Hockey has the physicality of football (and then some); the skill and speed of basketball; the continuity of soccer; and, when a goal is scored, the explosive crack of a baseball home run in terms of excitement. Yes, some games are low scoring, but generally speaking the scores are comparable to, if not better than, football, soccer, or even baseball.
And even if it is a low scoring game did I already mention that the players can shove, punch, and destroy the opposing team? For those who hate on the “violence” in hockey, be sure to watch a documentary called “Ice Guardians” before rushing to judgement on the place that fighting has in the sport.
The real problem? Finding any friends who want to hang out and watch a game on TV because they don’t care.
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
Popular view: Too much violence for me. I’d rather watch boxing instead.
Reality: Let’s right off the bat address the violence aspect of MMA compared to boxing. MMA fighters do in fact wear smaller 4-ounce gloves. In boxing an athlete is forced to wear larger gloves that protect the hands, which in turn allows the puncher to inflict maximum force against their opponent without injuring their own hands as easily. What does this essentially translate into? Harder punches being thrown!
What makes boxing even more dangerous compared to MMA? In boxing, after an opponent has just been knocked down and concussed the referee will give them every opportunity to stand back up and then send them right back in front of the person who just knocked them out. This will repeat until the braindead opponent is unconscious in many cases. Now let’s switch back to MMA where the job of the referee is to protect the fighters from taking unnecessary damage by stopping the fight when a fighter can no longer (or should no longer) continue. Submissions can result in broken limbs or an unconscious fighter, but generally fighters are smart enough to tap out before it gets to that point.
So, what is actually wrong with MMA?
Many fighters forget that when they are on TV or in front of us in the arena they are entertainers not martial artists. Too many fighters feel it is up to the promoter to force people to want to tune in and watch them, or to get sponsors to pay them. They say things at a press conference like “I’m not here to talk, I’m here to fight.” No, you actually are there to talk and get me to be interested in watching you fight.
If people cared about watching good fighters “just fight”, they’d show up for the prelims. Ever been to a UFC fight and seen how empty the arena is until the main card starts? I have — and it is a ghost town. The fighter is the one who must use their limited time in front of a microphone or camera to get people to care about their next fight. Otherwise they’ll be back to fighting in a regional circuit — where their only fans are their family and friends — and wondering what went wrong.
Conclusion
Ultimately every sport has its pros and cons. What I have done as a fan is deduce that I only have so much free time in a day or week, and I’m not going to frustrate myself with sports that are wasting my time with a bad product just because they’re on TV. Fortunately with ESPN+ and other streaming services, I can afford to be more selective these days. Because some sports really suck.
* All photos via Pixabay
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