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In Defense Of Team Europe

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I agree team Europe is a good idea, but they should have a song or there should be no singing at all.
 
Can't really compare hockey to cricket... there is a reason why it's called "ice hockey" outside of NA since to billions real hockey is what we call field hockey.
CRicker is more than just India.. it's world cup is viewed by billions. Cricket is played in every continent.
 
ZDatsZuke said:
I agree team Europe is a good idea, but they should have a song or there should be no singing at all.
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Why ? Just for fun ? Any song they use wouldn't really mean anything . The countries the players represent already have national anthems so some random song would mean dick .

If the other teams used fun songs as well sure why not but not as a substitute for the real anthems .

Could've made some strange medley or something maybe ? :sarcasm:

No singing would be alright as well though but i doubt the Americans and Canadiens would be happy with that.
 
BruinLVGA said:
And let's not go "what 'bout them Qatar uh?" or any other country that is not so mainstream in sports... Because the world is a global entity, not the private country club of a few selected privileged. The world is already full of prejudice and racism, it is about time that you too learn that because people don't have the same habits or environment as you do, it is not a good reason to exclude them.
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Really?

I don't think the complaints about Qatar have anything to do with how established they are in a certain sport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2022_FIFA_World_Cup_controversies#Human_rights_issues
 
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There is more to hockey than just the quality of play and entertainment value. There's also the authenticity and integrity of the actual competition, which matters just as much. Without it, the importance of the purpose that they are playing for and the importance of the eventual outcome becomes completely compromised. If you can just fold bad teams together to make good teams, then what is the point and meaning behind winning in the first place?

It's a farce, and will remain so until they get rid of the frankenstein monster teams. Perhaps a farce that can still function in a lesser role as an entertaining and enjoyable curiosity (fulfilling what-if hypotheticals), but a farce nonetheless.

You could hypothetically rig matchups so that you end up with a more entertaining product as well, but that doesn't make for a more worthwhile competition.
 
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Xokkeu said:
It is across the world, and hockey obviously never will be due to the nature of the sport. That said, it's more impressive hockey distribution to random nations like Russia, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden that have little in common culturally except being cold. Cricket is almost entirely British colonies. I don't think a non British colony has made it out of the group stage in the World Cup.
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Yet so many British colonies never took up Cricket with seriousness until the ICC started to change tactics. Promoting ODI and T20 did more to encourage countries to develop the game.
 
LTIR said:
Can't really compare hockey to cricket... there is a reason why it's called "ice hockey" outside of NA since to billions real hockey is what we call field hockey.
CRicker is more than just India.. it's world cup is viewed by billions. Cricket is played in every continent.
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cricket and baseball are equally interesting and great sports, they´re right up there with dart and curling...
 
I will say this, I am surprised that team Europe beat USA (or anyone). Looks like I was wrong about its competitiveness. I'm not sure if they played well or USA was bad or both, but I expected very little in terms of performance. It's a team that shouldn't exist in a supposedly international tournament, but I was apparently wrong about its performance.

kabidjan18 said:
Team Europe has obviously outperformed it's function. It was not supposed to interfere with the real national teams. Now American viewership is about to tank severely.
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Oh indeed. It was supposed to make a few Joe Blows maybe possibly remember Kopitar's name, not help knock USA out. That would be a funny result if it happens.
 
LTIR said:
Can't really compare hockey to cricket... there is a reason why it's called "ice hockey" outside of NA since to billions real hockey is what we call field hockey.
CRicker is more than just India.. it's world cup is viewed by billions. Cricket is played in every continent.
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It's watched by billions because India has a billion people. Just like the Super Bowl is one of the most popular events in the world, because 150 million people in America watch it.
 
Xokkeu said:
Switzerland, Norway arent in the EU
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The melody of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is also the anthem of the Council of Europe and both Switzerland and Norway are members of that institution.

JackSlater said:
It's a team that shouldn't exist in a supposedly international tournament, but I was apparently wrong about its performance.
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Making his players believers has always been one of Krueger's strong suits. They picked the right guy.
 
Theokritos said:
The melody of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is also the anthem of the Council of Europe and both Switzerland and Norway are members of that institution.



Making his players believers has always been one of Krueger's strong suits. They picked the right guy.
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You got me on that one :)

My European bureaucratic anthem knowledge is lacking. Good thing Mikhail Graboski didn't make the team.
 
