Consistent Rule Enforcement

As some (many?!) of you know I'm a big hockey fan. There's been a spell of dirty hits of late-- some which have resulted in punishment others which have not.

I have an almost zero tolerance for this kind of violence. Hockey is already a violent sport but even many of the more violent players at least confront one another by dropping their gloves and facing each other. Taking out players from behind is cowardly and shows a complete lack of discipline and class. I feel so strongly about this that the Detroit Red Wings are now one of my FORMER favorite teams. Why? Because they signed Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi should not be in the NHL. A few years ago with the Vancouver Canucks he leveled Steve Moore from behind, paralyzing him and ending his career. Bertuzzi was suspended for the remainder of that season. The Red Wings signed Bertuzzi at one point and let him go only to resign him this past summer. He has no place in hockey as far as I'm concerned and it thoroughly annoys me that the Red Wings are overlooking his blatant and cowardly attack on Steve Moore.

I'm a Penguins fan-- so I'm especially peeved by the hit on the Boston Bruins Marc Savard by the Penguins Matt Cooke. I'm hoping that at the end of the season Cooke gets his walking papers.


This past Sunday Alexander Ovechkin, one of the most talented players in the NHL blindsided the Blackhawks Brian Campbell breaking his collarbone and a few of his ribs. He received a 5 minute major and a game misconduct (resulting in automatic ejection from the game) and a 2 game suspension (with forfeiture of pay).


For a first offense, I think 2 games is almost fair, but Ovechkin is a repeat offender-- this is NOT the first time he's blindsided a player-- heck he did it to Jaromir Jagr (of the Czech Republic) during the Olympics and actually got away with it because Jagr wasn't injured (or at least not seriously so).


And last night James Wisniewski leveled Brent Seabrook of the Chicago Blackhawks... Seabrook didn't even have the puck at the time of the hit. Wisniewski, like Ovechkin, is a repeat offender. His last infraction was last November.


The NHL needs to be stricter and more consistent in their enforcement of the rules and in the punishments handed down for infractions of those rules-- especially when the intent to injure is blatant and obvious. The lack of consistency is leading to a "wild west" style of on ice justice where there are retaliatory strikes ON the ice often because of players going unpunished off the ice for previous infractions. What makes this even more self-perpetuating is that many of these retaliatory strikes are against OTHER players on the team of the offending player-- players that had nothing to do with the dirty hit in the first place. It's even seeped down to sportswriters calling for retaliatory strikes. For example-- for tonight's Boston/Pittsburgh game many sportswriters in Boston are calling for the Bruins to attack Penguins star and captain, Sidney Crosby in retaliation for his teammate, Matt Cooke's hit on Marc Savard that went unpunished by the league... How does that make any sense? Attacking Crosby will only serve to perpetuate this chain of unnecessary violence.

*edit in* Cooke dropped his gloves and took a beating in tonight's game. Penguins won 3-0.

Also Wisniewski was suspended for 8 games for his hit on Brent Seabrook. The reason for the stiff penalty given by the league was that Seabrook did not have the puck at the time of the hit, Wisniewski left his feet (leaping for more/force weight on the hit), and Wisniewski is a repeat offender. This still leaves me scratching my head though-- Alexander Ovechkin also showed intent to injure, also left his feet, and also is a repeat offender but he only received 2 games suspension. Was/is this due to Ovie's "hardware" (a Hart trophy or two for being the league MVP?) If Wisniewski were a better star/bigger name would he have received a lesser suspension? If Ovechkin were less of a star/less of a marquee player would he have received a greater suspension?

Congratulations to Team Canada (for my Canadian readers)

In honour of Team Canada's Gold Medal Win yesterday my daughter just wanted to say Congratulations and show that she's just as gracious in defeat as in victory:

Random bits...

• Last week wifey & I got our gas bill for April. Despite having the heat turned off for most of the month and taking shorter showers we had the highest gas bill we've ever had-- over $120 USD. So I called Nicor and read the meter off to them... They re-calculated the bill... $37.45. Umm, yeah, I thought so!
  
• I have a new favorite Steven Wright quote:
  "What did Jesus ever do for Santa Claus on his birthday?"
• There's a rather obscure Chicago song from their tenth album (X) titled; You Get It Up. Since I've been in correspondence with Chicago's bass player, Jason Scheff, of late. I asked him if Chicago had been approached by the makers of Levitra, Cialis, or Viagra to use that song in their radio or TV spots. I'm awaiting a response.
• Gary Betteman, commissioner of the NHL MUST BE FIRED! And soon. He's worked out this "great" deal with NBC in which NBC will be broadcasting Game 5 of the Western Conference playoffs and Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. That's it! No Games 1-4, and not games 6 or 7 (if necessary). And although it's highly unlikely-- these are best of 7 series. If the winners in each conferences sweep their opponents... NBC won't be showing ANY of the conference finals. The rest of the games will be on the Vs. Network which, since switching to satellite, I no longer get. I'm also hoping that Bill Wirtz sells the Blackhawks to someone who will actually turn them back in a team worthy of their legacy not a laughingstock like they have been for much of the Wirtz-era. It's times like this where I wish I were Canadian... where hockey isn't merely a sport but a religion.
  
