After our screed on the existence of Billy Tibbetts in the NHL, it occurred to us that he's part 
of a disturbing pattern revolving around Mario Lemieux.  First, the November 1992 arrest of 
his close friend and former teammate Dan Quinn on an accusation of rape, an incident at which 
Mario and another Penguin were allegedly present.  That matter was dropped without going to 
trial.  Then the January 2001 trade to reobtain pal and former linemate Kevin Stevens, caught 
just a year earlier buying cocaine and consorting with a crack whore while Stevens' pregnant 
wife lay home about to give birth.  And later this past January, Mario's promotion of Tibbetts, 
the convicted child rapist, as the Pens' new goon.  But here we're big fans of Mario, one of 
the game's greats in several capacities and a loving, happily married family man, so we remind 
ourselves that these things are maybe all just coincidence, inexcusable though the employment 
of Tibbetts may be.  It would be wrong of us to indulge in innuendo.  
      An equally ugly and more demonstrable pattern, however, has emerged in the witless pages 
of The Hockey News, the self-proclaimed "Bible of hockey."  In the same December 2000 
issue that featured Mario's return to the ice as its cover story, THN celebrated the "success 
story" of Tibbetts, whose off-ice rap sheet includes the forcible rape of a 14-year-old girl, 
assault on a police officer, and, finally, armed assault, having shot a man in the face, which 
earned him a long-delayed jail sentence.  THN seemed to think that simply arriving in the NHL 
somehow redeems the apparently unrepentant thug and should set us all to cheering for him.  
      The hockey weekly achieved a new low in its long tradition of wrong-headed obliviousness, 
though, with Senior Writer Mike Brophy's unconscionable May 25 editorial.  No mere nitwit 
advocacy of 4-on-4 OT, more expansion, or ugly logos this time:  in a 1200-word full-page 
feature piece, Brophy pleads for convicted child molester Graham James to once again be 
given the opportunity to coach youth hockey.  
      James "did his time," Brophy believes.  "He should come with a loud warning label so 
everyone who comes in contact with him is aware of his past," says Brophy, but "I think [he] 
should be allowed to coach if that's what he wants to do." 
      Brophy's star witness to vouch for James was Brophy's own hockey-playing 17-year-old 
son Chase.  Asked the loaded question, "If you were invited to play for a team with a... great 
coach who could advance your career and... the coach were Graham James, what would you 
do?," the younger Brophy launched into an articulate defence.  "I'd play," he replied.  Given 
dad's obsession with the game and his seemingly cavalier attitude toward sex crime, forgive us 
if we have trouble finding sonny's endorsement either surprising or convincing, and that's even 
assuming the lad knows who Graham James is.  
      For those of you out there who don't, James coached Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current 
Broncos, and Calgary Hitmen of the major junior Western Hockey League from 1984 to 1996.  
He compiled a 349-326-26 record in ten seasons behind the bench and pushed Swift Current to 
a Memorial Cup triumph in '89.  James was charged with sexual misconduct in September 1996, 
and in January 1997 was convicted of major sexual assault including more than 350 incidents 
involving at least two former Swift Current players.  The incidents involved boys as young as 14, 
and featured methods of intimidation ranging from James' position as coach and authority figure 
controlling the boys' future in hockey, to the accompaniment of a shotgun during at least one 
of the assaults.  Further allegations of related irresponsible conduct remain to be examined in 
pending court cases.  

