Yeah I am officially done with fighting in the NHL

[Nasty_Magician]

The real solution and it would improve the sport immensely but will never happen for reasons we've discussed, would be to move to olympic sized rinks. That way you can't afford to keep fighters on your team.

 

[elocomotive]

After the Sabres/Leafs game, ESPN put up a poll asking "Should the NHL ban fighting?"

31,024 people around the World voted, and 90% said "No".

So yeah, I don't think too many fans are screaming for it to go away.

Internet polls should NEVER be used as evidence of anything other than that 90% of the people who took that poll voted this way, which shows very little. By nature, fans turned off by fighting in hockey would not be checking out that poll. And only hardcore hockey fans (who likely skew more in the "fighting is traditionally!" category) are likely reading up on the game online. Don't post Internet polls as evidence - they are unscientific.

Using DirectTV commercial logic...

When you read that fighting is the topic, you go look for evidence fighting is liked by fans. When you find that evidence in an Internet poll, you post it online. When you post it online, someone points out is it not scientific. When Darkstone reads about things that are unscientific, he cries. Don't make Darkstone cry.

 

[elocomotive]

Man, this topic sure blowed up. Nice to see hockey back!

 

[elocomotive]

Everyone who plays the game is aware of what can happen, and they are still in favor of it. Are you saying the majority of players are simply too dumb or ignorant about it?

Yes.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

fighting is so engrained in hockey culture that its probably a bigger taboo for an NHL player to come out and say fighting needs to be out of hockey than for a player to actually come out of the closet

 

[forty_three]

Internet polls should NEVER be used as evidence of anything other than that 90% of the people who took that poll voted this way, which shows very little. By nature, fans turned off by fighting in hockey would not be checking out that poll. And only hardcore hockey fans (who likely skew more in the "fighting is traditionally!" category) are likely reading up on the game online. Don't post Internet polls as evidence - they are unscientific.

Using DirectTV commercial logic...

When you read that fighting is the topic, you go look for evidence fighting is liked by fans. When you find that evidence in an Internet poll, you post it online. When you post it online, someone points out is it not scientific. When Darkstone reads about things that are unscientific, he cries. Don't make Darkstone cry.

Why not? He doesn't have a goon to make me care.


/had to

 

[forty_three]

The real solution and it would improve the sport immensely but will never happen for reasons we've discussed, would be to move to olympic sized rinks. That way you can't afford to keep fighters on your team.

Do you know how much money Jeremy Jacobs makes on those seats that would be displaced?

Money is far more important. The league is all about profit protection.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Do you know how much money Jeremy Jacobs makes on those seats that would be displaced?

Money is far more important. The league is all about profit protection.

No doubt.

 

[BOSSMANPC]

I say they should let the fans at the game fight it out too. Fuck it, Next Sabres V Leafs game I am going to drop the first person wearing a Leafs jersey. man, woman or child I don't give a fuck they are going down !!!!

 

[BF4L]

I say they should let the fans at the game fight it out too. Fuck it, Next Sabres V Leafs game I am going to drop the first person wearing a Leafs jersey. man, woman or child I don't give a fuck they are going down !!!!

lol

I think this is a bit overblown about this incident myself.

 

[DragonfromTO]

A few main points:

Fighting is not a part of the game of hockey. It's in the culture, sure, but it's not part of the sport itself. There is a fundamental difference between taking a harder line on fighting (read, attempting to eliminate it completely) than getting rid of hitting. Hitting occurs during actual game play. Actual game play ceases at the start of a fight. Ergo, fighting is not part of the game of hockey.

Yes, hitting can lead to injuries. Even legal hits can lead to injury. I've injured myself getting out of bed in the morning. Anything can cause injury. But hits can be used to separate a player from the puck, take a player out of the play. They serve a purpose in the course of the contest. What does fighting accomplish in terms of the actual game of hockey? Nothing. It sends two players to the penalty box for five minutes and stops game action for a couple minutes. It serves no tangible purpose. Thus, while hitting can lead to injuries, there is a tangible trade-off. You might get hurt, but you can free the puck up for your team. With fights, whether you get hurt or not, you leave the ice for five minutes. Oh boy!

