cant_think_of_a_witty_name Wrote:I'm not up to snuff on baseball anymore but can't a team with a losing record win its division and make the playoffs?

yes, but that would mean every other team has to be bad. In hockey a few of the teams in your division have to beat you in OT in order for you to get that 1 pt. So the other teams in the NHL can't suck if you lose every game in OT.

Bad teams win in overtime nearly every day.

PS: You and I both know the scoring system is not your biggest problem with hockey. More than likely, you can't follow the puck. Don't like having to learn new names, faces, and places. Or prefer a sport where you can wash your car and not miss the action.

flyingswoosh Wrote:Also, what about the 2 "half times" (intermission) in hockey. Everybody knows halftime is one of the most boring and stupid things in sports. But hockey has two of them, and they're both longer than the regular football halftime.

Half-time isn't meant to be entertaining. It's a recoup and regroup time for players and coaches. Football, in the long run, has about as much down time as hockey. Pauses after score, punts, and more TV timeouts than you can shake a stick at. Hockey has few TV timeouts. Immediately after a score, the puck is dropped at center-ice again. Teams have only one (30 second, I believe) timeout as opposed to footballs three per half.

And how can a baseball fan complain about down-time in a sport?

Besides soccer, hockey players have to be the most physically fit athletes IMO.

flyingswoosh Wrote:reward? Let's make it fair for everyone children. What is this, parks and rec. hockey?

Its replaces the need for a selection commitee. In College Basketball there's the selection commitee that looks at team record, who they played, etc. In hockey, its calculated in so that if you suck but still manage to hang with the Red Wings, it shows up on you record and helps you in the standings. I never said it was designed to make it fair.

In hockey, you don't lose the game in OT. You lose the OT session. Overtime is only there to determine a winner. Not to determine the loser.

But you know, fine. From now on in all sports, if the game isn't decided in regulation, we will give both teams a loss and move on. What's that you say? "But they didn't lose." Well, they didn't win either. If you can't win in regulation, you don't deserve to win.