In my HS, if anyone called anyone else a goon, they would be suspended

[demtenjeep]

it is NOT a form of endearment. Additionally, if any teacher used that term, they would be suspended or fired.

[demtenjeep]

1. and there would most likely be a fight before it all was taken care of

if any of my students were called goons, it would be on so fast that none of us teachers could get to it fast enough.

[DirkGently]

17. Do you have some interpretation of the word "goon" no one has ever heard of?

You're making it sound the most dire insult in the world, when the reality is it's kind of stodgy old man talk, or movie cliche, or, as noted elsewhere here, a discussion of hockey.

The fact that Zimmerman was calling someone walking down the sidewalk ANYTHING, not to mention "suspicious" "messed up" and "up to no good" indicates he had some kind of strong bias going on.

But this weird battle over one syllable has people stretching in all kinds of weird directions.

There's all kinds of indications of racial bias here. "...oon" is the least significant and least deserving of focus.

[applegrove]

2. I heard the tape again on Anderson Cooper. I tried and tried to hear the 'g' in goon. I could not.

It is clearly a "C".

[lonestarnot]

9. Of course it was a C. Ridiculous attempted nutfuckery. Fail!

[murielm99]

3. WTF is it?

What does the term mean in 2012?

[demtenjeep]

4. same as it always meant

and yes, I believe he used the C word and not goons. He also said fucking assholes, they always get away

[murielm99]

5. The urban dictionary lists several definitions.

I don't know which one is preferred these days.

[lonestarnot]

6. Goons are not black, they are Italian mafioso, that is also according to the same fucking racists!

Just depends on which day.

[demtenjeep]

7. weirdos

freaks

among other things. I asked my students today.

[cherokeeprogressive]

11. Or hockey players...

The Top 10 NHL goons of all-time

Call them what you want but the fact is that goons play an important role in the sport of hockey. The goon is used to protect each player on his team from idiots on the other teams by any means necessary while entertaining millions of people on the tube.

My top 10 list is not based on goals, assists, points or minutes of ice time per game. This list is about being the biggest goons, enforcers, bad-asses or whatever you want to call them, whose assets are punching, entertaining, intimidation and no fear to drop the gloves with anyone.

And now, we will not keep you waiting...

#10 – Dave Brown

Standng at 6 ft 5 inches tall and 220 pounds, I had to put Brown on my list. This guy had no other talent besides to serve and protect. He did have the pleasure in babysitting Wayne Gretzky for a short time, but was simply a scary guy. In 1987 he was suspended for 15 games, one of the hardest suspensions at the time, for crosschecking a New York Ranger in the face.



#9 – Stu Grimson

The 6 foot 6 inch, 240 pound Frimson was known to the world as the “Grim Reaper” for good reason. Oddly enough, Grimson had trouble with smaller, stockier fighters since his balance was awful in his early career. This guy belonged in an insane asylum for a good part of his life; he had 8 seasons with over 150 penalty minutes including over 2,000 in his NHL career. If there were no referees, he may have actually killed people.



#8 – Tie Domi

I hate this guy as much as the next guy but he was good at his job. Never the tallest of fighters (5'10", 200 lbs.), Domi has fought the best of the best and has never really done that bad. Twice he had seasons with over 340 penalty minutes accumulating over 3,000 in his NHL life. This little bastard was no joke with his style of grabbing, leaning away and haymaker surprise. To me, he was more of a goof than a fighter; I just would not say it to his face.



#7 – Gordie Howe

We all know about Gordie Howe the hockey player but this guy could really hold his in any battle as shown by his 6 ft 1 inch, 205 pound frame. He loved to ram his elbow into the faces of his opponents which caused some good ole’ fashioned brawls. Either way, Howe’s balance was second to none and it was nearly impossible to take him off his feet. He is the inventor of the “Gordie Howe hat-trick” (a goal, an assist and a fight in one game).



#6 – Clark Gillies

I know he never had more than 100 PIM’s in a single NHL season and the reason was that no one wanted to go toe-to-toe with this 6 ft 3 inch, 210 pound monster. When he fought, destruction was the result. Gillies beat the hell out of Terry O’Reilly (#5 on my list) along with anyone else in his way. The rule was simple with Gillies; do not mess with his team and he will not mess you up. His intimidation factor was enormous resulting in a ton of respect.




> Find a great selection of NHL hats & merchandise as well as NHL Fathead posters through Pro Hockey Fans!



