Vicarious Violence

If you haven't had a chance to see the footage of a AAA hockey brawl involving two teams of eight year old kids from Guelph Ontario, watch this first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9kbgnV89U Naturally this has garnered a lot of attention in Canada and other hockey markets in North America, and as usual fingers are being pointed at the NHL. Blaming professional hockey players, or pro athletes in general, for the actions of minor league players is becoming commonplace, even trendy. Frankly, that's not just wrong, it's blatantly ignoring a major issue that has surrounded kids sports for years, parents and coaches encouraging intimidation and even violence.

With four Philadelphia Flyers suspended in two months and Todd Bertuzzis attack on Steve Moore being re-played endlessly to try and prove their point, groups of all shapes and sizes continue to heap the blame for rising incidents on and off the ice. Don Cherry constantly has his good name dragged through the mud by parents groups and other un-informed pinheads who think he encourages kids to beat each other to a pulp(ignoring the fact that it was Cherry who spearheaded campaigns for mandatory safety equipment like face cages and neck guards for minor hockey players and often uses his weekly Coaches Corner segment to show young players how to properly check a player without hurting them). Meanwhile the real culprits for this type of sickening behavior continue to be ignored.

I speak of course of parents and the coaches they hire to teach their children to play the game. As the video clearly shows, while the fight on the ice was disturbing, it was the coaches who sent the kids over the boards and the parents who continued to throw punches long after the players had been removed and the game called. This is not isolated folks, this happens every week at rinks, fields and ball parks across the continent. From little league coaches instructing pitchers to throw at players to soccer coaches teaching illegal tackles and diving, this is far too common for me to stomach. And for all the dirty work that goes on during the games, the real muck belongs to the parents.

The parents, after all, are the ones who sign the kids up, fork over the money and buy the equipment. They have control when it comes to the coach and how he teaches the kids. And ultimately they have control over whether or not their child remains with the team. And since birds of a feather flock together, it's never really surprising to find more fights in the stands then in the games.

Here's one of my favorites. In July of 2000, at a minor hockey practice in Reading Massachusetts, Thomas Junta and Michael Costin, both 40 years old, got into an altercation over rough play at the practice. It escalated to blows, with Costin allegedly throwing the first punch. It ended with Junta knocking the smaller Costin to the ground, punching him out then slamming his head into the floor in front of several children, including Costins son. Costin never regained consciousness and died the next day. Junta was convicted and sentenced to six to ten years for involuntary manslaughter.

And this is not strictly limited to kids leagues. Back when I was in high school one of our rival schools banned parents from attending sporting events after several fights broke out in the stands. And have we forgotten David Frost, the disgraced former coach and agent currently charged with numerous accounts of sexual misconduct? Frost was legendary for using violence to intimidate opponents while coaching the Quinton Hawks in Junior A hockey in Ontario during the 19990's. Parents were willingly turned a blind eye to Frosts behavior because the team was winning, despite the stomach churning way he controlled the team and the tactics he used.

I am as disgusted my minor league violence as much as the next guy, but if we want to stop this scourge on kids sports we need to stop looking at the highest levels. Some sports casters have tried the "imitation" argument, and it's crap. Go watch some minor hockey, the kids aren't thinking drop the gloves, they just want to go out and have fun. They're smiling, laughing, enjoying playing a game they love with their friends with their parents nearby. Turning the game into a recreation of Slap Shot is the farthest thing from their minds. Hell, I doubt they even know what that movie is about.

It's time coaches and the parents accepted their roles in incidents like this, because they are the chief antagonists. Parents who encourage this kind of action or disrupt the game should be barred from all games. Coaches who teach this style should be suspended for life. This is a child's game, and if we have to ban parents from watching, so be it. Our kids will better off.