Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara Could Give Celtics' Kevin Garnett a Lesson in Manners
The NHL is a blisteringly fast-paced game that’s extremely exciting to watch. The finesse and stick handling skills these players exhibit at this level is what makes the game of ice hockey so special.
A major difference in the NHL when compared to it’s NFL, MLB and NBA counterparts is the amount of fighting that goes on, which is practically on a game in and game out basis.
One thing that a fan can really respect about hockey players is their willingness to stand up for themselves and fight. If you’re a hockey player and you don’t want to get into a scrap, than you had better keep your trash talking mouth shut.
If a player taunts another player or gives an unnecessary shove (say after the whistle has blown), then they had better be prepared to drop the gloves and receive a bloody nose.
When these players fight you can see they mean business especially when all too often blood is drawn, sometimes pouring on the ice like a crimson tide. It’s a blur of rapid fire punches that always find their mark… several per second.
You know some of these guys train to fight as much as they train to play.
You never see this in the NBA and perhaps it’s time we did. Not only is it more entertaining for the fan, but players like Kevin Garnett would have to keep their bullying tactics in check.
Where the NBA player gets away with a flashy peacock type show of emotional bravado in the pretense of a fight that never happens, the NHL player goes much further and to hell with the broken nose.
How many times do we hear about NBA players behaving badly? From past players Latrell Sprewell to Allen Iverson and current players Gilbert Arenas to Kevin Garnett, there have been dozens of ridiculous shows of bravado with absolutely nothing to show for it.
That’s because that’s all it is… a show.
Without real fighting, the NBA has a WWE type look and feel, peacock feathers and all.
Boston Celtics PF Kevin Garnett’s bullying tactics toward his colleagues are becoming more bizarre by the minute. There was the getting on all fours and barking like a dog incident, there was the hitting Dwight Howard repeatedly on his arm incident, and the latest was the Charlie Villanueva cancer patient incident.
You get the sense that Garnett understands his success is predicated on his aggressiveness, however foolish as that may seem. He provokes knowing full well that the rules of the game protect him from receiving physical aggression in return.
This shocking, immature and asinine behavior which makes one wonder about Garnett’s mental state of mind should not be tolerated in any sport. If you’re going to allow this kind of behavior, than you have to allow the fighting.
You had better believe Garnett would have been taken to task and first blood would have been drawn if he were an NHL player.
Could you imagine Kevin Garnett trying to bully the likes of 6'9'' Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara?
If you’ve ever seen Chara fight, it is a spectacle to see. He is an absolute monster who could definitely take a few punches while dishing out a massive plundering.
If the NBA did allow fighting like the NHL, the amount of trash talking would be cut to a minimum. It would also allow the likes of Charlie Villanueva to defend himself using his fists without the fear of game suspensions and fines.
But allowing fighting in the NBA would achieve an even better goal. It would prevent cowards like Kevin Garnett from opening their trash talking mouths in the first place.
