tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post5916061980901289837..comments2023-06-01T21:15:57.354-11:00Comments on The H Does NOT Stand For Habs: Fighting is StupidJ.T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00012075493503316318noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-41019960557305838022013-10-16T03:20:30.759-11:002013-10-16T03:20:30.759-11:00Well written. Good points are made and the logic ...Well written. Good points are made and the logic follows. Referees can police the game, not enforcers. Such is true in other serious professional sports.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06841966400801188662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-83306411589907373252013-10-03T07:39:20.442-11:002013-10-03T07:39:20.442-11:00Ian puts it very well -- the neanderthal in us lik...Ian puts it very well -- the neanderthal in us liking the fights, versus the thinking side that realizes they just don't make sense. <br /><br />Somebody somewhere wrote this yesterday, which I thought really put the "fans love it" argument in context: If you had strippers at NHL games, yes, many would like it and watch, but that doesn't make it right or appropriate. <br /><br />Fighting is no longer right or appropriate.Woodvidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16833433610225890451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-86302022980699454582013-10-03T04:07:43.770-11:002013-10-03T04:07:43.770-11:00As usual, a well put and thought out post, Leigh A...As usual, a well put and thought out post, Leigh Anne.<br /><br />My neanderthal side has me standing up to watch when a fight occurs. I was happy to see Parros signed because I was tired of the Habs being constantly pushed around.<br /><br />I also don't like a game decided by a shootout, but I admit to watching it with a sense of excitement.<br /><br />But, my intellectual side wonders how fighting can be allowed in a team sport like hockey.<br /><br />It is ludicrous! Period.<br /><br />So, while I watch the fight with some caveman form of interest, I know it is plain stupid.<br /><br />I have played hockey. Though I have never had a hockey fight, I have had several concussions. They are not fun.<br /><br />How good would the game be if teams had a fourth line with skill on it?<br /><br />The NHL will never ban fighting completely - until a player dies from a fight. And it is amazing this has not happened yet!<br /><br />So, count me on the side that KNOWS fighting should be out of the game.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11141406139388093224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-31956908252641681192013-10-03T00:16:46.128-11:002013-10-03T00:16:46.128-11:00@Coach K: The NHLPA angle is one I've been thi...@Coach K: The NHLPA angle is one I've been thinking about. I agree there's the issue of a reduction in membership if there were no need for fighters. However, I think it's a bigger issue than that. Ken Dryden wrote a piece for the Globe not long ago, in which he explained the lack of need of a fourth line at all. Goons, "grinders," "energy players"...all of them are unnecessary. <br /><br />I think the NHLPA brass (minus Mathieu Schneider who's come out against fighting) sees the elimination of fighting as the thin edge of the wedge. If you don't have fighting, do you still need to carry a Travis Moen or Ryan White to provide "toughness" without a whole lot of skill to back it up? Maybe you do, but the NHLPA is afraid maybe you don't.<br /><br />As for the NHLPA membership and its support for fighting, I honestly don't put much faith in that. Ten years ago, nobody wanted to wear visors because it was "unmanly." But gradually, the majority shifted and now that they're mandatory, nobody says a word about it. These are guys who grew up with fighting and they can't imagine a game without it, any more than they can imagine a game without faceoffs.<br /><br />Yet, we hear the stories of the goons whose job it is to fight, and they talk about the mental impact and the fear they face. Skilled players just don't do it for the most part anyway. If you look at who actually fights, you'll find it's that lower level of player who makes up a majority of the NHLPA membership because every team needs to fill out its roster with able scrubs. They've always seen their willingness to fight as a requirement in keeping their jobs, and they can't imagine what they'd do if fighting were taken away. <br /><br />I saw a couple of players on TSN say today that if you took fighting out of hockey, the game would never be the same. What they can't picture is perhaps the game would be better. They accepted the enforcement of interference penalties, which changed the game. They accepted the shootout, which definitely changed the game. The game changes. We don't have the rover anymore, and we allow the forward pass. Change can be good, and that's what the NHLPA has to think about, rather than dismissing it out of hand.J.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00012075493503316318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-40723418713004479262013-10-02T16:29:41.021-11:002013-10-02T16:29:41.021-11:00All of your arguments make perfect sense. But may...All of your arguments make perfect sense. But maybe we are looking in the wrong place for answers. The question is not "When will the NHL wake up and ban fighting?" <br /><br />I think the real question is: "Why does the NHLPA still agree that fighting should be part of the game?" It's certainly not in the best interests of their constituents. The reality is absolutely no rule changes happen without the P.A.'s consent. Let's think about that for a minute. <br /><br />If the Player's Union wanted fighting eliminated they could drum up support from fans and the media in a heartbeat and it would be gone overnight. The cynical among us would say the union doesn't want to because no fighting means fewer "players" which translates to less money from union dues. It would also mean they are condoning a form of contraction; which of course, they cannot be seen to agree with. That of course is a smoke screen since the fighters who lose their jobs would need to be replaced by players with slightly more skill.