January 21, 2004

Prominant hockey analyst Don Cherry called the potential decision "sad". : I concur. Check out the comment section for more insight, or lack thereof.

posted by garfield to hockey at 03:33 PM - 32 comments

Hockey karma is at an all time low.

posted by garfield at 03:34 PM on January 21, 2004

Folks, this ain't hockey-hatin'. This is about trying to keep your school from getting its ass sued off when little Johnny (or Pierre, you Hab) gets poked in the eye with a stick. The event has little or nothing to do with the school, and probably should be run by outside entities, i.e. club teams.

posted by wfrazerjr at 03:55 PM on January 21, 2004

A couple of unrelated questions: 1. Is spelling also at an all time low in Canada? Prominant? Is that French? 2. Is TSN.ca part of ESPN? That TSN logotype looks totally ripped off from ESPN. C'mon!

posted by worldcup2002 at 03:57 PM on January 21, 2004

Back on point. I'm with the frazer. It's parents who've caused this turn of events. Disgruntled parents, killer parents, litigious parents have brought about this sad state of affairs. Before long, we'll be seeing all pee wee sports go this way.

posted by worldcup2002 at 04:00 PM on January 21, 2004

Dude, if you want some poor spelling, check out the comments below the story. Good lord, drop the poutine and pick up a dictionary!

posted by wfrazerjr at 04:04 PM on January 21, 2004

"First, they came for the hockey players, but I did not speak out because..."

posted by vito90 at 04:13 PM on January 21, 2004

wc2k2, ask the brilliant author of comment #9.

posted by garfield at 04:15 PM on January 21, 2004

Hah! Good one, garfield. "CAPTIAN". hahahahaha. I only jumped on the "prominant" typo because it was the first word in your post, but also because it was taken directly from in a published article on "Canada's Sports Leader (wow!)" (not just some wild rant in a comment in a blog). Gotta keep these paid journos and their editors on their toes! I mean, it was a short short article, and they still couldn't keep the mispellings out. As prominant (ha!) hockey analyst Don Cherry says in the article, "If people don't think that's important, that's a sad commentary on our school system." (that's totally quoting out of context, but yet so funny in this context. Ha!)

posted by worldcup2002 at 04:31 PM on January 21, 2004

I don't know about where you live, wfrazerjr, but sports activities have always been a part of school here. What I find odd is that in a time when schools are trying to encourage more physical activity and gym-classes to combat obesity, here they are trying to ban hockey. Yeah, there's a risk in hockey... but same with baseball, basketball, football, soccer, every sport. Hell, there's risk during art lessons. Christ, none of that is even as dangerous as recess... at least organized sport is, well, organized. Remembering all the recess games we used to play (King of the Hill; Asshole; Murderball; piggy-back wrestling; recess football), I remember many a sore butt, arm, whatever. Seriously, are they going to ban that too? Why not just pad all the desks with foam and force all the kids to go to class wearing protective gear.

posted by mkn at 04:37 PM on January 21, 2004

And yes, ESPN and TSN have a relationship, which you might have figured out by noticing the "ESPN Classic Canada" link on top. It's annoying, because I found the old SportsDesk less irritating than the *crash* too hyper *bang* Sportscentre *WOW* version *hit*zing*.

posted by mkn at 04:40 PM on January 21, 2004

...and I miss the old TSN ball logo.

posted by mkn at 04:41 PM on January 21, 2004

oh jeez....i didn't even notice that.

posted by garfield at 04:41 PM on January 21, 2004

and if you spell your screenname wrong....yikes.

posted by garfield at 04:43 PM on January 21, 2004

As BLENKY16 astutely noted in comment #2, this is grabage. I think I speak for all when I quote BOSSY66 in saying GIVE ME A BRAKE!

posted by Succa at 05:04 PM on January 21, 2004

I once watched a schoolmate slip on some sandy part of the field during recess and come up with a broken arm. Bone pushing the skin, hand at impossible angle. I almost passed out. But, yeah, exactly as mkn said. Soon, we'll be sending our kids to school in inflatable sumo outfits.

posted by worldcup2002 at 05:09 PM on January 21, 2004

The TSN graphics don't bug me much...what really needs to go is that theme music. Dun dun dun...dun dun dun. It sounds like "Investigative Reporting" music, when what TSN provides could hardly be called Investigative, and is barely Reporting.

posted by Succa at 05:12 PM on January 21, 2004

I don't know about where you live, wfrazerjr, but sports activities have always been a part of school here. The only sport that my elementary school had organized was flag football, which is arguably a little less rough than hockey. All of the other sports were done in a public league on a club level (as wfrazer points out). It makes sense to me that way, and at the very least, gave us a couple of years reprieve before the jocks took over the school. Are organized elementary school sports common in Canada? Other regions of the US?

posted by Ufez Jones at 05:12 PM on January 21, 2004

I don't know about where you live, wfrazerjr, but sports activities have always been a part of school here. I live in the Midwest, where just about all sports are handled through youth leagues rather than schools. I began playing football and baseball at age five, but didn't play in organized school leagues until 12-13. It's not a matter of not playing sports ... it's a matter of the schools not being involved for liability purposes.

posted by wfrazerjr at 05:25 PM on January 21, 2004

The schools I went too all had a mandatory PhysEd class of some sort where you played the major sports on a rotational/seasonal basis. And if Mr/Mrs. Canucky McHabb are so damn afraid that little Pierre is gonna catch a puch in the teeth they ought to write a note to the PhysEd teacher asking him/her to keep their son/daughter out of "competitive sports". Of course the kid will end up running laps, doing push-ups, squats, jumping jacks and other cardiovascular exercises on their own while their friends are all having fun. Give that a few days and you can bet your ass that little Pierre will make Mr/Mrs. Canucky Mchabb's life a living hell until he/she gets to play hockey again. Stick that in your pie-hole and smoke it!!

