Can "Fighting is bad for the sport" now be dispelled?

[HockeyVirus]

Every single person is talking about the fights at the start of the game. There are some fans (who are entitled to their opinion) who believe fighting is from a bygone era, and they are wrong IMO. Fighting (and big hits) are the best marketing tool the NHL has.

If the NHL was smart, they would start including hits/fights in their game summary highlights again. Whoever made that call to remove them is wrong.

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[norrisnick]

Bloodthirst being a massive draw is bad for society. Doing whatever makes the most money is almost always the worst decision to make.

 

[cjm502]

The NHL doesn't need to go back to full goonery but fighting doesn't need to be pushed out of the sport either. There is a happy medium, and the majority of fans and non-fans enjoy a good donnybrook.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Fighting is best when it is rare. If every game started like that USA-Canada game with three fights, it loses its luster quickly. Stage Fighting was the least interesting because it had no meaning behind it.

 

[Galaxydoggystyle]

Yeah with this thinking we might as well bring back the colosseum in Rome huh?

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Right after that Isles prospect incident in the Q?

The Chucklehead brothers doing silly shit last game that is getting hype for what COULD happen next game, does not end the debate in favor of fighting being good for the sport. Nor does the Q incident end the debate in the other direction.

You're allowed to like fighting. It's kind of silly that so many pro-fight guys, despite currently getting what they want, are still going to be unhappy with the situation unless everyone else tells them they are right and cool for thinking that lol.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Yeah with this thinking we might as well bring back the colosseum in Rome huh?

I'd pay great money for it

 

[HockeyVirus]

Yeah with this thinking we might as well bring back the colosseum in Rome huh?

Our monkey brains still like when things go smash so I bet it would be popular.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I think the argument is not that fighting is not exciting but rather that it is bad for the players brains

I dunno. I watch sports where the only activity is fighting, so I can't have the moral high ground on this one LOL

 

[Johnny HFBOARDS]

Fighting is bad fer ur teef

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

I think the argument is not that fighting is not exciting but rather that it is bad for the players brains

I dunno. I watch sports where the only activity is fighting, so I can't have the moral high ground on this one LOL

I would imagine checking to the head is worse than fighting, I mean how many fights does the average goon get into per season?

 

[Sheppy]

Sign me up for a good donnybrook any day of the week.

 

[SteelCityCannon]

I'm fine getting rid of old school goon premeditated fighting. A spontaneous dust up is a part of hockey though. It's engrained in the sport and deserves to be there.

 

[Oneiro]

Next to prostitution, watching people flirt with death is probably the oldest hobby alive. MMA, UFC, boxing, wrestling, parkour, solo climbing, hockey, football, etc. all the way to skiing. If they brought back the Colosseum, it would eventually become the most expensive ticket in the world.

It's a human problem, not a hockey one. So there's not much you can do. Fighting with passion is always going to be a draw.

 

[S E P H]

Some of Around the Horn and PTI panel on ESPN who I would say are casual hockey fans still highly dislike it. People who watch and respect physical sports, understand it.

 

[Sheppy]

I laughed so hard during the intermission after the first USA/CAN game, the guys were loving the fights (Bieksa, Hrudey etc) and they just cut Jennifer Botterill off and went to commercial.

She probably would have had a melt down.

 

[ToDavid]

I don't really see a lot of people arguing "fighting is bad for the sport."

More like dressing goons who will take 4 shifts and get in a boring staged fight with an equally pointless player on the other team mid-game, is bad for the sport. And I think the league is naturally moving away from it. I don't mind it, it will make the fights that do happen a little more meaningful.

 

[Toby91ca]

I honestly thought the fights at the beginning of the first game were pretty dumb....orchestrated by the 2 knuckleheads. I don't mind fighting at all, but as others noted, would prefer it comes from something going on during the game. The pre-meditated staged stuff normally has some sort of history to it at well....payback for something that happened in prior games, or 2 mega heavyweights meeting, etc. The US vs CAN thing seemed a bit weird.

The dumbest part though was some of the articles and headlines written about it "fans booed the US NTL anthem and players didn't like it and this was their response, etc" - that's total BS.....the Tkachuks planned it out long before any booing. Also, seems a lot of people aren't smart enough to know what the booing is about.

 

[eramosat]

Hockey fighting is fine IMO. It is often necessary, in a sport played at such speed and ferocity, with "legal" violence (yes, you can get a penalty, but it's well within the rules) that fighting is a force for good. Release of a pressure valve, a considered choice for reasonable retribution or intimidation or strategy even. It might get used for "bad" purposes too...but it doesn't take away from the good purposes.

And sometimes, it even jumpstarts popularity of an event. Go figure.

 

[TageGod]

Unclip the jerseys. Let them start fighting like in the past, then it will be exciting.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Bloodthirst being a massive draw is bad for society. Doing whatever makes the most money is almost always the worst decision to make.

Reminds me of a certain war and advocates of it

 

[Sheppy]

I honestly thought the fights at the beginning of the first game were pretty dumb....orchestrated by the 2 knuckleheads. I don't mind fighting at all, but as others noted, would prefer it comes from something going on during the game. The pre-meditated staged stuff normally has some sort of history to it at well....payback for something that happened in prior games, or 2 mega heavyweights meeting, etc. The US vs CAN thing seemed a bit weird.

The dumbest part though was some of the articles and headlines written about it "fans booed the US NTL anthem and players didn't like it and this was their response, etc" - that's total BS.....the Tkachuks planned it out long before any booing. Also, seems a lot of people aren't smart enough to know what the booing is about.

I mean, listen to that arena. 20,000 people losing their minds.

 

[FiveFourteenSixOne]

Bloodthirst being a massive draw is bad for society. Doing whatever makes the most money is almost always the worst decision to make.

My God, please tell me you're trolling.

 

[JaegerDice]

Everybody is talking about the Delta plane crash in Toronto too, Im not sure anybody would argue its good for the airline industry.

Everybody understands the lizard brain response to demonstrations of aggression. That doesnt make it good for the players or the league that relies on those players long term.

Fighting is decreasing for a multitude of reasons, and will continue to for those reasons, none of which are found in the NHL rule book.

 

[Grifter3511]

I'm fine getting rid of old school goon premeditated fighting. A spontaneous dust up is a part of hockey though. It's engrained in the sport and deserves to be there.

Out of curiousity, do you consider Saturdays events premeditated or spontaneous?