Fighting the Good Fight by Adam Proteau

Author:Adam Proteau [Proteau, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781443429825
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

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By looking at The Code, the actual NHL rulebook, and the intellectually backwards leaps the NHL must continually make to reconcile the two, it is easy to see how far hockey still has to go, simply to be on equal footing with the other professional sports leagues when it comes to the logical application of athlete behavior standards.

However, to start that process, the NHL has to admit what is plain as day. It must acknowledge that although nearly each and every one of the principles of The Code stem from admirable hockey values of courage and fairness, the problem at the core of each rule is that the players are the ones who are cast as plaintiffs, defendants, judges/juries, and executioners.

The NHL's administrators, who should be the ones playing the last two roles in the above scenario, are happy to sit on the sidelines and count the league's profits, only intervening in the most innocuous ways when the pesky media or fans voice their disgust over an incident. That has to change—and can, if fans make their voices heard, either by bombarding NHL headquarters with their disgust over the problems, or by speaking with their wallets and refusing to attend games or buy league merchandise.

As well, Gary Bettman and the owners who give him his corporate marching orders have to insist on tougher punishments for repeat offenders and not pull back and whittle down those punishments when self-interested owners or GMs trot out tired old clichés meant to absolve players of their personal responsibilities on the ice. Until now, owners have been content to count their hockey-related profits and view fighting as a necessary evil in selling the game. But as we see during playoffs and seminal hockey moments like the Olympics or World Championship tournaments, the game doesn't need that nutritionless filler.

The Code isn't doing anyone in hockey any favors. Well, that's not true—it does favors for those over-aggressive players who use it as a shield against logic, fairness, and sportsmanship. But the price players pay to give those excitable, often less-talented players that excuse is far too high to let The Code continue.

Bettman once prefaced a Sean Avery suspension (that he got for merely saying the words “sloppy seconds”) by invoking the league's responsibilities to parents who would have to explain the tasteless term to their children. To be sure, that is an admirable line of thought. But then try and explain to kids the essence of The Code. Try rationalizing a belief system that says it is not OK for a hockey player to smile after his team scores a goal, but it is more than OK—it is demanded—that hockey players always avenge anything they perceive to be a slight by hitting an opponent as hard as they can with a bare fist.

It simply can't be done. In sum, The Code is a relic that needs to be buried as soon and as deeply as possible.

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