Marchand jumps Eller

[The Rainman]

On 10/5/2018 at 9:01 PM, James said:

For the record,  I am anti fighting in hockey,  and I HATE Marchand,  but Marchand was in the right here. Washington's goal celebrations have gotten so obnoxious... someone needed to do something. This is the game policing itself to maintain certain aspects of its character and integrity. 

 

Fighting should result in an automatic game misconduct,  in my opinion. Players would still do it when necessary,  just like charging the mound in baseball. But it would be done sparingly... once every 15 or 20 games. 

 

Really James? So if Crosby or Malkin end up in a fight because they are defending themselves I would hope that you'd be all in with their game misconducts. I've been listening to let's get fighting out of the game since Christ was a carpenter. It might happen one day but I doubt it'll happen in our time. What are you supposed to do when your goaltender gets run over? Now all of sudden you want fighting back in? The players still like policing themselves. When and if fighting is out of the game the rats will be coming out of the woodwork!

[James]

5 minutes ago, The Rainman said:

 

Really James? So if Crosby or Malkin end up in a fight because they are defending themselves I would hope that you'd be all in with their game misconducts.

 

Yes, 100%.  But how many fights have Crosby and Malkin been in?  15 total in their careers (7 for crosby, 8 for malkin).  Changing the penalty from 5 minutes to a game misconduct will reduce fighting to only the absolute bare minimum required for keeping the star players safe.

[Jono19]

2 hours ago, The Rainman said:

It might happen one day but I doubt it'll happen in our time. What are you supposed to do when your goaltender gets run over? Now all of sudden you want fighting back in? The players still like policing themselves. When and if fighting is out of the game the rats will be coming out of the woodwork!

 

Just to continue stirring the pot here as I don't have a strong opinion on this one way or the other (except that I hate Marchand) - why are there not fights in Football like there are in Hockey? Football players tee off on each other constantly but seldom is there really a fight. If you see a closeup of what happens on the line it's nasty. And when someone comes in with a late shot on a quarterback that does (or could) put them out of the game or the season you don't suddenly have a massive brawl breaking out. 

 

Personally I am not anti-fighting. When an ass like Marchand does something stupid I find myself wanting to see someone pound on him. But I do hate it when guys pick fights just because someone lays someone out with a clean hit. That doesn't make sense to me. I do find myself wondering why there is one professional sport that has it ingrained into the regular gameplay and none of the others really do. 

 

So...why don't they fight more in football?

[James]

Honestly, I think there's a lot more respect for the opponent in football because of the brutal physicality of it.  Just like boxing or MMA.  A sport like that can't exist without an extreme degree of respect for your opponent.  There are, of course, exceptions to the rule...  plenty of nasty personal rivalries in football where the players really want to hurt each other.  But generally speaking, it seems better than hockey in that regard.  Hockey seems far less controlled, and it's not a real problem because it's not as violent.  

 

But the real answer to your question?  When you get in a fight in the NFL, you get thrown out of the game.  That's why you don't see much fighting in football.

[clarry85]

10 minutes ago, James said:

But the real answer to your question?  When you get in a fight in the NFL, you get thrown out of the game.  That's why you don't see much fighting in football.

Honestly, it doesn't even take a full on fight in the NFL. Phillip Lindsay got ejected for this:

 

Side Note: I started Lindsay in one league during this game. Not. Impressed.

[The Rainman]

6 hours ago, James said:

 

Yes, 100%.  But how many fights have Crosby and Malkin been in?  15 total in their careers (7 for crosby, 8 for malkin).  Changing the penalty from 5 minutes to a game misconduct will reduce fighting to only the absolute bare minimum required for keeping the star players safe.

 

This going to be my last comment on this because we're just chasing our tails. Crosby and Malkin aren't in many fights (but they would be) but as I said take fighting out of the game and every little rat and weasel will take liberty with the top players because they won't have to pay the price. Who's going to pound the day lights out of the rats/weasels and get thrown out while they continue to stay in the game. There are reasons why the league is no hurry to remove it and it's not a over site. I've been to a gazillion games in my 70 plus years and never once I have seen people get up and leave a game because of a fight or many fights. 

[Salros]

My last comment on the state of fighting in the NHL, it's a lot better than it use to be. We're down to about a couple dozen incidents requiring a suspension per season. And unlike a decade ago, the NHL has a process that's become fairly effective in dealing with an incident.

[James]

Yeah that's the real trick... what rainman is alluding to.  If you're going to eliminate fighting, there needs to be a corresponding improvement in officiating (both on-ice and post-game).  I think that improvement is happening with respect to cheap shot hits and stuff like that.

 

When it comes to what started this whole conversation... a player taunting the opposition or whatever...  that's an unusual case.  Football does penalize taunting pretty strictly, especially at the lower levels (high school/college).  I imagine hockey could/should follow suit.  But it's always a fine line, as the NFL found out with TD celebrations.  They banned those and no one liked it.  Now they're back.  Scoring a goal (like a TD) is a big deal, and worthy of a fun celebration.

 

I guess to sum it up... fighting is required for combating violations of the unwritten rules.  The rules that the refs can't actually enforce, but players should still follow.