Fight Night

In one corner stood six foot five, 212 pounds wing, the challenger, Paul Gaustad of the Buffalo Sabers. The other corner was occupied by the six foot three, 225 pound wing of the Boston Bruins Milan Lucic. When Lucic first skated onto the ice for his first shift, he was greeted by a downpour of boos by the Sabers faithful and then the gloves came off. Right off the bat.

As it should have been.

What had sparked such a perverse response from Gaustad and the waterfall of boos to reign down on Lucic was in the previous game Lucic leveled Sabers goalie Ryan Miller when the Bruins were down a goal. In the NHL, a hit against a goalie had been a penalty since the birth of hockey; and teammates who watched their goal stopper get cleaned out were always obligated to respond as one of the unwritten rules of the game.

At the end of the game, the final score was irrelevant due to the amount of games left in the season. But what could we have taken away from the game last night was what should and should not be considered proper fighting etiquette in the game of hockey.

The first and most important rule of fighting in the NHL: Stay above the belt.

You would not kick a man in the engine room in a regular fight, and players in the fight last night did a very good job of keeping their potential children out of danger. Even when the scrum broke out behind the net between Gaustad, Brad Marchand, Zedeno Chara, Robyn Regehr, Adam McQuaid, and Corey Tropp, none of the aforementioned players attempted to make someone else's voice increase dramatically in pitch. Sots below the crotch had been and always will be regarded as the most unethical tactic in a fight, and the fewer  groin shots in the NHL the better.

The next rule for NHL fisticuffs: Pick on somebody your own size.

The battle that ensued last evening between Lucic and Gaustad had this very important element of size matters. Gaustad and Lucic were both over six foot three, and both weighed more than 215 pounds. They were very evenly matched in terms of size, and as close in weight as a fight could hope for. Lucic clearly won the fight, but it was due to superior fighting skill that won the bout, not a discrepancy in size. If a person as big as Zedeno Chara picked on a guy the size of Brian Gionta of the New Jersey Devils, Chara would have been able to step on Gionta and win the fight. If two players were to drop the gloves and they were the same size, it would likely lead to the best possible NHL fight.

Another rule of NHL fighting: Do not utilize your stick as a weapon in a fight.

Suppose that a player in the NHL went out of their way and hit somebody over the back or in the face with a hockey stick, there would be two kinds of punishments. The first type of punishment would be handed out by the league. If a player hit somebody else with a stick he would receive an immediate game ejection, a fine that would be the size of a bailout, and a season long suspension. The other type of punishment that player would receive would be assault charges from a court of law, and those never end well for anybody. Look at baseball player Jose Offerman taking a bat to the mound during a minor league game. He got arrested, and so would anyone charging another player with a hockey stick.

Next rule of fighting in hockey: Do not have your entire team gang up on one person.

In the Lucic and Gaustad fight, the teammates of Gaustad did not try and assist him in the battle. Even though Lucic won the fight with ease, his teammates did not participate either. The primary reason for this was because the Sabers wanted to send their message with only one player getting penalty minutes as a result. But again just like in a real fight, it would be very unfair to have your team rush one dude. In hockey fights, either man up and have it be one on one or don't fight, plain and simple.

All in all, the fights that broke out in last nights game cleared the air, temporarily, because every fight that went down last night was a good clean fight. The Lucic-Gaustad, Chara-Regehr, and McQuaid-Tropp fights all followed these very important guidelines to NHL fighting, and most importantly, nobody got hurt for the rest of the game. And although these NHL fights can be overplayed at times, the brawls in the last two games will make the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabers games more compelling the rest of the way.

Two Teams, One Game, By themselves

The landscape of America's national pastime is changing again.

In the midst of the baseball off season news surrounding Albert Pujols' new team in 2012, the Houston Astros moving to the American League in 2013, and the Chicago Cubs finding their new skipper, there is one piece of new information that might not be getting the attention it deserves. MLB will expand on their playoff system after the most successful postseason in years.

To sum up these upcoming changes concisely, MLB would essentially add a play in game to it's current format that has been in place since Bill Clinton was in office. This robust new format would feature ten teams, five from each league, vying for their chance to compete for a World Series trophy. And here is the best part. There would be no agonizing third series that would push baseball's postseason into December. This new playoff format would feature a one game, winner take all, contest between the two teams that just barely made the cut.

This upcoming change could add a good deal of excitement to the already captivating pennant races.

