First, you minimize how popular hockey actually is. Sure, it's the fourth most popular professional sport in the U.S. (not counting Nascar as a sport), but it's not like these guys are nobodies. Right now, the NHL isn't as popular as it once was. Where it will be in 10 years is anyone guess. However, it's not like hockey has never had a transcending figure. Wayne Gretsky is as well known of a name as Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan.

Also, to discredit the grinds of other sports is dishonest. You should watch the fourth quarter of game 5 between the Cavs and Magic. If you don't think Lebron James wasn't grinding as hard as any other athlete in the world, you're fooling yourself or you don't understand the strength and endurance it takes to exert that kind of energy after playing three quarters of basketball.

What type of grind is there in baseball? The season is twice that of hockey and basketball. Tack on another month and a half of spring training, and your season is 7.5 months long. Tack on a playoff run and it's 8.5 months long. Tack on off-season training, and for some players, that's giving up your entire life from age 18-40 to the sport. And what about the guys who are lifetime minor leaguers? They are giving up the same as the guys in the bigs but have nothing to show for it. The AAA veteran making, maybe, $70k probably wouldn't mind having Crosby's $9 million salary.

And while football players only play 16 regular season games, the toll they take on their bodies isn't worth overlooking. They have the shortest careers of any professional athlete. A running back is lucky to make it 8 years before his body is no longer capable of competing.

As a non-soccer fan, I watched a Manchester United vs Chelsea game in a London pub that was a super exciting game that ended like 4-3 and thought “wow, what have I been missing”.

A week later in my hotel room I watched another Chelsea game end 0-0 where there was not even 1 shot on goal the entire second half. It was the most boring sporting event I've ever witnessed. Way worse than even curling.

I also think that hockey takes incredible finesse. Think of another sport that pairs skill of feet and hands so completely? Anyone can run, but hockey institutes a whole higher level of skill, before you can even join a pick up game. It is a grind, and it's the little details that matter so much, like body position and where your stick is.

Which is why it's so frightening to watch, because I agree, Detroit players simply know what's going on all the time. If Pittsburgh were missing 1 of their top 2 (you know who I'm talking about) it would be a completely different game because they could reallocate 3 awesome Detroit players that have been dispatched to deal with those threats.

In baseball, the edges are larger, but because a single game has so few 'spots' to press that edge compared to hockey, the best teams don't have as large an edge over a single game.