April 28, 2005

BERTUZZI AFFAIR SHOULD END BEFORE IT BECOMES A SOAP OPERA

      Will Todd Bertuzzi be reinstated in time to play for Canada at the World Cup?  At the World Championships?  Before the next season—whenever that is—begins?  Will Bertuzzi and Steve Moore be joined at the hip forever?  Will Commissioner Gary Bettman look to set a precedent for violence in team sports or will he want the entire incident to simply go away?  These questions and more will continue to arise as we follow the saga of – The Young and the Vicious.

      The entire Todd Bertuzzi affair is getting tiresome.  Every few weeks or so there’s Bertuzzi and his antagonist Steve Moore, trudging into court, or into Bettman’s office, to convey updates and information on the health and well-being of both men.  The NHL suspended Bertuzzi indefinitely, but so far that has entailed only about a dozen or so end of regular season games and a few playoff encounters.  The suspension has not been long enough and everyone outside of the Bertuzzi camp understands that.  The question has become—how much is enough.  Should Bertuzzi be out as long as Moore?  Should he be banned for life?  Or should the former Canuck star be allowed to ply his trade as soon as the NHL is up and running?

       The length of the suspension cannot equal the length of Moore’s time in the infirmary.  Moore’s career is likely over, and Bertuzzi is the cause of that end.  But Moore was strictly a journeyman player who likely wouldn’t have lasted more than a couple of years anyway.  It is possible that Moore could have plied his trade in Europe, but the more realistic scenario is that Moore would have had to find some other form of employment at a not so distant date.   Bertuzzi, on the other hand, is a star player.  The careers of the two players have become intertwined because of the incident, but the careers of both players cannot be fitted together like two pieces of the puzzle.  Bertuzzi needs to be suspended for a certain length of time so that both men can get on with their lives.

       The event was certainly abominable.  To believe that the incident was simply a part of the game of hockey is to ignore the obvious—allowing extreme acts of violence to enter your sport effectively puts each player in that sport in extreme danger.  It is absolutely idiotic that a major league sport still allows fighting to be part of their game, and it is blatantly careless by that league to continue to turn a blind eye to acts of violence.  Incidents like the Bertuzzi affair happen regularly in the sport—the results in this case, a player being maimed, is certainly out of the ordinary, but the acts cannot continue.  Marty McSorley was suspended for the remainder of the season, about 30 games, when he whacked Donald Brashear in the ear with his stick.  McSorley, though, was a part-time player at the end of his career.  Bertuzzi is right at the peak of his athletic abilities.  McSorley’s suspension didn’t deter Bertuzzi.  Maybe a lengthy Bertuzzi suspension will deter the next idiot.

       Bertuzzi should be suspended for at least one season, including playoffs, once the NHL resumes.  That suspension should be handed down now, before there are more articles written, more camera shots, more photographs, and more talk involving the two players.  The affair should end.  Now, will such a lengthy suspension be a deterrent?   It might hold most back from attempting something stupid during a game, but until violence is eradicated completely from the sport there are going to be more incidents that have horrifying results.