where on this post did i use the word "LIKE"? all i'm saying is violence is a part of life, i don't condone it in cases. but it doesn't mean that one is to refrain from using violence if it means survival. and your views on violence are your opinions... and just that. i for one enjoy boxing and MMA. fighters train hard and fight. when the fight is over they usually shake hands. thats why they are sports. its not like they are doing it against their will.
you can put ending all types of violence in a wish at the fountain. you'll find my hopes of scoring with stacey dash when you get there :P
There should be a one punch law. If you say something slick or smart-ass you deserve to get slapped. More power to anyone who knocks the taste out of someone's mouth.
@That mop mutant from NES.: It's something that really happened. Don't start violence if you don't want someone to end it. Better yet, don't be violent at all. That just makes you a jerk.
@Trey: It's much better to reply with something that will make the other party get physical first. If it's self defense and there are witnesses, you're more likely to be in the clear.
Not to mention, most people like to start fights by shoving to get "psyched up" or something. With even rudimentary knowledge of self-defense you can end the fight then and there with no injuries and the shoving party humiliated and arrested. Much more satisfying than trading punches to the forehead.
@Koztah: Oh, I know. Even though I'm not a saint, I have a higher tolerance than most and figure a lot of the garbage people can say or will say is meaningless and not worth me making them swallow their teeth. I was just illustrating I didn't "start" anything in that scenario. :)
@Improbable: Yeah the only thing I didnt like about the brawl (apart from all the suspensions) was the fact that the media used this as an attack against miamis character, while pretty much ignoring fiu. The canes didn't start the fight, nor did they clear their bench first. Thats not what sportscenter would have you think _
Heck, why not put it in other games like baseball and football, make it so that when someone gives you a cheap shot, it turns into something a la Fight Night Round 4. You gotta duke it out for respect.
Fighting belongs in hockey. It helps defend your team, dirty players get beat up so they play fair, it can turn the whole game around.
Over here in Germany, fighting in hockey is basically nonexistant because it will get you an ejection and worst of all, usually a one-game suspension. We have way more dirty players than the NHL has, simply because of this. Just in the last game of my local club, one of our top players took a very dangerous knee-to-knee check, which wasn't even penalized properly (was 2 instead of 5 minutes), how else do you get back at people if they pull extremely dangerous things like that? Talk to them nicely?
@SacGamer: What about boxing, MMA, and other situations.
Extremely one sided opinions are for morons and is never the answer.
(BTW I kinda see where you're trying to go with what you're saying, but why put it like that, as if it's always such a clear black and white issue/answer?)
@geiko: Because fighting is for morons. This includes boxing and MMA in my eyes. It may be entertaining to watch, but the people participating...stupid.
And really, there is no excuse for fighting in a sport where you hit a puck around. The sport isn't even about fighting.
Did you not read the article? Nobody gets hurt in a hockey fight, it's generally agreed upon by both parties, guys are wearing helmets and pads, guys pretty quickly punch themselves out and the refs separate them before anything gets too far, and it's part of the culture of the game. Not only that, it keeps the game cleaner by having there be significant repercussions for dirty play (that may otherwise be unnoticed by the officials).
Fighting in hockey is no more unreasonable or bad than beaning a guy in baseball.
@SacGamer: Because it's an enclosed field/rink/court/turf filled with testosterone and things sometimes happen. I'm not saying that any given fight should be excused, but simply stating that whoever fights is a moron is ridiculous. In the heat of things, sometimes your judgment is thrown out of the window, because you're clearly not thinking straight. It doesn't make you a moron. And it happens to the best of us (not fighting, lack of judgment). There might not be an excuse, but there is reason.
@SacGamer: Who the hell died and made you prince of the universe? Just because something hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen to others.
I'm glad that you've never ever in your life lost your cool, but the other 6.5 billion of us has it happen to us. Whether it's once a month, a year, or every five years. And no one is excusing it. It is what it is.
@SacGamer: Did you just call President Washington & President Lincoln morons, two great men who fought and bled for your rights as an American?
Anti-American! Let's tea bag her!
/Glen Beck rant
...though, seriously, grow up. Struggle is ever present in the real world, and sometimes fighting is the answer. And it's not like fighting is always about causing someone harm. For us men, it can sometimes be about respect & a way to bond. Kind of like how kittens & puppies play fight when they're young.
Apologies if your not female, by the way. I'm just going by your avatar.
@SacGamer: The reason players fight is because of retaliation. If one player makes a dirty play and gets away with it, the other team will want to retaliate, and then the other, and the whole situation escalates. Fighting resolves the problem right there and then. Players can fight it out and then never speak of the matter again.
@Paul_Is_Drunk: "Did you just call President Washington & President Lincoln morons, two great men who fought and bled for your rights as an American?" I've already established there's a difference between defending oneself and picking a fight in this discussion. I've also made no mention of the military, a necessary stupid evil because of all the violent idiots in this world.
@North Star: "The reason players fight is because of retaliation."
Exactly. Just like any other stupid thug. It's the ref's job to handle dirty players, not the player's. If the ref isn't doing his job, oh well, deal with it.
Oh, and I just looked up the definition of "beaning" in baseball, since I didn't know what it was since I don't watch baseball. Sounds like someone could get seriously hurt doing that. That is EXTREMELY inexcusable if what I read is correct.
RexMaximus promoted this comment
Edited by an gucci skyline mane at 09/12/09 12:38 PM
an gucci skyline mane was starred
an gucci skyline mane was unstarred
@an skyline.. wait no, sentra: I would let the ref deal with it. It's not the player's job to enforce the rules. And last I checked, physical violence is not permitted in the rules for most sports.
@SacGamer: President Washington wasn't defending himself. The American revolution started with many violent acts against the British. America provoked a fight for sovereignty, because all peaceful methods had ceased to be effective.
President Lincoln also wasn't defending himself. The north declared war on the south after their secession. In that point, fighting was once again necessary to end oppression, this time of blacks.
I was joking about the President thing, as should have been obvious by my mocking of Glen Beck's style of rhetoric, but there you go.
You're also ignoring the bonding aspects of being male and fighting, whether for casual fun, establishing superiority, or for sport. We're not fragile creatures. Many of us can take a hit or two without any noticeable damage. It's a guy thing.
If you're implying that all men are morons, then... madam... you are a sexist.
I don't judge the many activities women participate in that I find odd as "moronic." I simply accept that there is a realm of perspective and experience outside my own that I cannot understand, because the world is a very diverse place.
You're also ignoring the whole animal kingdom, which I also brought up. Fighting is inherent in reality as a means of survival. Just like lion cubs play fight when they're young to learn how to hunt, men in our tribal past play fought to master the hunt and to learn how to defend.
Today that genetic urge is often replicated through sports.
You also brought up defense, but without knowledge of how to fight, you would have no ability to defend. Therein lies training.
And, to bring this all back to sports, these aren't fights to hurt each other. They're fights to prevent injury & rally moral, believe it or not.
I'm sorry that you have such a closed view of the world and can't accept anything you can't yourself perceive. I hope you grow out of that.
@Paul_Is_Drunk: Just an FYI, I'm a guy. Fighting is not a "man" thing, it's a "thug" thing.
You wanna bond, do something nice for someone. Hitting them just makes you a violent asshole. The last thing I would feel for someone who hit me is "bonding". I'd want to see them locked up in jail for assault.
@SacGamer: Well, since you obviously don't want to argue on a reasonable level (P.S Argue -verb- 1. to present reasons for or against a thing) and seem to prefer ignoring my arguments in favor of your personal experience, I'm just going to repeat myself and move on with my day:
I'm sorry that you have such a closed view of the world and can't accept anything you can't yourself perceive. I hope you grow out of that.
@zanzibarlegend: Don't you see, the whole reason places like that suck so bad is because of bad people who "believe in fighting". If people weren't so violent, places like that wouldn't be so terrible. If everyone thought like me, the world would be a MUCH better place.
@PossibleCabbage: If beaning a guy in baseball means to hit him on purpose so he gets to first base i would have to say that's a really dick move. There is always a posibility of hitting a guy and hurting him, doesnt matter how slow you throw a ball, just give him the base on balls and done.
If beaning is another thing then forget everything i have said.
@SacGamer: You would make an excellent talking head on a news network. (I'm back out of morbid curiosity). Taking what someone is saying, then choosing only the words that you can argue against is a tactic that Bill O'Reilly would be proud of you for using.
Since your whole debate is predicated on the fact that "violence = bad!" here's a question for you...
What video games do you play?
No, seriously. You come to Kotaku to talk video games, which are nothing but violence, yet you hate violence on all levels.
Even more interesting, is that aside from The Sims or Spore, sports games are some of the least violent video games out there.
So, honestly, and unfortunately I'm going to have to capslock this because so far you've shown an inability to focus in this argument past "violence = bad!"...
WHAT VIDEO GAMES DO YOU PLAY, AND HOW ARE THEY NOT VIOLENT?
@SacGamer: Yes, fighting is never the answer for real situations in real life. However, in the game of hockey, itself being removed from reality in the context of a game, it is perfectly legitamate. Same with forms of martial arts as well as MMA and boxing. There is a time and place for those inclined to do so.
Also, speaking as someone who has done thai boxing for several years, it does help deal with male aggression in a fairly safe manner, and I take offence that you would consider everyone who partakes in something a moron. I don't fight outside of a ring, in fact it's helped deal with a facet of my personality that I have never been proud of: temper.
@Paul_Is_Drunk: "Taking what someone is saying, then choosing only the words that you can argue against is a tactic that Bill O'Reilly would be proud of you for using."
Because no one ever does that on CNN right? I don't know if you meant it that way, but damn I get tired of people taking jabs at Fox as if CNN doesn't kiss Democrat ass just as hard as Fox kisses Republican ass.
@cwbys21: I'm sorry to be so blunt, but you're dense.
I specifically said "news network" and not Fox News. I used Bill O'Reilly because he's the most famous.
I'm glad that you're keeping up the stereotype of 'overly reactionary, not actually following details' type of person that defends Fox News... even when they're not being attacked.
@Paul_Is_Drunk: So beating up virtual characters is the same as beating someone up in real life in your eyes? Learn the difference between video games and real life. This discussion is about real life violence.
@SacGamer: " Physical violence is always a bad thing, unless you're defending yourself."
No. Physical violence is an inherent part of contact sports. Should we not check in hockey? Should there be no collisions at the plate in baseball? Should we not block and tackle in football? Should we ban boxing and MMA altogether?
@PossibleCabbage: I'm not a troll. I was honestly hoping SOMEONE would agree with me. A troll wants to spark controversy and anger, but I wanted people to agree with me, because the majority disagreeing with me means we will always live in a violent world full of bullies and murderers.
@SacGamer: I think you've made a terrible mistake in conflating "real world violence" with "violence that takes place during a sporting event". One of the primary values of sporting events is that they provide a socially acceptable and legal mechanism for people to work out their aggression.
A hockey fight is not like "some dude jumps some other dude in a back alley." A hockey fight goes like this:
"Goon from squad A drops his gloves on the ice and motions to Goon from squad B and says something to the effect of 'you wanna go?'. Goon from squad B (usually) drops his gloves on the ice and says "yeah", then both men (who are wearing pads and helmets) punch each other for a few seconds, and there's usually a little bit of jersey pulling (both men are wearing ice skates and thus have unstable platforms). After at most 20 seconds of fisticuffs between consenting, helmeted men, the referees separate the two combatants and both are escorted to the penalty box for major penalties, and that's almost always the end of it. You don't see multiple fights between the same people in a hockey game (this tends to be punished somewhat harshly) and fighting is usually instituted against a player who is perceived as "playing dirty". It's essentially a method for enforcing "even if the referees do not notice your dirty play, you will still be held accountable for it."
But this is not real life. When was the last time you heard of a hockey goon or enforcer getting in any real life fights or other legal trouble? Most people have no trouble separating "the violent acts they perpetrate in a legal and socially acceptable context" from "violent acts that could be perpetrated in public." It's only because most boxers don't go around punching people and most football players don't tackle random people on the street that the exceptions to this rule are so notable. This is why the Blount punch drew so much attention, because in any given year there are hundreds of football games featuring thousands of players who block and tackle and otherwise hit each other as hard as they can for only 60 minutes, and very rarely are these young men unable to separate "things that are okay before the whistle" and "things that are not okay after the whistle".
Generally, violent sports are a positive influence on people who might otherwise be predisposed towards violence, as they have a channel for these impulses that they might not otherwise have.
@SacGamer: Hearted. I absolutely agree with all you've said. Quite frankly, the acceptance of violent behaviour in our society is sickening to me.
Some years ago, when I was in my late teens, I used to regularly hit up the local pubs and clubs. After being assaulted 4 times unprovoked (each when I was alone against a large group) I simply haven't felt safe any more going out at night. I could have died, and taking that risk simply isn't worth it for a night out.
I know this is quite a stretch from hockey fighting, but it all comes back to the fact that it's not considered "bad" to start punching on someone - even being "part of the game", as appears the case for hockey.
Personally I'd like to see society get "tough" on violence. Send people to jail for a few years if they start an unprovoked fight (no leeway for "athletes" either). As for boxing, that should be banned outright. It sends the message to its audience that "fighting is ok", when in reality 99.9% of the time (outside of the ring) it absolutely isn't warranted.
Clearly, my opinion is incredibly biased due to past experiences. I absolutely despise the way that many consider it "ok" to brutally injure someone, provided they still live. Fighting in sports serves to further emphasis this point to the public, and quite frankly, the sooner we get rid of the notion that "non-lethal violence is okay", the better we will be as a society.
I was going to say something along the lines of "This fighting minigame has some real lowbrow potential. I hope they keep it classy", but then I stopped myself. Since when has brawling during a sporting event been "classy"?
there is a player by the name of Randall Gay (used to be with the Pats, but I think he's with the Steelers now?) whose jersey you couldn't buy online because it was a "bad" name.
This is a bit excessive but this is also a computer that doesn't discriminate that's doing this; hard coded rules are about as objective as you can be on the matter. There's no "human mind" to run filtering through to say "we'll that doesn't sound so bad...". People can't certainly expect a fleet of people checking a game which will sell in the millions whose player rosters will have dozens of player names using the sensibilities of a well-informed homosexual person... it ain't gonna happen. We either live with *this* or we open the flood gates and hope the community can police itself.
Poor Microsoft... they will eventually allow for sexual orientation style naming and as sure as I am alive, they will be sued by someone claiming a hate crime was committed against them. That's just how we humans are. I seriously doubt that GLAAD speaks for all homosexual people out there and I'm sure that even for those that they speak for (just like straight folks), there are litigious gay people who will find offense.
When people do report offenses, I wonder how many will feel that the teem of hundreds around the world on LIVE will be able to processes hundreds of thousands of complaints a day. How long until someone feels that MS just doesn't care and finds a starving lawyer to take their case.
Unless we can come up with an AI that understands human sensibilities, we will never filter the internet. Seriously, try telling a computer that "A$$" isn't nonsense :( Tell it that it is and watch "A$$$" come along. You either allow people to type "ass" and be done with it or just say we will do everything we can to ban "[anything that looks like an A][anything that looks like it will make a look like ASS]*$". Hell, even regular expressions aren't here yet and Unicode is a large character set. You'd think opening the flood gates is a more logical conclusion but Corporations hate getting sued and people love to sue :(
If people were built better then we wouldn't have to worry about these things but unfortunately we are built like people and because we know this, we compensate with technology.
@amnesiasoft: at least I never had it as rough as my father, who had just about the worst possible first name you could have with a last name like we have...I mean it was middle-of-the-night-prank-calls-because-... bad
Weirdwolf is enjoying the Ashes! promoted this comment
Don't Make Me Ang Lee. You wouldn't like me when I'm Ang Lee. was starred
Don't Make Me Ang Lee. You wouldn't like me when I'm Ang Lee. was unstarred
Your father isn't the U.S. civil servant Randy Bumgardner by any chance is he?
I've loved strange names ever since meeting the chap in our village called Orson Cart.
09/12/09
All aboard the SacGamer train! One way non-stop ride to Utopia! Book your reservation before its too late!
09/12/09
@zanzibarlegend: I fear that Utopia.
09/12/09
09/12/09
where on this post did i use the word "LIKE"? all i'm saying is violence is a part of life, i don't condone it in cases. but it doesn't mean that one is to refrain from using violence if it means survival. and your views on violence are your opinions... and just that. i for one enjoy boxing and MMA. fighters train hard and fight. when the fight is over they usually shake hands. thats why they are sports. its not like they are doing it against their will.
you can put ending all types of violence in a wish at the fountain. you'll find my hopes of scoring with stacey dash when you get there :P
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
My stupid cousin punched a preacher in the face. The preacher pulled a gun and shot him in the foot. See what happens when you act like an idiot?
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/13/09
Not to mention, most people like to start fights by shoving to get "psyched up" or something. With even rudimentary knowledge of self-defense you can end the fight then and there with no injuries and the shoving party humiliated and arrested. Much more satisfying than trading punches to the forehead.
09/13/09
@nevermore666: Your face is homosexual. :(
09/12/09
09/12/09
On a positive note, how bout the win UM got last week. Truly exciting. Unless, of course you're an FIU fan. In that case lol. =P
09/12/09
Go Canes.
09/12/09
09/12/09
Round One... FIGHT!
09/12/09
Over here in Germany, fighting in hockey is basically nonexistant because it will get you an ejection and worst of all, usually a one-game suspension. We have way more dirty players than the NHL has, simply because of this. Just in the last game of my local club, one of our top players took a very dangerous knee-to-knee check, which wasn't even penalized properly (was 2 instead of 5 minutes), how else do you get back at people if they pull extremely dangerous things like that? Talk to them nicely?
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
Extremely one sided opinions are for morons and is never the answer.
(BTW I kinda see where you're trying to go with what you're saying, but why put it like that, as if it's always such a clear black and white issue/answer?)
09/12/09
And really, there is no excuse for fighting in a sport where you hit a puck around. The sport isn't even about fighting.
09/12/09
Did you not read the article? Nobody gets hurt in a hockey fight, it's generally agreed upon by both parties, guys are wearing helmets and pads, guys pretty quickly punch themselves out and the refs separate them before anything gets too far, and it's part of the culture of the game. Not only that, it keeps the game cleaner by having there be significant repercussions for dirty play (that may otherwise be unnoticed by the officials).
Fighting in hockey is no more unreasonable or bad than beaning a guy in baseball.
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
If you're not thinking straight, you have no business being in public. And certainly have no business playing a game in which people could get hurt.
09/12/09
@SacGamer: Who the hell died and made you prince of the universe? Just because something hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen to others.
I'm glad that you've never ever in your life lost your cool, but the other 6.5 billion of us has it happen to us. Whether it's once a month, a year, or every five years. And no one is excusing it. It is what it is.
09/12/09
Anti-American! Let's tea bag her!
/Glen Beck rant
...though, seriously, grow up. Struggle is ever present in the real world, and sometimes fighting is the answer. And it's not like fighting is always about causing someone harm. For us men, it can sometimes be about respect & a way to bond. Kind of like how kittens & puppies play fight when they're young.
Apologies if your not female, by the way. I'm just going by your avatar.
09/12/09
09/12/09
@North Star: "The reason players fight is because of retaliation."
Exactly. Just like any other stupid thug. It's the ref's job to handle dirty players, not the player's. If the ref isn't doing his job, oh well, deal with it.
Oh, and I just looked up the definition of "beaning" in baseball, since I didn't know what it was since I don't watch baseball. Sounds like someone could get seriously hurt doing that. That is EXTREMELY inexcusable if what I read is correct.
09/12/09
Go play any sport with a dirty player, see what you would do in that situation
09/12/09
Your heart is in the right place, but your head is in a Disney made-for-TV movie.
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
President Lincoln also wasn't defending himself. The north declared war on the south after their secession. In that point, fighting was once again necessary to end oppression, this time of blacks.
I was joking about the President thing, as should have been obvious by my mocking of Glen Beck's style of rhetoric, but there you go.
You're also ignoring the bonding aspects of being male and fighting, whether for casual fun, establishing superiority, or for sport. We're not fragile creatures. Many of us can take a hit or two without any noticeable damage. It's a guy thing.
If you're implying that all men are morons, then... madam... you are a sexist.
I don't judge the many activities women participate in that I find odd as "moronic." I simply accept that there is a realm of perspective and experience outside my own that I cannot understand, because the world is a very diverse place.
You're also ignoring the whole animal kingdom, which I also brought up. Fighting is inherent in reality as a means of survival. Just like lion cubs play fight when they're young to learn how to hunt, men in our tribal past play fought to master the hunt and to learn how to defend.
Today that genetic urge is often replicated through sports.
You also brought up defense, but without knowledge of how to fight, you would have no ability to defend. Therein lies training.
And, to bring this all back to sports, these aren't fights to hurt each other. They're fights to prevent injury & rally moral, believe it or not.
I'm sorry that you have such a closed view of the world and can't accept anything you can't yourself perceive. I hope you grow out of that.
09/12/09
Uh, what?
09/12/09
You wanna bond, do something nice for someone. Hitting them just makes you a violent asshole. The last thing I would feel for someone who hit me is "bonding". I'd want to see them locked up in jail for assault.
09/12/09
09/12/09
I'm sorry that you have such a closed view of the world and can't accept anything you can't yourself perceive. I hope you grow out of that.
09/12/09
09/12/09
If you're fighting for the reasons you listed...then I'm sorry, but that's terrible and you are part of the problem with this world.
09/12/09
If beaning is another thing then forget everything i have said.
09/12/09
09/12/09
Since your whole debate is predicated on the fact that "violence = bad!" here's a question for you...
What video games do you play?
No, seriously. You come to Kotaku to talk video games, which are nothing but violence, yet you hate violence on all levels.
Even more interesting, is that aside from The Sims or Spore, sports games are some of the least violent video games out there.
So, honestly, and unfortunately I'm going to have to capslock this because so far you've shown an inability to focus in this argument past "violence = bad!"...
WHAT VIDEO GAMES DO YOU PLAY, AND HOW ARE THEY NOT VIOLENT?
09/12/09
Also, speaking as someone who has done thai boxing for several years, it does help deal with male aggression in a fairly safe manner, and I take offence that you would consider everyone who partakes in something a moron. I don't fight outside of a ring, in fact it's helped deal with a facet of my personality that I have never been proud of: temper.
09/12/09
Because no one ever does that on CNN right? I don't know if you meant it that way, but damn I get tired of people taking jabs at Fox as if CNN doesn't kiss Democrat ass just as hard as Fox kisses Republican ass.
09/12/09
I specifically said "news network" and not Fox News. I used Bill O'Reilly because he's the most famous.
I'm glad that you're keeping up the stereotype of 'overly reactionary, not actually following details' type of person that defends Fox News... even when they're not being attacked.
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
No. Physical violence is an inherent part of contact sports. Should we not check in hockey? Should there be no collisions at the plate in baseball? Should we not block and tackle in football? Should we ban boxing and MMA altogether?
You sir are sounding very much like a troll.
09/12/09
09/12/09
A hockey fight is not like "some dude jumps some other dude in a back alley." A hockey fight goes like this:
"Goon from squad A drops his gloves on the ice and motions to Goon from squad B and says something to the effect of 'you wanna go?'. Goon from squad B (usually) drops his gloves on the ice and says "yeah", then both men (who are wearing pads and helmets) punch each other for a few seconds, and there's usually a little bit of jersey pulling (both men are wearing ice skates and thus have unstable platforms). After at most 20 seconds of fisticuffs between consenting, helmeted men, the referees separate the two combatants and both are escorted to the penalty box for major penalties, and that's almost always the end of it. You don't see multiple fights between the same people in a hockey game (this tends to be punished somewhat harshly) and fighting is usually instituted against a player who is perceived as "playing dirty". It's essentially a method for enforcing "even if the referees do not notice your dirty play, you will still be held accountable for it."
But this is not real life. When was the last time you heard of a hockey goon or enforcer getting in any real life fights or other legal trouble? Most people have no trouble separating "the violent acts they perpetrate in a legal and socially acceptable context" from "violent acts that could be perpetrated in public." It's only because most boxers don't go around punching people and most football players don't tackle random people on the street that the exceptions to this rule are so notable. This is why the Blount punch drew so much attention, because in any given year there are hundreds of football games featuring thousands of players who block and tackle and otherwise hit each other as hard as they can for only 60 minutes, and very rarely are these young men unable to separate "things that are okay before the whistle" and "things that are not okay after the whistle".
Generally, violent sports are a positive influence on people who might otherwise be predisposed towards violence, as they have a channel for these impulses that they might not otherwise have.
09/13/09
Some years ago, when I was in my late teens, I used to regularly hit up the local pubs and clubs. After being assaulted 4 times unprovoked (each when I was alone against a large group) I simply haven't felt safe any more going out at night. I could have died, and taking that risk simply isn't worth it for a night out.
I know this is quite a stretch from hockey fighting, but it all comes back to the fact that it's not considered "bad" to start punching on someone - even being "part of the game", as appears the case for hockey.
Personally I'd like to see society get "tough" on violence. Send people to jail for a few years if they start an unprovoked fight (no leeway for "athletes" either). As for boxing, that should be banned outright. It sends the message to its audience that "fighting is ok", when in reality 99.9% of the time (outside of the ring) it absolutely isn't warranted.
Clearly, my opinion is incredibly biased due to past experiences. I absolutely despise the way that many consider it "ok" to brutally injure someone, provided they still live. Fighting in sports serves to further emphasis this point to the public, and quite frankly, the sooner we get rid of the notion that "non-lethal violence is okay", the better we will be as a society.
09/13/09
09/12/09
Best,
Style Points editors
09/12/09
Other Style Points Editor
09/12/09
Perhaps it's best this way. I know personally if the A.I was talking smack about my game afterwards that I'd sucker punch the linebacker.
09/12/09
09/12/09
Fight on NHL 10, fight on.
09/12/09
I'm gonna make Gretzky's head bleed for super fan 99 over here.
09/12/09
Wow, a Swingers reference? Didn't expect to see that in this thread.
08/04/09
08/04/09
08/03/09
there is a player by the name of Randall Gay (used to be with the Pats, but I think he's with the Steelers now?) whose jersey you couldn't buy online because it was a "bad" name.
08/03/09
Poor Microsoft... they will eventually allow for sexual orientation style naming and as sure as I am alive, they will be sued by someone claiming a hate crime was committed against them. That's just how we humans are. I seriously doubt that GLAAD speaks for all homosexual people out there and I'm sure that even for those that they speak for (just like straight folks), there are litigious gay people who will find offense.
When people do report offenses, I wonder how many will feel that the teem of hundreds around the world on LIVE will be able to processes hundreds of thousands of complaints a day. How long until someone feels that MS just doesn't care and finds a starving lawyer to take their case.
Unless we can come up with an AI that understands human sensibilities, we will never filter the internet. Seriously, try telling a computer that "A$$" isn't nonsense :( Tell it that it is and watch "A$$$" come along. You either allow people to type "ass" and be done with it or just say we will do everything we can to ban "[anything that looks like an A][anything that looks like it will make a look like ASS]*$". Hell, even regular expressions aren't here yet and Unicode is a large character set. You'd think opening the flood gates is a more logical conclusion but Corporations hate getting sued and people love to sue :(
If people were built better then we wouldn't have to worry about these things but unfortunately we are built like people and because we know this, we compensate with technology.
08/03/09
sometimes last names are very unfortunate.
08/03/09
08/03/09
It reminds me of the old comedian "Penis Van Lesbian" who had to change his name to get into showbiz.
Dick Van Dyke
08/03/09
08/04/09
Your father isn't the U.S. civil servant Randy Bumgardner by any chance is he?
I've loved strange names ever since meeting the chap in our village called Orson Cart.
08/03/09