------
L to R, porcine predator, inane editor, and better reading material than THN 
      The chubby, chinless James, now 47, finished his 3 1/2-year prison sentence in July 2000.  
Banned for life from coaching junior hockey in Canada (but not from coaching high school or 
college hockey), he nonetheless promptly landed a job as an assistant coach for the Spanish 
(yes, Spanish) national team and as coach-instructor in the Spanish hockey system, affording 
him fresh access to young players. 
      "That's unbelievable.  It blows my mind," said Sheldon Kennedy, quoted by Allan Maki 
of The Globe & Mail.  It was Kennedy, then with the Boston Bruins and a former target of 
James' predations, who in 1996 had the courage to publicly reveal James' criminal behaviour.  
Kennedy currently works with the Canadian Hockey Association to help promote an abuse 
prevention program that was developed in the wake of the James scandal.  
      "I was at his parole hearing and he really didn't show any remorse," Kennedy told The 
Calgary Herald's Murray Rauw.  
      "He had no acceptance of what he'd done.  I was waiting for the day that he'd get caught 
again.  Was I waiting for the day he'd be back in hockey as a coach?  No, I didn't prepare 
myself for that." 
      Kennedy cautioned that even if young players on the Spanish team are aware of James' 
past crimes, it doesn't mean they will be protected.  
      "I'm telling you, Graham is a smart man and he's manipulative.  Whether he's coaching 
kids or not, he's in a position of authority.  He's with a national team and you can't tell me 
there aren't younger kids in the program," Kennedy said.  "I don't have a clue how this could 
happen, but obviously it's a wake-up call for us as a society." 
      Wake up, Mike Brophy.  Wake up, THN.  Which part of the issue is it that you don't get?  
That the scars of sexual abuse are deep, life-altering, far-reaching, and permanent?  That the 
recidivism rates for sexual predators are frighteningly high?  Or just that THN's status as 
hockey's best-known periodical demands something resembling ethical responsibility?  
      Kennedy continues to battle problems with alcohol as a result of his experiences.  Substance 
abuse, personality disorders, self-destructive behaviour -- all common results of sexual predation.  
Martin Kruze was the first of the nearly 90 victims of the notorious Maple Leaf Gardens sex-ring 
scandal to reveal the abuse he and dozens of others suffered in the Gardens as children.  In 
October 1997, just days after one of his abusers was given a two-year sentence for sexually 
abusing 24 boys, Kruze committed suicide.  The Gardens are closed now;  maybe the victims 
should just "skate it off," eh?  "The memories will still be there, and the hatred," said Brian Sills, 
another of the victims assaulted over the years at MLG.  Their stories are high-profile, but 
typical, not exceptions. 
      "The public's fear of sex offender recidivism is legitimate," states The John Howard Society 
of Alberta, a non-profit agency that since 1949 has studied the problems of crime and its 
prevention.  "The effects of sexual offending are felt by victims, families and communities for 
years following the offence."  
      The Howard Society offers the results of many studies on sexual predators.  One research 
project surveyed 61 previous studies of sexual recidivism and found that more than one of 
every eight convicted sex offenders committed another sexual offence within four to five years.  
A long term follow-up study of child molesters in Canada found that 42% were reconvicted of 
sexual or violent crime during a 15- to 30-year follow-up period.  The highest rate of recidivism 
(77%) was for those with previous sexual offences, who selected boy victims outside the family 
and who were never married.  Among child molesters, those with male victims have been found 
to have the highest recidivism rates.  
      Even the most optimistic studies -- ideal, fully compliant candidates for treatment in one 
program at prestigious Johns Hopkins, for example, had a recidivism rate of "only" 2.9 percent 
-- will concede at least two failed treatments -- and two victims -- for every one documented 
by official statistics, and that at least 75% of all sex offences go unreported.   
      That allowing James further access to young players constitutes the most grotesque folly 
strikes us here as common sense, and parading out statistics and testimony seems to belabour 
the obvious.  But it's clearly not obvious to some, and before THN puts its skate in its mouth 
again and actually helps put kids at risk, maybe it ought to try doing a little research.  
Here are a few recommended on-line resources.  

  John Howard Society of Alberta   
  Sports Illustrated: "Every Parent's Nightmare"  
  Dynamic Predictors Of Sexual Recidivism 1998-1 - report to the Solicitor General Canada 
  Centre for Sex Offender Management   
  Sex Offenders Statistics and Research   
  Sexual Offender Treatment Efficacy   
  Breaking the Silence   
  Silent Edge   
  Circle of Trust Abuse Resources   
  Sexual Offence Recidivism   

      According to a TSN report, Toronto-born Frank Gonzalez of the Spanish Winter Sports 
Federation, who represents Spanish hockey at the International Ice Hockey Federation level, 
claimed that James had been completely up front about his record, and that conditions of his 
employment meant he would have no contact with any players under 18.  
      "I have a nine-year-old myself, and if someone asked whether I'd let my son in the 
dressing room with Graham James, I'd probably say 'no,'" said Gonzalez, who apparently has 
no compunction about letting James get close to anyone else's kids. "As long as he stays clean 
and he helps improve hockey in Spain, he's more than welcome here." 
      Rauw, however, reported that James had already put himself in position to coach boys 
as young as nine with Madrid's Majadahonda club.  
      "I can't imagine that the parents have been advised," said Ellen Campbell, founder of the 
Centre for Abuse Awareness in Toronto.  "You have to think they don't know." 
      "What responsible parent," she asked rhetorically, "would let their child be coached 
by a pedophile?" 
      As THN used to say: "Just ask these guys."                                          -- KER / JZK 

