A Cajun-Asian View

Can't wait for the season to start...

Yes, I am now watching NHL hockey action on Joost! Most of the games from the last series of the playoffs are available for viewing on Joost, skipping most the commercials1 and all of intermission breaks. Outside of stoppages of plays during play and the occasional replay, it's pretty much nothing but constant playoff hockey action. Nice stuff! If I need a break, it's just a matter of hitting the spacebar or pressing the pause button on the on-screen display pause the hockey action until I can get back to it. This is much closer to the concept of on-demand TV programming that I have envisioned.

1. 1. Joost will show a 30-second commercial at a few stopping points during the games. I only remember seeing 2-3 such commercials on an entire game, though.

Supposedly, there was some buzz recently about whether the NHL should tolerate fighting, though I haven't been reading around about it. It seems this fight between Fedoruk and Orr in a recent Flyers vs Rangers game sparked it:

This is a case of two willing participants going at it with a unfortunate result for Fedoruk.

Truthfully, as for the "should professional hockey even tolerate fighting" subject, I have mixed feelings about it. I'll be frank: I do enjoy the brutal nature of hockey. I love hockey because it's one of the few sports that combines, at its basic nature, a high amount of skill, high speeds, tactical and strategic thinking by the players, team play, and full body contact in the same game. Trying to take away the physical side of hockey would take away a core part of the reasons I watched and played hockey.