Are cleats replacing skates?

Now that Major League Soccer has had its most successful season ever and the National Hockey League enters month number three of its lockout, sports writers and fans throughout the U.S. and Canada weigh in on whether or not soccer is threatening the NHL.

Steven Simmons at the Toronto Sun wrote that the plan to popularize MLS never really came to fruition. He asked eight or nine people who make their living in sports if they knew who Chris Wondolowski was, and none could really give him an answer. A few guessed that he was a soccer player, but weren't confident and couldn't say any more about him. Simmons's point is that if those who make a living in sports can't even identify the soccer player who has 50% more goals than any other player, who can? To him, soccer can't possibly be that popular and is certainly no threat to hockey, but not everyone sees it that way.

Bill Saporito at TIME happens to think that soccer could very well be replacing hockey. This year, the MLS broke their previous attendance records and averaged about 19,000 fans per game and 114 sellouts. Saporito wrote that the addition of new international talents to the league (such as Robbie Keane and Thierry Henry) upped the level of play and made the sport more attractive to fans. Even though long time fan favorite David Beckham played his last game on Saturday, Saporito feels that the league is strong enough to remain popular even after he's gone.

I asked several of my friends what they thought about this newfound competition between hockey and soccer, and their opinions correlated with their sport of choice. Kassandra Sampson said that soccer could never replace hockey and that hockey fans will remain faithful to their sport no matter how long this ridiculous lockout lasts. Tim Bucker, whose love soccer is borderline unhealthy, thinks that soccer is the new hockey and was very excited that it's finally getting the attention it deserves. Shakeeb Ahmed said, "Soccer threatening the NHL? Good one." That really comes as no surprise, though. Shakeeb lives in Toronto and plays both field hockey and ice hockey.

So, which sport will win? Soccer or hockey? I suppose I'll just have to keep checking the sports sections to find out.