<br /><br />Perhaps the P.A. isn't in a hurry to ban fighting because it lacks sufficient motivation to change its views. I suspect the instant the P.A is named as a defendant in some upcoming litigation they will be screaming at the owners and GMs for a ban.<br /><br />Is it possible that we who love hard-nosed hockey and despise fighting have been laying blame at the wrong door?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-24585829950206488282013-10-02T07:41:44.866-11:002013-10-02T07:41:44.866-11:00The only people who espouse fighting are the old g...The only people who espouse fighting are the old guard - guys like Don the Cherrysaurus who are living in some past world like the dinosaurs they are. All you have to do is look around to see how ridiculous fighting is - no other professional sports league in the world condones fighting. Relegated at this point to WWE status, the NHL is the laughing stock of professional sports - with their ref the worst in any professional league. Fighting will disappear - if no by force by evolution.The Tashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10474543883972856835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-50944053170789844642013-10-02T06:57:39.870-11:002013-10-02T06:57:39.870-11:00Thank you all for your comments. To be honest, I w...Thank you all for your comments. To be honest, I was expecting a lot of "get your head out of your butt" or "have you ever played the game" types of reaction. It's encouraging to see so many real, true blue hockey fans have had enough of fighting. J.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00012075493503316318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-25852936286009752992013-10-02T06:52:55.997-11:002013-10-02T06:52:55.997-11:00Dear NHL:
Fire Gary Bettman and hire Leigh Anne P...Dear NHL:<br /><br />Fire Gary Bettman and hire Leigh Anne Power.<br /><br />Now.<br /><br />RossyDoug Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00248680426556128591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-62972682160441691392013-10-02T06:20:27.942-11:002013-10-02T06:20:27.942-11:00A masterclassA masterclassTophamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14157334079663330151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-18568329168480858132013-10-02T04:40:32.634-11:002013-10-02T04:40:32.634-11:00I love your post. It's so exhausting to hear t...I love your post. It's so exhausting to hear the same incoherent arguments recycled over and over again by those who are pro-hockey-fights. I have yet to hear a well-reasoned argument for keeping fighting in the game. They generally appeal to emotions so much that they're woefully illogical. Thankfully, there are people like you who know how to put together a decent argument, and it's that fighting does not belong in the game. <br /><br />Sadly, I fear that the NHL will not remove fighting from the game until someone actually dies on the ice. I certainly hope that doesn't happen, but if history is any indication, this incident with Parros isn't going to change much, if anything at all. Even if this ends his career, I'm sure the pro-fighting advocates will come out and say how much it was a "freak accident" that "rarely happens," and how he "chose to do this for a living", etc. It'll just be lame excuses and denial so they can continue to get high off their own bloodlust.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09240058823672244047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-83797977715499724692013-10-02T04:30:24.392-11:002013-10-02T04:30:24.392-11:00It is not a co-incidence that fighting's bigge...It is not a co-incidence that fighting's biggest proponent, Don Cherry, looks like he would fit very naturally behind a WWE announce table. I would be surprised if they have not tried to recruit him. <br /><br />It has not turned me off hockey yet, but weakly punished fighting gives the NHL the credibility of roller derby and professional wrestling. I want my grandson to play hockey but I dread him getting good enough to play at a highly competitive level. sopermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08144548132261100149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-12872872874076110712013-10-02T04:16:34.456-11:002013-10-02T04:16:34.456-11:00I have seen those polls asking if I support fighti...I have seen those polls asking if I support fighting or want it banned. I have always come up on the "part of the game" side of things...but maybe I need to re-look. Given no other league accepts fights and given that many of the "feeder" routes to the NHL have now banned fighting, I'm thinking it's about time. Watching Parros last night in the first period I thought "hmmm...bit slow but effective around the net" (he didn't fight in the 1st period). The Habs could use that. They have enough people going to the penalty box for stupid stuff without adding the guys that fight, and shortening the bench when they end up with 10 and a game for instigating or whatever reason they choose for ejecting them these days...so I'm now firmly on the "Kick Fighting out of hockey Bandwagon!" Nice one JT!UK3Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18157890946481175154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-49815927766686868942013-10-02T02:41:11.923-11:002013-10-02T02:41:11.923-11:00You sure he didn't get into Princeton on a hoc...You sure he didn't get into Princeton on a hockey scholarship because he could win fights?FarAwayMaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270075991164220574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-81894826854709884192013-10-02T02:01:58.215-11:002013-10-02T02:01:58.215-11:00Right on Right On! Hockey should not be NASCAR on ...Right on Right On! Hockey should not be NASCAR on ice.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14162783936999869984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3435571560723564995.post-30149681975967480162013-10-02T01:53:08.533-11:002013-10-02T01:53:08.533-11:00Well said J.T.Well said J.T.moemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07714585748102791365noreply@blogger.com