Wednesday, April 18, 2012
I enjoy hockey
But this years Stanley Cup playoffs seem to be especially violent compared to years previous and they are still in the first round. When games run long because of the time needed to bring medical assistance to mugged players or for the linesmen and refs to sort out the melees, something has gone wrong with the game. No one pays attention to Commissioner Gary Bettmen because that weasel was only hired to increase gate receipts but Brenden Shanahan was hired to do something about it. Lynn Zinser has more to say:
Because none other than N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman sat in the stands at United Center and watched the scariest hit yet in the playoffs lay out one of his league’s glittering talents at the hands of one of its most unrepentant goons. And when asked about the state of affairs by David Haugh of The Chicago Tribune, Bettman said, “A lot of it is perception and misperception.”Has the NHL hired Gregg Williams?
Wow. Perception? Like the fortunately short-lived one that Hossa might never walk again? We can see how people can confuse that with reality.
Even for Bettman, who set new lows in his spectacular show of denial in response to the state of Derek Boogaard’s brain after he died of a drug overdose last summer, this was ludicrous. It also followed another head-scratching day in N.H.L. justice, when the Brendan Shanahan comedy hour produced four videos describing four player suspensions he was handing down as director of “player safety.” (Yes, those words should be in quote marks until anyone in the league office shows they care one whit about the safety of their players.) If you can follow the logic through those four — particularly how the Penguins’ James Neal earned only a one-game suspension for head-hunting two players on a single shift — you belong at M.I.T. Or Shanahan’s next dinner party.
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The problem with hockey is the rinks are too small. 200' x 85' was good when most of the players were less than 6' tall and weighed less than 200 lbs. Now, they're all huge. They should add 50' to the ends and 25' to the sides and give them some room to skate.
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