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!

ndekett

January 8th, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^

Somebody please correct me if I'm way off, but I can't imagine you can punch someone on skates as hard as you could if you're standing on grass. It's pretty rare to see guys badly injured in a hockey fight, but if two men of equal athleticism fought on turf, the outcome would probably be horrific. To this point, hockey players almost always grab onto each other for balance and they're not ripping haymakers at each other using their whole body in the same way humans fight on dry land. I think if players were going out for weeks after a fight, it would be outlawed.

Mr poonsniffle

January 8th, 2018 at 9:18 PM ^

You can punch somebody just as hard on ice as on grass. You can get some really good traction on skates.



The guys are not hold each other to keep balance. They have been skating their whole lives and have no trouble with balance even when fighting. They hold each other to avoid getting punched and to try to get the other guy’s jersey into a position that would impede their ability to throw punches.



The fights are often broken up before it gets out of hand as soon as the players hit the ice. You wouldn’t see the players out for weeks after a fight because, well, they are hockey players. They play with broken bones and get stitches in the locker room during games.

ndekett

January 8th, 2018 at 10:51 PM ^

That mostly makes sense. I probably don't have enough appreciation for how well they're balanced, but I would still think there is a tiny bit of power lost when punching on ice vs grass. points well taken though. I was just trying a thought experiment of what it would be like for two NFL linemen to drop helmets. Somebody would die I think. That may only be a slight exaggeration.

Rico

January 8th, 2018 at 9:20 PM ^

fight on skates as you have less balance and therefore less power, but there are still guys that can do some serious damage on the ice. NHL guys aren't always out there collecting bodies but in the Minors there are guys you do NOT want to mess with!

SalvatoreQuattro

January 8th, 2018 at 7:57 PM ^

of the tweeters seem to understand that hockey is a sport that was created in another country is stupefying. Hockey reflects an element of Canadian culture, not American.

It didn’t occur to these geniuses to look at the attitude of US sports towards fighting when they were mostly white.( It was frowned upon.)

WorldwideTJRob

January 8th, 2018 at 7:56 PM ^

If LeBron James & Dwight Howard were to fight in an NBA game, most of the comments on the story would be “that’s why I don’t watch the games because of thugs like that playing”. Yet 5 hockey fights could happen on the same day and nobody would bat an eye! So if it makes you sleep better at night thinking race doesn’t bleed over into sports, more power to you.

SalvatoreQuattro

January 8th, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^

It somehow does not occur to you to ask if the fact that sport was created in another country and is played primarily in the US in states bordering that country has anything to do with fighting. Cultural difference.

Fighting in US sports, white or black dominated, has never been seen as acceptable as fighting is in hockey.

Race is an important issue, but I think you have made the assumption that white people in different countries share a common sporting culture and that isn’t true.

NFG

January 9th, 2018 at 8:40 AM ^

Dude, quit making assumptions. Remember how awesome society and the fan bases thought of the battle at the Palace between the fans the the Indiana Pacers. It was talked about for weeks, shown on nightly news, and glorified. People didn’t quit going to the Palace because of it or stop buying the jerseys. Fighting is just not part of the game.

chicagowolverine02

January 8th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^

The first ever organized hockey game actually ended in an all out brawl.. It’s literally been a part of the game since its existence. Brian Burke once said “I have this fear that if we don’t have guys looking after each other that the rats will take this game over”. He was exactly right. There are one, maybe two enforcers left in the game, but “pests” who take liberties and run guys are still around because they can skate and there’s no one to hold them accountable. Juniors are slowly getting rid of fighting and it’s having a trickle up effect and it’s not good for the sport IMO. Plus fights between two tough guys are a lot to fun to watch!

shotvig

January 8th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^

Fighting amongst players has some unwritten rules. Once they go to the ground, you'll rarely see a sucker punch. More often, guys will say "good fight". I also think fighting in hockey is invoked by the nature of the play. The game is built on scrums in the corner for the puck, battles in front of the next, and riding players into the boards on rushes. This combined with the free flow of the game (opposite of football with the constant stops) is sort of conducive to the escalation into a fight.

NGoBlue

January 8th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^

Let me guess JD...your food at Michigan was comparable to "prison food"



Better yet, ask your fellow Alumni face to face how they feel about "fighting"

Mr. Yost

January 8th, 2018 at 11:43 PM ^

Make everything about race?

This is such a ridiculous comment. Do you know JD? Check is Twitter? Does he make everything about race?

So you make ONE comment about race and now all of your comments are about race? Think about what you just typed and hit "Save" on.

How is this "making everything about race?" Are you just uncomfortable discussing race?

Maize and Luke

January 8th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^

I'm very disappointed. He's a young man who, obviously, made an uneducated remark (no, I'm not saying he's uneducated). And while making an uneducated remark is forgivable, don't use the race card.