Violence in Hockey

I woke up this morning and went through my regular routine of checking out the various online sports pages beginning with www.si.com, on to www.espn.com and finishing off with the redheaded step-child of sports news www.tsn.ca. Si, my personal favorite had Peter King's excellent column "Monday Morning QB" as its headline, while ESPN had NBA basketball as their front page. TSN (who without hockey would play curling, darts and poker on a pre-recorded loops) led with a very different and more troubling story. Their headline was "Discipline to Come: Cormier Ejected from QMJHL After a Head Shot on an Opponent". If you want to check out a video of Cormier's flying elbow to the head of another guy you can check it out on youtube.

Now, I do not know Patrice Cormier, I've never met him and he is probably a good guy. He grew up not too far from where I went to College in New Brunswick and probably dated a couple of the residents of 16 Allison in Sackville. His character is not the point of this post, it is in fact the role that violence plays within hockey (and box lacrosse to a certain extent).

As it stands hockey and lacrosse are the only sports I can think of where a fight, where punches that are thrown in an organized fashion is condoned. I say condoned in this instance because, while penalties are given to the combatants, gameplay is halted and the fight is allowed to continue until the linesmen deem fit and it is broken up. In any other sport I have been involved in rugby, football and basketball, a single punch, let alone a glorified bar fight warrants an automatic ejection from the competition. I am not here to question the idea of how cool fights are either, I love seeing fights in UFC or a good boxing card or even a couple drunks in a bar swing wildly. The point I hope to make is that fighting within hockey plays a role is erroding the control of the game and removes the power of game officials to maintain order within the competition. When that happens people get hurt and stupid elbows and punches are thrown and sticks are swung.

Anyone that refs hockey feel free to correct me but at the major levels of hockey if an individuals participates in a fight he is awarded a five minute major penalty for fighting. A major penalty, now tell me if an hockey player was swinging away with his stick on another play, an act which warranted a five minute major penalty there would be no way the referee would allow that to continue until that player got tired and stopped swinging. What allowing fighting/violent acts to occur but still penalizing it allows for a vigilante style of play within the game. This was brought to the surface during the infamous Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore affair, the idea that within the game one enforcer or even a regular player could be sent to send a message or exact some sort of vengance for an earlier play or occurance. The rules of the game, the laws of the land can be circumvented by the coaches and players which allows for a unique subplot within each played game. A subplot of revenge and violence more apt for an Scorsese movie than a sporting event. It always made me laugh that the NHL, the league that has fist fights as a major selling point has a major trophy (the Lady Byng trophy) for gentlemenly and sportsmanlike play.

Who knows if this idea of vengence within games, the idea that messages can be sent, that the rules are there but are merely a suggestion or guideline played a role in Patrice Cormier's elbow to the head of his opponent. We may never find out but in my humble opinion, hockey should either let fights be part of the game, let the Derek Boogaards and Bob Proberts do their thing where they amp up the crowd and fight their way to paycheques and have that be legal within the rule or join the rest of the 21st century sports and let teams play the game in order to stick it to their opponents.

Haiti

Nearly 6000 kilometers away in Haiti, hundreds of thousands of people lay dead or dying in the rubble of what was a nation on brink of collapse before the earthquake that hit it.

Hope, in Haiti has been largely absent since the mostly black slaves population of the island revolted in the late 18th century and expelled the French colonialists. Military coups, dictators such as the Duvaliers (whose actions, if even half true would place their family square within the ranks of Pol Pot, Hitler, Milosevic et al in terms of destruction of humanity), drought, disease, and famine all became part of the Haitian consciousness as the slow passage of time continued.

I remember doing a Social Studies unit on Haiti in grade 6 and thinking then, much as I do now that hope and promise are not words often associated with Haitian futures. Much like East Timor, Haiti lacks attractive natural resources and had enjoyed a degree of independance from it colonial masters that created a perfect storm of underdevelopment and ignorance from the international community. Exiled Haitians have flocked to Toronto and Montreal, enriching their culture and making aid to the island a political hot button issue (after Afghanistan, Haiti receives the second largest committment of Canadian foreign aid). The Arcade Fire, in their song "Haiti" sum up many Haitian exile's perceptions of their lost homes and families.

SO, the last thing this impoverished country needed was a 7.0 magnitude eartthquake. Hundreds of thousands of people lay dead or dying and much of the capital of Port-au-Prince is destroyed. It is an ultimately tragic and horrifying occurance and the international community needs to be commended for its rapid response.

Where to from here? This earthquake needs to be a rallying point for the people of Haiti, hope must rise from the ashes. The event has occured, mourning must take place and progress must grow from that. There is no short term fix, the shantytowns and dilapadated buildings are rubble right now but they can be rebuilt. A new and better foundation can be built where the errors and mistakes of the past can be rectified. The people have a chance, with the world's eyes fixed on their island and their chequebooks open to begin a new future using motivation drawn from their fallen friends and family members. As members of the wealthy nations, it is OUR responsibility to keep the money and aid flowing and our attention fixed a little more on those who need it.

Wyclef is on the case, if he can save a song that features the The Rock I think Haiti will be alright

Don't forget, when this is not in the news anymore, the people still will need help

Return to Blog

After a couple year absence I am returning to the blogosphere.

SO in the next couple days I will be making a couple posts addressing such great topics as the Vancouver Olympics, labour relations, Haiti and alternative medicine.

Stay tuned and keep it real