By Jack Blatherwick

Let's Play Hockey Columnist

Hockey fights always bring us out of our seats, even during a game when nothing else does. We cheer for every haymaker to the head, and if it draws blood and breaks facial bones? Well that's even better. In other sports, bare-knuckled fighting is against the rules, but hockey defends fighting as if it is part of the sport.

Gladiator-style boxing moved toward some civility 150 years ago, with (Marquess-of-Queensberry) rules that required padded gloves. Ancient Romans had actually attached spikes to hardened leather gloves, so blows to the head would maim and often kill the combatants. Boxing examined itself and made changes.

Arguments are made every day by the old guard in hockey for "self-policing" in our sport - the only sport that subscribes to this illogical tradition. The argument goes like this: If paid gladiators X and Y duke it out at center ice for two minutes, the other players on each team will change the way they play. Cheap shots are supposedly eliminated; but after a century of this plan, we're still waiting for the remedy to start working.

I'm not writing to dispute the theory that "fighting fire with fire" is the only way to extinguish flames -that violence reduces violence. I write because we adults in hockey (fans, coaches, league commissioners) are contributing to a far worse problem for young athletes who trust us.

When we encourage big, strong kids to find their niche in hockey - and in life - by fighting, the path is far more dangerous than was imagined. It was assumed that the winner of a fight doesn't suffer damage to the brain, that the only severe injuries came from major blows.

However, Boston University has done compelling research indicating that numerous mild blows to the head have a cumulative effect, causing permanent brain damage. My argument here is weak without recent New York Times photos and videos, showing the anatomical damage to brains of fighters like Derek Boogaard.

I urge everyone to view the three videos in the series about Boogaard's life, a sad story more tragic than his death (New York Times website shown at the end of this column). Each video has an accompanying article worth reading, but in order to simplify, I recommend viewing the videos first, and in this order: video 2, then 3, then 1, then side videos.

Perhaps we in hockey can be forgiven for our history, the tradition that gladiator entertainment is part of the game - that it fills seats - or that we are the only sport supporting the irrational claim that fistfights reduce violence. But modern neurological science has now identified what many fighters experienced in past years: There is brain damage with each blow to the head.

I know a former NHL fighter who takes medicine 25 years after retirement to prevent gran mal seizures that characterize his 'trauma-induced epilepsy.' Another friend and former fighter has deformed shoulders and can't even pick up his children. He hopes that symptoms of brain damage won't show up later in life as they have in many other fighters he knows.

When a family is choosing where their son should play - junior hockey or the academic route in high school and college - keep in mind that in junior and professional hockey, fighting is promoted, not just allowed. Of course, league commissioners deny this publicly, and if you view the videos, you'll see Gary Bettman's claim, "We don't allow fighting. Fighting is punished."

No, Mr. Bettman. With substantial suspensions, you punish body checks that target the head, and you are to be congratulated for this important step. But when two fighters intentionally target the head with vicious punches, they are not punished.

Instead, they skate to the penalty box if their injuries allow, waiting for the next fight. And for this they are "punished" with large paychecks.

It's time for leaders to stop hiding behind carefully chosen words in public, because there is always the trump card behind closed doors when this issue is discussed, "It's part of the game, and it fills the seats."

Someday, caretakers of the game must ask the more important question: do we really believe the lives of these young athletes mean so little? Before arguing to maintain the status quo, please view the New York Times videos. Their message is much more potent than mine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-boy-learns-to-brawl.html

Visit Jack's website at www.overspeed.info.