For weaker or um, weaker ... today's NHL

Are we seeing the re-birth of goon hockey? Guys like Matt Kassian, Colton Orr, Eric Godard and Steve McIntyre have been laoring in the minors, but soon they'll all have necessary roles on teams that are getting bounced around. The Bettman, Campbell, SHAMahan experiment has failed ... badly!

Well, thanks to the NHL's "choice" to not regulate dirty hockey or dirty hockey players (think the Boston Bruins, among others), many NHL teams have no choice but to re-employ enforcers to protect their respective teammates. Tonight, Kassian returns to the Wild because the NHL failed to discipline players who took cheap-shots that injured Jared Surgeon (5-9, 175), Pierre Marc Bouchard (5-10, 175).

We all know that enforcers are seldom allowed the opportunity to protect the guys on the team and the Wild are perfect examples of that. Heavyweights like Matt Johnson, Sylvain Blouin, Derek Boogaard, Chris Simon, Todd Fedoruk, Chris Simon and John Scott proved to be deterrents to nobody. Rarely were they ever able to "exact revenge" on the offending party because the on-ice officials wouldn't allow it.

Typically, these players were rendered useless by the fact that they were little more than linebackers on skates. The moment they stepped on the ice, they had more eyes on them than Rihanna in game of strip poker. If they were ever able to lay their hands on the scrawny necks of the equivalent of Matt Cooke or Ryan Kesler, they faced the scorn of the same league that allows the injustices to occur in the first place.

In the end, we the hockey fans, get what we want and the fearless leaders of today's NHL will continue to be the targets of nation-wide derision as they flail aimlessly and hopelessly to tomorrow's NHL.

Bill Simmons vs. David Stern

Let me preface this rant by stating that Bill Simmons is one of my all-time favorite columnists, but I kind of disagree with his take eviscerating NBA Commisioner - David Stern.

For so many years, every league has "juiced" certain big market or influential teams and the NBA and Stern have been one of the biggest proponents of this strategy. Finally, as a league, perhaps as a favor to its die-hard fans, many of the NBA owners said "no more!" The move to invalidate the recent Chis Paul trade goes beyond competitive balance ... it is for integrity of a league that often seems to have little left.

Everyone, and their mother knew that Paul was the puzzle piece 1 and that by not trading Bynum, he would be used to acquire puzzle piece two, also known as, Dwight Howard. It sure would have been fun watching NBA nationally-televised games featuring only the Heat, Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Bulls and Dallas (plus fodder). Maybe my loyalty to the oft downtrodden Minnesota Timberwolves propagates my beliefs, I'm pretty certain that it is not what a majority of the average NBA rube wants and, apparently, is not what a majority of NBA owners want either.

Bill Simmons is as close to knowing what the average fan wants as Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh are to the average voter ... and that is not close at all. If it were up to Mr. Simmons, the Celtics would win the title every year, preferably at the expense of the Laker ... competitive balance be damned. Professional sports leagues are successful because of the many components within the league itself. Would I pay to watch, or would I even watch, Kobe vs. Lebron vs. Carmelo vs. Dirk vs. Rondo vs. Rose 80+ times a year? Nope. Would I do the same for a league wherein the teams and players can compete on the proverbial level playing field? Absolutely!

The league needs to remember the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, and that's where Bill Simmons completely misses the point. The league is not about the east coast vs. the west coast vs. the NBA "darlings." It's not about Lebron and Kobe. It's about getting to see world-class basketball with teams that have a chance of winning every night. It's about watching fantastic team and individual performances from all NBA teams, not just five or six. Mr. Simmons should know this from his love of the NFL.

To paraphrase every smug journalist that has ever issued a condescending counterpoint, "If Bill Simmons doesn't see the connection, he's just not paying attention."