AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 09 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSimon says, Duck!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That was some seriously ugly stuff from Long Island last night, with Chris Simon basically trying to decaptiate Ryan Hollweg. By now, most of you have seen the video and I know it’s been kicked around on our blogs all day, but I’ll just quickly tell you why I think it’s the worst of the recent incidents and why I doubt we’ll see Chris Simon play another NHL game.
If we’re going to look at Simon’s Samaurai swing, McSorley’s slash to Brashear’s head and Bertuzzi’s sucker punch on Steve Moore as the big three of recent NHL black eyes.
I know a lot of people regard Bertuzzi’s attack on Moore as the worst because he basically ended the guy’s career. And it’s the only one of these three incidents that wasn’t necessarily goon-on-goon action. But the fact is that Bertuzzi was trying to start a fight; he wasn’t necessarily trying to do what ultimately happened. He got overanxious and jumped Moore in an awkward position, instead of waiting until they were face to face. The fact that Moore fell and broke his neck was more a result of the clumsiness of the situation that the attack itself. Ugly, uncalled for and worth of the suspension he got, but as for outright intent, I rank it behind the other two … if for no other reason than the other two involved stick work.
McSorley’s hit on Brashear appeared to me, again, to be a guy trying to pick a fight. We’ve all seen enforcers kind of whack each other across the arms with their sticks as they acknowledge that it’s time to drop. McSorley made the mistake of getting the stick up high and he tapped Brashear on the head instead of the arms. Again, worthy of the penalties imposed, but the intent wasn’t to knock Brashear off his feet like that; it was to get his attention.
Which brings us to Chris Simon, who basically wound up and swung his stick on a horizontal plane right at Hollweg’s Adam’s apple. He could have killed him with the chop to the throat, not to mention the fall to the ice. He swung that stick with the pure intention of swinging the stick. And that’s why I see it as the worst. I imagine he’ll get the same one-year deal that Bertuzzi got, and that should all but end the career of a tough guy with limited skills who will be almost 37 by the time he’s eligible to play again.
Looking around at the other sports, what do you consider the worst act of aggression?
Kermit Washington’s punch of Rudy T is pretty much the standard bearer in the NBA, although the Pacers-Pistons brawl was pretty ugly. In baseball, my dad has told me several times about the time Juan Marichal knocked Johnny Roseboro over the head with his bat because Roseboro had been throwing the ball back to the pitcher by whizzing it by Marichal’s ear. Several Giants came out of the dugout with bats as well in a very tense, ugly scene. And in the NFL, it’s a tough call because out-of-control violence was legal for so long. They actually had to come up with rules against head-slapping and clothes-lining. But I do remember watching the game live on TV when Reggie White picked up Jim McMahon after the whistle and threw him down on his shoulder. It was bizarre to see something happen so far away from the play and so long after the whistle.
Have you ever seen a famous incident like that live? And what do you regard to be the most flagrant acts of violence in sports?
Comments
By Brendan
March 9, 2007 7:24 PM | Link to this
Chris Simon has to serve his time. It’s a bad incident. I don’t know WHERE it ranks. They’re all bad.
By Thrashy Thrashy
March 9, 2007 7:51 PM | Link to this
Ice Man, you have lost your mind. Ultimately, Simon cannot be suspended for a year because Hollweg is fine. He’s lucky to be fine, but he’s fine. The resulting injury absolutely has to factor into the suspension. Bertuzzi nearly crippled a man. Simon gave Hollweg a flesh wound. At least Hollweg had a chance to see what was coming. Simon didn’t crack him in the back of the head.
By B. Thenet
March 9, 2007 8:16 PM | Link to this
The funny thing about this. If the only thing that happens on that play is Chris Simon is out with a concussion from the cheap hit from behind Hollweg put on him(and Simon did get a concussion from the intital hit)…we wouldn’t even be talking about it.
Get rid of the cheap scum like Hollweg by calling penalties and suspending people for dirty hits, even when an injury does not occur from a cheapshot, and we would lose alot of this nonsense that comes from retaliating.
