Do you think that fights are a good thing for hockey? Will it bring more fans in, or does it just get old? With some of the new rules, we will not see fights during the last 5 minutes of a game, so I am wondering if it will hurt the game.
Yes... Kick his a$$ Sea Bass!
No... Can’t we all be friends?
Do you think that fights are a good thing for hockey? Will it bring more fans in, or does it just get old? With some of the new rules, we will not see fights during the last 5 minutes of a game, so I am wondering if it will hurt the game.
When compassion exceeds logic for too long, chaos will ensue. - Unknown
Hockey without fights is just plain silly.
reminds me of the old line - " went to the the fights and a hockey game broke out"
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
They're all such nice boys......why can't they get along?
I'm sorry. Is my bias showing?
The only thing better would be if everyone was "required" to play without a helmet!!!
On the ground, protecting the Cyburbia Shove since 2004.
I don't mind the occassional scuffle. But, it can easily go too far and detract from a good game. Also, given that the sport needs to be more family friendly to survive, the officials and the team captains need to break things up before they get out of hand.
You asked about hockey, but NASCAR has seen some fighting and unfair play this season, and I've heard complaints from NASCAR fans that the league's penalties on drivers aren't tough enough. They want stricter punishments on fighting or intentionally causing a wreck to get someone out of a race. They're saying too much non-racing stuff is taking away from the racing.
JOE ILIFF
________________________________________________________________________
Debt is normal . . . Be weird!
Dave Ramsey
"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bring on the fights. Goons of the past and present are part of the game's lore, as well as some of the nicest and most charitable folks who play the game.
A lot of people watch the game because of the fights and it is always an exciting way to get the team and the home crowd fired up if the game is a dud.
Reminds me of a joke aimed at hockey goons:
Three member of the Toronto Maple Leafs were put to a polygraph test. Mats Sundin stepped up, got hooked into the machine and stated, "I think I am the best forward in the NHL..." At which point the needles on the machine moved and a beep came from the machine. Ed Belfour was next, stating "I think I am the best goalie in the league..." at which point the same negative reaction came from the lie detector. Next was famed goon and bad boy Tie Domi. He gets hooked up and says: "I think...." and the machine blows up.
You get all squeezed up inside/Like the days were carved in stone/You get all wired up inside/And it's bad to be alone
You can go out, you can take a ride/And when you get out on your own/You get all smoothed out inside/And it's good to be alone
-Peart
Fighting is part of the game, and to take it out would be counter productive, IMHO.
This webpage summarizes pretty well why fighting is accepted in the NHL:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hockeyfighting1.html
"Growth is inevitable and desirable, but destruction of community character is not. The question is not whether your part of the world is going to change. The question is how." -- Edward T. McMahon, The Conservation Fund
Actually fighting in Hockey could almost be considered a preventative measure. Specially when you have people hacking, slashing, and headhunting some of your better players (usually the slower, less skilled players). Having an enforcer, or an instigator (or pest) helps keep people off those more skiller players backs. Another good reason for fighting is to disrupt momentum. If the other team is starting to surge, and starts to dominate play, instigate a fight and disrupt that flow.
Not only that, as an instigator (my role), you start a little scrum in front of the net and you can usually get someone on the other team take a stupid penalty (roughing, cross-check, interferance, or unsportsmanlike). I love doing that as a d-man. Give the guy a little slash across his shin pads and have him retaliate just as the ref is looking. Or as a forward posting up in front of the net, grabbing the d-man and pulling him in close and having him tie up with you and have the d-man focus on you instead of the puck. Creates alot of chances.
Forechecking is overrated.
You make a good point. I think that the biggest difference is with NASCAR, you can kill someone by pushing them into the wall. In hockey, if you don't push someone into the boards, you’re not playing the game right.Originally posted by Joe Iliff
I don't think that there should be fights in NASCAR, but in hockey the can keep it safe and like the web site listed above, it keeps the goons off the shooters.
When compassion exceeds logic for too long, chaos will ensue. - Unknown
And yet, everyone seems to love Olympic and World Championship hockey, where fighting almost never happens.
True, and it's also true of college hockey, which I love almost as much as the NHL. But the NHL somehow is different, and I like that it's different....and fighting is a part of that.
"Growth is inevitable and desirable, but destruction of community character is not. The question is not whether your part of the world is going to change. The question is how." -- Edward T. McMahon, The Conservation Fund
I agree with both your points. In NASCAR, the punishments for drivers who intentional try to cause a wreck should be MUCH more severe than the are. A fight in hockey shouldn't be "penaltied" out of the game, BUT a fight should be ended more quickly than in the past. It's not the fight itself that I don't like, it's the minor fight that goes too long, becomes a major fight, and then an all out brawl. Let 'em fight, then break it up and get back to the game.
JOE ILIFF
________________________________________________________________________
Debt is normal . . . Be weird!
Dave Ramsey
"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The fighting isn't necessary. Fighting in college hockey is much less common than in the pros and this fact doesn't diminish college hockey's popularity.
People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor
Really? Do you think that the University of Michigan hockey team draws the same average attendance as the Red Wings?
Strategic fighting in hockey is part of the game. It creates an important check on the "run and gunners" and adds to the defensive side of the game. Case in point: the Kings didn't agree to the trade that brought them Gretzky until the Oilers threw in Marty McSorrly. Uh, I might have spelled his name wrong, but you get the point.
Maintaining enthusiasm in the face of crushing apathy.
I don't mind a fair fight, but sucker-punching thugs like McSorley and Bertuzzi that nearly kill people are very bad for the game. Hockey sucks- why are we talking about it?
I haven't watched much hockey but what little I've watched it seemed to me that the fights may have been staged. Last time I watched I was expecting....
[announcers voice on] Behind the bench coaching the Blue Wings, the man with the rubber bands in his beard: Capt. Lou Albano!!![/voice off]
http://www.nndb.com/people/220/000030130/
You're in FL now; does it matter???
Good point (you know there's a team over in Tampa, right?)
It actually matters a lot. The Stanley Cup is still in Tampa!
Maintaining enthusiasm in the face of crushing apathy.
Good Lord, a Sunbelt team won the Artic North's Stanley Cup
.... Hey there is places down here that don't think that the "War of Northern Aggression" (aka the Civil War) is over but hockey is a way that it can still continue on with Snowbelt merceneries. It's wrestling on ice.
That's exactly the point I was going to make. I am a very casual hockey fan and have been to about 7 or 8 games over the years. Everytime I'm there I just can't believe all the rough stuff and downright cheap shots that go on away from the puck. I can't even watch the NHL on tv but have no problem watching Olympic Hockey, even when it's not the U.S.A. playing.
From what I read and hear, the NHL is bleeding financially. The tv ratings have been very low. IMHO, it's seems like the NHL needs to do a much better job of attracting the "casual fan" like me to their product. The NFL has done a great job reaching out to women, and now they make up a sizeable portion of their fan base. The NHL needs to do the same I think, because their fan base now is not going to sustain them in the long run. That's my $0.02.
Last edited by MD Planner; 07 Oct 2005 at 12:52 PM.
It's the price of oil, the war of the spoils, where's your bucket for the big bailout? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, we've got a lot to drink about!.
Good points about international hockey having few, if any, fights. But I think the difference there is the size of the ice. With the larger rink, the game is faster and it seems like the players aren't in each others' faces as much. The fast game keeps it moving.
In the NHL though, I've seen fighting lead to team rallies from losses and it spurs on the crowd to get behind the team if it's quiet in the stands. If the NHL rules and game play were different, I would probably not care if there weren't any fights. But the NHL is different and fights are integral to the game.
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