Bonus sports posting: hockey edition

Big props to Howie (I put a link to Howie's Xanga, but I think it has been sitting idle since Halloween, so don't feel a need to click on it.) for getting the hookup with awesome Sharks tickets against the Minnesota Wild. I finally got to see Marian Gaborik play, since he was injured last time I went to see the Wild. Gaborik didn't score, but he did get a stick caught in his skates and fall over. Sharks lost, but there were 7 goals scored and 1 weak fight.

The is this big news story about a hockey player named Todd Bertuzzi who attacked another player, Steve Moore, on the ice, causing Moore to suffer a few injuries, including a fractured vertebra in his neck. I just want to tell all the people who do not watch hockey that the sport is not all about violence. Fighting is to hockey what pitching inside is to baseball. Most hockey fights do not result in serious injury and occur only when there are two willing participants. It's a way to tell the other team to stop messing with our star players because we've got a bunch of really tough guys here. It's a way to get out some frustration, to fire up the crowd, or to instill some energy to your team. The point is rarely to injure another player.

What Bertuzzi did was a blantant cheap shot from behind, way beyond the scope of what is acceptable even in a heavy hitting sport as hockey is. Back to a baseball analogy, if a pitcher has to pitch inside and maybe even hit a guy in the leg with a pitch to get him to back away from the plate, at least the opposing team will get the message. What Bertuzzi, who is 6-3, 250 and as close to a human bear as there is, did would be like the batter using his bat to take a swing at the catcher as he is throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Bertuzzi is having the terms of his punishment announced Thursday, and it would not be a surprise if he is suspended for a full year or more.

Big prize to anyone who can get me hookups for Sharks playoff tickets. People are probably bored with all this hockey talk, but maybe I can bring up my ratings in Canada. At least I haven't written about NASCAR yet.