When goons go wrong

A few weeks ago I blogged about a hockey fight. That fight, like most fights, was more spectacle than anything else. Shoving, grabbing, some hitting here and there. No one was seriously hurt, no one required anything more than superficial medical attention. The fans cheered, the fans went home. Blessed be the name of the NHL.

Hockey fights are more often that not instigated by hockey goons, one-dimensional players whose speciality -- and, in many cases, sole reason for being in the leauge --- is to hurt people. Not permanently, of course, but to intimidate. Rule by force, as it were.

Chris Simon, a 12-year veteran of the league, is a hockey goon. With more longevity that most, too, because in addition to being a big mean slab of meat Chris Simon also has a decent shot.

But last week, like many of us now know, Chris Simon did something Very Bad.



Yeah. Not supposed to hit someone in the face with your stick.

To be fair, the man he hit is Ryan Hollweg, who is a completely one-dimensional goon, with the stats -- one goal, one assist, one hundred penalty minutes -- to back it up. He's also from LA. (begin obligatory 'joke') Lucky he didn't have his GUN (end obligatory 'joke').

Chris Simon was suspended 25 games for the hit -- which came exactly three years to the day after this one.



Todd Bertuzzi, the aggressor above, received an identical suspension for the hit. Steve Moore, the man Bertuzzi tried to kill, is still out of hockey because of it.

Bruins fans like me remember this hit all too well.



McSorley was done with hockey after this hit, a stain on an otherwise solid career. Don Brashear was back on the ice being a nuisance after not too long.

So which is worse? Who's more wrong? Who deserves the lifetime ban? Which incident proves violence has no place in organized sport?

I want to hear peoples' answers, but consider -- you still stand more risk of serious, permanent dehabilitating injury as a football player -- and that's on routine plays.