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Hockey violence, viewers on rise + 30 Thoughts[/h1] [h5]
By Elliotte Friedman Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | 10:27 AM
[/h5]He played nine NFL seasons at linebacker for the Washington ******** and New York Giants, winning one Super Bowl and going to the 2006 Pro Bowl. Not a bad career as an undrafted free agent for Antonio Pierce.
On Monday night, Pierce attended Game 3 of the Boston Bruins-Washington Capitals series and tweeted: "Had a blast at the NHL game last nite.. Hurts to say but more physical then the NFL...#sad."
These are strange days.
The NFL just negotiated a series of record-breaking TV deals. Yet frightened by a series of concussion lawsuits, it's trying to balance safety with pro football's inherent competitive brutality. Meanwhile, the NHL is seeing record television ratings and intense buzz as its playoff games swing between incredibly entertaining and completely out of control.
On Tuesday night, there was the potential for a worst-case scenario: Marian Hossa
taken off the ice on a stretcher. Hours later, the Blackhawks announced they "anticipate a full recovery" -- thankfully.
Here we are at
Hockey Night in Canada, very happy with more than two million viewers for Monday's Game 3 in Ottawa. Game 3 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia drew NBC the best U.S. television rating for any playoff game in a decade, excluding the Stanley Cup final. TSN opened that series with its best-ever number for a first-round game featuring two American teams.
Viewers weren't turning into the Penguin-Flyer games for intermission features about "The Pennsylvania Amish of Lancaster County." And yet, there was no NHL release trumpeting these numbers (Checked with Steve Lepore, who covers this stuff on his Puck The Media blog.).
The league is rarely shy about this kind of thing, proud to point out when its various platforms are breaking new ground. Last week, it announced another season of record revenues, even though a labour stoppage looms on the horizon.
If you're a fan paying $200 for a ticket, $150 for a jersey, $20 to park and about $3 billion to eat at a game, you have to love that the players care as much as you do. These guys desperately want to win. There were times I wanted to get away from hockey last weekend, but the games were too good.
However, at this time of year, you move the line of what's acceptable one inch (Shea Weber) and they'll take a mile. Last weekend proved it. Unfortunately, Raffi Torres cemented it. I'm no puritan. I like a tough game and a good fight between those who can play. But the NHL has to be looking at its NFL brethren and worrying.
Hockey was actually first to start recording and analyzing concussion data, but football's taken the lead on radically changing the mindset of its players.
If you watch NFL telecasts, you'll hear plenty of people who share Antonio Pierce's opinion -- that the game's gone soft.
As Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein: "Follow the money."
There is a website (nflconcussionlegislation.com) that tracks the status of retired player litigation against the NFL. It counts 59 different lawsuits filed against the league right now, involving more than 1,000 plaintiffs. (Estimates are at least three years before any go to trial).
Charles Robinson, a tremendous investigative reporter for Yahoo Sports, tweeted Monday that a "High ranking legal source w/strong ties 2 NFL owners says concussion litigation has grown into biggest financial threat in league history."
Could that happen to the NHL? If you think it can, ask yourself this question: If this is the kind of hockey your consumers want, can the league afford to be comfortable with it?
by the NHL, no less-- in a manner similar to Matt Cooke had in years previous (see last year's thread for the numerous head hits delivered by Cooke prior to his 17 game [maximum] suspension last season). But sure, I'll reassess the hits you mentioned:
