http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/pg/08293/920880-61.stm






You gotta be friggin kidding me. It really could only come from Pittsburgh though.

Have at it, ladies and gentlemen. I want this guy (and subsequently pittsburgh fans) torn a new one in this thread. Lets get creative, and nasty......cause we're all in a bad mood, and this idiot from pitt is the perfect person to unleash the verbal beast upon.

He's from Pittsburgh. What the **** do you expect?

They just discovered hockey a few years ago. Give 'em a break.

Yea.......I'm not gonna bash on a Pitt fan. Mostly because my team has played 5 games and has yet to pull out a win. I'll wait till we win a few games before passing judgment on another team or their fans.

The day they ban hitting/fighting is the day i stop watching hockey. They would lose alot of business

Doesn't seem like Pittsburgh fans are very fond of this guy either:

http://thepensblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/bo...ry-attempt.html

lol as a ballet dancer i'm offended by his analogy hockey isn't ballet on ice, that's figure skating, moron! the man obviously has no respect or even knowledge of the history and tradition of hockey. then again, as has been already pointed out, he and the rest of his city just discovered hockey a few years ago.

LET'S GO FLYERS!!!!

sindey crosby secretly wrote that article

I have to assume the real sports reporter was sick and they drafted the arts & entertainment person to do a column. He'd wet himself if he saw a real game rather then writing a column off the few bytes he managed to read on the sports pages. He probably wondered why ballroom dancing wasn't page 1 when it was an exhibition @ the Olys.

+1. And knowing Bettman and Cindy, don't rule it out.

wow what kind of hippie wrote this article

Fighting does not do that for the NHL. As much as it energizes fans in the various buildings around the league, it turns off the prospective fans outside those building. The NHL needs to grow its base. Fighting is stopping it from doing that.

There is no reason for fighting in hockey other than it appeals to the crowd. The reaction to the fights at Mellon Arena Tuesday and Thursday last week said it all. It made the night for many of the fans and will keep bringing them back.

This man obviously did not proof read his article. These two statements are very contradicting. Hockey will never appeal to certain types of people and why would anyone want to try to build a fan base of people who don't understand how the sport works? People who want to watch a ballet should stick to their opera and ballet season tickets. These types of people have no clue what hockey is all about. Even if you took the fighting out of the game these people still wouldn't appreciate the game. As exciting as it is to watch Richards and Briere work their magic with the puck, the fact of the matter remains that hockey is THE toughest sport and idiots like this man and the Crosby ballet lovers will NEVER truly appreciate the game the way it is meant to be played.
All the new rules are ruining the flow of the game and we have do gooders like this fool to thank for that. I personally want MY hockey back. The game was much better to watch BEFORE the lock out and most of the new rules designed to protect and show off Cindy and company, men who I might add aren't really man enough to play the game the right way anyway!

Hey, don't call down us old hippies. It was us that cheered Clarke in '72 Super Series & saw hockey when blood on the ice was expected. There have been girlie type writers in every generation but he doesn't deserve to be classified with us. Peace, Love, Brotherhood yeah, just not on the ice.

this is the part i was getting at lol sorry for the offense.

For the record, http://msgboard.pittsburghpenguins.com/ind...showtopic=25177.

Pittsburgh fans aren't too hot on him either.

he doesn't want fighting in the NHL because the captain of the team he follows is a little girl and they lost their only fighters. both of them (Laraque and Ruutu) were more like cheap-shot artists than pure scrappers like Cote or Asham.

No, this guy was calling for fighting to end before the Penguins got Crosby.

Evidence: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04072/284714-194.stm

I only had to read the first two short paragraphs to close this down and say "WTF?!"

He obviously hasn't been watching hockey that long.

With people saying stop the fighting and the big hits, what would we have. I agree that the game was better before the lockout and it needs to come back a bit. Great example the other night in San Jose when Pavelski or whatever took the shot from the point and parted the seas to get the rebound and scored! 2004 and earlier he would have been a Shark sandwitch for Timonen and Coburn! They both look to each other like you hit em, I'm not taking another penalty!!

what an as

thanks for wasting my time

You can't talk any sense into a guy like Smizik, he'll hit you with his purse!!!

As a woman who carries a purse, I am offended by that comparison.

The penguins are still mad that they don't have any fighters left after Laraque and Ruutu left.

No offense taken. Old hippies are very forgiving (again, off the ice).

Godard and Bissonette are both good fighters. Maybe Godard doesn't win a lot, but he's like Barnaby, he'll fight anyone. Biz Nasty is a big guy and he's a good fighter. Better than Ruutu at least(only when it comes to fighting, of course).

HAHA so true...but then again lucky pens...Laraque is out with an injury isnt he?

Yeah you tell em FlyersFanTN. Get mad, get angry, YEAH GET MEAN!!! STUPID PITTSBURGH MORONS!!!

What a piece of work you are. You're not quite at Smizik's level, but you're close.

I disagree with Smizik on his article. Hockey is supposed to be a tough game, and a limited amount of fighting has some entertainment value. I wouldn't want a return to bench-clearing brawls, but one-against-one fighting is part of the game. As is tough defense, finishing checks, etc. etc.

Having said that, I do like the new rules as they pertain to interference, holding sticks, clutching-and-grabbing, etc. That stuff isn't tough/physical hockey. It's sissy hockey for less-skilled players to try and keep up with more skilled ones.

Bottom line .... hockey can be both physical, and a display of skating/scoring talent. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Jeff

more like a ballet dancer

Lol at the troll everyone. That was a pretty half-a$$ed attempt at trolling too. I give it a 1/10. Come back when you wanna bring your "A" game.

shut it pen fan go back to your forum
your worse than the guy who wrote the stuff about hockey

No need to bash Pens fans for this. We can't stand Smizik either. He generally writes one of these "**** off Pens fans" articles about once a month and never discusses anything positive relating to hockey.

now these guys look like they belong in a ballet

I am not sure exactly what all the fuss is about regarding the article. Smizik, as already pointed out is not all that respected among hockey fans, as his man love for the Pirates dominates his writings.

I disagree with him that "there is no need for fighting in hockey", but I will agree with him that the two examples he gave are the types of fights that keep the NHL from ever being as purely hockey entertaining, as International play. <<<<<<<<< Yes I said that. International hockey (Worlds and Olympics) is a better product than the NHL. (Bettman knows this too which is why he's trying to force International play to lower their standards)

As for "only coming from Pittsburgh" and "wanting to tear Pittsburgh fans a new one" because Smizik wrote this; Two goons lining up and squaring off at the drop of the puck isnt tolerated in recreational leagues, high school leagues, college leagues, women leagues, the Olympics, the Worlds, European leagues, and the Russian CHL as examples of non Pittsburgh related hockey.

I understand the North American appeal and entertainment value, and I also understand that fighting needs to be part of the game - when done right. (IE Ovechkin cheap shotting Briere is a great time for someone to stand AO up and punch him in the head a few times)

But like I said, there is a time and place, and today's game has too many examples of non impact players doing what Smizik described which isnt really hockey and detracts from the game - even for the cheap 45 second thrill.

I understand why you must now flame me as I dont think anyone had this opinion...........so

flame on if you want.

Damnit where is my blowtorch. Fricken neighbour borrowed it

On the fighting saga though I wouldn't mind seeing a goalie vs goalie fight sometime this season. Say Biron vs Nittymaki

I can see it now...Nitti take Birons glove and just starts b*tch slapping Biron with it, telling him the puck is supposed to be in the glove and not the goal...Nitti climbs on top of the goal for some WWF style action....

Bettman has already ruined the game I fell in love with in the 80's. Games were often 5-4 with a ton of hits and fights. So in an effort to expand to people who don't like hockey, they made it wimpy and expanded to cities who could care less about hockey. He's a joke.