There will be Blood
Two massive and menacing figures peel away their masks to turn and circle each other. Each man gives the other a glowering scowl and prepares to serve as a meat pulverizer for the other’s face. As the fists, elbows, and spurts of blood begin to fly, one might start to wonder if the authorities are ever going to show up and put an end to this seemingly meaningless violence, or if someone is simply going to have to scrape it all up off the ground when it gets over.
Where can you go to watch this? No, not downtown to an inner-city gang war, or even your local fight club. You need look no further than Family Night at your local National Hockey League (NHL) venue.
The
NHL is the only major sports federation that allows players to interrupt the
action to whale on each other while the referees stand back and watch. Fighting
has been a long-standing tradition in the NHL for a variety of reasons, and I
thought it would be appropriate to take some time this week taking a closer
look at some of these arguments.
1. The presence of possible fighting deters cheap hits and dangerous stick play.
Now that’s an interesting concept. It sounds so reasonable that I think we should implement the same principles into our public schooling system. If we just let kids go at each other from time to time, I bet we could virtually eradicate tripping and shoving in hallways, as well as premeditated acts of theft and violence in the lunch room. Besides, it would allow schools to cut that pesky peaceful conflict resolution from the curriculum - everybody knows what a downer that is.
2. Hockey needs “enforcers” to protect the stars.
Wait a minute, I thought that was what rules were for… my mistake. Silly me for thinking that referees were good for more than dropping the puck and calling harmless icing penalties. I guess I just assumed that the purpose of having rules for any sport was to protect both the players and the integrity of the game, but what do I know? If the NHL was even half as vigilant about deterring unnecessary cheap shots as the NFL is, one of the NHL's most prominent figures in Sidney Crosby might not currently be on injury reserve list.
3. People come to NHL games for the chance to see a fight.
No. People go to boxing matches, martial arts tournaments, WWE events, and dark alleys in the inner city for the chance to see a fight. They come to hockey games to see the intricate stick-work and goal scoring of Alexander Ovechkin, outlandish one-timers from Evgeni Malkin to Sid the Kid, and the impossible glove saves that make Dominik Hasek resemble Mr. Fantastic more than a hockey goalie.
Call me a purist, but I just don’t see how fighting belongs anywhere in hockey, or quite frankly, anywhere in sports. When will the NHL realize that it is allowing fighting to detract from the purity of not only hockey but the institution of sports as a whole? Every other legitimate American sports league has cracked down tightly on fighting, sending the right message to both our kids and society – it’s about time the NHL did as well.
1. The presence of possible fighting deters cheap hits and dangerous stick play.
Now that’s an interesting concept. It sounds so reasonable that I think we should implement the same principles into our public schooling system. If we just let kids go at each other from time to time, I bet we could virtually eradicate tripping and shoving in hallways, as well as premeditated acts of theft and violence in the lunch room. Besides, it would allow schools to cut that pesky peaceful conflict resolution from the curriculum - everybody knows what a downer that is.
2. Hockey needs “enforcers” to protect the stars.
Wait a minute, I thought that was what rules were for… my mistake. Silly me for thinking that referees were good for more than dropping the puck and calling harmless icing penalties. I guess I just assumed that the purpose of having rules for any sport was to protect both the players and the integrity of the game, but what do I know? If the NHL was even half as vigilant about deterring unnecessary cheap shots as the NFL is, one of the NHL's most prominent figures in Sidney Crosby might not currently be on injury reserve list.
3. People come to NHL games for the chance to see a fight.
No. People go to boxing matches, martial arts tournaments, WWE events, and dark alleys in the inner city for the chance to see a fight. They come to hockey games to see the intricate stick-work and goal scoring of Alexander Ovechkin, outlandish one-timers from Evgeni Malkin to Sid the Kid, and the impossible glove saves that make Dominik Hasek resemble Mr. Fantastic more than a hockey goalie.
Call me a purist, but I just don’t see how fighting belongs anywhere in hockey, or quite frankly, anywhere in sports. When will the NHL realize that it is allowing fighting to detract from the purity of not only hockey but the institution of sports as a whole? Every other legitimate American sports league has cracked down tightly on fighting, sending the right message to both our kids and society – it’s about time the NHL did as well.
There’s a classic Olympic adage that says that there is more honor in outperforming a man than there is in killing him. When Michael Jordan got ticked off at an opponent, he got back at them by beating them with a game-winning jumper. Lance Armstrong didn’t bury his rivals with his fists, but with his legs. For the sake of the purity of sport, and with so many kids idolizing NHL players, it’s time for the league to realize that they have simply been choosing to fight all the wrong battles.
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