Why do we love the game of hockey so much?

On TV we see financial problems and people are starving. We see problems in our healthcare system and there are problems in the schools our children go to.

Everyday we face this, but do we take action to make a change?

If I speak for myself, I sometimes do take action when there is a local problem that really concerns me, but when it comes to nationwide or worldwide issues, I most often don't care.

What I care about is the game and I don't think it's a good thing to be that narrow minded.

How can one love and care about a game as simple as hockey when we have all these problems in the world?

The salaries of all the players in the league would probably be enough to solve the starvation in the third world. They make a lot of money, but there are people in other professions that make more.

Do you think that there's to much money in hockey and that it could be used for a better purpose?

Maybe, but on the other hand, the money the players makes is his true market value. There is a break even between supply and demand or otherwise no team would sign him and the money would end up in the pocket of the team owners.

One thing I think the sport have done well is the founding of the Hockey Fights Cancer organization. If you compare it to a disease like cancer, it isn't that important and I think it's very well done that it raises money for cancer research.

We fans all followed Mario Lemiux's and Saku Kouivo's battle with the disease and those guys sure must have love hockey because of the way they fought back.

How can you even think about returning to the game after something like that?

I guess the answer is that it do play an important part in our lives. What kind of force makes a young player put the time and effort in that is necessarily to reach glory?

Isn't the time spent on the rink (or the stands for us fans) better spent on studying to become a doctor or lawyer? Something that really matters or can you say that it is of equal importance?

I have given these questions some thoughts and I simply don't know. Maybe hockey is bigger than life.