<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Trev" data-cid="212846" data-time="1383240471">
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Yes. I literally have said all of this since this thread was started.
It's easy for a person who has never played the game or been in these situations to just make assumptions that a full ban on fighting will make the game safer. Unfortunately, it will have the exact opposite effect.
Do I want more fights? No, they are good where they are at. Do I like staged fights? Not really. Do I like fights that have a meaning whether it be trying to jump start your team or protecting a fellow teammate? Yes.</p>
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I asked you that because just a page or two ago you said that respect was less than ever in the league, and cheap shots were rampant, much moreso than in the past. You say you agree with what Burke says and what he says in that article is the contrary to what you stated.
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In fact, we can all recite a list of players who clearly operate outside of a system of honor. But today, these are the exceptions. Horrific injuries, stars being mugged, rats who run around hitting people from behind — these stand out to us because they don't happen with regularity. It's fighting that keeps these incidents to a minimum.</p>
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I was hoping you'd realize that but you didn't or maybe you did, I don't know. But either way, that is what this debate has become for the pro-fighting fans. People tripping over their own old arguments, until we're going in circles with the same recycled excuses for it being re-used over and over again and then disproved over and over again. Some of which contradict each other, like in this case. Is Burke right that they are the exception, a rarity, or are you right, that it's more of the norm? Did you have an honest change of heart all of a sudden or is it just convenient to your argument now to agree with someone like Burke who wrote in support of fighting? I certainly don't jump on the bandwagon of just anyone who says "Fighting in hockey is bad, mmmkay" because you could be arguing something that overall is right but for all the wrong reasons.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JOVE23" data-cid="212870" data-time="1383250813">
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I just like watching people beat the shit out of each other</p>
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Now see, I can actually respect a response like this, even if I disagree with it. Because it's being honest (provided you are). You're not trying to dress it up with any kind of false honor code or self policing myth, you're giving the real reasoning for your support of it.</p>
