I'm not a big sports fan. Can't live where I live and not get caught up in ACC basketball fever, but even so, not a huge sports fan.

Having said that, I do not like and do not follow Ice Hockey at all because brawls are accepted as part of the game. They may be part of the culture of the game. But it doesn not have to be that way.

Random thoughts....

Over the years, I have noted with dismay in nearly all sports that sportsmanship on the part of both players and spectators is no longer condoned.   I was quite disturbed to hear a father remark during an interview on on the local public radio station that he was teaching his young son to boo both the opposing team, and to boo individual players on the team for which he roots when they make mistakes. I happen to think that as a society we are no longer teaching integrity when winning at any cost is most important.

I'm being redundant with something I posted on another thread recently. (But hey, I'm a redundant kind of gal;^). When I was in high school and college (1960's and early 70's), referees would not hesitate to call a technical foul in basketball when the crowd set up a ruckus while an opposing team player was making a foul shot. Deliberately trying to distract the player was considered very, very bad and unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of the crowd. We were taught to respect the efforts and the person of the opposing team member, even while mightily rooting for the home team. Fights on the basketball or football field were regarded as poor lack of control and never justified, and not as simply to be expected by competitive young men (and women, to the extent that there were athletic opportunities for girls.) These were not just lessons and expectations regarding sportsmanship. It was understood that teaching good sportsmanship represented lessons in self-control and personal integrity.

Winning at any cost was not acceptable.

Those days are gone