YET ANOTHER REASON TO LAUGH AT THE NHL

I really wanted to get back into hockey this season. I swear. With the Bruins playing as well as they are (and myself being unemployed and bored), I figured now was as good a time as any to start watching hockey regularly.

But the worst commissioner in sports, Gary Bettman, continues to do his best to cultivate the laughing stock image of hockey he has so successfully created in his tenure. His most recent bonehead decision is the suspension of Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery for comments about his ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert. Here's Avery's quote:

"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada," he said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight."

The trauma. The horror. How will our children sleep at night with Sean Avery's words creeping into their bedrooms at night and raping their eardrums.

As a result of his comments, Bettman decided to suspend Avery INDEFINITELY. This comes the same day as the New York Giants suspended Plaxico Burress for the remainder of the season. Let's compare infractions.

Plaxico Burress:
-Carrying a concealed weapon in a club
-Carrying a weapon without a permit
-Discharging said concealed, unpermitted weapon inside club into his leg
-Trying to find a hospital where incident would not be reported
-Checking into hospital under a fake name
-Trying to dispose of said concealed, unpermitted, weapon somewhere in New Jersey

Sean Avery:
-Made fun of another hockey player for dating his ex-girlfriend

Burress is slapped with a 4 game suspension, Avery is suspended INDEFINITELY. I cannot stress this enough. If Gary Bettman has any sense left whatsoever, he will make this a one game suspension and get it over with. It is a complete joke. Not only is it not even remotely worthy of deserving suspension, but should also be protected within the first amendment. This is a free speech issue! In other sports, when atheletes say non-politically correct things, they are fined. But in hockey, you are suspended INDEFINITELY. Welcome to the first sport that runs itself like the Chinese government.