcers often say "gain the red line". There are, of course, other subtleties to this that I won't try an explain, such as if a linesman determines that the defence could have played the puck.

Offsides - There is a blue line that delineates the "Offensive Zone". Very simply, no offensive player may enter the zone before the puck does. Additionally, if the puck comes out of the zone and goes back in, all offensive players must "regain the blue line" (Leave the zone and come back) before they may touch the puck while it remains in the zone.

I am sure you can find better explanations on Wikipedia or somesuch. Just trying to help.

_________________
This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

Does this work like it does in Soccer, you can beat the puck there so long as a defender is between you and the goal?

_________________

No, only the puck, the offense and the blue line matter.

For the record, I played soccer for a bunch of years way back in elementary school, I never understood offsides. Many years have passed since then, I still enjoy soccer occasionally on TV, and I am a fairly intelligent young man. I still can't fracking understand offsides in Soccer even after having my 16yo cousin (who is a player and fervent fan) explain it to me. Makes no sense to me.

_________________
This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

Further to Foamy's explanation: Icing rules prevent teams from dumping the puck out of their own end to relax the pressure. If you cannot carry the puck at least to center, you're going to get sent back to your own end for a faceoff.

It should also be noted that Icing rules are relaxed entirely for a shorthanded team -- you cannot be called for Icing if you are killing off a penalty.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Icing rules basically keep the defending team honest. You can't just shoot the puck out of your zone and not expect a disadvantage. I believe at one point it may have been a penalty, these days you ice the puck you leave your tired players on the ice, and your opponent can roll over whichever line they want.

As for offsides, I don't know soccer. What I do know is that a player cannot enter the offensive zone before the puck, but they also allow for tag ups, so if you go into the zone ahead of the play, you can tag up at the blue line. Before that change, every offensive player had to clear the zone, giving the other team a free out.

Hah, it's like that scene in "Bend It Like Beckham," where the girl's dad is trying to explain offsides to his wife with beer-bottle caps. I'm feeling kinda ditzy blonde-like right about now.

I kind of assumed that offsides in socker and hoccy were the same.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Huh.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

hehehe

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

On a related note...go Leafs go!

Hockey greatest sport ever!

_________________


Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

Beautiful AND smart!

Behind Football :p

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

and baseball.

_________________

I would put baseball all the way at the back of the line. Behind curling and cricket :p

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

I'm surprised that they got rid of some scoring talent for defense and a goaltender, and managed to shut out the Devils. That does not compute.

Cricket is fantastic!

On a hockey note, this is the sport that I got into when I came over here for many of the same reasons - it has good flow and is less stoppy starty than what you call football.

My 4 1/2 year old has been taking hockey skating lessons for a while now and loves his local defenseman. He's skating backwards already and I'm looking forward to getting a stick in his hands once he has his skating skill up to the right level. Currently he is the smallest kid in the class skating alongside a Xteen year old who is taller than me! Go go gadget starting early!

It does my Irish temper good to see a good hockey fight ! You can yell and scream and you are being normal

_________________


Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

I like watching Curling.

_________________
Raell Kromwell

Raell:

I'll second that. Oonagh and I got hooked watching Curling last winter Olympics.

I think I was curious and wanted to make fun of the sport that uses brooms to play, but I quickly got caught up in it and really do enjoy it.

_________________
This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

We'll make good Canadians out of you guys yet.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

What I've always been curious about Olympic Curling is, do they get wasted, as I've always heard is part of the attraction of curling?

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge