An Insider's Opinion On Crosby Punching A Guy In The Crotch

All around the interwebs there was outrage last week over the Sidney Crosby punching Boris Valabik repeatedly in the crotch and not being suspended incident.

I'll admit I was one of those people who didn't understand how you could get away with doing that. In any other sport, punching a guy in the crotch would get you sent home for awhile. But this is hockey, and maybe that's what makes this sport great.

Instead of just playing the outraged hockey writer role and condemning Crosby for his actions, I instead decided to put my college diploma in television broadcasting to good use and do some investigatory journalism.

Over the weekend, I got in touch with hockey insider Bob McKenzie while he was in Ottawa covering the World Junior tournament for TSN. I asked him about the incident and why Crosby wasn't disciplined. McKenzie thinks it's because it wasn't worthy of any disciplinary action in the first place.

"I guess the NHL saw it the same way I did – it’s not suspendable. It wasn’t nice but in a league where you get one or two games for taking off a guy’s head, I’m not sure that punching a guy with your glove on in the pants is going to cost you."

McKenzie also believes that the punch wouldn't be such a big deal if it was done by another player other than Sid the Kid.

"If it wasn’t Crosby, we wouldn’t even have talked about it, let alone considered it as a potential suspension."

So there you have it. Punching a guy in the crotch in the NHL is totally cool. Hockey players have it sweet, hockey writers not so much. I just decided to punch the mailman in the crotch while he was delivering my mail, and it was quite a scene. Police got involved, I was put in handcuffs, and now have to appear in court next month. I almost immediately regret making that decision.