And I think that’s a good thing. Of course, I’d think it was a better thing if they outlawed fighting all together, but I’m glad it’s down. The game flows better, there’s more open ice, and there’s less contact… so fewer guys have reason to be brawling. And the goons, the guys who couldn’t skate to begin with, can’t be on the ice. They’re just defensive liabilities now.

So if a decrease in fighting is a byproduct of better flow for the game, then I’m all for it. Crazy old Canadan fuck Don Cherry, however, disagrees.

“Everyone knows everybody loves fights,” Cherry said. “They better start listening to the people who are at the game and pay the money than the twits upstairs who get in for free.”

If fighting was so popular, you maniacal old bastard… then more people would care about hockey. Listen, I used to be a hockey fan. I used to love the fights. But when the Olympics rolled around, I noticed that when the fights weren’t there, I didn’t miss them. Throw in a McSorley incident and a Bertuzzi incident, and I started believing that the NHL needs to reduce it’s level of violence, posthaste.

Because the more violent of an atmosphere you’ll tolerate, the more damaging it will be when someone crosses the line. Take basketball, where fighting isn’t allowed. You know, if someone crosses the line in a basketball game, you might get a punch in the face… and even that is exceptionally rare. If you cross the line in hockey, someone gets sucker-punched in the back of the head from behind, or someone takes a stick to the head. The severity of the line-crossing incidents all depends on where the line was set to begin with.

Anyway… hockey fans will not miss fighting if it leaves. And if they do, it’s a very small portion of them, and they are crazy drunk rednecks that no one’s going to miss. Watching hockey for the fights is kinda pointless… I mean, why not just watch a fight? It just doesn’t make sense. It’s like someone trying to get a good jerk on, but instead thumbing through a Penthouse, they grab a Better Homes and Gardens and hope for a good pantyhose ad.