Quadraton

In a perfect world, there would never be any fighting in the game of hockey, because after all, it's the skill and fancy plays that are really interesting (at least I find). However, that would be a perfect world, and one that deludes itself from the realities of the game.

When you're out there on the ice, there's always an extreme level of intense emotion. I know this has already been said many times before by those who try to educate others on the intricisies of the game, but it's true, you can't help it. It's engrained into every part of the game, created by an overdriven competitve spirit that fills every player. You begin to feel as if there is next to nothing in the world that doesn't piss you off, and that the whole world is against you. It's that intense emotion that spurns things like cheap shots, threats, and even fighting. The higher the stakes, the more competitve people get, the higher the intensity of the emotion, and the more likely something might happen.

And this is why I don't think you can ever remove fighting from the game. In order to remove the fighting, you have to remove that intense emotion that every player feels, and if you somehow manage to accomplish that, then I ask you: what is the fucking point? You might as well call the game Golf on Skates, because that's how exciting it will be.

Now, does this excuse what Bertuzzi did. Hell no. He commited the infraction. The league handed out an immense punishment of a suspension valuing upwards of $500G to Bertuzzi and $250G to the Vancouver Canucks (which, by the way, is more that the courts will ever hand out). So, in that respect, both guilty parties have been punished, and have paid their dues. So, why the Hell should the law get involved? For what purpose? To punish Bertuzzi in the name of the victim? It's already been done. To uphold the law? Then don't be selective. It's either everything, or nothing. You can't arbitrarily charge one person for assault, and ignore everyone else. Assault is assault. There is no line in the Canadian Criminal Code for assault that reads: assault is wrong, but only if the victim suffers extreme injury.

Which brings me to what really pisses me off the most about this. I can't stand how shocked and sanctimonious people suddenly become when something like the Bertuzzi incident occurs. When a record setting 419 penalty minute game in Philadelphia happened, people were cheering, it made every highlight reel, and the media reported on every second of every penalty.

But then Todd Bertuzzi blindsides Steve Moore, and everybody suddenly has a victim to feel sorry about. People begin screaming and thrashing.

How could something like this ever happen?

Do you not see the man's injuries?

He was hurt, and even in a career limiting way

Now people are calling into radio shows to denounce the violence, experts are analyzing every microsecond of the footage, and the sports section in every paper across the continent is filled with articles condeming Bertuzzi, condeming the league, condemning society for ever allowing such a thing to happen.

All I have to say to you people is, you're too late. Bertuzzi like incidents have been happening long before you were ever a fan, and will continue to do so in the future. The only difference is that next time you may not have a victim you feel sorry about, and I can bet that you will certainly be standing the next time you're at a game, and a fight breaks out.

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"A witty saying proves nothing"
- Voltaire