Fights and Hockey: A Match Made in Kendergarten

The National Hockey League is known mostly for one of 22 things. For the sake of not boring the crap out of everyone with mentioning bloody Chiclets flying across the rink more than once, I'll just go ahead and skim that number down an honest 5.

Number one: "The Great One", Wayne Gretzky. Numbers two through four: Playoff Hockey, Don Cherry's lack of fashion sense and The Mighty Ducks(now known as the Anaheim Ducks, because I guess the NHL hated the lucrative marketing possibilities, and actually would like to go bankrupt at some point.)

Perhaps more than anything else, the NHL is known for being Fight Club on Ice. No need to mince words here. Amid all the athleticism, pin point timing, and agility present in every hockey game, there's a low rent side show just waiting to happen.

Hardcore NHL Fan: You can't take fighting out of Hockey!

Uh, somebody already has. International Hockey doesn't allow the players to go about with having vigilante justice in the middle of a perfectly good game. It's a simple revision of the rules. This sort of thing happens all the time in major sports leagues.

did the NFL lose popularity after Terrel Owens suffered a broken leg and the horse collar rule was instated? Nope. Are there legions of basketball fans boycotting NBA games because players can no longer hang of the rim and pull up? Nah! Really, give me one good reason for the NHL to allow this to continue.

Hardcore NHL Fan: Players police themselves.

That's cute, really it is. What do you think those people with the black and white striped shirts are there for?They are known to the rest of the sports world as "referees". I'm sure NHL bigwigs have them skating around with the players for a reason.

referees are present to enforce the rules of the game. they make calls like High Sticking, icing, illegal use of a dead octopus, etc. if one of the players is tripped or slammed into the glass by an opposing teams player, I'm sure refs are competent enough penalize the instigator, without the situation having to come to blows(or, someone putting a puck where the sun doesn't shine in retaliation.)

Hardcore NHL Fan: It's not really hockey without fighting!

If a sport relies that much on something that can best be described as arctic/drunken MMA, that does nothing to progress the action on the field of play, said sport is kinda pathetic. This is akin to the Nascar fans who complain about a race being boring because it lacked a certain number of crashes.

Maybe the National Hockey League doesn't NEED the fights. Maybe it's the core fan base that insists upon them being present.