OT: Jourdan Lewis commenting on fighting in hockey

Submitted by Dennis on
Jourdan Lewis recently tweeted Check out @JourdanJD’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/JourdanJD/status/950430102172655617?s=09 about fighting in hockey, implying that fighting is only allowed in hockey because it's a predominantly white-athlete sport... regardless of how incorrect his assumptions are, what are your thoughts on fighting in hockey? IMO, enforcers are essential to slowing the game down and preventing nasty injuries. If you come at Gretzky, Semenko is gonna beat your ass!

NFG

January 8th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^

While it’s predominantly white, I don’t think that’s why fighting is allowed. It’s part of the game, like it or not. The late 90s were filled with amazing games and fights.

BoCanHam15

January 8th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^

But would you agree the reason why fans go is to see a good knuckle, rustling, head cracking, combustible, melee??? I️ don’t understand the tweet itself but I’m just saying isn’t hockey more entertaining when a fight ensues during a game?

wolverine1987

January 9th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^

Having played it up through juniors, and being 5"9 175, I wasn't exactly a fighter or a fan. I often thought it should be outlawed. But as I've gotten older I've done a 180 and now think it's great entertainment. Hockey fights almost never result in anything close to real injuries, and give the NHL a rough and tumble throwback style that quite frankly, it needs IMO. If I was the commissioner I'd quietly allow far more of it. 

BoCanHam15

January 8th, 2018 at 8:41 PM ^

I️ think sometimes we as humans are scared to say what we really mean! I am not. So, I️ guess my issue is why not just say what you mean, and live with that! I️ just don’t think social media is the place for us to come together and have meaningful dialogue. And in saying that, I could also be wrong.

Mr. Yost

January 8th, 2018 at 11:32 PM ^

How about you flip the OTHER script...which is his point.

99% of black guys in a sport fighting and they're called "thugs" and it's absolutely not accepted the way it is now.

But it's not a relevation. Race is race.

People RIP the NFL for lower ratings, a predominately black sport with guys kneeling during the Anthem.

Guess what? NASCAR's ratings are down EVEN MORE!!! And that is a sport that supposedly celebrates the Star Spangled Banner. But you never hear about that, right? The President never tweets about that, right? Maybe because it goes against this narrative that the ratings in the NFL are down because of kneeling. Sure, plenty of people are against it - but you have to dig a little deeper.

But, the NFL has black players and fans kneeling and NASCAR has white drivers and fans waving the flag (along with the Confederate flag - which is kind of...weird). NHL has white guys fighting, part of the game...black guys fight in football or basketball? THUG.

Maybe it's just the difference in the game, maybe if white guys fight in basketball, they're thugs and if black guys fight in hockey, they're fine...but it's not hard to see where the opinion comes from.

My problem, personally, wasn't the comment...it was that it's not original. This was a huge topic during the "Malice at the Palace" or whatever we called it.

Double-D

January 9th, 2018 at 12:35 AM ^

Hockey was not a traditional fan favorite spectator sport. Fighting which was always a part of the hockey culture was used to sell seats. It’s been a part of it since inception. It has nothing to do with race or any other sport.

Many advocate removing fighting now that hockey is mainstream. It’s rules have become more restricted.

Racism is an insidious cancer and damages lives. I don’t think crap like this helps the cause.

On another note watching a true freshman recognize cover two and look off a safety on the biggest stage in college football and then throw a game winning dart down the sideline was impressive.

Ghost of Fritz…

January 9th, 2018 at 7:19 AM ^

beside the point?

The reason that fighting emerged in hockey, of the history of it, is not the issue.

When there is a fight in an NHL game, do all of the fans think to themsleves 'well this is all normal because once upon a time hockey needed to attract attention to sell tickets, so...'?

The issue is not how or why fighting emerged, but instead that it is perceived as just normal and acceptable (whatever the reason it first emerged) in hockey, but would be perceived differently in a sport that is not almost all white.

That is Jordan's point.  And then the question become, why is that the case?

 

Mack Tandonio

January 9th, 2018 at 7:06 AM ^

Also, I don't believe fighting was allowed in other sports when they were still segregated and it was only white people. The problem here is that assholes and common folk alike are biased and one's perception of any activity will be influenced by race or ethnicity. In hockey, fighting isn't even really "allowed" but I don't expect anyone to know that when nobody even knows what hockey cleats look like.

ScruffyTheJanitor

January 9th, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^

NHL has white guys fighting, part of the game...black guys fight in football or basketball? THUG.

The problem is that fighting ISN'T as much a part of football or basketball as it is hockey. I know fights DO happen, but when one player takes a swing at another during a game, one sport stands around and watches it and the other sports throw a flag and try to break it up.

Lewis's comments make as much sense to me as saying, "They only let players of white sports (Golf, Hockey, Lacross) carry sticks."

glewe

January 8th, 2018 at 8:46 PM ^

Huh?

I don't think Jourdan's statement is that he thinks it's okay that hockey has fighting. He's saying, instead, that the reason it isn't against the rules is because it's mostly white people. It's not racism to point out a difference between the races. It's also not racist to point out how different races are treated differently under systems of governance or otherwise.

It is, however, covertly racist to say that calling attention to racism against Black people is racist.

Truthfully, I don't know if there's an direct evidentiary basis to bear out what Lewis is saying, but I'd be interested to see when fighting became against the rules in football to compare. Was fighting accepted as "part of the game" before WWII? It was a mostly white sport then.

CLion

January 8th, 2018 at 9:58 PM ^

Seems like he has a valid point. If they were all black the way people would talk about fighting in hockey would be completely different. People don't accept the argument simply because they don't like it. Par for the course in America.

Mr. Yost

January 8th, 2018 at 11:37 PM ^

Exactly...it's just not a relevation. He didn't discover anything and it's not a new topic.

It would be like me saying.

"Racism doesn't only exist in the south."

Well, yes, this is true...but ummm, this isn't new my man. But it's just part of growing up. Sometimes you think you discover shit that people have known for a REALLY long time.

UMForLife

January 9th, 2018 at 12:43 AM ^

Hockey is not specific to America. Fighting is part of Hockey. It has always been. Because it is accepted does not mean Jourdan is right. I am going to sound silly but look at UFC or other fighting sports dominated by whites. It does not mean it is allowed because it is mainly white. One of the all time greats is Ali and the sport is dominated by non whites.

Double-D

January 9th, 2018 at 8:35 AM ^

change the history. All of these sports were designed when blacks did not play them.

I get JDs point he is trying to make.

It does even hit the dart board in this instance and comes across as working really hard to manufacture shit.

Ghost of Fritz…

January 9th, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^

it emerged or did not emerge long a go is beside the point.

The issue is today.  Today fighting is hockey can persist,  but would be a marketin disaster were it to emerge in the NBA or NFL, becasue.....?

I do not have the answer.  JL suggests that race is a factor in the anwer.  Maybe he is right and maybe he is wrong.

But this is about today, ot the reason fighting emerged decades ago in the NHL.

bronxblue

January 8th, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^

That was my sense as well.  And football used to feature quite a few fights, but then rule changes altered that.  Hell, basketball used to have some crazy brawls but those were ushered out of the game as well.

If anything, I think the reason people in the US don't care that much about fighting in hockey is the fast majority of Americans don't care about hockey.

Trebor

January 8th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^

While I love a good hockey fight, I think it's far overused, especially in situations where players start fighting after cleanly delivered big hits. I'd love to see it phased mostly out, and only used when situations truly warrant beating some wholesale ass (e.g., as a disincentive to delivering dirty hits like Claude Lemieux on Kris Draper back in 1996).