• Speaking of Canada:

Monday Madness/Loco Lunes

Happy Monday... Moonday/Lunes. Here's a bit of new randomness for this week as my brain isn't able to collate and organize ideas with any success or efficiency whatsoever lately (but it's not going to stop me from trying):

1) My wife subscribes to Marie Claire. This weekend in one of my pilgrimages to the porccelain throne I noticed it sitting face down on the back of said throne-- a heavenly vision on the back cover. It's an ad for Nexxus Shampoo. The woman in the picture is absolutely captivating. She has a classic beauty about her not seen since Liz Taylor in her prime (Liz Taylor in her prime = Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and/or A Place In the Sun).

2) This past summer, after 9 seasons with the Red Wings my then-favorite player, Brendan Shanahan fled for the Big Apple. I bet he wishes he'd stayed in Detroit now. Detroit is only 1 point behind Nashville in the Western Conference and (barring an historic and cataclysmic slump) are assured of a playoff spot and Shanahan's NY Rangers will be lucky if they sneak into the playoffs and even if they manage to sneak in, they'll likely be dispatched within the first round. Naysayers in the off-season were saying the Wings dominance in the Western Conference was likely to be ending as a result of Shanahan's departure and the retirement of the Captain (Stevie Y, 20 years, longest serving captain of any pro sports team in any sport in any league in the world). These guys have proven the naysayers wrong... Go Wings!

3) I've been a Pittsburgh Penguins fan since about 1999 when Jaromir Jagr (now with NY), Martin Straka (also in NY now), Robert Lang (Now in Detroit), Darius Kasparitis (playing in the minors for the Rangers farm team), Alexei Kovalev (now with Montreal), and Tom Barasso (retired) were still on the team and Herb Brooks (the very same Herb Brooks who led Team USA to upset the Russians in the 1980 Olympics) was their coach. The past 6 years have not been good to the Penguins or their fans. By mid-January this year's Penguins had already won more games than they'd won ALL last season and are already playing playoff calibre hockey. Go Penguins! Hopefully the Penguins will be able to stay in Pittsburgh! I'd hate to see them move to Kansas City.... KANSAS CITY?!?!?!

4) Tasteless sports joke of the day: It's too bad A-Rod wasn't on the plane with the late NY Yankees pitcher, Cory Lidle... Then the plane wouldn't have hit anything.

5) Last week I received a $25 gift certificate for Amazon.com. My wife and I each picked 1 item to order. She picked the 2007 Grammy Award Nominees CD, I picked Hunters & Collectors Juggernaut CD which I'm waiting for with baited breath. As one of Australia's best kept secrets, I've come to love these guys and I have to respect them for how they "retired." They went into the studio knowing this was going to be their last album. So they just went in and had a blast, putting an exclamation mark on their careers-- burning out rather than fading away. I'll be sure to write a review of Juggernaut for my other blog.

O Captain, My Captain

Thanks for the memories, Stevie Y!

With the recent announcement of his retirement, Steve Yzerman has capped off a fantastic career. Spending his entire 23 year NHL career as a Red Wing and setting the record for the longest serving captain on any pro-sports team in any pro-sport along the way (he was made the Captain in 1986, and remained so until his retirement).

He played through pain, he played with grit, and he made those who played with him that much better. Not only was he the pinnacle of what professional athletes should strive to be, not only did he posess the moral fibre and character that made him an exceptional role model for youth hockey players across North America-- but he was the picture of what a leader should be. He not only had poise, strength, and honor-- he inspired those qualities in those he played with, many of which considered it a true honor to play at his side.

As his career has come to an end, he has plenty to be proud of-- 3 Stanley Cups and a Gold Medal (with Canada's 2002 Olympic Team). So hat's off and happy retirement to THE Captain, Mr. Hockeytown himself, Steve Yzerman.

(for more on Steve Yzerman check out this article)

Snow in July?!?!

Strange things are afoot in Long Island. As many of you know I'm a bit of a hockey fan. I was reading yesterday that the NY Islanders fired their General Manager, Neil Smith, after only 2 months and replaced him with..... their back-up goaltender, Garth Snow. For you non-sports fans such a move is akin to the owner of a large corporation firing his CEO and replacing him with the janitor or Jack from the mailroom.

I've got to see if I can find the transcript of the press conference when these announcements were made. Garth Snow announces his retirement as a goaltender immediately before being announced as the team's new General Manager. It just seems rather amusing to me. I'm not sure but I'm guessing his first task will be to find a new back-up goaltender (someone he could possibly groom to double as his assistant GM?)

That being said, considering how bad the Chicago Cubs stink this year, maybe they should fire Dusty Baker and promote their bat-boy to manager... He certainly couldn't do any worse.


Current Music: Blue Öyster Cult - Going Through the Motions