DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: My one exception to badmouthing other sports

As someone who watches a lot of varied sports, it’s always funny to me to see fans insult other team sports throughout their fandom.

In Canada, hockey fans seem to be the most likely to do this, as a result of the sport’s lower international standing, but high prominence in this country.

It’s especially goofy when comparing the NHL to the NBA, as professional basketball has become more and more similar to hockey over the past few years in my opinion.

While the players do hold way more power in the NBA, due to the fact stars generally play 90 per cent of important games, the way the regular season has become less and less important and the obvious changes in rules and increased intensity in the post-season means basketball is becoming much more like hockey.

I call any negative comparisons between leagues a “please like my sport,” moment. Hockey fans comparing a player coming back from injury to load management in the NBA or foul baiting in various soccer leagues usually just get me to roll my eyes.

Oftentimes such criticisms are just surface level complaints, designed to bad-mouth the culture of another sport and make their preferred league seem better in comparison.

Most of these complaints are pretty toothless, but there is a massive exception to this rule for me, and it comes out every time I see a trophy presentation in one of the non-hockey major sports.

For some reason, the NBA, MLB and NFL all think presenting the trophy to the owner of the team is the way to go.

This utterly baffles me, and is a very American idea. The trophy should be presented to the captain of the team. No ifs, ands or buts.

My favourite moment that I try to capture with my camera at every championship I go to is right after the presentation. After the commissioner or president of the league finishes handing over the trophy, the moment the captain rushes back to their teammates with the trophy is perfect.

There’s nothing like it, and fortunately I get to see it more than a dozen times a year.

Each sport has their positives and negatives, and no league can appeal to every fan, but the other major leagues really do need to learn from the NHL — heck, they need to learn from every lower level hockey league, every high school tournament and every top moment I get the privilege to cover.

Present the trophy to the captains, not the owners.