OT: Jourdan Lewis commenting on fighting in hockey
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.
January 8th, 2018 at 7:58 PM ^
Let’s just say fighting is allowed and not penalized and there are 1% African Americans in hockey! Thus, it’s not frowned upon. So is that a lie? Yeah well that’s a tough argument.
January 8th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
Double post
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?
January 8th, 2018 at 9:08 PM ^
Dann - this thread makes me nostalgic for the days of the Red wing goalie fights (or any other time Patrick Roy got dropped). Good days...
January 8th, 2018 at 11:11 PM ^
...Claude Lemieux beaten to a bloody pulp, crumpled on the ice. He looked more like one of the squid fans throw on the ice than human. Good times...
January 9th, 2018 at 12:57 AM ^
Aww dang, now I have to YouTube all the avs brawls instead of sleeping. I was so close too.
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.
January 8th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
Fighting is penalized. With majors, fines, and suspensions.
January 8th, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^
But I️ don’t get why people are saying he’s being a race-ist?
January 8th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
JD's suggesting fighting is ok in hockey because it's largely white and it's not ok in football because it has significantly more non-white people I guess? It's kinda racist because it's assuming the differences in how the sports are played are entirely because of the demographics which is naive of him
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.
January 8th, 2018 at 9:25 PM ^
Flip the script and a white guy is in deep shit.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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."
January 9th, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^
Comparing professional athletes who attack fans during a game to hockey fights is asinine. And you are the one throwing "thug" around, no one else. Come on man.
January 9th, 2018 at 1:36 AM ^
In today's world there are double standards and everything offends everyone so it isn't that simple.
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.
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.
January 8th, 2018 at 10:34 PM ^
No, he really doesn't
January 8th, 2018 at 11:33 PM ^
...in your opinion.
He's got a point, you just don't agree with it. There's a difference.
January 8th, 2018 at 11:14 PM ^
what he's saying, and he's not wrong, is that many people in our society view two white guys fighting differently than two black guys fighting.
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.
January 9th, 2018 at 6:53 AM ^
... to the world.
OTOH, there are plenty of people for whom that is a new idea to them. So sometimes is can can worthwhile to repeat an idea for those have never heard it or never thought about it,
January 9th, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
I've been a sports fan for my whole life. I had never thought about the point Jourdan was making, and, at a glance, I think he's got a point.
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.
January 9th, 2018 at 6:56 AM ^
comparison invalid?
Fighting IS the very sport for boxing and UFC.
Skating and scoring goals is the sport of hockey. The fights and enforcers are not really the sport itself.
That is why the old joke about 'going to a boxing match and a game of hockey broke out' works.
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.
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.
January 9th, 2018 at 12:45 AM ^
Damn. Stupid phone
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.
January 8th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
I think this is a dumb topic that will be deleted soon.
January 8th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^
There will be one racist comment that will start a political firestorm in this thread.
January 8th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
Canadians are better at hockey than Americans!
Don't @ me
January 8th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
Why you dirty no good hoser
January 8th, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
Best. Movie. Ever.
January 8th, 2018 at 9:20 PM ^
Loved the Hanson's!
January 8th, 2018 at 11:10 PM ^
Correct. And fighting is allowed because hockey is predominantly Canadian. Canada is made up in large part by Irish and Scots, Irish and Scots like to fight and watch other people fight.
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).