By Matthew at the SLC
March 9, 2007 8:18 PM | Link to this
Thrashy, that’s been the problem with the NHL for years, and Barry Melrose said this in SportsCenter at 1800 today. Just because Hollweg is fine shouldn’t matter. A centimeter up or down, and Hollweg could have been DEAD. Thrashy, I have no problems with fights, but that was headhunting. That was ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WAEPON. If you go do that to someone at your job, and you’ll be spending the next 10 to 15 in the Georgia State Pen north of Gainesville. There is a difference in fighting and in using a weapon like Simon did. If he would have dropped the stick and dropped the gloves, like No. 8 did last night in Blueland, then we wouldn’t be talking like this today. Simon should not only be suspended forever, but if I were the DA on Long Island, I’d bring him up on assault charges.
By Ryan
March 9, 2007 8:19 PM | Link to this
Brian, where ever you’re at thanks for that Cambell link. I remember watching that game and feeling bad for Umberger. That guy was dazed. Watching the Sabres game through yahoo sports.
By Ice Man
March 9, 2007 8:29 PM | Link to this
I wouldn’t say I’ve lost my mind. I mean, I didn’t say the Bertuzzi punishment wasn’t warranted. It was. But so is an equal punishment warranted for Simon. I think any stick-swining incident is inherently worse than a punching incident. And this one was right at the neck.
It’s like the difference between manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. What Simon did is like manslaughter — it was a deliberate attack with a weapon. What Bertuzzi did was like involuntary manslaughter — he punched the guy and as a result of the punch, because of the way the guy fell, the guy broke his neck. It doesn’t make it any less wrong, but the intent was not the same as swinging a stick at a guy’s head.
And if you think Hollweg could ‘see what was coming’ and could react to it, then you’ve never played ice hockey. Things move pretty damn quick out there and if somebody wants to clothesline you with a stick, you’re going down. Going down to Chinatown. In other words, Chris Simon is no longer in the Byrnes Family Circle of Trust.
By Ice Man
March 9, 2007 8:38 PM | Link to this
P.S. everybody, I removed the link to the controversial post of a couple days ago and had it sent to a Haitian witchdoctor, who performed a de-mojo-ing ceremony that involved coating the blog in Turtle Wax and deep-frying it in a vat of Crisco. It was then fed to a kosher guinea pig, which in turn was fed to a kosher boa constrictor.
In other words, it’s cool.
Let us not speak of it again.
By Russ
March 9, 2007 9:03 PM | Link to this
Ice Man - For the record, that wasn’t Reggie White that slammed McMahon. I want to say his name was Tim Harris, but don’t quote me on that…but I know it wasn’t Reggie.
P.S. - Good call on burning the last post. You are here by exorcised of any wrongdoing that may occur from here on out.
By Ice Man
March 9, 2007 9:07 PM | Link to this
You are correct, sir … sort of. It was Charles Martin. Thanks for correcting me.
By Ice Man
March 9, 2007 9:26 PM | Link to this
Great SI.com photo gallery on ‘infamous hits.’ … Many of these bring back horrible memories, esp. Dale Hunter’s hit on Pierre Turgeon, among the most cowardly acts I’ve ever seen on the field of play.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0703/gallery.nhl.notorious.hits/content.1.html
By R. Stroz
March 10, 2007 12:07 AM | Link to this
Although this was a football incident, I considered Jack Tatum’s spearing Darryl Stingley in the back as one of the worst cheap shots ever. Tatum was known for taking cheap shots at receivers with his helmet. When he speared Stingley, he paralyzed him and had no remorse.
By Brendan
March 10, 2007 12:29 AM | Link to this
I remember that hit on Turgeon by Dale Hunter. Totally cheap and dishonorable. But that’s how Dale Hunter played. The SI.com caption says that Turgeon was lost for the playoffs. But I’m almost certain that Turgeon returned for Games six and seven vs. Pittsburgh, when the Pens dynasty was derailed in 1993. Ferraro to King for the Game Seven OT winner. It was the last time the Islanders made the Conference Finals. They lost to Montreal, who eventually won the Cup over Los Angeles.
