Wanted to tack on some response to "aside from a few instances in the NFL..."

The wild success of GTA seems to indicate that a lot of people like murdering and robbing imaginary people. Maybe you should be scared of everyone. Or, maybe you should quit nitpicking internet comments.

I don't have to go back to 77 for an NBA fight, I just don't watch any basketball so I couldn't tell you the names of most guys in the league right now or anything that's happened since Artest fought some fans or whatever.

I'm not part of the crowd trying to say hockey fans don't enjoy fights. As a lifelong player and fan, I've been in them, I've cheered for them, and I'm losing some enthusiasm for it. But, I also understand that they may sometimes prevent a lot worse from happening. More fans want fighting banned than not now, but…

Anecdotal evidence FTW!

MMA?

Leaving the bench in hockey to enter a fight is also a mandatory suspension. Does that fuck up your thesis a little?

Right. Did you ask Rudy T about that? There have been plenty of big fights and cheap shots in basketball. Particularly considering that most contact is prohibited in that game.

substandard by the standards of the very best league in the world. Incidentally, roughly 49% of the players in the league are substandard by definition. You certainly wouldn't have your best players fight, so this is sort of a tautology. Even if pure goons are gone, if fighting is allowed and you have any say over…

That's like asking why Sidney Crosby isn't fighting. LeBron should never have to fight. But, I noticed you didn't use Ron Artest as an example.

This is a cop out answer, because you don't know of a study. I can be certain of that, because there's not be "scientific" studies. Just some regression analysis of statistics to try to prove or disprove it, but that's far from a scientific study. There's nothing peer reviewed, and nothing with a control group that…

Consequence free fighting is fun, it should be in the video game. Sort of like murder in the GTA games. When you're not murdering real people it can be kind of fun.

The counterargument is that it's a deterrent of more abhorrent violence (like high sticking) both as a pressure release (why cheap shot a guy when there's an outlet to settle it with a fight) and as retribution if you do the cheap thing. I am not sure how you prove or disprove it, but that's the argument the…

It's not about whether you're a real fan, it's about having played at a high enough level that fighting was legal. It's a very small subset of us. When you go out on the ice knowing you could get the shit kicked out of you, it takes a little edge off of your game. There's a documentary about playing the Flyers in…

(although you can argue moving some teams from the north to the south was basically doing that).

Didn't think I needed a disclaimer to share what I believe is common sense. Anyway, my point is that law enforcement and legal counsel disagree with you. You can "still say" whatever you want. I still say you wouldn't have the balls to actually do that (ask Travis what that's like) and that if you did you'd risk…

I keep trying to edit to fix "there" to "here" and it keeps refreshing the page instead. Kinja rules.

You've watched COPS, I have a law degree. Your analysis there is shit. He'd be a kidnapping victim. Seriously, just go ask a cop what you should do in this situation. No one would recommend you try to do anything unless you have a clear avenue of escape. They don't want you escalating things. EVER.

The police aren't counting on you to do anything. Quit telling yourself otherwise, unless you're Bruce Willis or something. And by that I mean a fictional character played by him, since he also is smart enough to know that the police handle police matters and don't want interference from citizens.

If you know any cops, ask one of them about this hypothetical. I think you'll be surprised how little interest they have in you playing hero.