Death From Above

The best.

It's a hard subject to draw conclusions on because how many of us watch any of the Euro leagues where these rules take place either way. I do know that in terms of "experts" (defined as members of the media, ex-coaches, ex-players, etc) who have commented on the issue, the vast majority have basically said what I said, and I'm parroting them. Even the ones that want to eliminate fighting for the most part say that the idea it's a straight line to non-violence is a fallacy, and say be cautious about how you do it. Most of them still agree you're going to have to deal with an increase in other unwanted behaviour. From Scott Bowman to Bob McKenzie and almost all other points. Everyone is agreed pretty much that "fighting gone, everything wlll be smooth" won't happen. It's possible they're all wrong but I don't really see any good reason to believe that. I do want to point out I'm not trying to crap on your position or anything though. This is pretty much the only good discussion on this subject I've been involved in so far this week.

I don't consider that as radical a change as "lets change from a contact game to a non contact game" which is essentially where this is going. That's like the split between rugby and soccer going back into the 1800's, almost. It's the only real thing I can think of that is even remotely in the ballpark, although even then, it's not really something that was thought about the way this discussion is I'm sure.

I had this debate with myself like 5 or 6 years ago over football. It's a violent game. That's obvious to everyone. Am I willing to put up with the consequences of what I'm going to see due to that or not? I decided for myself that I was. It's a serious quesiton that a sports fan is entitled to ask. I don't watch MMA very much anymore, but that's not an issue of violence. I simply don't care for the product. But the violence aspect isn't what turns me off. I don't have a problem with contact sports. Both playing them as an adult and watching them is a moral choice. "Don't give people the choice" is some totalitarian nonsense. If you don't want to watch contact sports, that's fine. There are literally dozens of alternatives. I think trying to change sports into something they aren't is a waste of time. See the classic American argument: "Soccer would be great if it wasn't soccer". Or basically me on basketball: "Basketball would be great if it was NBA Jam instead of basketball". No sport has fundamentally changed what it is, to my knowledge, ever. I don't see any reason to believe it can be done now. It just seems like a waste of energy to me.

I have a hard time believing either of those things could happen. Refereeing is wildly inconsistent at the best of times. I've actually shit on referees a lot less since the NFL referee lockout. Getting to see what top level sports looked like when people that were way over their head were put out there was... astounding really, as a lifelong watcher of the game. But even watching the real guys, there are always problems. As for the suspension thing, we know the NHL won't drop the hammer because they only do when it's convienent towards certain people like McSorely or Torres. And even so, honestly the cynic in me says if my team gets into the playoffs and is wildly overmatched against say the Pittsburgh Penguins, I can totally see a thought process of "do everything possible to anger Evgeni Malkin until a brawl breaks out in the last 5 minutes and we get him suspended". I'm not saying "Fighting can never be eliminated from hockey" exactly, but at the same time if there's one thing athletes are good at it is finding ways to ignore rules. I've wanted tougher suspensions for years in general, but it never seems to happen. The problem is it's the GMs and the players that have input on that. No GM seems willing to risk that it will be his guy suspended for 10 games instead of 3 at the end of the day. I don't really think it's a rule issue, it's a culture of the game issue. Similar in that sense to faking injuries in soccer. You can legislate against it all you want but unless the basic concept of people involved feeling it is ok ever changes, then you will always have the same issue, to some degree. If you want to eliminate fighting from hockey, the change that has to be made isn't in the rulebook but in the basic concept of weather it's acceptable in the game itself, which aren't the same thing really. But I really don't know how you achieve that.

If you really believe elbowing, stickwork, and hitting from behind won't increase in a hockey without fighting, God help you. I mean you've watched enough hockey to have a sense of who the NHL has at referee. The idea referees police sports is insanely naive. Players police themselves in pretty much all the major sports. Hockey handles it in a strange way. I would dispute that sports are archaic bullshit though. They're a form of entertainment like any other. I mean, they put in probably 100 times the work actors do, for a lot less social respect. I don't really know why. Acting is basically dungeons and dragons where you get paid, which is great and all. But I'm not really sure what makes it a socially respected profession comparatively to athletics.

Failing that there's always the Tyrell Corporation. Which at this point wouldn't even strike me as a shocking outcome.

When downhill skiing and marathon running are removed from their respective Olympics (both of which have actually killed people several times, unlike hockey fights), auto racing has been banned worldwide (has killed numerous drivers, not to mention several hundred fans), and we go 10 years in hockey without anyone's throat being slashed by a skate (no one's died yet through dumb luck), around then you can start having the "fighting is too dangerous" argument. But until then it really seems like the worst kind of revision I can imagine. "Someone could die in a hockey fight" is really completely hollow nonsense. I realize we live in an age of utter paranoia and fear mongering, but it's not even particularly logical as a target in those terms. If someone wants to make a case built around something more concrete I'll certainly listen as there probably is a real discussion to be had once you get past that, but an argument built around "fighting is dangerous" is straight out of Dr. Strangelove. Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!

Fuck I knew it would be bad. I shouldn't have asked.

What about me? What about Raven?

Thomas Greiss, Phoenix.

Thursday, October 3 Buffalo at Cleveland Sunday, October 6 New Orleans at Chicago New England at Cincinnati Detroit at Green Bay Seattle at Indianapolis Baltimore at Miami Philadelphia at NY Giants Kansas City at Tennessee Jacksonville at St. Louis Carolina at Arizona Denver at Dallas Houston at San Francisco San Diego at Oakland Monday, October 7 NY Jets at Atlanta Tiebreaker #1: total touchdown passes in NO/Chi 7 Tiebreaker #2: Matthew Stafford passing yards 333 Tiebreaker #3: GENO SMITH TURNOVERS 2

Ha I posted that last go round at one of these. Poor Buck Pierce. He seems like such a cool dude.

In the continuing saga of "how to waste all the potential in the world", Dustin Penner will apparently open the season as a healthy scratch for Anaheim, despite being the big target brought in to help replace some of Bobby Ryan's departed scoring.

You can see why both these teams missed the playoffs last year must be said.

Trouba is a hoss for sure.

I like how the announcers have been all night THE GOALTENDERS AREN'T SHARP like this hasn't happened in the first week of every single season for ten thousand years.

Don't worry Dubnyk gave it right back. Spoiler alert: this isn't going to end 2-1.

Isn't there something pretty fucking important going on in our country right now that they could be reporting on? How much time does it take to report "nothing is happening"? My biggest news pet peeve is live reporters reporting live while standing somewhere where there's nothing to see but some people milling about.

I kept waiting for them to fuck this spot up but I never saw it happen!

I saw this the other day too. Pretty damn funny. One of the best 16-bit games. So many good memories with the NBA Jam. I played TE a lot more, but they're more or less the same core game. Was the best arcade-style sports game of that time.

THIS IS EDMONTON'S YEAR Getting this in now while there's still time.

Is the character creation as strange as it sounds? Can you actually tweak details after it generates you based off your parents, or are you stuck with what you get? Curious.