[Redrum]

Originally Posted by Philly06Cup

Philly is 'bush league' by initiating a line brawl. But looking at the bigger picture, the NHL is bush league for allowing this stuff to even happen in the first place.

It's about respect. Look at NBA, MLB, NFL. I'd say there is considerably more respect in those leagues. In the NFL, players on opposing teams often pick each other up off the turf after a tackle. In the NBA, opposing players often hug/handshake before and after games. There's still trash-talking, but underlying it all people treat each other as people.

In the NFL, if you start a scrum and shove another player, that's 15 yards. In the NBA, most scrums end in suspensions. In the NHL, it happens 30 times a game, without any incidence. Change the culture. Teach real respect. A scrum breaks out in the NHL - give one guy 2 minutes. Give him a 10 minute misconduct. No other league tolerates this bush-league level of disrespect.

Devastating hits happen all the time in the NFL. Yet teammates don't have this 'grrr must get revenge' mentality about it, like in the NHL. They don't go chasing around the guy who delivered that dirty hit, because doing so isn't 'tough,' it's just bush.

Terrible comparison. Hockey is the only one of those sports (if you can even call baseball a sport) that is mostly improvisation. Every other one is a series of set plays. It's far more chaotic, so more emotion is obviously expected.