Violence Runs Deep In Our Society - A Distrurbing Scene At A Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar....

[global1]

We went to see a very heart warming movie last night - Parenteral Guidance - with Billy Crystal & Bette Midler. I recommend it - as it was really funny and heartwarming. After the movie we stopped at a local pizza place/sports bar - known for their good thin crust pizza. It was filled with loud families there to watch an NHL game - Blackhawks vs Calgary. A lot of people wearing Blackhawk jerseys of assorted ages. Grandparents, parents and children - a big group of kids looking not older than 4th graders and many looked younger.

TV's were posted all over the place as it's a sports bar and just after we ordered the pizza - a fight broke out on the hockey rink where two players - one from each team (of course) - were beating each other silly on the ice.

I'm not a hockey fan - and I was struck by the fact that neither the refs nor the other player tried to break this fight up. The TV cameras were trained on these two guys beating on each other for what seemed to be an inordinate amount of time. I later come to learn that this is common in hockey.

What struck me was the loud cheers going on by the crowd in the bar - especially from the children - as a reaction to the fight. The better the punches that were being thrown and landed - the louder the cheers. A group of the children actually stood up on their seats and were making fighting motions with their arms and hands - screaming and egging these two players on.

I was mortified. The adults in the room were equally as disturbing as they were cheering these two hockey players on as well and looking proud on their kids. The sound system in the room was deafening. The bass was turned up so that the sound of the TV's reverberated throughout the whole restaurant. That sound seemed hypnotic to the group watching the game and fight.

I sat back in shock watching this spectacle - thinking that violence really runs deep in our society. Much to my surprise - when the first period was over - the station re-ran highlights from the first period and showed this fight - to much the same reaction by the crowd.

I guess I'm getting old as this whole scene really bothered me. It seems that everyday something happens that scares me about the country that we are becoming.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Bread and circus, my friend. We'd like to think we've

socially evolved since the Roman era, but in many ways we have not.

[NYC_SKP]

3. +1 nt

[MineralMan]

2. The people cheering are the same ones

who watch auto racing to see the crashes. Very disturbing. I never watch hockey.

[nick of time]

4. I once went to the fights

and a hockey game broke out.

[ananda]

5. I've been thinking a lot about ptsd lately.

I think it informs much of the problems in our society. And ptsd is aggravated by violent games and movies. That's why I was so horrified to learn about the soldier trying to help another vet cure ptsd by shooting. That's the worst thing you can do.

The cure for ptsd is a long consistent period of peace and calm and the chance to work it through with a good therapist.

[NightWatcher]

6. Disturbing scene? More like a hockey game at a sports bar

Good thing you weren't there during a boxing match or UFC fight.

[htuttle]

7. Two Minutes' Hate

[Ron Green]

8. I think it's the same response as whatever makes people

into mindless consumers. Fear is an easy response that lives in the "lizard brain," while love, tolerance and citizenship are frontal cortex qualities that are just too difficult to sustain.

[DogPawsBiscuitsNGrav]

15. + 1 and society is manipulated into being mindless consumers by bread and circus.

[bluestate10]

9. Referees allow hockey fights to go on until the players stop, or one of two situations occur.

The first is that powerful head blows are being delivered by both players, in that case, the referee steps in. The second is when one player establishes a clear advantage in the fight and the other player is at risk of injury.

I am of the opinion that parents should teach their children to walk away from fights in this modern society where a fight can escalate to weapons and death when it happens at schools or on the street. But the reality is that some parents are ok with the idea of their kids, in particular male kids, duking it out because the kids not fighting makes them look weak. A society is a complex mix, some parents tell their kids to walk away, but if as little as 5% of parents tell their kids to fight under any circumstances, then there are going to be many fights, even ones that pull in kids whose parents teach them to walk away. The diversity of society's response to fighting puts pressure on school teachers and administrators to decide when to step in or not step in, keep in mind that some of those very people may be ok with fighting to resolve conflicts.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Hockey is even more popular in Canada.