__________________________________________________________

Of Archetypes and Anachronisms

     There they were, the two foremost exemplars of that most esteemed of hockey types, the 
"power forward" -- Mark Messier and Eric Lindros, beaming from the Madison Square Garden 
podium before banks of cameras.  Once, maybe seven or eight years ago, these two brickhouses 
were the gold standard:  big, mean, high-scoring leaders of men who punished their opponents 
physically, punished them mentally, punished them spiritually, and punished them on the 
scoreboard.  Lindros, Canadian and American fans were told to believe by the continent's 
hockey press, was what the hockey superstar of the future would look like, and in fact, he was 
called the Next One, a quantum improvement over the lithe but unintimidating model known as 
the Great One.  Messier provided the manly, muscular link between Gordie Howe, the 
Mr. Hockey of yore, and Lindros, the Man of the Future.
      How quaint that all seemed the other day, when Messier, still dashing and handsome but 
definitely showing his 40 years, introduced a slightly pudgy and goofy-looking Lindros as 
a Ranger.  Messier has not played well for years, not since he left New York for Vancouver 
half a decade ago;  Lindros, of course, has been revealed and now reviled as a brittle, 
injury-prone choke artist of a player.  Both assessments contain some element of truth but are 
ultimately unfair.  Messier has just gotten old, nothing much you can do about that;  Lindros 
is a great player when healthy, but he keeps getting knocked out of the lineup, literally.  What 
does seem so cobwebby and outdated is this notion of the power forward being the future 
of hockey. 
      Surely you remember, because it wasn't so long ago that big, honking forwards were 
going to crash and elbow Canada's way back to the top of the hockey heap, relegating the 
finesse-happy pantywaists like Gretzky and his European ilk to the status of '80s relics, like 
Boy George.  Of course, anyone looking closely at the real stars of the early and mid-'90s -- 
Lemieux, Jagr, Hull, Sakic, Selanne, Bondra, et al. -- could see that none of them specialized in 
the punishing and the hitting and the hurting.  Sure, that could be a part of what they did, as in 
the case of Selanne, occasionally, or, more often, the brooding young Swede Peter Forsberg, 
but it was never the main thrust of what they did.  And it didn't matter if they were big 
(Lemieux, Jagr) or small (Sakic, Theo Fleury) -- they played hockey to score goals, not 
to run people over. 
      That sickened the Don Cherry types.  Where was the character?  Where were the big 
PIM totals?  They saw those things in Lindros, anointed him the leader of the game in Canada, 
and got angrier and angrier with him as the years went by and he -- and Canada -- failed to 
win it all.  Nothing better encapsulates the eclipse of North American hockey by the European 
branch of the game than the quiet ascendance of Joe Sakic and Jaromir Jagr to hockey's apex, 
while Lindros has very loudly and visibly fallen from it.  Make no mistake, Eric Lindros was 
treated like garbage by Bobby Clarke, perhaps the biggest jerk working in hockey today.  
Hopefully, Messier will be able to teach Lindros leadership and maturity, things he was never 
taught in Philadelphia;  Lindros was handed the team captaincy way, way too soon, and Clarke 
failed to sign the kind of veteran leaders who could've helped Lindros in that role.  Hopefully, 
Messier will be able to revive Lindros's fortunes as a last act before bowing out, redeeming 
not only big No. 88 but the twilight of his own career as well. 
      If not, the memory of a creaking Messier handing that blue sweater to a zaftig Lindros 
will always have a hint of that last-dinosaur thing to it, the Twilight of the Power Forward, 
while down there on the forest floor, skittering gainfully among the slow, gigantic feet 
of the behemoths, the little Sakics and Kariyas capture scoring titles and trophies and
Stanley Cups and, finally, the future of hockey.                           -- JZK / KER 

LINDROSAURUS lin-drahs-SAWR-us selfish lizard Gigantic Lindrosaurus (left) roars in rage and frustration as it pursues its prey, but small, wily Sakicodontus (lower right) nimbly speeds away to safety, the puck still in its possession. Selfish Lizard was one of the last of the huge, fierce Gordiosaurs of the Cherrian Epoch, like the Messosaurs and Shanahanodons. Their demise heralded the rise of Sakicodontus, Kariyatuthis, and other descendents of the little Protogretzkysaurs.

Cards free with RED ROSE and BLUE RIBBON TEA AND COFFEE
BROOKE BOND CANADA LIMITED    4305 Cote de Liesse, Montreal 9, P.Q.

