The Good Ol' Hockey Game?

[Shmad]

Violence has been in the game, however read.. if you refer to people hospitalizing others in life-threatening situations, you're wrong, there's very few instances of this in hockey history.

As well violence in the game has gotten increasingly more and more intense as hockey has gone on. The violence of today is nothing as it was back a few decades. This is the violence being referred to as you can see by the Bertuzzi reference.

Please, if you are going to comment at least read and take the entire article into mind, not just random parts that your 2 second goldfish memory keeps.

 

[LuShes]

Goooodbyyyeee Stanley Cup!!!

 

[thoughtful]

I think I fell for the Dave Andreychuk story. I wanted Calgary to win but it's OK with me that Dave finally got one. Gotta feel for these guys who still play and are almost as old as I am.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

I enjoyed seeing the Tampa Bay lighting win it, as most people think a team in Florida can't really play hockey that well, but, wow, they have a good combination. Go Lightning!


*ducks from Canadians throwing flying objects at him*

 

[ponygurl]

The violence is not in the Hockey Game.. the violence is in the testosterone. The women play hockey and don't feel the need to pound the hell outta each other.

 

[American Voice]

Is it valid to say that women typically are process-oriented, and that men are typically result-oriented? A game is defined by its rules. Women play by the rules, while the men want to score in spite of them. Hm? Maybe?

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Why do the players fight in the hockey games? Is it because they are truely angry at another person, or is it something else?

 

[American Voice]

I was never one for contact sports when I was a kid. My sport was baseball. I have a nephew who played football for years, and who was good enough to anticipate a college scholarship until he was permanently side-lined with a spine injury--which nixed his hopes for a career as a physical therapist, as well. I once asked him what it was that he enjoyed about being sore all the time, and he said that, in essence, it was the comaraderie. What you ask is an interesting question. Are there any hockey players around? I've done some ice skating, and I know how the feeling of exhiliration can sometimes verge on a kind of hysteria. Add shoving and racing and a stick in one's hand--maybe it's inevitable?

 

[Numure]

It is the game, how it is played. Most of the players that are violent on the ice, are quite calm outside the ice.

 

[Shmad]

Hockey and Football are two of the most intensive sports out there, violence happens, albeit to a much higher degree than it should

 

[American Voice]

Well said.

It is the game, how it is played. Most of the players that are violent on the ice, are quite calm outside the ice.

Well said, Moderator. I think that's it. It's an aggressive game. I would ask one additional question, however, and that is: do you believe the games would tend to be less violent if there were no spectators?

 

[Jim]

If there were no spectators there would be no games. The fans pay the players... the players give the fans what they want (its a vicious circle).

 

[American Voice]

Honest answer, Jim, thank you. I wonder how the players feel? I quit watching the National Football League in September, 1988, for very specific reasons. I wonder how many Canadians have been turned off from the "National" Hockey League for similar reasons? Ah, well, life goes on. We used to have good-as-gold public broadcasting in America.

 

[LuShes]

Boyz will be boyz....

 

[American Voice]

Boyz will be boyz....

Sweet avatar, LuShes. Very nice. Between you and Bin Bush, I've been racking my wee brain all day to recall something I've got in my archives that I might fashion into an avatar.

By the way, is "Boyz will be boyz" meant to be demeaning? It could be flattering.

 

[Andem]

I personally don't watch much sports at all. I would watch soccer if I had satellite, which I did. Mostly Bundesliga.

NFL, no way. IMO, it's rubbish.

NHL, playoffs. Yes, I'm just like so many other people, I jump on the leafs bandwagon when they make it to the playoffs.

I'm just not interested in the violence on television, personally. It won't get me to buy tickets for a game.

 

[LuShes]

American Voice: Why thank you I have many avatars, lol. I am sure by next week it will be a different one, heh.

And my little blurb about 'boyz will be boyz'
Just teasing you guys in spite of how you guys eat, live and breath sports, lol. All meant in good taste.

 

[American Voice]

In my view, what ruined the NFL was the domination of the game by wagering. It is well-known that wagering on games being televised is 60 times higher than on games not shown on TV, simply because it is more difficult to rig a game when there are so many witnesses. With the advent of cable television and the proliferation of channels, more games were broadcast, and the wagering increased, but the odds were less certain. The "instant replay" rule was introduced to enable a veto of referees' calls on the field, by judges in the press box with multiple cameras available to them. I began to see games being pretty obviously manipulated, although not in terms of their outcome, but rather in terms of point spread, quarter by quarter, as well at the end. So, we began to see a lot of dramatic misdirection, like scantily-clad cheerleaders, player histrionics, and a marked increase in the level of violence. It became a contest between compulsive gamblers trying to outsmart the fix, and fixers baiting the gamblers.

The last game I recall watching was in September, 1988. Cleveland was at Cincinnati. The Bengals were killing them in the first quarter. When the Browns got the ball, the Cincinnati defense simply backed up, and let them score. Why did this happen? Because with such a one-sided contest, the network would pull the plug on the coverage, and switch to another contest. Consequently, wagering on the Browns-Bengals game would dry up, inhibited by the absence of TV coverage. So, wagering trumps bloodlust. Las Vegas trumps Hollywood.

It's sad, it used to be a good game.

 

[T. Rex]

Theres no point of arguing about this. They will continue to be ""Violent"" and it is not even violence. it is that game that we all love and its just part of the game and its history. Oh well, now they have helmets and visors and they will probably have protective cages on there faces and metal body armor soon ... Full body!!