hockey and fighting

I am watching Rome is burning right now and they are talking about Jarkko Ruutu biting an opponent.  Yeah, biting an opponent.  Weak sauce, I know.  Ruutu is a player who gets under others' skin and can drop the gloves.  Fighting is part of the game.  It is becoming more of a skill game than it was in the past mainly because of the European influence in the league now.  Which is fine, the games go quicker and at a faster pace.  

In the eighties and early nineties a team had one or two star players and enforcers to protect them.  Anyone who took a run at the star players ended up getting their teeth knocked in.  Case in point, the Detroit Red Wings.  Early eighties they had a young Steve Yzerman and Bob Probert to protect him.  Anyone so much as looked at Stevie Y in the wrong way, they were on the ice before they knew what happened and Probert was skating towards the penalty box.  So fighting is part of the game, and the fan base knows this.  

Jim Rome asked Mark Whicker (of the Orange County Register) if the NHL would be on a national scale all the time if they got away from the fighting.  And Whicker answered 'I think they would be more popular among real hockey fans and they are the only ones that watch it anyways.'   Now you can't take what this guy says seriously because he lives in California.  CALIFORNIA!!  They have three teams in southern California, two of which are awful, and he probably just pays attention to the Lakers anyway.  

Dude doesn't know what the hell he is talking about.  Fighting is part of hockey.  Fighting is like traveling in basketball, it is just part of the game.