__________________________________________________________

Site News

      The Lindros and Hull deals have all but capped a busy summer of NHL trades and signings, 
but we'll save our evaluation for our season preview here a few weeks hence.  In the meantime, 
there's more from us in our slot at HockeyZonePlus.  Warning, Will Robinson! 
      By the time you get back, we'll have seen our 30,000th visitor here, which, modest though 
that total may be, ain't bad for a site that writes its HTML by hand on a cocktail napkin and 
then uploads it to the net via fax.  Thanks to all those who've dropped in, and, as always, we 
encourage you to explore our News Archive and to contribute your thoughts and opinions 
to our Fan Forum.  
      Finally, the Wondrous and Terrible Thing that's kept all of us here at Above and Beyond 
Hockey totally occupied since around March, and the site itself all but idle, is at long, long last 
finally complete and about to launch itself upon an unsuspecting world.  We're so relieved we 
could burst into song.  Sing along with us...                                   -- SIR / KER / JZK 

picture credits: James, CP; Brophy, THN; SpeakOut, CHA; dinosaurs, National Wildlife Federation / SIR
__________________________________________________________

Sorry We Haven't Written Lately

      You know it's been a slow news day when your local station opens its 11pm report with 
an ethnic food festival instead of a war or a toxic spill or a political scandal.  And by now 
you know its been a quiet month or two when instead of protesting some new NHL initiative 
we fill space with another ridiculous song parody.  Here we go again.  This insufferably 
catchy AM radio classic from 1965 seems kind of appropriate for this long, hot, lazy summer.  
As always, first the original to refresh your memory, then our hockey-themed parody.  

King of the Road     Written by Roger Miller

Trailers for sale or rent    Rooms to let -- fifty cents 
No phone, no pool, no pets    I ain't got no cigarettes 
Ah, but   two hours of pushin' broom    Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room  
I'm a   man of means by no means    King of the road  

Third boxcar, midnight train    Destination -- Bangor, Maine 
Old worn out clothes and shoes    I don't pay no union dues 
I smoke   old stogies I have found    Short, but not too big around  
I'm a   man of means by no means    King of the road  

I know every engineer on ever-y train    All of their children, and all of their names  
And every handout in ever-y town    And every lock that ain't locked   when no one's around  
I sing,    Trailers for sale or rent    Rooms to let, fifty cents  
No phone, no pool, no pets    I ain't got no cigarettes  
Ah, but   two hours of pushin' broom    Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room  
I'm a   man of means by no means    King of the road  
_________________________________________________    

Hittin' the Road   

Trailer for St. Laurent    Roamin' left wing, Wilf Paiement 
No Mohns, no Houle, no Plett    We ain't got no Pat Boutette  
Ah, but   three hours of pushin' goons    Doesn't earn a point this afternoon 
We're a   playoff team by no means    Hittin' the road  

Third stanza of a matinee    Spectrum in Philadelph-I-A  
All worn out by the Blues    I don't buy The Hockey News 
I use   old Jofas I've been lent    Knicked, but not too badly bent 
We're a   playoff team by no means    Hittin' the road  

I know every usherette at ever-y rink    Which ones have brown ones, and which of 'em pink  
And ever-y hack on ever-y team    And how to butt-end 'em when the ref won't have seen 
Icing  --  Trailer for St. Laurent    Roamin' left wing, Wilf Paiement 
No Mohns, no Houle, no Plett    We ain't got Jack Valiquette 
Ah, but   three hours of pushin' goons    Doesn't earn a point this afternoon 
We're a   playoff team by no means    Hittin' the road  

__________________________________________________________

Archive

Current news      Hot off the wire... 
Feb'-March '01   Billy Tibbetts, Rapist / Gillett It Be / Lemieux et le pire / Hasek the whipping boy / 
                                Reviews: Shots on Net, Tropic of Hockey / Hockey Songs 
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                                Sacrilege:  MLG, NHL vs CWF, Vezina's remains 
March '00           McSorley:  Black Eye for an Eye for an Eye / NAFTA Promise / Stand-Up Guy Award nominees 
February '00       Toronto Star: Damien Cox 
Jan-Feb'ry '00    Canadian Government Bail-Out / NAFTA 
December '99     Youth Hockey Injuries / Saving Maple Leaf Gardens / On the Air / Holiday Thoughts 
November '99      4 on 4:  Save us, Stevie / '99 Stanley Cup:  Game 7 / Modano:  redeemed? / AOL poll / 
                               Holiday shopping ideas / Site news 
October '99         NHLFA Membership Push / NoGoal.com / Buffalo Snooze / Phoenix Freebie / 
                               Death of Hockey Audio 
September '99    NHL Thugs Gang Up on Hockey Fan Page 
December '98     The Village Voice:  "The Death of Hockey" 
February '98       The New York Times:  "Hockey's Proposed Cures Could Kill the Patient"