For one thing this would put an additional amount of weight on the out of division schedule. Since there will be a second wild card team, teams like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Orange County, California, United States, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Milky Way) would need to beat the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox more often to have a leg up when the dog days of summer swing by. Out of division schedule includes interleague play; and interleague play means that your team will have more on the line when playing its NL or AL rivalry game.  

On a similar note, this upcoming playoff system ideally gives teams not in the American League East to make the playoffs. The current wild card format might as well have been called 'the playoff spot for whoever finishes second in the AL East this year.' And although a lot of people in the baseball world want to see the Sox and Yanks in the playoffs, it gets boring to see the same teams from one division in the playoffs all the time. The last time a team that was not from the AL East won the wild card was back in 2006 when the Detroit Tigers did it. And guess what? That Tigers team in 06 made it all the way to the World Series. This fifth team that enters the mix could give a sleeper team from the AL West or AL Central the chance to make a Saint Louis Cardinals type run for the Commissioner's trophy. 

And perhaps the most obvious reason that the playoffs are expanding is because two more playoff teams mean that more postseason priced ticket packages will be sold to baseball fans. And what baseball fan would not want to pay to see a winner take all, playoff berth on the line, game? The answer is nobody who likes baseball. This move may be in part a money grab, but it is a money grab that benefits the sport. 

Baseball is riding a huge wave of momentum after the best postseason in recent years. And so far, the higher ups in MLB are making all of the right pitches to improve the game.

No Fo Pah

It all seems to real to be possible.

Every day families turn on the news and hear horror stories of deranged individuals committing acts of sexual misconduct on people younger than they are. Sexual misconducts are unholy taboos in our country today. Even if a person were to be charged with sexual assault and found not guilty, the black cloud that would hang over that person's reputation would engulf their reputation in scorn for the rest of their days. 

People do not want to hear these horror stories, so they turn to the world of sports to provide them with a sense of escapism. The fierce competition, captivating plays, and gratuitous strategy surrounding these games offer an alternative to the harsh realities that exist in our everyday lives.

And then this happened.

Penn State University began to drown in a sea of sexual assault accusations that were proven to be true. Jerry Sandusky quickly became one of the most hated men in America over the course of a few hours. And Penn State's legendary head coach who lead the program since 1966, was fired for not reporting what had happened.

The knee jerk reactions to the Penn State scandal were understandable. A seemingly stable football community  was torn appart at the seams by alligations that had been strict taboo in this country. Nobody knew how these acts took place for the better part of a decade. But everyone was shocked and furious.

Sandusky became a demon, Joe Paterno became a scapegoat, and the higher UPS at Penn State were questioned from every angle as to how a coach sexually assaulting young men had gone on unreported.

And somehow Joe Paterno became a victim.

The omnipresent icon of Nitnay Lions football had the support of the appalled community after he had been fired. Students took to the streets drunk and furious that their father of football had been divorced by their school. Streetposts were knocked down, a television news van was flipped over, and distraught students cried desperately for the return of their beloved Jo Pa.


And why wouldn't they cry?


Paterno had won more college football games in his career than any other head coach in history. Paterno guided his team to three Big Ten championships and two national championships. But most importantly, Paterno had shapped the minds of students who did not turn pro to better their lives after football. But noweverything Paterno accomplished in his supreme court justice long run at Penn State had been covered by an inescapable black cloud bigger than any game he ever coached in.

Joe Paterno may not have been the one to commit the deeds, but he did not report his findings to the police. Paterno was not and should have been punished by law for his failure, but the school had to fire him. As a representative to Penn State, Paterno had an obligation report a crime that occurred repeatedly on his watch. Why he did not report see despicable acts is unknown, the consequences for not doing so were made abundantly clear.


With the fire extinguished, the riots over, and Penn State's loss to Nebraska on Saturday, the community now must pick up the pieces. This scandal will not leave the memories of the victims, and will take a while for the rest of the  country to forgive those who let this happen. It is hard to imagine that Penn State will return to its prior glory after these events. Paterno's successor will have to take up the daunting task of explaining to parents why their child should attend a school where  children were taken advantage of? The answer to that all important question is another question: would you have stopped Jeff Sandunsky if you knew what was going on?

The Answer to an Age Old Question

A group of seven students at a local university are seated at various locations across a dimly lit dorm room with the sights and sounds of Monday Night Football filling the room. The four football fans in the room are all fixated on the screen; hyper focused on the offensive players shifting in motion while the defensive players attempt to adjust their coverage. Soon after the adjustments, the ball is snapped, a pass is thrown, and the offensive team goes ten yards for a first down.

