Bobby Hull's Passing

Another Chicago Legend passed away.  Bobby Hull, The Golden Jet, former Chicago Blackhawk great and the player who perfected the slap shot in Hockey died on Janurary 30th.  Hockey is a strange sport in that families often produce multiple very good players as Dennis Hull (The Silver Jet) played many years as a good scorer and Hull's son Brett is 5th all-time in NHL goals and arguably had the best 3 season goal scoring stretch in Hockey history during the 1989-1991 seasons potting 228 goals in 231 games.  But, to call Bobby Hull's legacy complicated is to miss the net.

On the ice, Hull and his slap shot brought a Stanley Cup to Chicago in 1961, took the team to the Cup Finals three more times, scored over 600 goals in the NHL and another 300+ in the WHA.  But, when the Blackhawks Wirtz family failed to pay Hull in 1972 he went to the World Hockey Association, an alternate pro-league, which also drew other great players, like the immortal Gordie Howe and even The Great One Wayne Gretzky as an 18 year old in 1979, before being absorbed into the NHL in 1980.

I've always felt that to the Millennials and Zoomers that the WHA in Hockey and the ABA in Basketball must seem like such ancient anachronisms with the clout, power, money, media saturation, and worldwide reach the NBA and NHL have these days.  

But, unfortunately for Hull fans, Bobby didn't just use his immense physical strength on the ice as he was known to repeatedly beat up women.  I'm going to discount the things Hull supposedly said during an interview with The Moscow Times in the late 1990's because anyone who takes Russian media at face value is either incredibly naive or a willing dupe and ends up advancing Russian War Crimes and Imperialism.

But, the spousal abuse was well documented and known even back int he 1960's when Joanne McKay was spotted in Chicago wearing large sunglasses just like Jacquelin Kennedy... except it wasn't high fashion, as much as covering up her black eyes.  There's also the infamously documented incident in 1987 when he beat up a Police Officer who stopped him from beating up a his wife at that time Deborah.  Based on seeing the abuse Bobby Hull gave to Joanne McKay his daughter Michelle is a longtime advocate and legal counsel for abused and battered women. 

I'm sure the NHL and Blackhawks will have some sort of ceremony but, I hope it's a subdued one to "honor" his hockey achievements and not Bobby Hull.

Did Phoenix Coach Dave Tippett task Raffi Torres to take out Marian Hossa? (NHL Bountygate) (Updated)

Update:

Dave Tippet has absolutely no control over his players or is one of the dirtiest coaches in the NHL. Coyote tough guy Paul Bissonnette got a major game misconduct for not having is sweater strapped down during game 4. An unsecured uniform means you're looking to fight. "My original thought was, there's no way he didn't have it tied down, it must have ripped," Tippett. "That wasn't the case. I'll just leave it at that."

Without star two-way forward Marian Hossa the Blackhawks lost to the Phoenix Coyotes in Overtime again 3-2.

The Coyotes are only going to win this series because based on his interview Phoenix Coach Dave Tippett apparently encourages the type of "border-line criminal" hit Raffi Torres did to Marian Hossa.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told Suntimes reporter Mike Sneed, “It was borderline criminal conduct. The guy [Torres] was acting insane. He was cursing the fans and pointing his stick at them. What Torres did could jeopardize two careers and two livelihoods.”

But, it's hockey. Before game 4, Dave Tippett played every meatball hockey goon card available. Follow the link to listen to Dave Tippett's shameful defend "my guy" interview, where he snidely defends and tactically condones the vicious illegal and probably criminal play of Raffi Torres. It's a fast game! You've never played! It's a tough game. It's fast. Hard hits are tradition. Other hits were worse. It's easy to second-guess with the TV replay. And so forth...

"The thing about TV is you can slow it down and you can click and click and click it. When you're out there on the ice, it's not slowed down and click, click, click. It's a fast game."

Tippett invented his own new branch of physics to explain the movement of bodies,

"But, when two players collide, both of them automatically go in the air."

This is the Newton's Fourth Law, when a body in motion hits another body the two automatically go up in the air. Gravity needs to stop violating Dave Tippett's physics.

