Bertuzzi out for rest of season/playoffs
Now to bore people who don't care about sports... CrazyJohn speaks out on the Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore incident. For those of you in a cave (or who have better things to do than watch sports all day), let me quickly recap: Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi punched Colorado's Steve Moore from behind in retaliation for a hit Moore put on Markus Naslund the last time the two teams played each other. But it wasn't just a punch... Bertuzzi's punch seemed to knock Moore unconscious as he limply fell to the ice. But it wasn't just a knock out... Bertuzzi took Moore's head (now limp from the punch) and slammed it into the ice [as he fell on Moore]. And, apparently this wasn't even enough... as Bertuzzi continued to strike Moore in the head after they both landed on the ice. What I just described was not (I repeat... WAS NOT) biased in any way... a quick viewing of the incident will clearly show that my explanation are the actual events as they happened.
Having said all that... it should be noted that Mr. Steve Moore plays for the Colorado Avalanche... a team that I hate more than any other team in professional sports currently (with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers [although they just got rid of Keyshawn] and the New York Yankees running second and third). So I might be biased against Colorado... if anything.
But here is what happened to Mr. Steve Moore: He has a broken vertebrae in his neck. He isn't paralyzed... but it will be a while before he's playing hockey again, certainly. Bertuzzi commented on the incident last night... saying he "never meant to hurt" Steve Moore. Do you remember how I described the incident? Is there any possible way that Todd Bertuzzi could be telling the truth by saying he never meant to hurt Moore? No... no there's not. He lied... he DID mean to injure Moore. Maybe he's sorry that he broke Moore's neck... but he MEANT to hurt him.
Bertuzzi has been suspended for the rest of the regular season AND the entire post season. Plus he has to petition to be reinstated into the NHL next season. Is this fair? Um... I suppose so, yes. But I do feel (as Tony Kornheiser feels) that Bertuzzi should have to be out as long as Moore's out. That seems fair... but it won't happen. It might even be dangerous to set a precedent that suspensions will be "an eye for an eye." Think about it... you could have your worst player instigating a fight with the other team's best player and then have your guy fake an injury. Then the good player has to sit out... and you could keep saying "oh... our guy's not ready yet". Granted, this seems to be a special circumstance... but it's important to set a structured rule about the punishment for this kind of "crime". Let's hope the time off will make Bertuzzi less of a bitch.

P.S. I saw a trailer for "Jersey Girl" which is a movie with Ben Afflack and Liv Tyler. Rest assured, the acting in this movie will be Oscar caliber. Right. What a pile of shit... whoever cast this movie should be shot.
P.P.S. I see that John Lynch is going to be released by Tampa Bay. Maybe SOMEONE shouldn't have rooted for Tampa in the Super Bowl last year (I'm not naming names... but her name is "Heartless Traitor"). Well... crap... if he doesn't end up in Indy (which is a possibility), I wouldn't mind him on the Packers. With Sharper and Lynch... we'd have a pretty sweet secondary. Too bad we can't afford it. Oh well... maybe the windy city can.