It's that time of year again. No, I'm not talking about baseball. It's playoff hockey time. Thank goodness because it was about time for some good clean hockey action which so rudely inturrupted the fighting during the season. You see, this is that time of year when hockey players know how to behave. Wouldn't it be grand if they did during the season?

Contrary to these business people that own the hockey franchises, hockey doesn't need the extra violence. You know the "Jerry Maguire" line, "It's not show friends, it's show business." In hockey, it's "show violence": A few referees circling two fighters like sharks waiting for their prey to tire themselves out.

I can't help thinking how ridiculous it is to watch something like that in a civilized society. Well, partially civilized.

The NHL has been living with questionable violence since before Eddie Haskell was tormenting the Beave. And everyone acted surprised over Bertuzzi's vicious sucker punch back in early March, that may end Colorado's Steve Moore's career.

The quiet notion among the NHL owners and many fans is that the public comes to see fighting. Well, tune into an NHL playoff game this spring and see the stands are practically full and while you're at it, count the number of fights you see-for the entire playoff season. The answer is, is that the hockey is clean and the arenas contain a healthy amount of fans.

So what is the problem and why can't the owners see the great product that hockey has to offer, which obviously doesn't have to include fighting?

Towards the end of Gretzky's career, both he and Lemeux were advocates of violence free hockey, at least, a lot of the cheap stuff that doesn't go on in other sports. Back problems wore thin on Gretzky and probably cut his career a little short.

Bertuzzi's teammate Brad May said this: "Think what you want but Todd Bertuzzi is a good man...he tried to do the right thing, without a doubt the right thing." What was the right thing? Then he went on to say, and here comes the "but," "It went sour."

Now what kind of a statement is that? Tried to do the right thing. Keep saying it and it just doesn't mesh with what happened.

This is the mentality that permeates throughout hockey. Sure, it's easy for a guy who has never played hockey to criticize from a distance. There's tremendous physical presence to the game. With so much free movement in any direction, at any time, one never knows what angle they're going to get clocked from next.

But some rules would help that don't insult the fans' intelligence, like, no fighting or you're out of the game--period!

Bertuzzi said in an emotional apology: "I don't play the game that way." But you do Todd, or at least you did this time. And if you're not punished adaquately, how far do you go next time?

What did he think was going to happen by punching the guy from behind then driving his face into the ice?

What is ironic is that baseball allows the benches to empty where hockey, of all sports, does not. But yet in hockey, unlike any other sport, if you don't count boxing, allows fighting. Everyone watches. Even the referees. They're seats are better than ringside. They're IN the ring.

I have an idea, how about ejecting any player who drops his gloves, or at least, throws the first punch.

Some hockey people involved with the Canadian/American (Can/Am) amateur hockey tournaments held in Lake Placid, Ny, believe that ejecting players for fighting, as opposed to the two and five-minute penalties, would help.

Can/Am, as in any amateur hockey level, do not tolerate the fighting. So why does it explode in the NHL?

A former Montreal Canadian told me that's the way it's always been and that's the way it will always be. "They're never going to stop it."

The same pat answer from anyone you talk to is, that's the way it is and always has been. Even from the one's who want change.

But this isn't really about Todd Bertuzzi. This is about big business owners force-feeding the public into thinking that that's what they need or want. And just like Hollywood, the longer something is shoved in one's face, the more they accept it. But not because that's what the public wants, it's what they expect.

Too bad they can't play playoff hockey all season.