By thrashersfan
March 10, 2007 9:07 AM | Link to this
Ice Man, I completely agree with your analogy. Although very ugly, “Bertuzzi was trying to start a fight; he wasn’t necessarily trying to do what ultimately happened.” It’s easy to argue, though, that his punishment wasn’t enough considering the injury to Moore. But, Bertuzzi did suffer and still does today. Perhaps, it would be more appropriate if he was monetarily supporting Moore, but that’s for the courts to decide.
Simon wasn’t actually trying break Hollweg’s neck, but it was clearly intent to injure and a swing of the stick to the head is unacceptable and should be severely penalized. Simon’s career is probably over, but only if he’s suspended at a minimum the rest of the season and playoffs.
I also think Simon’s comments after the fact do not help. Hell, even if he was still p**, he should have apologized for his actions and said he just lost it and made a mistake…or was he still dazed from Hollweg’s hit? I don’t think so, he clearly recognized who was skating right back towards him. It doesn’t look good for Simon and it shouldn’t.
Can the Thrashers win their first sixth game in a row? Yes, but it won’t be easy.
By Brian
March 10, 2007 3:18 PM | Link to this
So in our civil courts, does attempted murder receive just as much time in the slammer as 1st degree murder? And how does manslaughter play in to all that? Just some thoughts when thinking about intent vs. actual injury…
Ryan - glad you liked it, I found another one on there that I have been looking for for over a decade of Rob Ray.
By zach
March 10, 2007 3:19 PM | Link to this
Great article, I agree with everything you said, it was the most blatant and horrible cheap shot I’ve ever seen in my 20 years of playing and watching hockey. Regardless of the result.
By Ice Man
March 10, 2007 6:01 PM | Link to this
Brian, I’m no lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night …
I can’t tell you the specifics of the penal system, but, yes, there are different legalities in terms of ‘intent’ and ‘result’ … If you kill somebody while driving recklessly (hmm, like that could ever happen), you can be convicted of vehicular homicide, but the penalty is not as harsh as, say, if you kill somebody in a premeditated action (such as swinging a stick at their head). In both, you caused a death, but one was an indirect result of OTHER criminal actions, not the DIRECT result of your intended actions.
But then again, I’m just a caveman. I was frozen in some ice until your scientists thawed me out. I don’t understand your complex legal systems of habeas corpus and whatnot. …. (God, I miss Phil Hartman.)
By Brian
March 11, 2007 8:40 PM | Link to this
Ice Man - keep staying at that Holiday Inn because you hit the nail on the head like I wanted. INTENDED ACTIONS! Simon intended to hurt him, he wasn’t skating recklessly around the rink when he lost an edge and hurt someone a la Uwe Krupp.
By Ric
March 12, 2007 4:44 PM | Link to this
The one I remember seeing live was Joe “Turkey” Jones of The Cleveland Browns back in the 70’s picking Terry Bradshaw up after a play and flipping him over backwards onto his head and kneck. Bradshaw lay on the field twitching for a while before they got out to him. It was one of those plays that, as a Browns fan, was intitially exciting before you realized that Bradshaw might be badly hurt.
By Steve
March 13, 2007 12:58 AM | Link to this
Hunter on Turgeon was much worse. He took steps towards Turgeon to land the hit. It wasn’t something that was done in the heat of the moment as two players were in each other’s space, it was actually took a few seconds to even happen.
What Simon did looked ugly, it was wrong, but I do want to point out that modern composite hockey sticks are very light and hollow. Its not like when players were tomahawking each other with heavy wood sticks with weight behind them. It doesn’t make it right, but my point is that Bertuzzi’s sucker punch was more damaging than a clothesline with a 1 pound stick. I disagree with Barry Melrose (but what else is new, I can’t stand him). I think the damage that the player incurred should be taken into consideration. I played hockey for many years and some of the ugliest hits I have taken weren’t that bad at all. Meanwhile the simple things like a trip that twisted my ankle in a half-circle screwed me up for a long time. To be honest, the best way to avoid an injury in a fast paced game like hockey is to wear more equipment. You want a simple solution to the problem…make players were a full face shield…all the way down to the chin along with some form of neck protection. There would be no more fights and no high sticks. You want to know why? It wouldn’t be worth taking a two minute penalty to basically hit someone in pads.