#5 – Terry O’Reilly

Dirty. Dangerous. Disturbed. “Bloody” O’Reilly did not follow the rules of the NHL. If he wanted to do something, he was going to do it. He spent a good chunk of this career protecting Ray Bourque while his 6 ft 1 inch, 200 pound frame racked up over 2,000 PIM’s. In a famous 1979 post game brawl, O’Reilly climbed over the glass into the crowd after a guy who somehow got a hockey stick and attempted to spear him with it. Hell of a hockey player. Hell of a goon.



#4 – Joey Kocur

6 feet tall, 220 pounds - One half of the very famous “Bruise Brothers,” Kocur may have had the most powerful right hand in NHL history. That right hand has broken orbital bones, noses and at least 10 hockey helmets. Expect to get injured challenging this guy as players have suffered concussions fighting Kocur with their helmets on.



#3 – Dave Shultz

6 ft 1 inch, 195 pounds - A key member of the “Broad Street Bullies” of the 1970’s, Shultz’s aggressiveness earned him the name “Hammer.” He holds the record for PIM’s in a single season with 472 and was the first fighter to ever wear boxing straps in hockey fights which eventually were banned. Funny enough, he got his ego fed to him when he looked like a novice against a much smaller and older Tim Horton.



#2 (tie) – Dave Semenko

Any bodyguard for the Wayne Gretzky must be tough, and at 6 ft 3 inches, 215 pounds Semenko was a tough one. It was thanks to his protection that Gretzky, Mark Messier and many others had great careers. Semenko offered them freedom on the ice to do whatever they wanted, when they wanted. This guy had a better grip than a clamp and was famous for his damaging jab.

Like Gillies, the intimidation factor was so big, that only the big-named fighters had the balls to fight him. Actually, Semenko even fought Muhammad Ali in the early 1980s.



#2 (tie) - Bob Probert

The heavyweight champion of the 1990’s, no question, Probert was the second half of the “Bruise Brothers.” Players tried to take his belt on many occasions and after losing, they would try and lose again to this 6 ft 3 inches, 230 pound goon. He has fought everyone at least once including taking on Grimson 13 times. Red Wing teammate Keith Primeau was one of the few that stood his ground against Probert during a fight at a team practice.

Probert was involved in 283 NHL fights and how many he won is very opinionated, though I am sure around 210 of them are convincing wins. He was big, mean and let his fists do all the talking.



And my winner for the best goon in NHL history goes to…



#1 – Tiger Williams

At 5 ft, 11 inches tall and 200 pounds, Tiger Williams is my godfather of NHL goons. This guy sat in the penalty box for 4421 minutes or almost 74 hours; more than anybody else in history. Williams tallied over 300 PIMs in a season six times and over 250 PIMs, ten times. These are the penalties that the referees caught; Williams was a dirty son of a b**** behind the scenes.

He really respected O’Reilly but thought the toughest fighter out there was Semenko. He found this many times in his life especially during the awesome Toronto/Philadelphia line brawls. The two once battled for a solid 90 seconds before both agreed that their arms were done. Williams may have enjoyed to get punched and would take one to give two or three blows.

Tiger Williams is the biggest bad-ass in NHL history. Golf has a dominating Tiger but I would bet my house that hockey’s Tiger is more dominate.

http://www.prohockey-fans.com/hockey-articles/top-10-goons_062608.html

[lonestarnot]

20. Sportsters. Meh.

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. Thought about buying the Sportster... got the Road King instead. MUCH happier!

LOL

[lonestarnot]

23. Sportie sport sports do not thrill me in the least. The car on the other hand I could look at, but

wouldn't get excited over it either. Just a thing. I get excited over my kids jokes. Laughing is my favorite pass time and it is free! Don't have to pay admission or $20.00 for a fucking pig's ground asshole held together by cellophane.

[DirkGently]

8. Sounds a bit extreme. I recall h.s. kids casually saying a lot worse than "goon."

If that's even what Zimmerman said. It's kind of a weird, silly word. Remember the adorable pre-teen comedy about the "Goonies?"

There are enough horrific facts here without pretending "goon" is some horrific epithet. If Zimmerman said the other thing -- the archaic racist epithet that rhymes with "goon," that'd be one thing. But it's not looking like he did.

Even calling Martin a silly name was baseless, applied to someone just seen walking along a sidewalk, and may show bias. But we don't need to torture new meanings out of everything this guy was babbling.

[Ecumenist]

10. Uh, yeah he did. Sorry to burst your bubble. I listened to it and we

had probably 2 dozen people listen to it on their computer WITHOUT telling them what they should have or was supposed to hear. Not one person heard "goon". EVERY.SINGLE.PERSON.HEARD.COON! They were black, white, italian, Vietnamese, Sephardic Jew, Yurok Indian, Sikh, Chinese...we even had a couple of white europeans, one is my husband, Czech and the other is my SIL, German. THEY ALL HEARD THE SAME THING!!

