Hacks, agitators and goons; men of dishonor...

There has been a discussion over on Sioux Sports and Hockey Wilderness about players that you hate to play against because they play on the edge, are seen as agitators or even players that are cheap and commit disgusting acts. I have also seen the argument where you’d love to have these players on your team but don’t like them when they play against your team. That’s up for debate and usually seems to be a never ending discussion that takes place from year to year.

I would not cheer for the Boston Bruins or the Minnesota Wild if they signed a hack like Matt Cooke, Todd Bertuzzi or Daniel Carcillo, they would no longer be my favorite teams. There is no way. I would also hope that my favorite team would not challenge my loyalties by signing a questionable player like this. There is too many good players out there to even entertain signing one of these morons.

here are some phrases that get tossed around in sports debate so often that we come to simply over look them. It goes beyond cliche to simply being a part of the vernacular, to being generally accepted as fact. These phrases are sometimes over simplified reaction to a complicated topic, or they are used to simply brush off the opinion of someone you really don't have an argument against.

One of those phrases is, "You would love him if he were on your team." this is almost always in response to the outcry over a player such as Derek Boogaard, Patrik Kaleta, Todd Bertuzzi, Jarkko Ruttu, or in the case of this post, Matt Cooke.

Make the jump and let's discuss, shall we. You really don't have anything better to do, right?

All of this stems from a link that came across Twitter via @Tepherguy. In the upcoming Hockey News issue is a cover story about the top 12 free agents, and Matt Cooke appears to be at the top of that list. The cover of the issue even reads "Matt Cooke is Hockey's Biggest $*&#!... and You'd Love Him if he Played for Your Team."

This phrase is pervasive. It is said about every pest in the NHL, and it is said about every guy who has ever been suspended. Even friend of the blog Greg Wyshynski has said it about Daniel Carcillo.[Read the whole article here]

The players name changes but their brutal gutless cheap acts remain the same. I am sure you can come up with a list of your own, my list includes thugs, players/hacks like Daniel Carcillo, Todd Bertuzzi, Scott Hartnell, Alex Burroughs, Matt Cooke, just to name a few. They're thugs players that are all cut from the same thread. These players lack honor ussualy hide behind a half shield and is no limit to the cheap acts they will commit.

Also, I would include players from the past like Uber Hacks Ulfie "the Turtle" Samuelsson and Claude "the Fraud" Lemieux. Eventually these players get what is coming to them, the hockey code demands it, live by the sword die by the sword. You might even cheer when you see it happen. Matt Cooke got what was coming to him in these three incidents [Kane becomes an instant hero] and [Duncan Keith gives it back to Cooke] and finally [Dustin Brown smokes Matt Cooke]. Lastly, how many people in Boston wanted to give Tie Domi a medal after he smoked Ulfie Samelsson.