I propose that if you decide to fight, if you decide to leave the game of hockey for a bit of boxing, that should be your last action in that game. You decided to play something that wasn't hockey, so you're done playing hockey today. Suspensions can be added as players fight frequently. Coupled with increasingly stringent checking rules (I like Doobee's ideas on this), there will be no increase in cheap shots.

The final point I have is that the players' opinions on the matter mean nothing. We're talking about guys who largely have no legitimate training in any fields relevant to brain health who are largely in their twenties and at a stage in their lives (a stage which I believe is significantly lengthened in professional athletes due to their highly-physical livelihoods) in which they feel invincible in the face of even the most compelling evidence to the contrary. "That might have happened to the other guy, but it'll never happen to me." We're all guilty of those sorts of thoughts in life, even the most grounded of us. These guys aren't grounded, though. They're physically elite. They're not worried about these sorts of things happening to them, and you'll never convince them in any real way that it can.

Summary:
Fighting is stupid and pointless and not part of the game of hockey, and the players' particular worldviews make them among the least qualified people to decide whether or not fighting has a place in the culture of hockey.

Hell, we already saw this last night. Mark Fraser took a slapshot to the forehead last postseason. It shattered the front wall of his skull and fractured the second layer, barely avoiding brain damage. He now has 3 plates in his forehead held in place by screws. The doctors told him that the bones are weakened and taking a hard blow to the area again could cause serious permanent damage. And in his return last night he took two fighting majors and the extra two for removing his helmet.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I think somebody mentioned it before, we're up to 9 pages on this subject in 1 day. It's good to have hockey back.

 

[IPostedWhat]

Internet polls should NEVER be used as evidence of anything other than that 90% of the people who took that poll voted this way, which shows very little.

I disagree. It shows that over 30,000 people voted on how they feel about fighting in Hockey as a fan. I'm willing to bet that those 30,000 people are fans of Hockey, and that is how they ended up voting on a poll on ESPN on the Hockey forum in the first place. Who else would go to ESPN for Hockey info?

It shows that even in a "small" sample size of 30,000 people, the vast majority are in favor of fighting staying in the game. Why are the opinions of these 30,000 people meaningless? Because it was done on a poll on ESPN? How else do you find out how fans feels about something relating to the sport? What in your opinion would be a better way?

How about you or anyone else show me some type of proof that fighting is destroying the game in the eyes of the fans. Show me evidence that says that Hockey is losing fans because of fighting, or that the sport will see a significant rise of fans if fighting is banned.

It seems people who are against fighting are quick to dismiss any type of evidence or proof that shows fighting is not as frowned upon as they like to think it is, yet offer no evidence or proof themselves to back up their viewpoint.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

The real solution and it would improve the sport immensely but will never happen for reasons we've discussed, would be to move to olympic sized rinks. That way you can't afford to keep fighters on your team.

Olympic-sized hockey rinks...a Detroit fan's dream.

Lord Stanley's Cup would soon be renamed Lord Illitch's Coffee Mug if that came true.

 

[TiLoBrown]

Fuck this thumbs up shit, we need rep back
I'd gladly wait the 48 hours and spread it around so IPW could get his due

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I say they should let the fans at the game fight it out too. Fuck it, Next Sabres V Leafs game I am going to drop the first person wearing a Leafs jersey. man, woman or child I don't give a fuck they are going down !!!!

Yup, but make sure you only fight during home games. This policy could really backfire on the road.

 

[IPostedWhat]

Fuck this thumbs up shit, we need rep back
I'd gladly wait the 48 hours and spread it around so IPW could get his due

 

[Brahmsian]

HA HA DASH ... TENNIS IS FOR PUSSIES AND QUEERS!!! (say the tough guys)

Insulting people who like sports you don't follow is bush league and immature.

GROW UP!

 

[forty_three]

Olympic-sized hockey rinks...a Detroit fan's dream.

Lord Stanley's Cup would soon be renamed Lord Illitch's Coffee Mug if that came true.

Yeah it would be good for Detroit now, but what about as the team aged? You can't succeed with a bunch of... old... FUCK



And Illitch would name it the Stanley Stanley Crazy Bread Dipper Dipper.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Insulting people who like sports you don't follow is bush league and immature.

GROW UP!

fix both your sarcasm and irony meters