Posts Tagged ‘hockey’

IS HOCKEY TOO VIOLENT?

April 22, 2012

THE NHL has just suspended Raffi Torres for 25 games for slamming an opposing player into the ice.  There are many stories in the media that hockey is too violent.

But is it?  Ratings  are higher than ever both in the United States and Canada. The sports editor of the Montreal Gazette wrote on Saturday:  “Face it:  Fans want violence.”

And here is what Don Cherry said about violence:  “The fans who pay the money love it.  The players don’t seem to mind it;  the coaches don’t seem to mind it.  So who is it who doesn’t like the fights and the banging around?  It’s the reporters who get in free.  This is war.  This has been going on forever.

Is  hockey too violent?

What do you think?

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RUSSIAN CRASH: SHOULD SPORTS TEAMS FLY SEPARATELY?

September 8, 2011

A private Russian jet carrying a Kontinental Hockey League team  slammed into a riverbank moments after takeoff, killing at least 43 people in one of the worst plane crashes ever involving a sports team.  An entire professional Russian hockey team was virtually wiped out. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the crash is “a catastrophic loss for the hockey world?”

Should this dreadful accident raise questions about how professional sports team travel?  Would it be prudential for sports team to divide into two groups and travel on separate aircraft?

There are precedents for this in other fields.  For example, the President and the vice-president of the United States never fly on the same aircraft.  I know parents who never fly together.  So if one plane crashes, the other parent will still be there for their children.

Of course this would add costs for travel for hockey and football and basketball andbaseball teams.  But it would also add to the margin of safety.

If this travel policy had been in vogue, half the team in yesterday’s crash would have survived = ready to be built on for the future.

Should sports teams fly separately?

What do you think?

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SHOULD SIDNEY CROSBY GIVE UP ON HOCKEY?

August 28, 2011

I would venture thay Sidney Crosby is one of the half dozen greatest hockey players who ever laced up skates, right up there with the likes of Wayne Gretsky and Bobby Orr.  What’s more, still in his early twenties, Crosby’s greatest hockey is ahead of him.

But there is an ominous cloud on Crosby’s career.  Eight months ago he suffered a serious concussion.  He has not  played since.  And further months of rehabilitation have not been effective.  It now turns out that Crosby’s concussion symptoms return when he tries to operate at the 90-percent exertion level.

So what happens to this super star now?

He could go back to square one in his rehabilitation, hoping eventually to return to professional hockey, thereby risking another serious concussion or even death.

Or Crosby, a wealthy man, could call it a day and choose another profession including coaching or managing an NHL teeam/

Should Sidney Crosby give up on hockey?

What do you think?

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IS OUT-SOURCING THE WAY TO GO?

April 9, 2011

Canada produces more maple syrup than any other country in the world.  We also produced more hockey sticks than any other country in the world. Not any longer.

Sher-Wood, making hockey sticks for more than 60 years in Sherbrooke, is transferring its hockey stick production to China to slash costs. About 40 employees will lose their jobs although the head office employing 110 will remain in Quebec.

This is  a sad tale, the end of a storied Canadian plant making the world’s best  hockey sticks.

Could the company have  continued to make sticks in Canada.?

Seems not.

Had Sher-wood stayed in Canada making sticks, it would have been swamped by cheaper competitors  and sooner or laater would have been forced out of business altogether.

By going overseas to China to make sticks more economically, the company remains as a going concern.

Is out-sourcing the way to go?

What do you think?

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SHOULD FIGHTING IN THE NHL BE BANNED?

February 28, 2011

A new poll just out says 54 per cent of Canadians want an outright ban on fighting in the NHL.  Sixty-eight per cent say violence is not an inherent part of the game.  However 60 per cent of young Canadians (18-34) are against a ban and nearly half of younger Canadians say fighting is an important part of hockey.   Older Canadians want a ban.

A majority also want stronger penalties for roughness resulting in injury.  Sydney Crosby, by far the best hockey player in the world, is out with a a concussion.

These results generally fly in the face of bullies like Don Cherry who want hockey players to mix it up with their fists.

Should fighting in the NHL be banned?

What do you think?

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