In the last 15 years, fighting in hockey, has turned into a controversial debate topic not only in the world of hockey, but in our everyday lives. People argue whether or not fighting should be allowed in hockey. This debate started after retired NHL players who were “enforcers”, started developing CTE-like symptoms. Enforcers are players who fight for their team, to protect the star and smaller players on the team. 

I’ve been playing hockey for the past 10 years, since I was 7 years old, and the debate whether or not fighting should be allowed in hockey. In the early stages of my career, there was very little physical contact between players. Therefore, I never understood why there was fighting at the professional levels. However, as I grew up, physical contact between players started and I slowly understood why fighting is allowed. As of right now, I believe that fighting should be allowed despite the possible devastating consequences.

Fighting is crucial in hockey because it makes the game itself safer. Hockey is a very physical sport with players ramming into each other trying to hit their opponents onto boards or hard ice, at extremely high speeds. Usually, big hits are targeted at the star players and there is not much an opposing team could do about it. “The code” in hockey is a set of unwritten rules that every hockey player follows. One of these rules is that you fight and protect your teammates at all costs. Therefore if your star player is hit, you make sure by any means necessary that it doesn’t happen again. Fighting is one way to ensure a player doesn’t hit your teammate again. This leads to players trying to avoid hitting a star player since they know that it will lead to them getting in a fight, possibly getting injured, and spending 5 minutes inside the penalty box. Without fighting, small star players such as Wayne Gretzky, never would’ve reached their level of greatness if fighting was not allowed. Despite the injuries that occur during fights, fighting is still safer than hitting. Throughout a full season, there are plenty more injuries that are a result of hitting compared to fighting. A few fights per season is definitely safer for the overall safety of players compared to thousands of big hits or “cheap shots”. 

For the rare occasion I agree with what Don Cherry said about this debate, which is that most people who are against fights, have never played hockey and only watch hockey occasionally. That being said, these people do not understand the game of hockey and “the code”, and therefore cannot understand why fighting should still be part of the game.

Although I believe fighting should still be permitted, I strongly believe that the NHL should acknowledge the risks that go along with fighting, such as concussions that can develop into CTE. If the NHL would acknowledge this it would no longer be the league’s fault, leaving the players responsible for their actions.

In conclusion, I believe that fighting should continue to be permitted in hockey since it makes the game itself safer. However the NHL should acknowledge the risks of fighting, making players take responsibility for their actions.

Work Cited

Smart, Virginia, and Lisa Ellenwood. “Pain, Agony and ‘Years of Duress’: How Hockey Wives Are Fighting Back over Players’ Chronic Brain Injuries | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 24 Nov. 2019, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hockey-players-enforcers-brain-injuries-1.5370444.

Last Tuesday, during International Women’s Week, a speaker, Jay Marquis-Manicom, came to talk to us about his thesis, “From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide'”. He talked about the Alt-Right and online male supremacism groups such as the Red Pill.

All of these groups support anti femininity. They basically want men to be superior than than women in every possible aspect. They all the praise the stereotypical white male, and for them just as Kimmel said, “to be a man is to be unlike a woman”. They need to prove within their peers that they are more masculine than them. They show no emotions, since it is seen as a feminine trait, talk about their sexual conquests, and how to create a white supremest environment where women are less than men. The only emotion that men are allowed to show is anger since it is considered manly. However, Jay Marquis-Manicom believes that this is a reason that the Alt-Right community won’t be successful. Since they are always angry they get into fights, leading difficulties figuring out how to achieve their goals. On top of this, they are lacking funding which makes it very hard to be successful.

The speaker also talked about an uprising online community known as “The Red Pill” This online society has the same basic values as any male supremacist groups. They believe women are evil by nature. They are born evil. According to them women are nothing but bad and they should only be used for what advantages men. For example, taking care of children and pleasing their sexual desires.

I interviewed one of my best friends, who I shall not name to keep his privacy. When I interviewed him I asked him three questions. Why are you close to your friend? What kinds of things do you like to do together? Have you ever told your friend how much he means to you? If so, what did you say and how did he react? If you have never told him how much he means to you, why not?

For the first question he told me, that he’s close to me because we’ve always been together. Since we met in Sec. 3 in high school, we’ve always been in the same classes. He said that we have very similar personalities and interests, and have the same sense of humour making me always have fun together.