Muddle this, why Canadians, who get into it just as much, go n with their very normal non-violent lives?

This is the nature of hockey.

[PasadenaTrudy]

11. I only watch

track and field. Team sports are awful.

[Baclava]

12. Blame Canada!

fights have been going on since they invented hockey dontchaknow

[NutmegYankee]

13. It always has.

British culture during colonial days was very violent, and we inherited that. Hell, our vice president and secretary of the treasury had a duel in the early 1800s.

[MadHound]

14. The single reason I don't watch hockey anymore,

I used to enjoy hockey back in my youth, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Gordy Howe. Yeah, there were fights, but they were quickly broken up, and penalties assessed for fighting. The emphasis was on skill, skating, stickwork. It was an enjoyable game to watch, and frankly no more violent than pro football.

But as time went on, the fights became the centerpiece of the action, and they were allowed to go on and on, fewer and fewer penalties, and the game became one of brawling, not skill. That's why I gave it up.

If you want a real scare, get together with some second grade boys sometime, a group of fifteen, twenty, and start a conversation about WWE wrestling or mixed martial arts(ie human cock fighting). I'll lay you good odds that somewhere between a third and a half of them are all up on the latest in those "sports", know who the starts are, have some sort of apparel representing WWE or MMA, and watch one or the other regularly. I was shocked by this when I started substitute teaching first and second grade, and wondered what were their parents thinking, letting them watch that shit.

We are a society that has become increasingly addicted to more and more violence as time goes on, a sad fact but true.

[longship]

17. And nobody messed with Gordie Howe!

If they did, Howe would just out skate him into the boards while retaining possession.

The old Canadiens were fairly peaceful, too. I blame all the fighting on a turn in hockey strategy made by the bad boys in Philadelphia Flyers who changed the game into one of bullying and fighting.

It's not that there were no fights back in the day; it's that it has sadly become an encouraged element of the game.

That's why I stopped watching hockey.

[MadHound]

18. Frankly I think part of the reason for an increase in violence is the increase in padding

And protection.

The old school guys had no helmets, little padding, and the roughness of the game tended to disincline those guys from engaging in fights that would make them hurt even more. Hell, you can't look at a photo of a hockey team from the forties-sixties without seeing broken noses and the gap toothed goalie who had caught one too many pucks in mouth. Those guys simply didn't have the constitution to inflict further damage upon themselves by getting engaged in fights.

But now with the helmets and bulked up padding, the ordinary rough and tumble of hockey doesn't take the toll it did a generation ago, so they are more inclined to get into fights.

I bet if they took away helmets, and slimmed down the pads, the fighting would fade as well.

[JBoy]

23. Howe has an achievement named for him - The "Gordie Howe Hat Trick"

A goal, an assist, and a fight in one game.

It denotes a real "well-rounded" player, and is sure to get you mentioned on the sports news next day.

Don't forget Don Cherry's series of videos "Rock'em sock'em Hockey", timed to be the perfect Christmas present every year. Just a collection of the best fights. I think they're up to Vol 24 now.

[Apophis]

16. It does run deep in our society.

It makes me sad.

[HappyMe]

19. Well, you were at a sports bar.

They don't tend to be Disney-like in their characteristics.
Maybe Chuck E. Cheese next time.

[Initech]

20. You think that's bad, I take it you've never been to a bar showing a UFC fight then.

Talk about blood lust among UFC fans...

[KittyWampus]

21. Agreed> Here's an note from my father about playing hockey & fighting

My Dad played both football & hockey a long time ago.

You are moving very fast in hockey. Faster than football. It gets really annoying when people get in your way. The adrenaline & speed & drive to goal combine into a tendency to beat the guy who got in your way.

[LeftyMom]

22. Shorter OP: I don't get hockey, but I enjoy looking down on the proles.

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. {CRACK} "Long drive...! Waaaay back! To the warning track... It's OUTTA here!"

No one could have said it better.

My advice for the OP would be to forevermore avoid sports bars.