The play gets a rise out of four students in the room and the conversation quickly shifts to certain plays that are superior in certain situations. The other three viewers see the same play unfold, but they elect not to join in the conversation the rest of the room is having. As the discussion carries on, one of the three students asks a question that catches everyone in the room off guard.

"How can you guys talk about football so much?"

The question is dismissed at first blush by the viewing audience in the room, but that one question raises several others; not only about football, but about all sports in general.

What is it about sports that is so compelling that cause people to tun in time and time again? How come people can talk about sports for hours on end? What is it about these games that cause everyday working people to riot in the streets, flip cars, and set objects on fire? And perhaps the most important question of them all: Why do people even care about sports? There are several different aspects of life that can receive the undivided attention of people, but why do so many people pay so much attention to sports?

The answers to these questions reside within several factors that the world of sports provides to its viewing audience.

The first factor in why people care so much about sports is because of how many people can relate to sports.

Watching sports is one of the few aspects of global culture that does not discriminate against race, sex, or age. Whenever somebody enters a stadium, there appears a melting pot of fathers, mothers, grandparents, daughters, sons, in laws, friends, and couples of all shapes and sizes can be seen wearing their team's apparel. Whether it be batter in the bottom of the ninth, a basketball player taking the last shot, a Hail Mary pass in the NFL, or a shootout on the ice, a team's fans all share the same hope that their player will come through. And the most frequent type of discrimination that occurs in sport happens when two different people are fans of different teams. Sure insults go back and forth between fans, but solace can be taken in the fact that these jeers of disapproval are done to put down a rival team as opposed to directly attacking the person his or herself.

On a similar note, some people choose to enter the world of sports because their families and friends are so passionate about it. There are countless images of families at sporting events and seeing a young boy or girl holding up a "it's my first game" sign. These children gain an interest in the sport because they grow up with sports being around them all of the time.

But the bonds of sports fans go beyond individuals rooting for their favorite teams. Everybody likes to hear stories of people who overcome adversity; and professional sports are filled with players who come from broken homes and bad circumstances only to be saved by the sport that they play. You may recall the film The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock regarding offensive tackle Michael Oher. The story of a young man with a great deal of strength who tries to escape the rough neighborhood he grew up in. In fact, every aspect of Oher's story is true and he is currently playing for the Baltimore Ravens. Or the story of Invictus which the South African Rugby team's run to the World cup of Rugby brought an entire nation together. People love to see individuals overcome all odds, and the world of sports gives fans a areal view of the lives these athletes lead.

But it is not just the lives of the athletes that get people to watch sports, it is also the dazzling plays that athletes make that captivate fans across the sport. Whether it be Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers hitting moonshot home runs, LeBron James bulldozing defenders before throwing down slam dunks that get audiences all rilled up, Calvin Johnson making spectacular catches in the back corners of end zones, or Henrik Lundqvist standing on his head to make saves, there are so many athletic plays in sports that capture the imaginations of sports viewers. We are all captivated by things that we cannot do ourselves, and these athletes making great plays are something that everyone can be impressed by.

And when these athletes make great plays, there are individuals who take these great moments and generate them into statistics in which everyone can keep track of. Keeping track of sports statistics is the water cooler effect of sports in action. How common is it to see a group of five or so employees at work talking about the number of touchdown passes Aaron Rogers has compared to Tom Brady's while in the office? We see it daily, regardless of what sport tickles your fancy. There are so many different kinds of statistics that you would need several computers to keep track of them all. Knowing statistics is a appeal to a person's thirst for knowledge in a field that they are compelled by for any of the reasons given above.

Despite this case there may be some individuals who will not be compelled to suddenly follow everything that is going on in the wide world of sports.

And that is perfectly fine.

There are so many different aspects of life that are just as beautiful and captivating as sports for different reasons. Some people may invest their time in following particular kinds of music. Others will spend their non working hours watching reruns of their favorite television shows. And others may want to collect nickles from every year that nickles have ever been made.

The possibilities are endless.

Sports have been so deeply ingrained in our culture that it becomes harder and harder not to pay attention to what is directly in front of us. So whether it be baseball, football, hockey, basketball, bull riding, swimming, gymnastics, soccer, track and field or another sport not on the list, the choice to watch is completely up to you. Just know that the world of sports is quite captivating if you look long enough.