Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Mark Spector lets readers know how the NHL suspension process works: It's not an equitable system.

If a player takes out Sidney Crosby, he'll be suspended for longer than if he takes out David Booth.

Spec's mail bag

The mail bag was overflowing this week after Thursday's column about National Hockey League players being the ones responsible for cleaning up the dirty and extra-violent hits that cause serious injury. We said it's not the GMs' mess to clean up, and you seemed to agree.

In our second shot at answering the mail bag, we thank you for your responses, and ask if you can include your city the next time you email in.

***

Dave from Edmonton writes: "The NHLPA will do nothing. But individual injured players will start to launch multi-million dollar lawsuits against the players, the NHL and the NHLPA, and that will be the thing that finally forces change here."

Spec says: Could well be, Dave. Much like the widows and caregivers for ageing, concussion-ravaged NFL alum's have done.

The big class action that I see coming down the road, Dave, is in baseball. After years of both the players' union and MLB enabling across-the-board steroid use, we've predicted for some time now that there will be a glut of players whose livers and kidneys begin to shut down in their 50s and 60s. They'll trace it to steroid use, and hammer baseball for compensation the way smokers have sued Big Tobacco -- like these folks didn't know cigarettes or steroids were bad for them.

***

Greg writes: "All I know is that if Richards would have KO'd Sidney Crosby on that hit he would have been suspended for 50-plus games."

Spec says: That's how it works, Greg. It takes a star to go down before people really take notice. Why? Because if Crosby goes down, NBC and Reebok are on the line to Gary Bettman.

But when a David Booth falls in Florida, does he really make a sound?

***

Trevor writes: "Have you ever played the game at a high level? If not please refrain from making comments about how fast the game is. Because you just dont (sic) know until you have been in that situation."

Spec says: Trevor, no doubt studying nuclear physics in his spare time, went on to use the words "geuss," "thier," and "dont," in his dissertation about how everyone else knows little, and he's pretty much the only smart guy around. Our illiterate pal's point was that hockey is a man's game, and we should leave it alone.

I kind of agree with him -- which makes me want to take another look at my stance here.

***

Keith writes: "I almost hate to say it, but women's Olympic hockey is actually pretty entertaining to watch and has no hitting in it. Hmmmm..."

Spec says: Women's hockey would be better to watch of they DID allow hitting. When Canada and the USA meet -- let's face it, those are the only games even remotely worth watching. Both teams have the brakes on all night so they don't get a penalty for contact.

On one hand, women complain that the Olympic movement won't let them ski jump with the men. On the other, they have different rules for the same sport in hockey.

It's 2009, why do women need their own, less aggressive rules? They are more than capable of handling a little body contact and, I suspect, would welcome the opportunity.

The problem is, the addition of body contact would turn that 8-1 score every time Canada plays anyone other than the U.S. into a 14-0 game.

***

Bob, Raymond and Curtis W. all wrote variations on the same theme: Tie the length of the suspension to the amount of time the injured player misses.

Spec says: That doesn't work, for this reason:

By the end of some player's careers -- Eric Lindros, for example -- his knees are shredded and he could get concussed by a feather. What if you laid the last hit on Adam Deadmarsh or Scott Stevens, and he walks away from the game because of concussions? Do you get suspended for life?

Some players' shoulders are a separation waiting to happen. Players would avoid hitting those players for fear of the matching suspension.

***

On another topic, Stef writes: "I could be completely off the mark here, but it strikes me as weird that John Tavares' childhood friend, Matt Moulson, is seven years older than him. Now, I know that Sam Gagner is a childhood friend, but given that there's only a little more than a year in their ages, that seems more believable."

Spec says: As it turns out, Islander Matt Moulson has a younger brother, Chris, who is Tavares' age. Chris and John played together growing up, and Matt joins the two when they skate together in the summertime.