With the start of the October month, I felt it was necessary to begin a new set of famous movie quotes from hockey movies.
“Did you really Quack at the Principal?
Yeah! Are we Ducks or what?” –The Mighty Ducks
Last week in class, Rei gave a presentation about fighting in hockey. His presentation was very interesting because he talked about how National Hockey League (NHL) players’ fights affect younger children. Rei showed a YouTube clip of an eight year-old hockey fight that occurred during the game. He explained how kids want to fight because their favorite NHL players fight. This issue has lead to many NHL officials trying to cut down on the fighting that takes place during a game. However, I feel there is one problem with that.
Hockey is a physical game. Yet, the fighting still sends the wrong message to kids. In my opinion, kids do not understand the meaning behind fighting. When it comes to fighting, most of the fighting is done because there is need to stick up for a teammate or trying to get your energy back into your team. Shaun Buynack wrote on his blog, “Even though fighting seems cruel, it is needed to keep order on the ice. It helps players from taking cheap shots and liberties towards the opposing players.” I agree completely with Shaun’s statement. Hockey is a fast, intense game where momentum can switch from one team to the other in an instant.
Now, think of this issue with a couple of other issues in mind. Shaun and I both agree fighting is necessary and not as big of an issue as people make it. I believe I would rather see fighting in hockey than steroids in baseball. I would also rather see fighting in hockey than performance-enhancing drugs in baseball and football. The same could be said for basketball players. I would rather witness a hockey fight than NBA players running into the crowd and starting a fight. I think before people get all raddled about fighting in hockey, people need to understand the reasoning behind fighting. I am not saying all this because I play hockey. I truly believe I would watch a fight, which is meant for momentum or sticking up for a teammate, rather than someone cheating in professional sports. When is the last time you heard a hockey player taking steroids or performance-enhancing drugs? Hockey players play the game for their passion and love of the sport.
Do not believe me? Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkr1yHOpoeg
First off I like the picture at the beginning of the post only because they are wearing Blue Jacket jerseys. Being from Columbus I only became a fan of hockey when the Blue Jackets came to town in 2000. This was the time when I started learning more about hockey. I am still confused about the rules on fighting in the NHL but I have a basic understanding. I always thought it was interesting that they do allow fighting in a sport. With that I know every time we went to a Jackets game we wanted to see Jodi Shelley get into a fight. It brings an excitement to a game that other sports do not have. I do agree with what you said about rather seeing fighting in hockey than the negative is other sports like MLB and NBA. It was a good point. I also think that fighting in the NHL is more regulated there is some one there to stop the fight and most of the times the officials know when a fight is about to happen. So I also feel that fighting should always be part of hockey too.
ReplyDelete-Megan Meade
Nick,
ReplyDeleteI think that because you play hockey you are able to give a very insightful opinion on the meaning behind the fights. I'll be honest, I have only watched one hockey match and that was about 5 years ago and I don't think any fighting happened in that match so I don't really have an opinion as to why the players fight. But from your stance, I can agree that the fights put momentum and passion back into the game.
I think each sport has a 'pick me up' type event that happens in the games. For hockey, it probably is the fighting. I know for a fact anytime that I have been in a soccer game where either I or a teammate gets a cheap shot, there is some sort of retaliation and that gets everyone fired up again. An example would be a hip check the next time that player comes down the field.
Did you play hockey when you were younger? If you did were there fights?
Kara Higdon
I agree with the points you made on fighting. I also posted a blog about this issue. I think the fact that we both play hockey gives us a very different point of view compared to others. I didn’t really think about the fighting in other sports and how hockey is a lot more respected when it comes to fighting. When there is a fight in a hockey game it is not posted all over ESPN as a huge deal. If there is a fight in basketball or any other spot there are big fines and it gets the attention of a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteFighting in hockey is very necessary to keep the game in reasonable form. Also, it sets the sport apart from others and adds a little more excitement to sporting events.
The picture of the Hansons at the beginning of you post made me laugh because I just watch that movie the other day ("they brought the toys _____ with them") what a funny movie.
Shaun Buynack
The presentation in class really pointed out some good opinions on whether hockey is a bad influence on young teens. I believe hockey does set a bad example for young teens who play hockey because it makes fighting seem acceptable. Even though the clip shown in class was funny to us, it still is disturbing. The main point is fighting is hockey and fighting needs to stay in hockey. Fights are what make hockey and keep the sport popular. Hockey is losing popularity and if fighting were taken away from the game the sport would be lost for good.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with Nick DeSalvo. People that are not real fans of hockey do not understand that it is a huge part of the game and atualy protection of superstars such as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Without enforcers in hockey, there would be no consequences for taking cheap shots, which would actually make the sport a higher injury risk. I did however have a bad experience with hockey fighting. While I was working with the Providence Bruins with BG alum Ryan Ward, a fight occured between Providence's Jay Henderson and Hershey's Jeff Finger. When the fight was over the players proceeded back to the locker room for the remainder of the period. My job whenever a fight occured was to take the fighting players gloves, stick, and helmet back to him in the locker room. Unfortunatly for me Henderson and Finger were not done with there fight, and started fighting in the hallway in front of the locker room. Ryan and I tried to break the 2 up, but my 14 year old body was not going to stand in the was of two pro hockey players. They began to fight and the next thing I know both teams surrounded me causing a full fledged mele. It was a very violent scene and caused me to get hit in the face with a punch. After the players found out I had a black eye they felt childish and irresponsible for doing that, and causing injury to a kid. There is actually a youtube video of the fight shwing the two goalies Hannu Toivonen and Peter Budaj fighting, and then both benching clearing to fight in the back hall.
ReplyDeleteNice YouTube clip with Don Cherry. I wonder what his perspective on fighting might be? This topic obviously evokes a lot of discussion. I never thought about the fact that we don't hear much about hockey players abusing steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. I guess I would rather see fighting in hockey than steroids being used in baseball or other sports (how much hurt can guys on skates give each other?).
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