Seriously though, when it comes to the talk of JVR, he really needs to get his head on straight and do what he's supposed to, use his size to dominate other players, keep the puck, and use his soft hands to score nice goals. None of that has really happened this season, so hopefully the benching of him helps his game. And yes Stamkos is scary.
No one but the US and maybe Canada play American rules football.
The style of the NBA is not the traditional style of basketball played around the world, meaning that many European players would be square pegs in round holes. The talent level in those countries is not even comparable to America, either.
Baseball is the American past time and few countries play it other than Latin countries (which the MLB recruits HEAVILY from) and Japan (which the MLB is just starting to notice).
Hockey is probably the 2nd biggest sport worldwide behind soccer and is played in almost every civilized (IE. non 3rd world country) nation in the world, including in the olympics. And, btw, our country is one of the worst developers in talent among the countries which develop players from this sport.
So, it really is no wonder why the NHL has the largest percentage of non-American players in it compared to the other sports.
Yeah, but that's pretty much my point. Hockey is more of a global game than the other popular sports in this country, so it has a larger talent pool to draw from. And only baseball is close in that sense.
And I can't speak about all other countries that are big "hockey countries", but I'd guess most of them don't have as many popular sports as the US does, which draws kids away from playing hockey, hence the reason why the US isn't a good developer of talent relative to some other countries.
I get to watch Stamkos quite a lot on TV down here in Florida, he is one heck of a talent....I will not be surprised if he has a 5 goal game one of these days.I saw him hit the post 4 times in a game last season and he had 2 goals in that game.His one timer is like no other i have seen recently. Great shooter, dangler, passer, and skater, i hope he has a long career.
And to think, people say there are too many teams in the league and the talent level is watered down. I mean, sure the talent is thinner than it would be with 22 teams, but compared to other leagues the talent is deep. Hockey and baseball are the only big time leagues in this country that draw large portions of talent from all over the world. Basketball is starting to, but it's not on the same level yet.
I'll always remember watching the ignorance of ESPN last year before the start of the Stanley Cup. Someone on Around the Horn said that the Stanley Cup wouldn't be successful or entertaining because there are no superstars playing (Crosby, Ovechkin, Lidstrom, Luongo, etc.) I couldn't believe it, seeing as the Flyers and Hawks were both loaded with stars, and probably as deep as any other teams in the league.
Yeah, but that's pretty much my point. Hockey is more of a global game than the other popular sports in this country, so it has a larger talent pool to draw from. And only baseball is close in that sense.
And I can't speak about all other countries that are big "hockey countries", but I'd guess most of them don't have as many popular sports as the US does, which draws kids away from playing hockey, hence the reason why the US isn't a good developer of talent relative to some other countries.
