by Yannick Dyer

Created on: May 11, 2008

Team sports are competitive. Whether it be baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or soccer. Each sport relies on the best of your camaraderie and individual effort. However, to single out the NBA and call the players "thugs" for occasional fights is completely bogus. Now don't get me wrong, I am a strong advocate for sportsmanship and clean play without fights. But if you have ever played a team sport on a regular basis, you know the passion that you have for the game sometimes might slip on the negative side and you could find yourself in a scuffle.

The most barbaric fights I have ever witnessed outside of boxing and mixed-martial arts have been in the NHL. On the ice, these guys batter each other with blows to the face, with both players grabbing onto the other's jersey. I have never witnessed anything as brutal as this in the NBA. And even when these hockey players smash one another into the glass as a defensive move, they are never labeled "thugs" for their efforts. Could this be a bit one-sided here, since the NBA is predominantly played by African-American athletes? These basketball players seem to be readily labeled thugs because some have the street image of cornrows and/or tattoos on the neck, forearms , and chest. Although, they do not skate on ice, they are surrounded by an arena of fans who engage in alcoholic beverages. This actually provoked the worst incident I have seen in the NBA when the Indiana Pacers fought Detroit Pistons fans after a beer was thrown, by a fan, onto then Pacers' forward Ron Artest. Afterwards, Artest was punished by being suspended for the remainder of the season, which was over 85 percent of a full NBA season. A stern punishment would normally keep the critics at bay, however they were only getting started.

It seems now, more than ever, the NBA is being criticized for such antics even though fights and brawls are infrequent. I believe the NHL should be the focal point of "thug mentality". Hockey players are allowed to fight, which is never allowed in the NBA, the NFL, or any league of soccer play. More importantly, in an incident which took place recently in minor league hockey, a teenage swung his hockey stick into a player of the opposing team causing that player to be impaled. The act of swinging one's stick into another player can cause serious body injury and it brought on criminal charges. The player whom was impaled by the stick suffered a ruptured spleen. Now you may ask yourself, where would a kid learn how to play dirty hockey such as this.

Well, in the NHL last year, a player by the name of Chris Simon swung his hockey stick into the face of a player of the opposing team causing that player to plummet to the ground while suffering a deep chin laceration. The blow could have been even worse if his stick did not hit the opposing player's shoulder pads before it made it to his face. Simon also had a separate incident following his suspension where he stomped on an opposing player's boot with his skate. The player escaped serious injury, however the possibility could have been a severed foot since the hockey skate has a blade.

This sort of behavior is ever more appalling to me than a scuffle with a fan. The NHL condones horrific style of play and I do not believe the NBA should be shone in the negative light of comparison.

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