[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 19: Fighting in ice hockey

[Faraaz Damji]

   Fighting in ice hockey is an established aspect of the sport with a
   long history involving many levels of amateur and professional play
   and including some notable individual fights.  Although the target of
   criticism, it is a considerable draw for the sport and is for some
   fans the primary reason to attend games.  Fighting is usually the role
   of one or more enforcers on a given hockey team and is governed by a
   complex system of unwritten rules that players, coaches, officials,
   and the media refer to as "the code." Some fights are spontaneous and
   others are premeditated by the participants.  While officials tolerate
   fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of penalties on
   players who engage in fights.  Broadly speaking, fighting exists in
   organized ice hockey to protect star players, who are generally
   discouraged by their coaches from fighting because of fear of injury,
   to deter opposing players from overly rough play, and to create a
   sense of solidarity among teammates.  Despite its potentially negative
   consequences, such as heavier enforcers knocking each other out,
   administrators like Gary Bettman of the NHL are not considering
   eliminating fighting from the game since most players consider it
   essential.  Additionally, the majority of fans oppose eliminating
   fights from professional hockey games.  However, considerable
   opposition to fighting and efforts to eliminate it continue.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_in_ice_hockey


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Today's selected anniversaries:

711:
   Muslim conquests: Moorish Umayyad invaders led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad
   defeated Roderic and the Visigoths at the Battle of Guadalete.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_ibn-Ziyad)

1553:
   Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England
   after holding that title for just nine days.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England)

1848:
   The two-day Women's Rights Convention, the first women's rights and
   feminist convention held in the United States, opened in Seneca Falls,
   New York.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention)

1870:
   A dispute over who would become the next Spanish monarch following
   Isabella II's abdication two years prior during the Glorious
   Revolution led France to declare war on Prussia.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War)

1947:
   Burmese nationalist Aung San and six of his newly formed cabinet
   members were assassinated during a cabinet meeting.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   corbie step: (architecture) A series of step-like projections
   at the top of a gable.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corbie step)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   The museums are here to teach the history of art and something more as
   well, for, if they stimulate in the weak a desire to imitate, they
   furnish the strong with the means of their emancipation.  -- Edgar
   Degas
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas)