Bleacher Report - Articles by Greg Fear

Select Sports Tempting "legal" Suicide?

Greg Fear — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:04:03 -0500

The last couple of months in the sporting world got me to thinking. Are some sports entities run by complete morons? Are the leaders of these sports waiting until it is literally too late to make simple safety changes? Or will it in fact take death to get changes made?

The reason for these questions was because of the Australian Open match between Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic. A match that was competed in what could only be described as inhumane conditions. The air temperature during the match was 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). However the on-court surface temperature was an oven like 61 degrees Celsius (142 Fahrenheit).

During a scheduled stoppage in the match, a visibly strained Djokovic asked the chair umpire if the retractable roof could be closed to make it more comfortable in the arena, and less strenuous on not only him, but Roddick and the fans as well. A request that was vehemently denied. Cut to the fourth set and Djokovic was forced to retire due to obvious heat related issues.

My opinion on that is, what if Djokovic had collapsed and died? What then? Would the tournament continue? Or would it merely be delayed until they could scrape the dead players carcass off the court and get ready for the next match? Then you bring in the legal aspect of the equation. If Djokovic were to have died, given the denied request to have the roof closed, and the insane heat inside the tennis complex, this would create a legal nightmare for the ATP/WTA and the organizers of the Australian Open. The actions of the chair umpire shows at the very least severe negligence. I would venture to guess that you may never see another tennis event in Australia again. The family of Djokovic, could theoretically sue everyone involved in the regulating of the match/tournament for tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars, and likely win. This may very well bankrupt the WTA/ATP and put an end to all professional tennis.

And this sport is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. What about hockey, namely the NHL? What if someone were to die in a fight? Or what if someone were to die from getting hit from behind into the boards breaking their neck? There are a ton of potential legal ramifications just waiting to be unleashed on the NHL should something as catastrophic as a death due to something easily preventable occur. Keep in mind, accidents will happen. Those are things you can't easily prevent. hence why they are called accidents. But, there are no such things as accidental fights. They are always agreed upon ahead of time. Now, I, like most hockey fans, rather enjoy the odd fight. The key is finding way to reduce both the amount of fighting, and at the same time, making it safer to do so. You could make the fighting major a team penalty instead of a player only penalty as it sits right now. This would make more 4 on 4 situations, and should increase scoring. That is until coaches started to force their players not to fight. In terms of safety, you could and should do the obvious thing and make sure that the chin straps are tightly fastened. There really is no need for the straps to be dangling as low as they are. Sure you could always try and ban fighting altogether, but that won't stop it outright. Remember, fighting is banned in football, baseball and basketball, and there are still fights in those sports. They might be few and far between, but they still exist.

I, on behalf of all sports fans, strongly urge the heads of every sports league/entity to look closely at your safety policies and ask yourself, "Can we do more?". If your answer is no, you probably shouldn't have a job. Mind you, you may have all sorts of time to ponder that question, when you are sitting in you new 8 by 6 home.

"That's just my opinion, and I may be wrong..................but I doubt it."

CFL's 96th Grey Cup: Montreal Alouettes Attempt Rare Feat

Greg Fear — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:51:10 -0500

Today, the CFL's Grey Cup will be awarded for the 96th time, in Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The "Great Canadian Classic" will showcase the two best teams in the league, the Calgary Stampeders and the hometown Montreal Alouettes.

While a home team playing in the championship game is not really all that rare, having the home team win is. In fact Les Alouettes will atempt to become only the fourth team in the last 56 years to accomplish this.

The west division champs from Calgary earned their way into the championship game with a less than impressive effort versus the British Columbia Lions last weekend. The Lions dominated the game from start to finish yet were unable to capitalize in key situations, and eventually fell to the opportunistic Stamps.

The Als, on the other hand, got in with a humbling performance over the Edmonton Eskimos. Much like the Lions in the west, the Alouettes dominated the entire game. However unlike the Leo's, Montreal was able to capitalize almost at will.

In their two previous meetings this season, Calgary won both contests. Which may explain why even though Montreal will have the advantage of playing at home in front of 65,000 screaming lunatics, most gambling sites have this game listed as a pick'em.

On a neutral site, Calgary, who had a better record, in a better division, Calgary would likely be a three or four point favorite over the Alouettes. So logic would indicate the only reason that there is no spread is due to Montreal playing at home.

Either way, this should, like most in the past, be a very entertaining game. I will pick the Montreal Alouettes to upend the Calgary Stampeders in the 96th Grey Cup.

NHL Playoffs: Let's Hope the Second Act is as Good as the First

Greg Fear — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:35:48 -0400

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is in the books, and as usual, there was no shortage of excitement. From the Pens four game demolition of the Ottawa Senators, to the three thrilling game seven series finales. This round showed why hockey is the best sport on earth (save a rather lengthy myriad of horrible calls by referees).

The east has glory match ups all over the place. In one series you got the Flyers facing off against the Montreal Canadiens. These two teams have a ton of history between them. Les Habitants won all four meetings this year, and they appear to be on one of those magical runs with a rookie goaltender like they have a couple of times before. In the seventies you had rookie Ken Dryden come on and not only win the cup, but also take home the Conn Smythe. A year before he won the rookie of the year award no less. In 1986 you had the coming of St. Patrick. Roy led his Habs to the cup over the Calgary Flames. This year you got the should-have-been rookie of the year nominee Carey Price. With that defencive corp and the five 50 point producers up front, I will not bet against them.

The other series has the NHL head office doing back flips. It showcases Sid the Kid and the Pittsburgh Penguins going against the New York Rangers. This was a pretty even match up in the regular season. But with plenty of rest, the Pens will be healthy going into this series. The x factor for the Rangers is the uber pest Sean Avery. Fortunately for the Pens, they have a couple of guys who can nullify his effectiveness in George Laroque and Jaarko Ruttuu. This series should go 6 games.

In the west, you got the revival of one of the bloodiest rivalries in the past 15 years, and two teams that don't have an awful lot of second round experience. The best series might be the latter.

One series has Detroit versus Colorado. The Wings took all four meetings this year, allowing only 2 goals in the process. That pretty much sums up this one. I don't think it will last long.

Finally you have the Stars against the Sharks. This series is tough to read. Both teams boast elite goaltending. Both teams have excellent defence. And both teams are very deep at forward. Like I said, tough to read. I have to give the Sharks a slight advantage in the series however, due to the absence of Stars defenceman Sergei Zubov.

Except for the officiating, the first round displayed some of the best hockey played in the last few years. Let's just hope round two exhibits more of the same. As for my picks:

Penguins over Rangers (6)

Canadiens over Flyers (6)

Red Wings over Avalanche (5)

Sharks over Stars (7)

Overstepping the Boundaries: My "Fear"-less Pick for the Conn Smythe

Greg Fear — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:29:49 -0400

In my previous article, I made my picks for the opening round of the playoffs. I am now going to take the bold move of selecting one player to win the Conn Smythe trophy.

To select a projected winner you have to pick a team that you believe truly has the best chance at winning the cup. Then you have to pick who you believe will be the standout player on that team in the finals.

Using that criteria, I am going to pick the Pittsburgh Penguins to hoist Lord Stanley's mug. Other than Anaheim, they have what I believe is the most complete team in the league. They have unmatched depth at forward with 3 lines that can burn you on a night to night basis. They have grit and experience. They have the perfect blend of scoring, size and toughness on the back end. Finally, they have quite possibly the best 1, 2 combination at the goaltender position with Marc-Andre Fleury and Ty Conklin.

Now that begs the question. Who among them do I think will be the stand-out player on that team? That is where it gets tricky. Over the history of the NHL there have been very few players that have won this prestigious award that were not from Canada. I believe this year will be different. This year we seen, when Sidney Crosby went down with the high-ankle sprain, Evgeni Malkin become a big time elite player in this league. He was so dominant that he ended the season second in league scoring, only behind the league MVP Alexander Ovechkin.

In closing, needless to say, my pick for the Conn Smythe trophy this year will be Pittsburgh Penguins #71, Evgeni Malkin.

But then again, I have been known to be wrong before...

Another Black Spot on Hockey: Patrick Roy's Son Snaps

Greg Fear — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:35:35 -0400

A couple of days ago, an ugly incident took place in a QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) playoff game between Chicoutimi and the Quebec Ramparts. Ramparts goalie Jonathan Roy, son of former NHL great and Ramparts owner, GM and coach Patrick Roy, Skated down the length of the ice and, for lack of a better term, proceeded to beat the living hell out of the Chicoutimi goaltender.

Now don't get me wrong, probably the most exciting fights in hockey are goalie fights. This however, was no fight. This was nothing short of a mugging.

Hockey code stipulates if the opposing fighter doesn't choose to defend himself, or "turtles" the instigator of the confrontation must leave the player in a compromising position alone. Roy, without provocation, went down the ice, shoved the opposing goalie against his net, ripped the helmet off the goalie, and started throwing punches. After about 5 or 6 shots to the head, the Chicoutimi goalie fell to the ice and tried to protect himself from the onslaught by Roy by "turtling". Roy continued to throw another 15+ shots at the defenceless player until he finally had enough and skated away giving the fans in Chicoutimi the double-bird salute.

At this time a Chicoutimi player came out of the penalty box and confronted Roy. Needless to say, the 2 started trading punches for about 30 - 40 seconds before on-ice officials stepped in and broke the 2 combatants apart.

As a result Jonathan Roy has been suspended for 7 games, and his father, who allegedly, told his son to go and fight the other goalie, received a 5 game ban.

I am usually all for sports policing themselves. However in this case, I feel the proper authorities should probably charge Jonathan Roy with assault. There is no place whatsoever for this garbage in this great game.

It should be pointed out that Roy's Ramparts were losing 7 - 1 at the time, and went on to lose the game 10 - 1.

Not for nothing, but I am sick and tired of the "if we're getting our ass kicked on the scoreboard, we're gonna kick your ass physically to send a message" bullshit that is happening on an all too regular occurrence. If you look back over the years, most of the 'incidents' like this take place in blowout games. Arguably the most famous one took place when the Colorado Avalanche were pasting the Vancouver Canucks 6 - 1. Todd Bertuzzi decided that was a good time to get payback on Steve Moore by slugging him in the back of the head and driving him to the ice resulting in Moore suffering a career ending broken neck and concussion. If I were the league disciplinarian, any player that had the nerve to pull a stunt like that would be immediately thrown out of the league for life. Then again I believe the more harsh the punishment the better.

Seven games is not nearly enough for such a grievous act. For an act this severe, no less than 25 games should have been the punishment. I think that the only reason for a 7 gamer is that it is the playoffs. Roy is a draft eligible player this year, so there is no guarantee he will ever play another QMJHL game. Nonetheless, 7 games is a mere slap on the wrist.

At least that is my opinion anyway.