The Doctor said:
This is a development that the Bertuzzi camp has been preparing for since the incident. <snip>
I'm sure they have been preparing for it. I'm sure he'd rather not have to deal with it. Perhaps next time, he'll consider all of this. I feel not an OUNCE of sympathy for Mr. Bertuzzi. Do you? Do you think we should do everything we can to get him back in the game as soon as possible - to the exclusion of dealing fairly and responsibly with the incident?
The Doctor said:
Most Hockey people look at this a meddling by the police and courts and look at this as a hassle more than anything else.<snip>
"Meddling"?!?! By the police and courts?!?! Uh, sorry - this isn't OFF-SHORE hockey we're talking about. Get a grip. I disagree, by the way, with that statement. *SOME* hockey people feel this is meddling. Those folks are wrong.
It's a deterrent in the same way that everything else is a deterrent - if you think you may be punished, you might not act like an ass. Since the NHL rarely acts in an appropriate manner, this may be the ONLY real deterrent.
How does the frequency of these acts influence whether or not it's a deterrent? No logic to that statement. You could say the same thing about the NHL suspension - since guys do this so rarely, how is a year-long suspension a deterrent? You're not making any sense.
Perhaps, like most REASONABLE people, you might expect the police to be involved when the CONSEQUENCES of foul play are severe. Like, when Moore almost has his spine severed. This is the way the justice system works. If you get in a bar fight and everyone walks away, probably very little if anything is going to happen. If you get in a bar fight and someone is crippled, you're going to be in trouble.
Is this not obvious?? Why should this not apply to justice in the NHL and the outside world?
The Doctor said:
Actually recent history shows that the league has been quite strict in supplementary discipline in the last few years <snip>
And there are many HOCKEY people who think that they NEED to get tougher and more consistent. If you think Bertuzzi's season-ending suspension was a slam-dunk, I think you're badly mistaken.
The Doctor said:
However, dispite the wild generalizations about thuggery and hooliganism in hockey, <snip>
What "wild generalizations"? The incidence of severe injuries is increasing in the NHL. This is a fact. The incidence of suspensions in the NHL is rising. This is a fact. This should lead you to the conclusion that players are assaulting each other with less regard for themselves than in the past - something that most hockey people are well aware of.
Everything that punishes them is a "real deterrent". I disagree entirely with your position that only NHL action is a deterrent, as I've pointed out above.
The Doctor said:
And since you had such difficulty following my logic earlier Ranger, this is where we bring it all back to the NHL and the NHLPA being the overseeing bodies that need to be the catalysts in any change<snip>
What does action by the NHL and NHLPA have to do with the justice system? Why does one preclude the other? Where does this hubris that the sports world should be allowed to police itself come from? There's no logic to it.
I disagree, again, with your notion that action by the league is the only deterrent. I think it NEEDS to be a deterrent, and it's the best place to really effect change. That having been said, the threat of criminal action is a deterrent to - read carefully now - *all criminal activity*. Bertuzzi's assault on Moore was criminal. Even hockey people agree that it was outside the bounds of any reasonable activity of the game. Why then should it not be punished outside the boundaries of the game?
The Doctor said:
If the legal system believes there is grounds for a case then that's thier call, I disagree and believe it's a waste of tax payer's money.<snip>
I think that protecting the citizens of this country is not a waste of taxpayers' money. It's baffling that you think so. We'll see what happens with Bertuzzi - you're just guessing, along with everyone else. HOPEFULLY, he's hammered. If this happened on the street, he would be. Does playing hockey at the time of this assault excuse it? Even when practically everyone thinks that this was NOT something a *reasonable* player would choose to do?