A 12 step program for hockey

When I was a kid, much like every young Torontonian, I used to plop myself in front of the television every saturday night to watch the Leafs sort-of-almost play hockey. There were the dark days of the early nineties, then the great days of the mid-late nineties, then more dark, thennnn now a very general indifference to the team's complete and utter mediocrity. 

That being said, my interest in the sport of hockey in general has waned considerably over the past five years, but every so often something comes up that reminds me why although it's a great sport, it is considered just a notch below the glorified demolition derby known as NASCAR in the professional sports hierarchy. 

This sport still glorifies fighting. 

Think about that. It's a game, played by grown men, that promotes having a talentless goon on your team just to fight the other team's talentless goon or hurt the other team's best players.

If all the Raptors did every game was send Jake Voskuhl out to clothesline the other teams best player, and that action was condoned by the league, and every team did that, how seriously would you take NBA basketball? 

What about if every NFL game, one of the offensive linemen was assigned purely to rip off the other team's best d-man's helmet and challenge him to a fist fight on the field, as if it was two boys fighting during recess. THEN imagine the game stopped, and everyone watched the fight and clapped afterwards, patting them on the back for a job well done for reverting to 5 years old. Then 5 minutes later, those players were allowed back on the field. 

Watching Sportsnet, it's pathetic seeing people like Nick Kypreos and Bill Watters defend fighting in this sport. Their arguments are completely illogical, and even when confronted with this fact, respond just by yelling really loudly but saying nothing at all intelligent. 

Hockey shows are a lot like watching Fox News in this respect. Don Cherry is our Bill O'Reilly. Does that make you proud to be Canadian? 

And yet... for many, it does. 

Grow up, hockey. Please. We miss you, but the first step is to admit you have a problem.