Theokritos said:
Making his players believers has always been one of Krueger's strong suits. They picked the right guy.
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Kreuger did good work with Switzerland and was seemingly very helpful with Canada in 2014. Good coach. Should have been given more time in Edmonton.
 
I read so much here about how the European team would have no chance in this thing because their players just wouldn't be motivated. After all, they're not playing for their own country, they won't play hard etc., never mind that they're all professionals who should take pride in their work, oh no that doesn't matter I was told, they'll get slaughtered because it's playing for your country that's the all important factor in bringing out the best in players.

How's that crow tasting guys? :laugh::laugh:
 
Gary Nylund said:
How's that crow tasting guys? :laugh::laugh:
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What the hell are you talking about crow? Tournament haters wanted team Europe to do well so that the NHL plan would backfire and it's already worked American interest in the tournament was zeroed in two hours and American critics of the system are rampant. That crow? Tasting pretty good man.
 
kabidjan18 said:
What the hell are you talking about crow? Tournament haters wanted team Europe to do well so that the NHL plan would backfire and it's already worked American interest in the tournament was zeroed in two hours and American critics of the system are rampant. That crow? Tasting pretty good man.
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Of course haters wanted team Europe to do well, I was talking about those who said they wouldn't/couldn't do well because they don't have the motivation of playing for their national team. Maybe you missed all those posts, no worries. :)
 
kabidjan18 said:
No, hockey has always been part of the "big 4" some will say the "big 5" now with soccer but no way 6th...

Cricket is a very real international sport. The fakest international sport is Rugby. Looking at largest countries by population and favorite sport
1. China - Basketball (generally, lots of people over 50 still seem to like soccer)
2. India - Cricket
3. America - American football
4. Indonesia - Soccer/Badminton
5. Brazil - Soccer

Rugby people try to pride themselves in their sport being an "international sport" compared to American football but let's see. Rugby is #3 in the UK which is 22nd in population, then it's second in Australia behind Australian rules football. Then it's first in a few small islands, not a real international sport. Their quadrennial World Cup tournament brought in 400 million in revenue, the 2016 Annual single game Super Bowl brought in 620 million in revenue, the numbers speak for themselves.
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Rugby is big in Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and pretty big in France. That's a lot of continents. I'd say its more international in that sense than hockey.
 
Gary Nylund said:
Of course haters wanted team Europe to do well, I was talking about those who said they wouldn't/couldn't do well because they don't have the motivation of playing for their national team. Maybe you missed all those posts, no worries. :)
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I saw those posts but maybe you missed the meaning of the idiom "to eat crow" because it's not supposed to be sweet but if it's sweet I'll take it...
 
Slimmy said:
Rugby is big in Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and pretty big in France. That's a lot of continents. I'd say its more international in that sense than hockey.
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New Zealand was one of said "small islands." Argentina again it's like the third sport there at highest behind king football and also basketball. South Africa yes, it's popular there, still behind football (bafana bafana), and France fairly popular there too but those are 4 countries that don't add up to an incredible figure. The hockey following adds up to a far greater number of interested persons and just as importantly a far greater amount of economic wealth. Being the second sport in Russia by a close margin and being the second sport in say South Africa or France by a large margin has very different implications.
 
Slimmy said:
Never understood that saying. Crow was a delicacy in Sweden back in the day. Supposedly very tasty.
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Heh yeah I think a lot of sayings are like that, 99.99% of people don't know how the saying originated and when taken literally, it makes no sense. Really happy to see Team Europe do well though, boy were some people ever dumping on them after losing a couple of exhibition matches. :laugh:

Like I said all along, these are professionals and they are competitive by nature. Nobody agrees to participate in this and then plays with anything less than full effort and it was very naive of some people to think that way.
 
Gary Nylund said:
I read so much here about how the European team would have no chance in this thing because their players just wouldn't be motivated. After all, they're not playing for their own country, they won't play hard etc., never mind that they're all professionals who should take pride in their work, oh no that doesn't matter I was told, they'll get slaughtered because it's playing for your country that's the all important factor in bringing out the best in players.

How's that crow tasting guys? :laugh::laugh:
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Like I wrote in another thread, these so called leftovers may well be very motivated. "We'll show them for not giving our countries a fair shot at entering the tournament". They are the ultimate underdogs, brought in purely for entertainment. They are gladiators.

GO EUROPE!
 
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