Why I'd never let my kids play hockey.

I grew up on hockey. Watching it, playing it, reading about it, arguing with my brother, my friends, my dad, about who was better, who was more talented, etc.

I loved it. And I hate what the NHL has become, thanks to idiots like Gary Bettman and the Don Cherry goon-squad,

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2011/03/10/sp-bettman-gary.html

"What's interesting ... is that the rise in concussions in the preliminary data from this season seem to be coming from accident events, collisions, players falling and banging into other things, not from head hits," he told reporters."

No, what's interesting is that comment is essentially admitting that the NHL is violating pretty much every labor safety code in the United States and Canada.
I talked about this in a preview blog entry. Things are much more dirty and violent today (not just in terms of numbers, but percentages) because it's become accepted play since the 1960's expansion. Perhaps it might have something to do with the fact that high-sticking, head-shots, and fighting were exceptions to the game priot to the Expansion. Now they are the standard.

Yeah I know - these same morons who are probably Leaf fans, who probably think Don Cherry is the greatest hockey expert ever, and probably also think a scoring goon like Eric Lindros belongs in the Hockey Hall Of Fame (the latter of which is a future blog entry).

I think for most of these folks, frankly there shouldn't be penalties, or perhaps not even referees in the game. Let the teams duke it out, eh?

Maybe the NHL will learn the painful price of not managing stupdity and goons out of the game when more companies like Air Canada choose to actually do something responsible and not want themselves associated with it, by keeping their money and sponsorship away.

But sadly I think it's going to take a lot more head-shots before that happens.