When I asked him what kind of things he likes to do together, we both chuckled. He said we can literals do anything and we’ll have fun. We always make jokes and joke about past memories. He said his favourite thing to do however is anything stupid. Since we always have fun when we do anything stupid.

He told me he’s only told me how much I meant to him once, a while ago. He said that he doesn’t say it because it’s a bit of an unspoken thing, as he said, “he knows he’s like a brother to me and he knows that I will help him no matter what. He’s one of my best friend and he knows that I love him like a brother”.

In the text, Masculinity, Kimmel states, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes”. What he means by this is that the difference between gender’s is forked throughout a male or a female childhood. Male are subject and shown to distance themselves from their mothers to develop more masculine traits such as being emotionless, more assertive, and being physically strong. They are showed how they should act based on their sex. If you are a male you are encouraged to pursue a masculine career path such as engineering. Meanwhile, if you are a female, you are thought to follow a more feminine career such as being a nurse. Men are thought that to be more masculine they must be physically stronger than females, should have sexual conquests, and should like sports and cars. In the 4th episode of “Man enough”, fast cars and women are seen as objects. Men are taught to need to like sport cars and girls, and wanting to have them, therefore viewing them to be similar and view them as objects.

Later on in the text, Kimmel states,”Understanding how we do masculinities…opens up the unimaginable possibilities of social change”. He uses the plural term of masculinity, “masculinities”, since there is more than one definition of masculinity. To be masculine varies between different cultures, and countries. Being masculine in Germany is different than it is in a tribe in an African tribe in the Republic of Congo.

Overall, I really enjoyed the documentary as I found it had some very true and interesting aspects about society’s view on masculinity. First off, an obvious one is relating masculinity to athletic capabilities. This really jumped out at me as it’s something I’ve observed being involved in various sports since I’ve been little. Just like in the documentary, past teammates of mine have nearly always associated the best players as being more manly. Even in individual sports such as skiing, being a man is often associated with how good you are. If you’re able to do that ramp in the snow park or not. Another aspect that stood out was they’re stand on depression with boys. Boys are thought by our society to not show their emotions in public as our society they view being emotional as a feminine trait. The examples they used about how boys change throughout was really interesting as it’s something I realized myself.

The last part of the Carlos Andres Gomez book, when he talks about a modern example of expectations of masculinity really stood out to me. It made me reflect and realize how the media’s reaction is very real. How a little boy with pink toenails sparked such a big media controversy. The documentary was accurate. That boy was not following the normal boy stereotype and people reacted and made a huge deal out of it, just because he was being stereotypically feminine.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is an NBA basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks. Born in Greece, his parents immigrated from Nigeria a few months before he was born. Growing up in a very poor family with 3 brothers, his family struggled to get by, and Giannis and his brothers often had to miss school to sell little things such as pencils and fake watches just to get by. Giannis started playing basketball at the age of 13. Before that his true passion was soccer. He didn’t even like basketball that much. He started playing basketball when a local basketball coach found him playing soccer and was impressed by his size and dedication to improve. 4 years later he was offered a contract by a professional European basketball team. Despite soccer being his favorite sport at the time, he continued playing basketball because he knew it was his best chance at providing a future for him and his family. When he turned 18, he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th pick of the 2013 NBA draft. This is when his career started.

At 18 years old, Giannis wasn’t much of a basketball player. He was a great athlete and a very raw prospect. He sent all the money he was earning to his family, and at one point he didn’t even have enough money for a cab to go to his game. He then started running to the arena where some Bucks fans saw him and offered him a ride to the arena. As years went on he worked as hard as he could winning the Most Improved player in 2017, and Most Valuable player in 2019. Being a very athletic player he started being called “The Greek Freak”, and was given the “superman” nickname by NBA legend Shaquille O’Neil. He is now considered one of the best players in the world or even the best by many.

He is someone who I consider to be inspirational as his is my favourite basketball player and has a very inspiring story. He came from extreme poverty to becoming a multi-millionaire playing a sport that he loves. His dedication to his game and to improving is what pushed him to become the player he is today. Since being drafted he gained 2 inches and 35 pounds of muscles making him an absolute monster. He is a very caring person as he is known league-wide to be a very friendly player, always making time to see fans before and after games.