EA names NHL 2007 cover athlete

If more americans cared about hockey then EA would buy up that Exclusive Right and pump out mediocre titles for hockey too (referring to madden). Thank god there is only a few of us who like hockey.
However, as a hockey fan, I must say that what everyone else calls football (soccer) blows!
What a bunch of panzies.
Oh... Some one bumped me... I must now cry like a baby. Plus it's boring... Yawn.
Baseball is pretty boring too...
Pitch, Foul, Pitch, Foul. Ooohhh a single, Yawn.

I went to a fight in Vegas once. But it was crazy, things got out of control and a hockey game broke out.

hum Scott, you might not know this, but EA tried to get exclusive rights to both NHL and NBA but failed because both sports believe they can grow better in a multi publisher area.

It's sad, I really like Ovechkin, he's the next Gretzky, but I don't like EA's sports game (not realistic enough) so i won't buy it in the end

Finally, let's not forget EA's cover athlete curse!!

"However, as a hockey fan, I must say that what everyone else calls football (soccer) blows!
What a bunch of panzies."

LMAO. In football (soccer) players don't wear all the padding that hockey players wear, and unlike Hockey players, soccer players rely on natural, kinetic displacement.

Billions disagree with your opinion, that such as linear game as hockey is better. I forgot what countries play hockey... oh yeah, only nordic and cold countries and the US.

Football (soccer) is the sport where ATHLETES run up to 4 miles per game, and can lose up to 2 pounds after each game. To wrap it all up, football is the sport that requires more fitness, technique and aerobics than any other sport out there. Justifiably, it's also the most passionate and poetic sport period.

Baseball is mos-def a very boring sport, in which I've lost faith in due to endless steroids coverups. Well, at least nobody has been killed by a 'flying object' in baseball...

Why does nobody like watching the World Cup? They may not score every few seconds but it is definitely a fast-paced and entertaining sport to watch. Their athleticism is simply amazing. Ive been watching it pretty much everyday and I find it just as entertaining as the NBA Finals and NFL.

S.A.,

The entire 2006 FIFA World Cup (64 games) will be viewed 5 billion people. The people here are a minority, that due to the very nature of this country's foundation, have remained isolated to the sport (as we Americans wanted to forget everything from Britain).

In 50 years time, I doubt we will remain enthused by pumped-up 300 pound batsmen hitting 60 homers a season who lie to Congress about using a drug without their knowledge.

The only commendable US sport is basketball, and we're pwnd by countries like Argentina and Lithuania.

Finally, let's not forget EA's cover athlete curse!!

Well Dwayne Wade was on the cover for NBA LIve and umm yeah he got MVP and his team won the championship

I am a huge Hockey fan. EA used to be the go-to company for good sports games... then along came SEGA and 2K Sports. 2K2 Hockey was great, however 2K6 is missing somthing... and Take2 / 2K Sports only seem to be able to make buggy sports titles these days.

I am really disapointed with the buggy software and lack of customer support, not to mention the 'only marginal improvements year to year'.

EA (as much as I hate to say this) may be the lesser of two evils here, and could easily take the Hockey crown with a solid, simple and fun to play Hockey game. They need to get the basics spot on: make it fast and fun to play, easy to pick up for newbs (one analogue, two buttons) and then start to add the advanced stuff (without ruining the basics).

I feel the need to bite my tongue when I say this, but I do hope EA can bring some great hockey to my X360. Sorry 2K Sports, you had your chance and lost my trust... come back to me in 4 years or so.

As for the soccer vs hockey comments... flame much guys? Soccer(football) is a great game. Hockey is a great game. One is played in the summer and one in the winter. Both are exciting, dangerous and require great skill. Go Leafs Go!! Congrats to the Hurricanes.

Ovechkin is good and all, but Sydney Crosby is the one to watch.

All I care about is fat american football and since EA bought exclusive rights to that I don't even bother anymore. I loved ESPN/2K football and now it's gone. When they were rumoring the football strike and making a new players union I got so excited, just to be kicked in the balls and sent flying back into Madden.

#3 The curse only applies to Madden cover athletes.

I think the reason the US isn't interested in the world cup is because we have had so many great teams in the nations history that winning has become boring and there has been a gradual disinterest in national pride

If you don't like baseball because of steroids, get another excuse. Any true fan of baseball is still watching, unless they are looking for a cool excuse to use in conversation.

I prefer 2k's hockey than EA's hockey. I really hope that the NHL never gives up rights to the development of one of the games simply because I've seen what it has done to baseball and how 2ksports had the attitude "well if you don't like our problematic game, don't play any baseball"

iDude - many more people have been killed in the stands of baseball games than at hockey games.

And there is a reason that soccer is the most played/watched sport in the world...and that reason is the low cost of entry. No other sport requires no equipment other than a ball. You can use cones/trash cans/bushes or whatever you want to make two goals. Then a bunch of guys can get together, barefoot if they can't afford shoes, and play essentially the same game that is played in the world cup. Sure, they are missing the shin pads, the kleets and the fancy jerseys, but the game is the same.

You can't play hockey without the sticks, pads, ice and other equipment. You can't play football without padding and helmets (without them, its touch football, and that is not the same game). You can't play basketball without the backboards. You can't play baseball without the bats and gloves or chewing tobacco.

Soccer, the sport of the dirt poor, will always remain the most popular sport in the world. At least until India, Africa and China eventually modernize and their citizens has more disposable income to spend on the higher pleasures.

Obviously, according by your criteria, the world's most popular sport based on "cost of entry" would be running. Which virtually requires no equipment whatsoever.

Baseball's best players (Pujols, Sosa, Pedro, Bernie, Delgado, to name a few) had humble beginnings, playing baseball with paper balls. That proves that if people like a sport, they will play it no matter how.

Football is the world's sport for the reason a handful of people just can't appreciate: it's beauty.

When our country learns to appreciate the tactical and technical ends of the game we will be able to have more followers.

But yeah Hockey is a great game don't get me wrong. Just don't talk smack about a sport that is beyond one's understanding or frustration of not knowing what the fuss is all about, for the sake of introducing a meaningless, merely marketing announcement (Wow! a cover athlete story!). This was bound to happen.

To say Bernie, Sosa and Delgado are baseball's best players right now is a joke. Bernie was back in the 90s, Sosa was a steroid user, and Delgado is definitely not the best when you consider guys that can hit for power and actually play well in the field.

When he was making the cost of entry analysis, it was to say that there were better oppurtunities for players to play soccer than hockey or other sports. It happens in EVERY country, including the US. Running although very much a sport (I am a runner), it is not a team sport and I'm sure the people of Kenya are not going crazy that a member of their country has won the boston marathon to the extent that countries go for soccer. Why? Soccer is a team sport

idude, do you realise that padding is there to prevent injuries
from the complete physicality and intensity of the sport.
football (soccer) is just carrying the ball 140 meters stopping losing
it then when a player gets tapped he falls to the ground screaming.
how is soccer poetic? let's kick a ball down field, chase it, goes out
of bounds, throw-in, chase it, out of bounds for fucking 90 minutes!