Paul Guggenheimer: Men's field hockey? Yes, it's a thing and what a sport it is

A few days ago I was expressing my quadrennial lament to a colleague about the lack of coverage of one of my favorite Olympic sports — men’s field hockey.

His reply: “Men’s field hockey? Men play field hockey?”

“Yes!” I told him. “Men play field hockey all over the world, and it’s very popular in other countries.” There is even a U.S. men’s national field hockey team though its very existence seems to be a well kept secret.

It doesn’t help that the U.S. men didn’t qualify for this year’s Olympics, which is about the only time Americans pay attention to such obscure sports. I use that term because NBC relegates field hockey to the fringes of its coverage. There is also a U.S. women’s field hockey team, but it did not qualify for the Tokyo games either.

Ah, but what a sport.

First played in 19^th-century England, field hockey features teams of 10 players each plus a goalkeeper. There is a lot of skill involved because the players, other than the goalie, are not allowed to use their feet or any other parts of their bodies to control the hard plastic ball. They can only hit the ball with the flat side of their stick — all of 46 millimeters wide.

But the players are extremely skilled at elevating those high-velocity shots that sometimes reach 100 mph.

Unlike ice hockey, field hockey is a non-contact sport. It moves fast and is played mostly on artificial turf. In short, it’s a lot of fun to watch.

But with no U.S. team involved, how does one become emotionally invested?

SI.com compiled a list of “who you should root for in the team sports that the U.S. didn’t qualify in.” Among the suggestions, the website chose the India men’s field hockey team, because it’s “a fun possible redemption story.” India has won 11 Olympic medals (eight gold), but none since 1980.

It turns out that India is well on its way to totally redeeming itself in Tokyo. It defeated Great Britain, inventor of the sport, 3-1, to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals, where it plays 2018 world champion Belgium. A victory would ensure India’s spot on the medal stand, as it would go on to face either Australia or Germany for the gold.

On the women’s side, SI.com chose Argentina as a team for Americans to root for, partly because of their “cool pink away uniforms.” Argentina defeated Germany, 3-0, Sunday to advance to the semis.

At the end of the day though, Americans want to be able to root for Americans in the Olympics. Field hockey is more widely played by women in the U.S., so it seems more likely that the U.S. women’s team would qualify in the immediate future.

But who knows? Maybe U.S. men’s coach Harendra Singh will get sick enough of hearing that some Americans don’t believe his team exists and use it to motivate them to qualify for Paris 2024 and perhaps even win a medal.

Now that could truly be called a “Miracle on … turf”?