Weekly Links: The Violent Life and Tragic Death of Derek Boogaard; Debating Mandatory Visors; Arena Politics

December 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

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Welcome to Hockey in Society’s Weekly Links post. This feature highlights articles or blog entries that are related to Hockey in Society’s areas of interest and that may be of interest to the site’s readers.

Hockey Links

  • If you have not seen it, please check out the New York Times series on the life and death of former enforcer Derek Boogaard. It is a brilliant yet harrowing look inside the life of an NHL enforcer, tracing his life from early childhood through junior hockey and the NHL. It is a three-part series (not including the accompanying videos) that is getting some Pulitzer hype. Well worth reading if you care at all about fighting in hockey. I am working on a post on this topic that will hopefully go up this weekend. [New York Times]
  • There has been lots of reaction to the Times story this week, including questioning the role of fighting and the reaction of players (it is “part of the price we pay”).  [Leader-Post; Globe and Mail; Sportsnet]
  • Roy MacGregor with a harsh critique of the NHL for continuing to allow fighting in hockey. [Globe and Mail]
  • Hockey Wilderness, a blog for Boogaard’s former team the Minnesota Wild, wonders why there has been little rage amongst fans as a result of the Times‘ revelations. [Hockey Wilderness]
  • Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Post gives the background to how the Times got access to the story. [Minneapolis Post]
  • Grantland pulls up a 1989 interview conducted with Red Wings enforcer Joey Kocur. Extremely fascinating, and at times upsetting, stuff. And another story to add to the growing list of hockey fighters’ narratives. [Grantland, via Kukla's Corner]
  • In a show of poor taste and even poorer timing, sports card company In the Game is releasing a set of hockey cards focused on fighters and featuring bloodstained cards. [Puck Daddy]
  • A month ago, Courtney Szto weighed in on mandatory visors. This week, an anonymous NHLer/blogger gave a players take on the issue. [Puck Daddy]
  • Forbes released its annual Business of Hockey feature, highlighting that franchise values are now at their all-time peak. Distribution is not so equitable though: the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, and Montreal Canadiens earn greater profits than the other 27 teams combined. [Forbes]
  • The NHL won the 2011 Sport for the Environment Award for its efforts not to waste food at arenas, this diverting waste from landfills. I do not say this often, but congratulations NHL. [NHL.com]
  • Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff with a great quote about NHL suspensions: “I understand with a phone hearing the max you’re going to get is [a five-game suspension]. In my eyes, is that a big message? . . . I look at the NFL and I look at the Detroit Lion [Ndamukong Suh] that got two games for a 6-inch kick. He got kicked out of the game, and then that amounted to one-eighth of our season. That’s a 10-game suspension. I think they do it right. The message there is we’re not putting up with this stuff. I think we need a strong message. Is five strong enough? I don’t know.” [Sabres Edge]
  • Interesting post about the politics of arena construction in the Ontario Hockey League. [Buzzing the Net]

Other Sport Links

  • Whenever you hear assertions about the benefits of publicly subsidizing sports arenas, take them with a grain of salt. [Boing Boing]
  • Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan has raised some hackles by suggesting that he wishes he could skate for China, the country of his parents’ birth, because Canada does not support its amateur athletes well enough. [Winnipeg Free Press]
  • The UFC is promoting anti-bullying initiatives to schoolchildren. The Globe offers an editorial rebuttal to this somewhat surprising partnership. [Globe and Mail]
  • Chuck Klosterman with a very interesting article about the polarizing love/hate reaction to Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. [Grantland; h/t to Graham for the link]

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Weekly Links: Canadian Forces Muzzle the Jets; Sidney Crosby Returns from Concussion; Frontier Justice Prevails in Buffalo

November 25, 2011 by Leave a comment

Image from: http://theglobeandmail.com

Welcome to Hockey in Society’s Weekly Links post. This feature highlights articles or blog entries that are related to Hockey in Society’s areas of interest and that may be of interest to the site’s readers.

Hockey Links

  • Well this is interesting: by settling on a military themed logo, the Winnipeg Jets signed a contract with the Department of National Defense stating that they cannot use the logo in a manner that reflects poorly upon the Canadian Forces or the Queen. While I can’t imagine a professional hockey team taking a strong anti-establishment political stance (although the Phoenix Suns provide a rare professional sport aberration in this regard) it is still interesting that the military can control the actions of a privately-owned team that is, in many ways, also seen as a public good. [Globe and Mail]
  • An interesting story, particularly in light of the interview we published yesterday: two women who formerly played youth hockey in Brampton win a Human Rights Tribunal case over their treatment as youth players. Both girls faced a range of discriminatory actions from teammates and coaches, and their mother was removed as a volunteer with the Brampton Youth Hockey Association after speaking out in defense of her daughters. [The Star]
  • Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s rookie VP Player Safety, is pleased with players’ adaptation to his stricter enforcement of unsafe rule violations. Wait, is he saying that league enforcement is actually creating behaviour change? I thought the players sorted it out and self-policed and everything was great. No? [TSN]
  • To the surprise of exactly no-one who has an even cursory understanding of “the Code”, the first game between the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins since Milan Lucic concussed Sabres’ goalie Ryan Miller featured fisticuffs galore. Harrison Mooney approves. [Puck Daddy]
  • David Shoalts reports on the Sabres/Bruins game, including some interesting tidbits and quotations about “honour” and “duty”, and the possibility that discipline is easing since NHL GMs criticized Brendan Shanahan. [Globe and Mail]
  • The Globe and Mail’s editor believes that Sidney Crosby’s return marks a turning point in awareness about concussions in hockey. I’ll believe it when I see it. [Globe and Mail]
  • Meanwhile, the two players who concussed Crosby will breathe a little easier now that he has returned. [The Star]
  • Bruce Dowbiggen with an interesting look at what Crosby means in terms of marketability for the NHL. [Globe and Mail]
  • The City of Markham, just northeast of Toronto, has plans to build a 19,500 seat arena not necessarily, but possibly, with a long-term eye to wooing an NHL team. It will be very interesting to watch this unfold for a variety of reasons, from local politics (are taxpayers expected to foot the bill?) to NHL politics (will the Maple Leafs enforce their monopoly on all professional hockey in the Greater Toronto Area?) to issues of (sub)urban economic and social development (or lack thereof). [TSN and The Hockey News]

General Sport Links

  • The Economist‘s sports blog explores – and debunks – the notion that anti-Christian sentiment is behind the widespread criticism of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. [Game Theory]
  • This is a little old, but an interesting take on the media coverage of Tebow. Looking at how criticism of Tebow: the person misses critiquing the bigger picture of Tebow: the symbol of a messed-up corporate/politically influenced sports world. [E. Martin Nolan]
  • Also from The Economist sports blog, an interesting examination of labour issues in Australian Rules Football, whose popularity has mushroomed in the past few years. Unlike many North American sport leagues, in which athletes earn roughly 50% of revenue, AFL players earn just a quarter of revenue. [Game Theory]
  • The Conference Board of Canada has released a report examining the possibility of expansion in the Canadian Football League. The most likely municipal candidates: Ottawa, Quebec City, London, Moncton, Halifax, and Kitchener-Waterloo. [Conference Board of Canada]
  • Sepp Blatter, for all his faults, has agreed to remain in charge of FIFA for four more years. Really FIFA? [The Star]

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