posted by lilnemo at 07:29 PM on January 21, 2004

I went too... I went to catch a puch catch a puck Sorry, got a little emotional while typing there.

posted by lilnemo at 07:31 PM on January 21, 2004

frazer, worldcup, ufez...the point isn't that hockey is dangerous (note that in younger leagues body checking is not allowed). the point is that we have now, as a society, come to a point where a long tradition of school sports is now being endangered by an increasingly litigious society. yes elementary sports are common in canada. and they are mostly provided for free, less equipment and for hockey rink time - club fees are usually more. hockey is an expensive sport equipment-wise - how do people pay club fees etc on top of all that? how would american fans feel if high school football was ended because schools were afraid of being sued? is that too far out there? vito90 said it best: "First, they came for the hockey players, but I did not speak out because..."

posted by owl at 08:12 PM on January 21, 2004

This isn't about banning kids from playing hockey; it's about deciding that public elementary schools are the wrong place to offer hockey teams. Why is that controversial? There's no need for them to offer organized team sports. I wouldn't want to pay higher property taxes here in Florida so the elementaries could have hockey or football teams. My son plays in a Y league, and that makes a lot more sense to me.

posted by rcade at 08:36 PM on January 21, 2004

But if you remove sports from school, where is the NBA going to get its future stars from?

posted by mkn at 09:23 PM on January 21, 2004

taxes?? taxes aren't the issue here either rcade (the canadian tax system is quite different from the us, as are the services the gov't has historically provided for them). the issue is history, tradition. it isn't much more removed for many folks in canada than is the banning, by some 'communities', of road hockey. neither of these may be something florida has a history or tradition of providing, or they have other ways of providing, so maybe it would be difficult for you to understand. the article makes no mention of taxes. it cites cost, sandwiched between safety concerns and lawsuits. why are safety concerns more important if lawsuits weren't? the game hasn't changed that much, not at that age.

posted by owl at 09:33 PM on January 21, 2004

I was completely stunned to hear that there was organized hockey in elementary school. The only sports that they offered in my school were volleyball and track & field (we're going back about 20 years here). Those were the cheapest and easiest sports for elementary schools to handle. Everything else (soccer, hockey, t-ball/baseball, tennis) were outside the school system (at that age). Hockey is probably the most expensive sport you can play as a child (among the common and popular sports). The equipment is expensive, the arena time is rare & expensive and the insurance costs are through the roof. If this money can go towards other parts of the school system (books, computers, repairs, etc) then I'm not too upset. As much as I love the idea of any kids that I have playing hockey, I think that should be saved for the house leagues in the local area. I know that puts me in the minority of Canadians, but I don't think it's sabotaging the fabric of society, because these kids can still play pickup hockey or play in leagues run outside the school system. Besides, kids at that age should be playing street hockey and developing their eye/hand co-ordination by trying to stick-handle a bouncing tennis ball.

posted by grum@work at 10:10 PM on January 21, 2004

owl: frazer, worldcup, ufez...the point isn't that hockey is dangerous (note that in younger leagues body checking is not allowed). the point is that we have now, as a society, come to a point where a long tradition of school sports is now being endangered by an increasingly litigious society. Dude, already said that, eh?

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:11 PM on January 21, 2004

worldcup2002: my bad, sorry dude. somewhere between reading your post and me posting i got my wires crossed.

posted by owl at 11:28 PM on January 21, 2004

Folks, this ain't hockey-hatin'. This is about trying to keep your school from getting its ass sued off when little Johnny (or Pierre, you Hab) gets poked in the eye with a stick Lies. Youth league hockey players are required to wear helmets with full face shields, mouth guards, and neck guards. Injuries at this level are rare since checking usually is not allowed until players are 12. Gimme a break. Little league baseball is more dangerous. But hey, who cares? I say lets just let litigation destroy what little is left of our ability to have fun.

posted by insomnyuk at 12:14 AM on January 22, 2004

So are they just making this up, Insom? I don't think Canadians would be thinking about removing hockey from their schools if lawsuits weren't a major problem. So the issue here is NOT with the schools, but with the society in general. Good luck getting everyone to stop suing one another.

posted by wfrazerjr at 09:20 AM on January 22, 2004

Here in Calgary we don't have hockey in elementary schools (or in jr. or sr. high schools for that matter). Heck I don't think we have any organised sports at all at the elementary school level. It's all community based and run. So I don't think it's a really big deal that schools in Ontario are going to drop hockey as long as there are community based programs that can pick up the slack. That being said more and more suits are being filed against the community based organizations, and insurance rates are going through the rough. Just a couple of weeks ago a big story here was a father taking a community hockey organization to court. It was eventually dropped, but it just goes to show how people think these days.

posted by camcanuck at 10:10 AM on January 22, 2004

Even dropped suits have costs, often significant ones. "...Claiming his son was humiliated after being placed on a team beneath his abilities." You Mr. Kraik, are a jackass. At least that is how I think these days.

posted by 86 at 10:53 AM on January 22, 2004

taxes aren't the issue here either rcade (the canadian tax system is quite different from the us, as are the services the gov't has historically provided for them). How do Canadian public schools pay for their hockey teams, equipment, coaches, and insurance, if not through taxes of some kind? You can blame this on the lawyers, but a simple fact of youth sports at any level is that kids might get hurt and that requires some significant insurance and legal costs for the group offering the activity. I don't think a public elementary school should be taking on that cost (high schools, OK; middle schools, maybe). Let outside groups that want to offer hockey take care of it, where they can pass their costs on to the parents of kids who participate.

posted by rcade at 06:50 PM on January 22, 2004

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