Editorial: Penalize illegal checking in politics
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There’s no place for violence in hockey.
At least not outside of getting the puck to the net.
While hip checks and shoulder checks, cross checks and stick checks happen all the time in the rink, that’s part of the game.
When it happens after a whistle has blown, that’s different. When it happens against someone who isn’t wearing pads, that’s a different game altogether — the kind that gets people arrested.
New Kensington police charged Jeremy Gilbert, 43, of Buffalo Township with assault on a sports official. That’s a first-degree misdemeanor.
Police say Gilbert was playing in an adult league game at the Pittsburgh Ice Arena when he repeatedly punched the referee in the head after a penalty was called.
The Tribune-Review talked to people involved in the sport in various areas, with the consensus being that people who break the rules and participate in violence need to be banned.
“I can understand how situations can get heated and people can react without thinking or thinking rationally. But, on the other hand, this is an adult league, and we should all be at the age where we should be able to control our emotions,” said Lauren Brink, commissioner of a private summer league in Mt. Lebanon and captain of teams in Cranberry and Warrendale.
Brink is right. Yes, things can get out of control, but there is no reason to condone that just because it’s a competition. We wouldn’t want our kids do that. Adults shouldn’t do it either.
The same could be said of politics.
If the stakes seem high in sports, there’s a lot more on the line with government — be it local or state or national. And it seems like everywhere, everyone is slamming the opposition into the boards.
With verbal hits on social media and in person, with the stealthy stealing or booby-trapping of campaign signs and with the outrageous plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, things are passing from “routine part of the game” to “someone call 911” on a more regular basis.
The police and other authorities can whistle things down after they happen, but sometimes that’s too late.
But it is within all of our power to be like Brink and those hockey leaders who say they would demand more of their players.
Because what does it say about our politics when hockey is better at calling out violence?