Still Fighting It

As the third round of the NHL playoffs get underway tonight with the Bruins taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning, the hockey world is reeling from the news yesterday that NY Rangers forward Derek Boogaard was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment. He was only 28, and no cause of death has been released by the authorities. Boogaard was the pre-eminent enforcer in the league, a 6' 8" beast of a man whose main role in the NHL was to fight. From all accounts, Boogaard was beloved by teammates and friends off the ice, but on the ice, he was feared.

For non-hockey fans, the whole concept of an enforcer, also referred to as a "goon," is alien. Indeed, the fact that hockey players are allowed to fight each other at all is problematic for many. For hockey purists, fighting's been a part of the game as long as skating or shooting the puck has. The role of the hockey enforcer has traditionally been to protect the more skilled players on the team. A player like Wayne Gretzky, arguably the best player in hockey history, almost always had an enforcer like Dave Semenko or Marty McSorley on the ice at the same time in case an opponent had the audacity to lay a nasty hit on him.

In addition, a player might initiate a fight to fire his team up. You might see this happen if a team falls behind by a couple of goals; a fight might serve to motivate the team to skate harder and if it's a home game, might get the fans roaring again. In the playoffs, fighting rarely occurs. Unless the game is a blowout, teams don't want to risk a major penalty (players receive 5 minutes for fighting as opposed to 2 minutes for a minor infraction like tripping or hooking) in a close game. So unless a player can contribute in other ways than fighting, you're not going to see him on the ice much or at all in a playoff game.

The image of hockey fighting is very overblown these days. There are some folks who think that it constitutes the majority of action in a game, but there is very little fighting compared to the past. In the 1980s, there was an average of more than 1.0 hockey fights per NHL game; in the 2009-2010 season, that figure had dropped to .58 per game. One reason is the game's faster than ever before. Having so-called thugs on the ice can hurt more than help teams.

Fighting's been in the NHL since the beginning, but things really took on a Wild West atmosphere in the 1970s, when the Philadelphia Flyers used a violent brawling style to win their way to two consecutive Stanley Cups. The teams had plenty of skilled players like Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Reggie Leach and goalie Bernie Parent, but it was the rough play of Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, Bob "Hound Dog" Kelly, Andre "Moose" Dupont and others that set the tone for the Flyers' dominance. As a young Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I watched a couple of bloody playoff series between the Leafs and the Flyers, full of bench-clearing brawls and other ridiculousness. It was no coincidence that in 1977, the NHL instituted rules banning the third man in (meaning anyone who tried to join a fight already in progress) and anyone leaving the bench to join a fight. And of course, the great movie "Slap Shot" chronicled the brawling antics of a minor league hockey team (and based on actual events, sort of).

Former NHL coach and current commentator Don Cherry has been an outspoken proponent of fighting, including it in his popular "Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em" series of highlight tapes and featuring fights on his "Coach's Corner" segment on Hockey Night in Canada. Sites like HockeyFights.com feature video clips of every NHL fight and rate them; and YouTube is chock full of old footage of hockey fights. Opponents of fighting point to the success of international events like the Olympic hockey tournament and college hockey, which both eject anyone who fights. And of course, the 2009 death of junior hockey player Don Sanderson after his head hit the ice during a fight renewed the debate over fighting again.

I've been watching hockey for nearly 40 years now and I'll admit that I enjoy watching a good scrap every now and then. In the heat of a game, when a fight spontaneously breaks out, it can be fun to watch. But when two meatheads just decide to drop the gloves for no reason, it's pretty pointless. I don't miss the days of the bench-clearing brawl.

Still, the tale of the hockey enforcer is an interesting one, and Hollywood's paying attention. A full 36 years after "Slap Shot," there are two movies in the works about hockey fighters: the Kevin Smith-penned and directed "Hit Somebody" (based on the Warren Zevon song) and "Goon," written by Jay Baruchel of "Undeclared" and "Tropic Thunder" fame.

So do guys like Derek Boogaard have a place in the game? Right now, I'd say yes, but I also enjoy the aforementioned Olympic and college games when it's all about speed and skating and hard hits as well. It seems as though enforcers have a smaller role. And if fighting does end up being legislated out of the game, I won't be heartbroken but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't miss it.

Zero Chance

Just checking in while global colding kicks our collective butts...not to cast aspersions on Al Gore's theories, but damn if the whole country isn't undergoing some seriously arctic weather. It's been pretty frigid around here for a while and it's about to get worse: the low temp Friday and Saturday is supposed to be zero. Zero! High temps aren't supposed to be much more than the mid-teens. Doesn't make that 15-miler I'm supposed to do Saturday sound promising.

Sad news from Hollywood today with the death of Ricardo Montalban at the age of 88. Best known as Mr. Rourke from Fantasy Island, he'll always be remembered by nerds everywhere as Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." But he also gave the world this awesome Chrysler Cordoba commercial. which was parodied for years afterward. Rest in peace, Ricardo.

I grew up in the '70s, when the hockey brawl was commonplace. They just don't happen anymore. Which is why this minor league hockey brawl is so ridiculous and amazing. Hopefully nothing like this happens at my skate tonight.

This House is a Circus

After a week of mild temps, winter was back today as a Nor'easter dumped a bunch of snow on us. School was cancelled and I worked from home to avoid the messy road conditions. We only ended up getting about 8 to 10 inches, but there was much more north and west of us. The girls had fun playing inside for much of the morning before we went outside to shovel out around noon. They played with a pair of sisters who live a few doors down and go to Hannah's school.

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. Deb and I went out for dinner Friday night while Deb's mom watched the girls. We were served so quickly we ended up going to another establishment for a few drinks before coming home. Saturday, I ran 12 miles in the morning with my running buddy Molly before we took the girls to Barnes and Noble to spend the gift cards they got for Christmas. Then we hit the supermarket, which was totally slammed with shoppers stocking up for the Pats-Jaguars game and the anticipated Monday storm. It was a total zoo; the lines of carriages at the cash registers wound their way through the store. The game was great, with Tom Brady nearly perfect as the Pats fought off a determined Jags squad to advance to the AFC championship game. Then I stayed up to watch the Leafs blow another one to San Jose; they led 2-0 after two periods and then lost 3-2. Looks like heads will roll this week.

Yesterday was pretty chill. Lily didn't feel too good and spent much of the afternoon on the couch on top of Deb. I went to the gym and then the office to pick up some work for today.

Week 1 of my spring marathon training starts tomorrow with what looks to be a 6-mile tempo run on the treadmill. Not ideal, but I don't expect there be a lot of room on those Marblehead streets tomorrow. Then I have speedwork on Thursday and a 13-miler Saturday. Ah, the sled dog days of January...

Kibbles and blurbs:

• The IAAF ruled that a double amputee sprinter was ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics because the prosthetic legs he uses give him an unfair advantage. Oscar Pistorius (cool name alert) plans to appeal the decision, but the IAAF cited studies that showed that the curved blades he used helped Pistorius exert himself less in races than able-bodied runners he competed against.
• Check out this ridiculous hockey brawl from the Russian Superleague (courtesy of Dump Dolan). Apparently, they don't suspend guys for going over the bench. That was like the NHL in the '70s before they started cracking down on the bench-clearing stuff. Apparently the Russian broadcasters on big on the whole, you know, broadcasting thing. Not a word is uttered during the entire clip.

Retrofit

Ah, it's warming up already. The temperature got up to 50 today, which is a welcome change from the arctic depths it had reached earlier in the week. Yesterday went from brutally cold (5) in the a.m. to about 25-30 by lunch. I went for what hopefully will be my last outdoor skate at Redd's Pond. It was good, although there were already some slushy spots from where the sun was shining.