"Raffi's coming hard, but the hit? He's in the air, both players go in the air."

Yes, Raffi is in the air because he launched himself at Hossa with the explicit intent of hitting him and hurting him.

But, Tippett then went full asshole claiming Raffi Torres had no other choice then to hit Hossa.

"You tell Raffi Torres that when he turned that way and all of a sudden a guy's right in front of him... How you gonna stop?"

All of a sudden? Torres targeted Hossa and either Tippett knows that and is covering because he asked him to or Tippett is just a blatant protect my guy no matter what liar.

But, the final insult from Tippett, which goes a long way to showing he knows it was a dirty illegal hit but probably encouraged it was when he was asked if it was a clean hit, "Did I say it was a clean hit?"

Dave Tippett and Phoenix GM Dan Maloney suffer from Moral Relativism. Maloney tweeted afterwards that the reaction from the Chicago media was overblown because it wasn't like Torres hit Hossa with his stick... Just a flying shoulder purposefully targeted to the jaw.

That is the true problem with this hit and the the way Dave Tippett and Dan Maloney and possibly Gary Bettman and Brendan Shanahan apparently view Hockey. Unless the league begins to view these hits as what they really are attempts to severely injure other players for the purpose of winning a stupid game, then the NHL is doomed.

Fortunately and hopefully, the NHL will flounder and a new league will replace it.

Raffi Torres, Marian Hossa, Perceived Unfairness and the failure of the NHL

Update: Gary Bettman proved in an interview with David Haugh, he doesn't recognize that Perception is Reality. "A lot of it is perception and misperception," Bettman said. "The game is physical, the game is emotional. These games are hard-fought." Bettman was in attendance for the game and apparently can't see a repeat offender taking out the Hawks leading scorer with a cheap illegal hit proves that what people perceive about Bettman, being an empty suit who's providing inconsistent leadership, are destroying the NHL.

In last night's Chicago Blackhawks - Phoenix Coyotes Hockey game, Raffi Torres of Phoenix laid a deliberately malicious hit to the head of Marian Hossa, which resulted in Hossa being taken off the ice on a stretcher and to a nearby Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Even in real time, the hit was obviously "dirty". Torres, launched himself at Hossa (his skates left the ice), well after Hossa had passed the puck, lead with his shoulder/arm, aimed at Hossa's chin/jawline and by-passed the Blackhawks player actually with the puck. The hit was so violent the nearby NHL linesman flinched away as it was delivered.

The story not only lead in Chicago, but dominated NHL.com, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation and produced a huge reaction on Twitter and on-line editorials.

The NHL is in big trouble. The League has declared it wants to crack down on illegal hits and wants to aid in player safety. But, there is a perceived unfairness in the way the NHL and head disciplinarian of the Department of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan has reviewed and punished hits or other gross misconduct in games. Please read this article from Globe and Mail about the Fallout the Perception of different standards of punishment certain players receive is having upon fans.

Earlier in the day, Shanahan gave Chicago Blackhawk player Adam Shaw a 3-game suspension for a hit on Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith. However, in the leagues official ruling, Brendan Shanahan makes clear that Shaw has no history of illegal hits and the hit itself was not made with intent. The Phoenix Coyotes gamed the league by holding Smith out of practice and not indicating if he would start until the 3-game suspension ruling was delivered.

Raffi Torres' hit was clearly made with intent and resulted in a serious injury to Hossa, most likely one which will keep him out of the rest of the playoffs. Raffi Torres is also a repeat offender and a year ago took out a Chicago Blackhawks player in a Playoff series.

But, even Blackhawks players indicated they have no idea if Shanahan is going to issue a properly severe suspension for this hit and of course, Torres and his coach demurred calling it a "Hockey play".

Putting aside the conspiracy theories that the NHL wants the Phoenix Coyotes to advance in the playoffs to increase their sale price, the league is currently in receivership of the Franchise, the NHL has a serious problem. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman mismanagement of the league, especially the mid-1990's off-handed disrespect towards the rabid Canadian fan base by relocating multiple Canadian Teams and Northern US teams, to Carolina, Phoenix, Dallas, and Florida (x2), were there exists no natural fan base, the recent economic stagnation have crippled the NHL's marketability.

