Friday, June 11, 2004
Hockey is not a major sport, Part 2
"Needless to say, thug-ology is all around us. It's in movies, music, sports, and yes, even politics. Thug-ology can point to people who think they're above the law, people who try to justify immoral behavior on the grounds that they grew up in a messed-up neighborhood, the cut-throat business dealer, the politician obsessed with power, or the Robin Hood type who claims to just be trying to bring justice to the poor by keeping it real." ~ A Theology for "Thug-ology" by Efrem Smith
The other day we discussed hockey not being a major sport and how violence in hockey kicks ass (no pun intended). The issue touched upon how the NHL has become pacified over the years for the sake of appeasing the gentle masses in a futile attempt to boost TV ratings. The article that was posted in that blog focused on how pacifism has turned the NHL into a mere shadow of its former self.
People with a pacifist brand of thinking are the reason why the sport of professional hockey has turned to crap over the years. Violence is what this country is all about. Look at the NFL and NBA, for instance, and how those sporting leagues have been taken over by the "thug" mentality. Guys like Allen Iverson and Randy Moss are the epitome of the "thug life", which glorifies violence in its hip-hop songs and lifestyle. And yet people are appalled when Marty McSorely or Todd Bertuzzi go a little overboard on the ice.
Violence needs to come back to the NHL in a big way. Screw the TV ratings. That's an unachievable goal, if only for the fact that hockey is a privileged sport strictly for the middle and upper class. Poor people can watch hockey, but they can't afford to play it because of the high cost of hockey equipment. Unlike basketball or baseball, where all you really need is a ball (and bat in baseball's case) and a bunch of neighborhood kids to fill out a roster and a place to play. You can buy a ball and bat for baseball, or a ball for basketball, for around $10.00 at your local Play-It-Again sports. Try getting a game of pickup hockey together, especially in a community where a rink or pond isn't readily available, and you can see why hockey simply isn't as popular or accessible as basketball, baseball, or even football.
If anything, more violence in hockey would boost TV ratings considerably, or at the very least increase demand for the sport, perhaps to the point where the TV networks would be forced to comply with consumer demand to watch it.
And in my less than humble opinion, if the NHL hadn't become so watered down over the years, the McSorely and Bertuzzi incidents wouldn't have been anywhere near as big a deal as the media made them out to be. More than likely, if violence were the norm instead of the exception in NHL hockey, the general viewing public would have been more desensitized toward the brutality of those incidents, and would have very likely adopted an "oh well, that's hockey" mentality and shrugged those incidents off as nothing.
Call me a philosophical thug. Bitch.
(0) comments
The other day we discussed hockey not being a major sport and how violence in hockey kicks ass (no pun intended). The issue touched upon how the NHL has become pacified over the years for the sake of appeasing the gentle masses in a futile attempt to boost TV ratings. The article that was posted in that blog focused on how pacifism has turned the NHL into a mere shadow of its former self.
People with a pacifist brand of thinking are the reason why the sport of professional hockey has turned to crap over the years. Violence is what this country is all about. Look at the NFL and NBA, for instance, and how those sporting leagues have been taken over by the "thug" mentality. Guys like Allen Iverson and Randy Moss are the epitome of the "thug life", which glorifies violence in its hip-hop songs and lifestyle. And yet people are appalled when Marty McSorely or Todd Bertuzzi go a little overboard on the ice.
Violence needs to come back to the NHL in a big way. Screw the TV ratings. That's an unachievable goal, if only for the fact that hockey is a privileged sport strictly for the middle and upper class. Poor people can watch hockey, but they can't afford to play it because of the high cost of hockey equipment. Unlike basketball or baseball, where all you really need is a ball (and bat in baseball's case) and a bunch of neighborhood kids to fill out a roster and a place to play. You can buy a ball and bat for baseball, or a ball for basketball, for around $10.00 at your local Play-It-Again sports. Try getting a game of pickup hockey together, especially in a community where a rink or pond isn't readily available, and you can see why hockey simply isn't as popular or accessible as basketball, baseball, or even football.
If anything, more violence in hockey would boost TV ratings considerably, or at the very least increase demand for the sport, perhaps to the point where the TV networks would be forced to comply with consumer demand to watch it.
And in my less than humble opinion, if the NHL hadn't become so watered down over the years, the McSorely and Bertuzzi incidents wouldn't have been anywhere near as big a deal as the media made them out to be. More than likely, if violence were the norm instead of the exception in NHL hockey, the general viewing public would have been more desensitized toward the brutality of those incidents, and would have very likely adopted an "oh well, that's hockey" mentality and shrugged those incidents off as nothing.
Call me a philosophical thug. Bitch.
(0) comments
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