[SoCal Pubbie]

It’s a joke because the clock running is not synonymous with “action.” Yet by the self-serving definition of hockey and soccer fans the whole running time of the game is considered “action,” but substitutions, changing formations, men in motion, and extra points in football are not. Endless and fruitless passing back and forth, the goalie waiting for his teammates to get ready before inbounding the ball/puck, the puck gliding down the ice until icing is called all count as “action” but only the time from center snap to tackle gets the same definition in football.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't know where you got your information, but hockey isn't played with a running clock. The clock stops every time a whistle blows, and restarts when the puck is dropped at the next faceoff.

The running clock in soccer is one of the dumbest things in sports. Football and soccer share that one stupid characteristic -- where the clock runs even when there's a stoppage in play and nothing is happening on the field at all.