Quote:
Originally Posted by taco.vidal
How does this protect the "better players" or "smaller players"? Pick your goon or tough guy and put him on the Flames. How is that going to protect little Johnny?
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It's not about the protection itself. It's psychological. Small players can play more scared when they don't think they have big, tough guys to stand up for them. It's not as much about the actual standing up for them, it's about little Johnny playing less scared. There's a lot of psychology in sports so just because you can't see something for yourself doesn't mean it's not making a difference in the heads of players. As we've seen Johnny when he plays scared is a perimeter player who doesn't accomplish much.
I know that answer won't satisfy some. Some don't believe there's much psychology in sports. Some won't see value in Johnny feeling safer. Is impossible to measure, impossible to quantify. But sports are played by humans and feelings affect performance.
We can never know how much effect tough guys can have psychologically. So the debate will rage on between those that believe there's zero effect and those that believe there is some effect.