Weigh-in: I'm at 163, 5 pounds down since I stopped eating desserts and drinking beer and soda three weeks ago. I've had a few pieces of Lily's birthday cake the last few days, but they've been small pieces.

Here come the rome plows:

• Congrats to podcaster supreme Tim Coyne for making the cover of Podcast User Magazine, a UK-based Internet-only pub. Tim, an actor and writer who produces The Hollywood Podcast, is a good buddy of my bro-in-law Matt. His show is very entertaining and well worth a listen.
• Well, the delay in the Van Halen tour makes a lot more sense now that Eddie VH has checked into rehab again. Here's hoping he gets his act together. Looks like VH's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won't be any fun, with neither the Van Halen brothers nor David Lee Roth planning to attend. Instead, the crappy Velvet Revolver will accept the award and play a set of VH tunes. That's going to suck-diddly-uck.
• Sad to hear of the death of Brad Delp, the former singer of the band Boston. I was never a huge fan of the band, but growing up in New England, you couldn't help but hear every Boston song a zillion times on rock radio. He was from Danvers, which is the next town over from where I live now, and he died at home in Atkinson, NH, which is two towns over from where I lived in high school. Delp was 55.
• Marvel's getting a lot of press this week after killing off Captain America, one of their longtime superhero mainstays. I used to read Captain America religiously for years, but I'm not getting all worked up about this. This happens every so often; a character is killed and then it turns out that it was his clone or an imposter or something like that. Or like when Iron Man became a drunk and quit, and his best friend took over for a while. In this case, I'm thinking someone else will take over for Cap, at least temporarily until they figure out a way to bring Steve Rogers (his alter ego) back. Some good analysis/reflection on Cap here.
• Three years to the day after Todd Bertuzzi's cowardly attack on Steve Moore that ended Moore's career, another ugly hockey incident took place Thursday. Islanders goon Chris Simon, blind with rage over a hit he took from Ranger Ryan Hollweg, turned and delivered a baseball swing to Hollweg's chin. Hollweg was cut but okay, but Simon was suspended indefinitely by the league pending a hearing. Check out the video here. Just read a story that reported he was suspended for the rest of the season plus seven games in the playoffs. Hopefully, that's true. There's no place for BS like that in hockey. Drop the gloves and fight the guy, but you don't just drive your stick into his chin.
• More on the Brady baby parade: The Boston Herald reported yesterday that the rumors are false that Gisele Bundchen is preggo with Brady's baby, citing interviews with Gisele's family. Hope they're right.

Everything is Average Nowadays

Another week down. This was actually a short work week for me. I had Monday off for President's Day and then took a vacation day Tuesday to hang with Deb and the girls, who were enjoying February school vacation. We went to the New England Aquarium Tuesday morning, which was pretty cool. Lily cracked me up because she kept wanting to watch the penguin movie they were showing on a Jumbotron-sized screen while the real penguins were right in front of her.

The temperatures warmed up a little this week, melting a lot of the ice that had built up over the last few weeks. I'm glad I got a decent amount of pond skating in because it may be all over.

Skibidy bibbidy bop:

• Don't look now, but the Van Halen tour is on indefinite hold. Not sure what the problem was, but this LA Times story hints that Eddie may just be off his rocker. Meanwhile, the Police tour is selling out stadiums.
• Serious old-school brawl in the Sabres-Senators game last night after Ottawa's Chris Neil leveled Buffalo captain Chris Drury. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff sent out the goons on the next shift and chaos ensued: the goalies were scrapping, the coaches were screaming at each other over the benches. Pretty great footage, if you like that sort of thing. And I do.
• The Nashua Pride this week signed former Red Sox pitcher Rich Garces, better known as the inimitable "El Guapo." Garces was a middle reliever known for his girth and beloved by Boston fans; he'll be playing for former Sox skipper Butch Hobson. Little-known fact: "El Guapo" is Spanish for "The Guapo."