Noone was led, nothing was suggested and with the exception of 2 people, different computers. We're not Stupid. If someone tells you who they are , believe them! I'm black and I was shocked when I heard his EPITHET! He said exactly what everyone is saying he said and there was a DISTINCT "C" sound.

[DirkGently]

12. I'm sorry too, but that's unlikely, & the sound is a muffled mess.

Zimmerman was on the phone with the cops, trying to impress them with his dumb guy's version of cop talk, e.g., "suspicious black male, reaching for his waistband." It doesn't make a lot of sense that he'd pull a 1920's racist epithet out of his hat at that particular moment.

It does no one any good to strain to make Zimmerman into some over-the-top racist. What it looks like is that he's a dumb guy with some all-too-common racially biased assumptions about who's "suspicious" and "up to no good." What's really sad and awful here is that there's no indication this guy was some goose-stepping white supremacist goon (sorry, couldn't resist) when there's every reason to believe he's a garden variety dumbass with a gun and a racial bias he likely doesn't even acknowledge.

[Ecumenist]

13. Sure, believe what you want to believe. I KNOW what I heard

I know what people who have heard it INDEPENDENT of being lead heard. Must be difficult to work hard to push away the thought that this man was a racist.....HE IS SICK as I believe that RACISM is a mental illness! And BTW, N****r is even older and yet, people use that word ALL THE TIME! Nice try, though!

[DirkGently]

15. Actually, I was ready to hear the epithet. Were you ready to not hear it?

Good point about the "N" word, though. So, if this guy was openly racist, prepared to use an epithet while on the phone with the police, trying to play Good Citizen, why just one muffled "..oon?" Have you ever known anyone prone to racist rants to lob one weird one in there, and leave out the "N" word?

You also missed my point completely. Zimmerman most definitely seems to have been racist in his attitude, his assumptions, and his actions. He suspected, tracked, reported, confronted, and ultimately killed someone doing nothing more than walking down a sidewalk.

It's far worse, in my opinion, that he could do all that, and (possibly) not be a person who would use a racial epithet, and may not acknowledge any racist beliefs at all.

You're of course entitled to your opinion. But I think the desire to turn someone who did something horrible into a racist cartoon where there's no indication of that discredits the discussion and opens us up to seeming as blindly judgmental as someone who would characterize a kid on a sidewalk with a bag of candy as a "suspicious black male."

[Ecumenist]

22. Actually, I was called by a friend who told me where to go and she wanted me to listen to the 911

call. She didn't tell me what to listen to, simply to listen to. My jaw hit the floor and I had to go back to listen to that epithet 3 times. I didn't even know that was there and IMMEDIATELY called her back. I was LIVID and just knew I was telling her something that I'd found and was shocked when she wanted to see if I'd heard what she had. So NO, I didn't have any predispositions about zimmy's words. I speak a few languages and have a great ear...it was an obvious HARD "C' sound.. That bastard didn't say "goon", his side is flailing and looking for anything to keep his bum out of federal hate crime charges. They cam up with something that rhymed with "coon" and could, in some crazy, bizarro world, make sense to some folks who are determined to deny what is as clear as day to anyone with a little bit of common.

The stories I could tell you about what I've experienced and what I have learned at my elders knees. BTW, I have to go to Arizona, (ugh, she shudders), to treat for cancer and while I was in the treatment centre for 6 weeks last year, I got so stir crazy. So, Baby decided to take a drive down to Tombstone. On the way back, we were pulled over by BORDER PATROL who promptly looked past my husband at me and asked me for my ID, because I guess I look "too exotic" and they wanted to know if I was a citizen..WTF??!! Oh yeah, I know racism when I see it, hear it and if itwere possible, smell it.

[TheKentuckian]

14. Goon? A suspension?

That is fucking stupid and way over zealous.

What do you get the rack or the iron maiden for mean old meany?

Fucking goon.They'd be suspending kids a hundred at a time.

Where did these people making these goofy rules grow up, in a mystical cotton candy field?

[MrBig]

18. Haha, that was my reaction too

[MrScorpio]

16. This is a classic diversionary tactic

It should have been identified as such the second after it left the lips of the person who first proffered it.

[Kurska]

19. Man this is hard to follow sometimes.

It took me awhile to figure out you guys are even talking about the Trayon Martin case.