In his influential political essay “The Leviathan,” English philosopher Thomas Hobbes states that, “If any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies.” Hobbes argues that all men in a state of competition are likewise in a state of war, where the counterpart is viewed not merely as an opponent, but as an “enemy.”
With this week’s announcement of a 25-game suspension for Chris Simon’s hit on Ryan Hollweg, one begins to wonder if maybe Hobbes wasn’t on to something. It begs the question, in any field of competition where winning is the most desired thing: Do men really turn into enemies when the game is on the line? It certainly seems that way.
An undercurrent of violence has run through sports, from the days of the Roman colosseum, where men were made to fight to the death in order to entertain a fickle and bloodthirsty crowd.
Fast forward to modern times-the “gladiator” has been replaced by the “athlete,” and sports continue to act as a substitute for war with the field of play analogous to the field of battle. Consider Kevin Garnett’s much-criticized comments on May 19, 2004. Prior to his Minnesota Timberwolves game seven match-up against the Sacramento Kings, the T-wolves star said, “This is it. It’s for all the marbles. I’m sitting in the house loading up the pump, I’m loading up the Uzis, I’ve got a couple of M-16’s, couple of nines, couple of joints with some silencers on them, couple of grenades, I got a missile launcher, I’m ready for war.”
The criticism that followed from various self-righteous media outlets eventually forced Garnett to make a retraction and subsequent apology. The incident is merely another example of the close association between war and sports. The fact of the matter is most athletes, not just Garnett, approach every game with a warrior’s mentality, and see their opponents as the enemy. What the Garnett example shows is that this is true even in sports in which very little physical contact takes places.
In a sport like hockey, a so-called contact or “collision” sport, this warrior’s mentality will often lead to incidents like Chris Simon’s stick to the face, or Todd Bertuzzi’s career-ending blindsiding of Steve Moore.
Should the NHL feel guilty, when incidents like this occur, since sports are by nature violent? One can argue back and forth on this issue.
What the NHL should feel guilty about is their hypocritical stance on such matters. Violence really is a double-edged sword, and the NHL is clearly playing with both ends. In one respect they don’t want to see any of their star players get hurt, but on the other hand they realize that violence sells.
Make no mistake, the NHL is a business, and violence is among the things they serve up to the eager masses. Anyone debating this need only look at the first “post-lockout” commercial from the 2005-2006 season, entitled “My NHL.” In this commercial, they depict a hockey player preparing for a game as a samurai preparing for a battle. He sharpens his skates like a sword, and puts on his armour-like padding with the help of a scantily clad female assistant (sex sells, too). The video opens with a woman’s voice saying, “A clever warrior is one who not only wins, but excels at winning with ease.” a line taken from general Sun Tzu’s ancient text on military strategy, The Art of War.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the NHL would refer to a text on war strategies to sell their game. How else can you explain why an enforcer like Tie Domi for years was as respected in some circles as team captain and perennial scoring leader Mats Sundin? And how many times have you seen a crowd give a standing ovation to a fighter, and not bat an eyelash at a goal? The truth is that hockey is a lot closer to boxing or UFC than it is to a sport like basketball. For one, it is more overtly violent, and in some ways the rink is a lot like the octagon, except that, as the Chris Simon incident shows, hockey players have weapons.
Apparently, in hockey winning is not merely a question of who scores the most goals, but rather, as the commercial says, who draws the most blood. Is this really the message the NHL wants to send, while at the same time they denounce violence in their sport through suspensions and disingenuous speeches? The words “warrior” and “enemy” are repeated throughout the commercial. If I were an impressionable child and took it literally, as most children are wont to do, the message would be simple. I am a “warrior” out to get the player on the other team.
In any case, something is definitely lost in translation when it comes to what the NHL says and what it does. After all, hate and aggression make for good business. Think back to the most exciting hockey game you ever saw-weren’t they usually the ones with some rancour or grudges? Even the NHL’s focus on divisional rivalries is done with the aim of increasing the state of competition Hobbes warned about.
In the end there’s certainly plenty of blame to go around on this issue. Some of it has to go to the NHL for openly promoting violence, to the fans who enjoy watching a “good ol’ hockey fight,” and to the players themselves. But the fact of the matter is that sports are by nature violent, and while in no way exonerating the actions of a Chris Simon or Todd Bertuzzi, this may be a case for-to borrow a line from the rapper Ice-T-not hating the player, but hating the game.
