Spezza

barry33 · Guru

Spezza

norskipaul · Senior Member

Is that legal in hockey? In soccer that goal would have been disallowed. If the ref heard it, of course.

heet_150 · Guru

barry33 wrote:

By the way, I cannot get over disliking Danny Heatly everytime I see him because of his driving "incident". To this day I think he got off easily and the fact that he still makes a living playing hockey like nothing happened, while Dan Snyder is dead, is just plain wrong. IMHO.

Holy crap Barry, all this time I thought I was the only one that has not forgotten what this guy did. You'll see some of my earlier posts where I refer to him as some various forms of criminal (murderer actually). I am sickened every time I see him playing. You can be sure that if I was driving drunk and crashed and killed someone (I haven't), I'm in jail for a very long time. I heard Pierre Maguire on the FAN 590 this morning talking about the Canadian Olympic Commitee possibly vetoing Bertuzzi, Doan and Heatley from the roster due to things that have happened on the ice (Bertuzzi and Doan) and off (Heatley). Basically, Maguire said that they should all have a spot on the team, he would be okay with it, what's done is done. I have rarely been this mad at a radio. I know he is a blow hard (Maguire, that is) but for Christ's sake, HE'S okay with it? I would imagine that Dan Snyder's family relives that horrible day in their life every time they hear Heatley's name. I don't think there will ever be a time that I will forgive and forget.

brooklynhabfan · Guru

I also get a bit of uncomfortable feeling seeing Heatley. I wasn't there, so I can't judge what happened, but kids with cars that go 180 MPH are always a bad combo in my book. As far as gettng off scott-free, I can only imagine, unless he has no soul, that he lives with a constant replay of that incident every night when he goes to sleep.

As far as Spezza, a little instant karma for him, losing against a team that was as hobbled as us from a 3 goal advantage has to hurt as bad as a sucker punch to the face, which is pretty much what he did to Shelly yesterday. Cheap little s#%t for doing that

barry33 · Guru

Heet- on the one hand I look at it and I think "don't judge a man til you walk a mile in his shoes". Perhaps Heatley has gone through his own personal hell, I dunno. But I still say the guy got off essentially scot free and everytime I look at him I think "how could you do that to a teamate and every play hockey again". I just look at the guy and I am sickened. Sorry for Heatly supporters but that is how I feel. I agree with you Heet. Ha dthat been you or I driving that car that night we would still be serving guys named Bubba in a federal prison someplace.

brooklynhabfan · Guru

Don't get me wrong. Everytime I think about a kid who's been killed by some jackass who had to get behind the wheel drunk, it makes my blood boil, Unfortunately, in the US, where this happened, the law has been crippled by pressure from the muti-billion dollar alcohol industry, who spend tens of millions a year to have lawyers argue that it's not as big a problem as it is. Then they fund the campaigns of the politicians who make the decisions that could make a difference. It doesn't take a genius to do the math on that one.

The result? Incidents like the Heatley one are often seen as unfortunate occurances rather than the result of criminal activity, and go without appropriate punishment. It puts an unneccessary burden on hard working cops who deal with the ugly results of abuse every night. And it results in 17,000 deaths and 300,000 serious injuries a year. That's a rate higher than the death/injury numbers for Vietnam, but I don't see anyone in the streets about this one.

The good news is, that while traffic fatalities have stayed pretty steady for the last 20 years, the percentage of alcohol-related traffic deaths has gone from 60% to 39%, which is a good sign that people have themselves decided it's something not to turn away from.

barry33 · Guru

brooklynhabfan wrote:

I also get a bit of uncomfortable feeling seeing Heatley. I wasn't there, so I can't judge what happened, but kids with cars that go 180 MPH are always a bad combo in my book. As far as gettng off scott-free, I can only imagine, unless he has no soul, that he lives with a constant replay of that incident every night when he goes to sleep. As far as Spezza, a little instant karma for him, losing against a team that was as hobbled as us from a 3 goal advantage has to hurt as bad as a sucker punch to the face, which is pretty much what he did to Shelly yesterday. Cheap little s#%t for doing that

Unfortunately Brook, if we were to let everyone off with a crime who went througha personal hell or felt guilty about it after, we would not need a prison.

heet_150 · Guru

barry33 wrote:

Perhaps Heatley has gone through his own personal hell, I dunno.

First and foremost I am not implying that this is your sentiment, I just pared down your comment for space. I refuse to feel sorry for Heatley that he had to live through this. My sympathies lie with Dan Snyder and his family. He was robbed a future. Not just a potential hockey career, but the chance to someday have his own family and life. Yes, he had the option to not get into the car with Heatley. Yes, he could have tried to stop Heatley from driving. However, Heatley is the one that put the keys in the ignition and drove ungodly speeds while impaired.

brooklynhabfan · Guru

barry33 wrote:

Unfortunately Brook, if we were to let everyone off with a crime who went througha personal hell or felt guilty about it after, we would not need a prison.

You couldn't have me more wrong. I'm for jail time on first offences in this matter, especially when someone is killed or permanently maimed.

I've got no sympathy at all for the perp or how anguished they are after. If they feel bad about it, they should do so in addition to criminal punishment. I was just trying to say, even though he didn't get the jail time he deserved, I bet it digs at him every day, and at least that's some punishment.

It's pretty black and white. There's no difference between getting behind the wheel drunk, and waving a loaded gun around. It's a weapon either way.

ray · Senior Member

I didn't think alcohol was a factor just a young person speeding in a very fast car. Was alcohol really involved. I can't recall hearing or seeing that published. Maybe i missed it?

norskipaul · Senior Member

brooklynhabfan wrote:

Don't get me wrong. Everytime I think about a kid who's been killed by some jackass who had to get behind the wheel drunk, it makes my blood boil, Unfortunately, in the US, where this happened, the law has been crippled by pressure from the muti-billion dollar alcohol industry, who spend tens of millions a year to have lawyers argue that it's not as big a problem as it is. Then they fund the campaigns of the politicians who make the decisions that could make a difference. It doesn't take a genius to do the math on that one. The result? Incidents like the Heatley one are often seen as unfortunate occurances rather than the result of criminal activity, and go without appropriate punishment. It puts an unneccessary burden on hard working cops who deal with the ugly results of abuse every night. And it results in 17,000 deaths and 300,000 serious injuries a year. That's a rate higher than the death/injury numbers for Vietnam, but I don't see anyone in the streets about this one. The good news is, that while traffic fatalities have stayed pretty steady for the last 20 years, the percentage of alcohol-related traffic deaths has gone from 60% to 39%, which is a good sign that people have themselves decided it's something not to turn away from.

Another thing is that there is no public transportation system to speak of in most American cities and taxies are few and far between. Coming from social-democratic Scandinavia I was shocked and I'm not afraid to admit scared by the amount of alcohol people would consume before driving. These guys (and girls) would knock back margaritas and tequila shots and beer like there was no tomorrow then get behind the wheel without a second thought. I hope what you say is true, but I think some big changes will have to be made if the curse of drunk driving is to be eradicated.

brooklynhabfan · Guru

ray wrote:

I didn't think alcohol was a factor just a young person speeding in a very fast car. Was alcohol really involved. I can't recall hearing or seeing that published. Maybe i missed it?

He was drinking, but was not legally drunk