But, more importantly no one thinks the League is going to handle the Torres hit properly*. And once the idea sets in that a League or powerful individuals in the League are capricious or actively biased that League is in serious trouble of crumbling and going the way of the ABA or the USFL.

How long should Torres be suspended? Personally, I think if the league wants to really crack down on "head-hunting" and illegal hits it needs to suspend players for as many games as missed by the injured player and with the expected minimum of double digits on the first offense and increase fines from the current Collectively bargained amount of $2,500.

But, even so what we see in the Blackhawks-Coyotes series could be a harbinger of the downfall of a League which Greed and bad management and sometimes blatant disregard for the fan base hath brought about.

Fortunately, for myself, besides band-wagoning onto the Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup Winning Team my hockey fandom has never taken over my senses. So, when I simply refuse to watch hockey ever again I'll not feel deprived of anything worthwhile.

*- Travis Hughes of SB Nation is reporting:

Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres has been suspended indefinitely pending an NHL hearing on Friday for his vicious hit on Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa during Tuesday night's Western Conference Quarterfinal Game 3. Torres will travel to the NHL's office in Manhattan for the in-person hearing, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday but delayed at the request of the NHL Players Association.

The Mighty Black Hawks

The Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.



It was fantastic being downtown when the Hawks won. Michigan Ave was, of course, a mob zone for hours. But, the best thing about the Game 6 victory was watching the crestfallen Flyers fans slow realization that their team of brutes and cheats had lost and watching their tasteless booing as they saw a classy teams' celebration.

The Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin Dirty Player Punk Ass Bitch, must be a Republican

The Alex Ovechkin case is absurd. Ovechkin is a Dirty Player, not only was the hit illegal (i.e. against NHL rules) Ovechkin's hit on Brian Campbell was dirty. And the outcome was horrible, Campbell was seriously injured as a result, suffering a broken clavicle and a broken rib.

But, Fans of the Washington Capitals reacted with ridiculous Sport Umbrage. 72% of respondents in a Washington Post Poll believe Ovechkin shouldn't even have received an in-game penalty let alone a suspension for a hit which ended Campbell's season. That number alone would indicate the harshness of Capitals Fans but when their shameless complaints and blog comments are added on I have to wonder if every Capital fan is a Republican for their egregious inhumanity.

Capitals Fans whining included baseless speculations (the ice must have had a rut, Campbell must have toe-picked), lies about Ovechkin's hit (It was from the side, it was a push) replay's clearly showed Ovechkin hitting Campbell in between his numbers on his back, paranoid conspiracy theories (the suspension is to make Ovechkin lose the Scoring Trophy, Colin Campbell hates Russian players because he's Canadian) false equivalencies (Player X wasn't suspended for his hit therefore Ovechkin should not be suspended either). It was really a massive amount of bullshit when the video of the hit clearly showed Ovechkin spread his feet to gain leverage, then deliver a hit on Campbell squarely in the back after the puck was gone and while he was 10 feet from the boards.

Now, if Ovechkin had never done an illegal intentional dirty hit before perhaps a two-game suspension would have been sufficient, but as if often the case with piece of shit criminals or hockey goons, Ovechkin has a long history and recent suspensions for similar actions.

And worst of all Ovechkin, his head coach, Bruce Boudreau and the team's owner weren't upset about the intentional illegal act by Ovechkin which resulted in a serious injury to Campbell but because Ovechkin got suspended for his filthy SMERSH-style play. "I was disappointed with the NHL's decision yesterday," ~ Alexander Ovehkin. “I was so upset for him. I feel so bad for the guy,” ~ Bruce Boudreau. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis wrote on his blog Monday that he didn’t think a suspension was warranted. “I don’t think Alex should have received a game misconduct for that play,” he said. “I don’t think he should miss our next game either." Disgusting.

It's embarrassing to see people suspend their reasoning capabilities because of their Sports Team loyalty, It's more embarrassing to see them suspend their morality for that reason.