Rule Changes

This paragraph is from one of my "boys," who is vehemently against the offside rule of hockey:

The offside rule is one of the stupidest rules in professional sports.  First of all, offside does nothing but stops naturally exciting breakaway plays.  In basketball, 2-on-1 or even 3-on-1 fastbreak plays are allowed, even encouraged.  Why can't we do the same for hockey where we have a player "cherry picking" in front of the puck in the other zone as he is heading in for a goal?

Second, the offside rule penalizes good defenses.  If a team is able to successfully defend its goal, shouldn't it be given the opportunity to score with an advantage.  It also penalizes fast skaters looking for an opportunity to score after a strong defensive stance.

This is what I think of my "boy's" comments:

I think that his comments about hockey's offside rule are absurd. If there were no offside rules, the game would be full of breakaways that are rarely seen in a game. This would also lead to another issue of very high scoring matches. In today's hockey games, every goal is rare and precious. If the offside rule was removed, every goal scored would not be such a big deal. The reason why hockey is so exciting in the first place is that goals do not come cheap or unearned. The offside rule assures that each team has a fair chance to defend its side.

Although my "boy" may claim that offsides penalize defenders, allowing offside will in fact change the way defenses work. The defense would not be able to stay in the offensive zone for long because it would lead to many breakaways and a less organized game. Eveyone would be rushing and trying to score a goal without any strategy whatsoever.

Furthermore, the absence of the offside rule would tire out individual players because they would just be trying to score the whole time without putting any thought into it. With people playing without strategy and control. the game would just look like a chaotic mess.