Best use of the word "tainted" in a sports report...

If you haven't heard of Sidney Crosby, don't bother with this one. If you have, check out this headline and have a chuckle:

With Crosby disregard, NHL obviously endorses genital walloping

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When it comes to analyzing the NHL's system of discipline, it's foolhardy to play the "if Player X had done Action Y, then he would have received Punishment Z" game of hypothetical comparisons.

One, because acts of hockey violence are like snowflakes, in the sense that no two are alike and they quickly melt from memory by the time the next one arrives. But also because it's pointless to pretend that justice is blind to reputation, renown and fundamental political biases.
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Again, just to reset the scene: The biggest star in the National Hockey League was caught on video going Jack Dempsey on another player's groin ... from behind. I know it's not a fashion magazine intern making a sex joke in the locker room, but doesn't Crosby's behavior affect the image of the game (and that of its poster boy) in some negative way? Even a little bit?

Please don't read this as anti-Crosby. I think this incident is actually the kind of thing that the NHL needs from the kid, who works better as a heel than he does as a hero. (I've made the comparison before, and once more with feeling: Crosby as a fan-favorite is like The Rock when he was Rocky Maivia; Crosby as the whiney, quasi-cheater is like The Rock as The Rock -- immensely more compelling and charismatic. Avery's rant about needing villains? No one works better than Crosby.)

But a punch to store is still a punch to the store. It deserved more than a roughing call. And if Crosby isn't going to get more than that, then the NHL's system of discipline continues to be ... ahem ... "tainted."

Video at the link.