I remember reading something a long time ago, something to the effect of a 200lb hockey player skating at 24 or 25mph produces the same amount of kinetic energy as a 350lb football player running at 18mph.
Both hockey players and football players are tough athletes and they take their fair share of punishment. I will say I am surprised at the average weight of football players by position. I really thought they woudl be higher.
Obviously, the offensive linemen, defensive tackles and defensive ends, linebackers and tight ends are generally going to be (really) big guys, but the averages for QB's, RB's, kickers, WR's and defensive backs are comparable to a solid defenceman or winger in hockey.
Call it what you want, bias etc... but if I had to guess, I would be willing to bet most Canadians would vote hockey, and most Americans would probably go with football. Europeans overseas generally play a more fast-paced, less physical style of hockey, but they would probably choose hockey over American football as well, mainly because they just don't understand it as much.
Most people watching hockey think the players are just out there gliding around, making it look easy. It's not, not even close. The average shift in the NHL is around 45 seconds or so, and it's difficult to notice because often the changes are made on the fly. The other reason is, skate at 100% up from one end to the other and back, and you're sucking wind like there's no tomorrow. No wind, no power.
Besides getting hit by other players, you're taking errant (frozen) pucks, and the boards don't have a whole lot of give to them either. Jeremy Roenick went face first into the boards and shattered his jaw in three places. Went to the locker room, had the medical staff wire his jaw shut, and he went back out to keep playing.
From Major Junior onwards (not just the NHL), these guys are putting in the 82 games, playoffs if they make it, and pretty much daily practices when there is no game scheduled.
I am not in any way saying football players are weak or are not tough, they are. The big fuckers on the line are taking hefty physical punishment, and have shorter careers than the smaller football players who are QB's or WR's. And the guys who make it to the NFL are exceptionally talented and are phenomenal athletes.
But the offensive lineman is not playing the same physical type of game as the punter, or place kicker. A punter or place kicker could probably play 82 games in a season. A lineman? Not a fucking chance.
As one person already stated, as far as one sport or the other being tougher on one's own body... probably a wash. But I do believe hockey players are more durable and better conditioned. Watching the hockey players on the screen, they make it look almost effortless, but seeing a game in real life, especially at ice level, you really get a much different perspective. The old time goalies, who played with no helmets were just completely insane fucking savages.
And in my opinion, taking fighting out of hockey only leads to more, and worse, dirty shit, like slashes and cross-checks. Let them duke it out and be done with it. Gary Suter's cross-check on Paul Kariya is still haunting to this day.
