Green Shoes, Crickets & Thugs

So I realize it's been a while since anything new has been put up. Even my father has written to give me some grief on not posting. So since some of you may be getting tired of seeing Miss Moose Knuckle here ya go, one post coming up.

The next email he sent had to do with Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks. Those who don't follow hockey probably have no idea who he is. For those people I'll give a brief description. He plays hockey(questionable) and he uses his size and strength to impose his will on others during the play of the aforementioned game of hockey. Sometime in the previous season, before last years strike, he savagely mauled a young player, or as my pop put it, he performed "thuggery in retribution for an earlier questionable hit on Markus Naslund by the aforementioned victim." The victim was Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche who has still not been able to return to playing since Betuzzi broke his neck. Here's what pop had to say on it:

Hockey should have taken care of that when it occurred and not allowed Bertuzzi to practice vigilanteism. Well, we know how well Hockey takes care of these matters. Bettman is totally ineffectual; he takes his orders from the owners and can't function impartially. And we know how the owners feel about thuggery and fighting - the bastards promote it. If Hockey can't police itself then the Canadian and American authorities should police things for the owners, akin to US authorities and steroid use by professional athletes. Another thing I can't understand is the hockey players associations silence on the matter. This seems like tacit acceptance or at least condoning this type of activity. You would think that that the players themselves would not want to put themselves in a place to risk this kind of criminality, but I guess that they are even more stupid than we give them credit for. This must be some kind of macho thinking. The fucking game is too big to permit this kind of bullshit. Bertuzzi is still plying his trade and making millions while his victim is still trying to recover from injury. Bertuzzi should have been made an example of or at least suspended until his victim was able to play again. If the victim was unable to play again, ever, then Bertuzzi should also be through. Tough fucking shit. Now you have a hint of how I feel about this situation. Bertuzzi's a fucking idiot.

A hint he says. Heh. Well my response is this.

Agreed. Too little of significance was done about it. It's too bad he's back. McSorley was another one they let back that they shouldn't have. He's not playing anymore, but I saw him on some hockey show as an announcer the other night. What a load of shit. Another thug being allowed to be used as an example of what's permissable.

On a similar note. I like the game to be rough. I don't even mind the occasional one on one fight, though I don't think it's necessary nor would I miss it if they eliminated it from the game entirely. None of the other "big" sports condones it so it's not like it would be something odd to institute a no fighting rule. These guys are too big and strong be allowed to jeapordize themslves and others this way. They don't allow it in the juniors either so I don't see why should it be a normal thing for the pros. Other than tradition that is. To heck with traditions.

Another thing I noticed is that it seems lately that with the new rules there isn't as much checking going on, clean hits or otherwise. It's fun to see the guys smash each other around a bit. Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong place when it happens.

And that is pretty much all I have to say on that.