The NFL ran its Professional Bowl weekend, sinking into the party-theme that it’s all the time been for everybody in any sport actually. It was that gamers didn’t thoughts the free journey to Hawaii, although when it acquired to be they might all simply afford a visit to Hawaii that kind of misplaced its appeal. So the NFL made this one in Vegas a week-long carnival of kinds, and it was met with principally constructive critiques from gamers and followers.
There are these on the market who would have you ever consider it was a take a look at run for what soccer may appear to be sooner or later, when the league offers in on what participant security really appears like. They’re in all probability the identical ones who bitch about each private foul and concentrating on name and use phrases to explain it that hyperlink again to the feminine anatomy.
The NFL doesn’t care that a lot about participant security
There all the time had been a faculty of thought that if the NFL, and soccer as an entire, actually was dedicated to participant security, it might take the helmets and pads off. That they might make the game look extra like rugby, which isn’t bereft of concussion issues however isn’t fairly on the size that soccer has seen. Eradicating all that safety would power gamers to not launch themselves into one another with the identical violence they’ve earlier than, and must really sort out one another as a substitute of hit one another.
Possibly, perhaps not. Can be arduous to know with out the form of testing and experiments we haven’t seen. The actual query is would followers settle for such a model. The urge is to say they wouldn’t. The sport has thrived on the collisions and inherent hazard of the game. All of us hit the correct notes and say our rehearsed traces when one thing really terrible occurs to a participant, however that doesn’t imply an amazing majority need to see nice change. It’s all a part of the dance.
Whereas soccer has leaned increasingly more into the ability a part of the sport (and it’s turn into about passing and gamers working free), it’s unlikely it may carry itself to completely flip over into one thing new.
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Followers wouldn’t reply to the sound the identical manner. No crunching of pads, no banging of helmets, no sound of contact, followers would discover it too awkward, even when it have been safer. No risk of huge hits or a real stuff on the line of scrimmage. It wouldn’t fly. The truth that the sport teeters on the sting of insanity, and generally spills over it, is the unstated enchantment for many.
Eradicating the pads and helmets might in truth be safer. Followers with the ability to really see gamers’ faces wouldn’t harm both. Much more freedom for ability positions could also be entertaining. However deep down, safer isn’t what followers and the league really need, deep down.
Lou Lamoriello have to be tons of enjoyable to play for
The NHL managed to interrupt some information on its All-Star break, with Bo Horvat signing an eight-year extension with the New York Islanders after his commerce there from Vancouver. And boy, did Lou sound thrilled to lock down his new #2 heart!
It’s not a lot of a secret that the sport has handed Lamoriello by. He’s complained earlier than about there being no contract time period limits or wage limits, and has overtly bitched about having to pay gamers greater than canned meals. His refusal to permit facial hair on gamers or for anybody to put on a jersey quantity over 40 are anachronisms.
However principally, the Isles have sputtered beneath his watch. The Isles goofed one 100+ level season with a roster not constructed by Lou and by some Barry Trotz magic, and that’s been about it. They haven’t been shut since, and had The Bubble their latest report would look much more heinous. They’re solely two factors out of a playoff spot however everybody round them has video games in hand on them.
Nobody made Lou pay a profession second-line heart first-line cash. However he did, and he’s already making an attempt to make everybody really feel like shit about it. He have to be an actual fuel to work for.
Not less than one hockey participant will get it
In a sea of gamers who dwell to not rock the boat and don’t have anything to say about something, a minimum of the Canadiens boast one who will get it: