It could be a softer, more gentle National Hockey League when the 2011-12 season gets down to business in early October.
No, the players won't be wearing white skates with picks, nor will pink show up on any uniforms, but the forces that drive the best professional league in the world are leaning towards more slap, less punch, more push, less crunch.
Don Cherry, he of the loudmouth opinion that a team first has to show its physical superiority before it can hope to succeed on the scoreboard, probably won't like this evolution we're almost certain to see. Conn Smythe, whose famous utterance "If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you can't beat 'em on the ice" has resonated through generations of hockey, might just roll over in his grave.
But ... things are getting out of hand and finally, some intelligence is being wrapped in the package that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is trying to sell to North American hockey fans.
For one thing, blows to the head are going to be dealt with harshly, and it's about time. Sidney Crosby, the game's No. 1 attraction, won't start the season due to a head-crashing concussion he suffered last January. He has had nearly 10 months for it to heal and he's still not there. The NHL can't take the chance that more young stars may be "head-hunted" too, so talk about the head-shot rule will dominate the 2011-12 season.
There is also backroom NHL chatter about the elimination of fighting, which would be the game's biggest change since the rover position was eliminated. The summer deaths of Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak, all of whom were star members of the NHL's Fight Club, have got tongues wagging that perhaps the game doesn't need fighting anymore. We don't see it in the Olympics, and it's rare to see it in the NHL playoffs - both pretty good stages for tremendous hockey - so why does it permeate the 82-game schedule? Because there is a fan element who go to a game to see blood just as a race car "fan" goes to Indy hoping to see a 10-car pileup. But why cater to that element?
Believe it, changes are coming. If they soften the game a bit, so concussions are rare - great. If a fight doesn't break out, who cares? Let's allow the best to perform without having to worry about death and brain destruction.
Comedy writer Jim Barach: Tennis great Roger Federer says "it's been hard to watch" his friend Tiger Woods struggle with his game and personal life. He says it would have been much better if it had been Rafael Nadal.
From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: "Plans are underway to squeeze in another 6,600 seats behind Lambeau Field's south end zone in time for the 2013 season. Hey, they don't call them the Packers for nothing."
Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com, after Green Bay's 42-34 win in the 2011 NFL opener: "The only Packer not to do the Lambeau Leap was Vince Lombardi's statue. Otherwise, it looked like a high-jump competition."
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: "Rory McIlroy has won golf's U.S. Open but never been ranked No. 1. His tennis-star girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, is ranked No. 1 but has never won a major. They make such an imperfect couple."
Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: "Houston Texans star running back Arian Foster is getting hammered because he put the MRI photo of his pulled hamstring out on Twitter. Personally, I'm just glad he didn't injure his groin."
Dwight Perry offers his "Tweet of the week" from jacko2323: "Maryland's uniforms are so bad that a Miami player just said, 'You couldn't pay me to wear those things ... well actually you could.'"
Headline at Sportspickle.com: "Tim Tebow now ranked No. 1 in NFL jerseys handed down to younger cousins."
Brad Rock of the Salt Lake City Desert News, on Tulsa receiver Damaris Johnson's girlfriend, a Macy's clerk, selling him $1,238.75 in merchandise for 34 cents: "Rumour has it Johnson is now looking to find a girlfriend who works at a car dealership."
Comedy writer Jerry Perisho, on tennis star Andy Roddick's 29th birthday: "The man is married to Brooklyn Decker; what could you possibly get him that would make his life better?
NBC's Jimmy Fallon, after police nabbed a NASCAR fan - drunk, naked and with a live raccoon in his car - outside Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway: "Or as rednecks call that, the trifecta."
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, after Tiger Woods said of his swing, "I can fix it.": "So what's he waiting for? Maybe he's been busy supervising the tiling of the patio at his new bachelor estate?"
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com, has a Peyton Manning one-liner: "As the NFL season gets underway, there's a new favourite in the AFC South. The Houston Texans. By a neck."
Bianchi again: "A lot of people were upset because the NFL opener between the Packers and Saints bumped President Obama's jobs speech out of prime time. With all due respect, Aaron Rodgers had a much better year than the Prez."
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca
