How is this legal?

[Joel]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=305967

Basically, the story goes, NHL player (Alex Burrows) gets hit, referee decides to kick the guy who hit him out of the game, but the NHL overturned the call, saying Burrows took a dive. Burrows claims that the same ref (supposedly) said he would "get him back" for "embarrassing him", during the pre game warm up. After the game, Burrows feels penalties against his team are illegitimate, and unfair, so he calls out the ref in a press conference. Burrows was fined $2500 for this. How in the hell is this legal? What happened to freedom of speech?

 

[Northstar]

It's the same way in most sports. I don't get how they get away with it either.

 

[Joel]

I mean, I can't believe the NHLPA (NHL Players Association) isn't fighting this. They'd have the money to do it. They made a huge deal of a salary cap a few years back, and took that to court, but why not fight this?

 

[Northstar]

I mean, I can't believe the NHLPA (NHL Players Association) isn't fighting this. They'd have the money to do it. They made a huge deal of a salary cap a few years back, and took that to court, but why not fight this?

I would guess it was written into the CBA.

 

[Keef]

Is the NHL a private company? If they've got rules they've got rules.

 

[Omnis]

The NHL is one of the most poorly managed organizations in sports. They're terrible.

 

[tyl0r_r]

You have freedom of speech, yes. But try going to work and calling your boss an incompetent, unfair tyrant next time he does something less than intelligent. You'll still get fired/in trouble. The NHL and most other sports leagues have rules of conduct that you have to follow when you sign your contract and play with the league. Personally, I think it's silly they fined him but to be honest it was a mere slap on the wrist ($2500 fine for a guy making millions a year).

The NHLPA made a fuss over salary cap because they are spoilt millionaires who want their cash. If one guy gets in a very minor amount of trouble for a comment about a ref, they almost certainly don't care about that.

The NHL is mismanaged, as others have said. Places that actually like and support hockey like Winnipeg/Hamilton/Minnesota (last one has been fixed) have their teams taken away and are not considered for new teams while they try to make teams work in places where nobody gives a damn about the sport like Phoenix, Vegas, Florida, Atlanta, etc.

The ref did a pretty terrible job with the calls against Burrows and I hope the league at least notices that, but they probably won't.

 

[wfooshee]

There are places for mediation of such disputes, and a press conference is not one of them. Freedom of speech does not include airing out the dirty laundry of a business dispute, which is technically what this is.

 

[FoolKiller]

Nearly every sports league I know of in the US has some sort of rules of this nature. They all have conduct rules that are punishable by fines. Fines are the penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct because players are the key to the leagues. Legally questionable conduct will end up with suspensions or terminations, like Arenas in the NBA. His suspension might as well be a $147,000 fine per game missed.

This is not a free speech issue, this is a business conduct issue. If players or coaches are allowed to publicly ridicule the officials without repercussions then it will get to a point where officials are afraid to make even legitimate calls. The proper process of dealing with this is via internal petition. Bad calls are dealt with, and flagrantly bad calls are often met with fines to the officials.

In this case, if Burrows really did receive a threat by this referee pre-game he should have immediately gone to the (um) off-ice(?) officials and complained on the spot. Waiting until after the game to make public statements that he knows are in violation of the rules of conduct looks more like he was making excuses and exploiting an already known issue.

On the NHL's part, they should look into whether or not there is a grudge at play and if it is affecting the conduct of an official. But even if it is, Burrows is not allowed, according to his contract, to make it public.

 

[Duke]

It's the same way in most sports. I don't get how they get away with it either.

When you play the game, you agree that the ref's calls are final.

 

[Prosthetic]

This stuff happens all the times in sports... Go ask Ochocinco or whatever his name is this week.

 

[DK]

So what you're saying is that his team was screwed out of victory? I can feel your pain.

 

[Joel]

I agree, the NHL management is horrendous. Gary Bettman is completely incompetent as a hockey man. I understand that the ref's call is final, and that you need to have the rules, but seriously? Although $2500 is pennies to him, it's still ridiculous. In a perfect world, the referees would be available to the media in the post game press conference.

 

[wfooshee]

The referees already have people they answer to, as well. It may not be a public process, but it's a real process nonetheless. Those guys get suspended, moved down to the minors, the whole thing, just like players.

 

[tyl0r_r]

The referees already have people they answer to, as well. It may not be a public process, but it's a real process nonetheless. Those guys get suspended, moved down to the minors, the whole thing, just like players.

Yeah, plus the same crazy travel, have to skate at least decently well, practically perfect knowledge of the rules, everybody hates you most of the time, and you don't get paid even hardly a fraction of a few percent of what a lot of the players are getting. I'd probably take some revenge once in a while too