Why is it OK to fight on the ice, but not the court?

Imagine Mike Tyson on a pair of ice skates and wearing a San Jose Sharks jersey.

Seriously, think about it.

Picture Tyson sliding ever so gently to the face off circle. He’s hunched over, hands firmly grasping a stick as it rests across his knees. An impish grin spreads across his face revealing his hockey-like grill, a dentist’s nightmare. The puck drops to the ice and Tyson, rather than waving his stick at the puck, flings his gloves off and starts throwing haymakers.

Forget that Tyson is probably not the best skater and quite possibly has never touched a hockey stick. He might stumble around the rink a bit, but when a fight erupts, you’re going to be glad Iron Mike is on your team.

Maybe hockey is the next frontier for Tyson. Whether he decides to make a career change or not, the fights will rage on in the NHL. Take last Thursday’s battle royale between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators.

In case you missed it, a Chris Neil elbow leveled Buffalo’s Chris Drury to kick off the events. Immediately after the hit, Drew Stafford came to his fallen teammate’s defense and starting throwing punches at Neil. Neil and Stafford received major penalties, five minutes in the box, but the hit on Drury was ruled clean.

In response, the Sabres’ coach sent in a team of known tough guys with instructions to “Go out and run ’em.” Before the puck was dropped to start play again, the Senators’ Dany Heatley pushed Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta, making it clear a fight was coming.

The puck got slapped around the ice a bit, but the players weren’t after the puck. The fight was on. Every player on the ice stepped into the fray. Even the keepers, with smiles on their faces, met each other out of their nets and joined the fisticuffs.

If this fight had taken place in the NBA or Major League Baseball, the players involved would’ve received harsh suspensions. Following the fight, the NHL suspended nobody – three players were ejected and 14 penalties were levied, but the only action taken by the NHL was a $10,000 fine to Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

Here’s the question: Why is fighting “just a part of the game” in the NHL, but a melee in any of the major American sports becomes headline news?

Last year, Temple University men’s basketball head coach John Chaney sent in a “goon” to “send a message” against St. Joseph’s in response to what Chaney thought was poor officiating. The Temple player broke the arm of a St. Joe’s co-captain.

There’s no way Chaney was justified, and that’s not the argument I’m trying to make. It was a poor decision that tarnished his Hall of Fame career. Temple suspended Chaney for the remainder of the regular season (three games), and the coach retired several weeks after.

Earlier this season, the Denver Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games after he punched the New York Knicks’ Mardy Collins. Anthony wasn’t the only player punished. Six other players were suspended for a total of 32 games.

The Sabres and Senators fight was just as ferociously as the fight between the Nuggets and Knicks, yet no suspensions were made. Just a measly $10,000 fine to the head coach.

The fight might as well have been another epic battle between Elmer Fudd and Buggs Bunny – it was sheer entertainment with minor consequences for those involved.

Why is it OK for Ray Emery and Martin Biron to square off on the ice while Carmelo Anthony is depicted as a street thug after making one bad decision? Hockey players get a free pass for the fights they partake in compared to other major sports.

Hockey aficionados will tell you bluntly that fighting is a part of the game. Maybe it’s time to crack down a bit. Take a glance at hockeyfights.com and every NHL fight since the season began in October. More than 300 fights have been logged. That’s more than 60 per month of the season.

If there were 60 fights each month in baseball, basketball or football, media outlets would be buzzing around each incident. There would be an overload of analysis and special segments to figure out where the excessive violence has come from.

Tyson fought 58 bouts in his boxing career. That’s two less than the monthly average in the NHL. Tyson might not be able to skate, but he still might have a home in the NHL.