Violence in sports

[Chaerophon]

If people cut down on fights in other places, I don't see what sticking it all over in sports will do.  If someone likes fighting, they have to deal with that plain and simple, not just try and move it around somewhere else.
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Hockey fighting involves a measure of honour and respect, something that the average modern bar brawler knows nothing about. It has an internal culture - lines that may not be crossed and liberties that may not be taken without punishment. The key is that it is most often measured, respectful punishment.

In my father's day, an after-school fight might result in a black eye, but when the guy was down, he was down. Nowadays, if he's down, it's time for everyone to jump in and start kicking. The correlation that you seem to be positing between 'cutting down on fighting in sports' and 'cutting down on fighting in the real world' doesn't exist. There was a hell of a lot more fighting in the game 30 or 40 years ago than there is now. There was also about a quarter of the stick work, and a lot less street violence (at least where I live, in Vancouver).

Fights aren't everything that there is to hockey, and they aren't the reason that I love the game. However, until you have been a part of a team on which every player is willing take a beating for one of his teammates, you cannot understand what fighting means to the sport. When you see a friend, a fellow warrior felled by a high stick and you feel such a bond, you think nothing of dropping the gloves and making someone pay the price. For the length of a season (and often longer), your teammates are your brothers and there is little that you would not do to defend them. This relationship is the key to a successful team and to the passion of the sport. In my opinion, it is this fire, this devotion that is missing from sports like basketball, in which most teams are little more than a group of isolated individuals. I agree that there is no place for fighting in basketball. Hockey is a different sport with different roots. Hockey players are bred to be warriors. To play like anything less is to disrespect the roots of the game and its traditions. Devotion to one's team is what the sport is all about, and removing fighting from the game would put out the fire that unites every team - the willingness to spill blood for a teammate.

EDIT: Just thought I'd add; a few lumps are much more likely to deter future action than is a penalty. What's more, a few lumps will rarely hurt anyone, while slashing, high sticking, and hitting from behind incidents can end a career.