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

Bruce Dowbiggen with a nice piece about Don Cherry’s apology, though personally I believe his contrition has more to do with the hockey code of honour than it does with the threat of a lawsuit. [Globe and Mail]

Even The Economist picked up the Cherry story! [The Economist]

Business Insider weighs in on the Arron Asham incident, calling it “barbaric” but unfortunately failing to provide much context to its moral critique. [Business Insider]

Puck Daddy explores the attitude toward fighting at the middle ground between traditionalists and liberals. An interesting topic, given the extremity of positions held by many on the issue (myself included): Who are the silent majority and what do they think? [Puck Daddy]

Comparing the approaches to fighting in the CHL and NCAA, within the historical context of hockey pugilism. [Jr Hockey Recruit]

Interesting news from junior hockey, as the Canadian Hockey League plans to lobby for the NHL to increase its draft age from the current 18 years-old. Though the article focuses on the on-ice impact on the quality of talent in the NHL and CHL, such a move would also have a major influence on issues such as player safety, athlete development, and the labour rights of players under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement. [Buzzing the Net]

A literary diversion: Jamie Fitzpatrick explores some of the best hockey fiction. The relationship between hockey and art is a topic I hope to explore further on this blog in the future. [Canadian Bookshelf]

Interesting bit of news for those interested in the globalization of sport, as the Kontinental Hockey League (which is based almost exclusively in countries that were part of the former USSR) looks to continue its European expansion to Italy. [Puck Daddy]

I forgot to link to this previously, but this is a fascinating insight into the politics of corporate sponsorship and the equipment industry in hockey. Combat Hockey, which as “a smaller producer . . . does not have the finances to compete with a monster such as Bauer, who owns a 49% market share of hockey equipment,” is forced to black out its logo on Jaromir Jagr’s gloves as it cannot afford the NHL’s sponsorship fee. [Hockey Hourly]

The Vancouver Canucks have donated $50,000 to a website targeted at helping youths struggling with mental health issues. Given Rick Rypien’s struggles with mental illness, and his tragic death this summer, the organization “wanted to do something to help other young people who might have mental health problems.” Hopefully awareness of mental illness continues to spread in the world of hockey.  [Vancouver Sun]

A new documentary about female athletes and concussions, featuring hockey prominently on the cover. [One Sport Voice]

Finally, the Edmonton Oilers’ owner Daryl Katz backs down on his attempt to monopolize concert revenue at his proposed new hockey arena. There are many underlying issues here, including the politics of arena funding and public subsidization of private, for-profit sports franchises. [TSN]

General Sport Links

Good post exploring the “unanswered questions” about girls who participate on boys’ sports teams and challenging the assumption that such incidences are inherently progressive. [Sports, Media & Society]

Jay Caspian King reflects upon the impact of MLB superstar Ichiro Suzuki on his own experience as a Korean-American. Lots of interesting insight about race and sports in the United States. [Grantland]

King’s article reminded me about an academic article about transnational media representations of Ichiro, written by Yuka Nakamura and published in 2005. You can read the abstract online, but unfortunately need a subscription to access the full article. [International Review for the Sociology of Sport]

After last week’s link about WWE wrestlers attempting to unionize, an interesting read about labour rights of mixed martial artists and potential antitrust legislation in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. [The Economist]

A plan to revitalize a Toronto community and school through a cricket pitch. An interesting topic, given that sport venues are often placed at the centre of community development projects. [Jon Spratt]