Maybe Just Leave The Game Alone

Gary

Whitby, ON

Right now Canada’s two top two teams, the New Westminster Salmonbellies and the Brampton Excelsiors are battling it out for the Mann Cup. In game one of the series after a hit sent Brampton star player Colin Doyle to the floor in need of medical attention, a bench clearing brawl ensued. That brawl caught the eye of TSN, CTV, and even CNN. Of course, the Championship was not news worthy to any of these media outlets until the brawl took place. Cries of violence in sports have been heard ever since charging that our inability to grow the game and to expand it into a mainstream sport is because of this sort of thing. Yesterday I had a comment passed to me that made me really think. And I’ve thought about it ever since. The comment was about the accusations of the “black eye” that this was for lacrosse. They wondered if anyone had taken the time to see that these are regular Joes, all with “real” jobs and families to take care of, playing a game they love. Maybe, just maybe, an incident on the floor or some pent up frustrations in the game itself, caused these normal guys, all non-multi millionaire players to expose the passion that they have for this game and for their team mates. Maybe for 10-15 minutes, they lost their composure, but felt that what transpired warranted the actions that took place. Remember, any one of these players in the altercation, are not going to get a million plus dollars to sit home after the fact, nursing injuries. They will be back at work as soon as this Championship is over. Many talk of what hockey did to eliminate fighting. Well, sorry but hockey today sucks! It is boring and many of the teams are struggling financially. Yes they are the most talented players in the world, but there is no passion in the game, save for the last couple of rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I think the fans can see it and are choosing to spend their $225 (or more) per ticket on other forms of entertainment. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying; I am not pro bench clearing brawls. But it is a part of the game that we rarely ever see. I cannot imagine the intensity building in Queen’s Park Arena to the point that this all happened. But I am willing to accept that it does happen, knowing it is not an everyday occurrence. If we eliminate the passion in lacrosse with the “hope” of attracting more people, then I say forget it. Change can be a good thing, but not at the expense of dismantling the intensity and excitement of the game itself. Hockey has given into that, and I say we learn from their mistake. Oh, and by the way, the second game went into Overtime and the third into double Overtime. It appears TSN has noticed. Anyone seen CNN?

Votes: 2148
 

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