When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

By now you've already seen the Niklas Kronwall hit on Martin Havlat from Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

Far be it from me to prevent you from viewing it all over again.



The last time I saw a look on a guys face like that was a couple years ago...



Oddly enough, that's the last time Brian Campbell ever checked a player. Even stranger still, that hit looks pretty similar to the one Kronwall delivered to Havlat.

I bring this up because in the press conferences today, Brian Campbell had something to say about Niklas Kronwall and his bodycheck:

"I thought [Kronwall] jumped," Campbell said. "Marty didn't have the puck, I thought his forearm came up high. I thought it was gutless all around. [Kronwall's] done it hundreds of times in the league and it seems like nothing ever happens. He could as easily came in and used his shoulder and hit him with his side and it would have been fine. Instead he comes up and explodes with his fists and his forearms and jumps. I just don't understand it. It's unacceptable and it's not like it's the first time it's happened with that guy."

Hundreds of times? Yikes. Hyperbole is a dangerous verbal weapon because it often renders the user stupid.

As for what the Blackhawks plan to do about it, Campbell added this juicy tid-bit.

"These guys gotta pay for it, guys that are taking shots to the head. It's unacceptable, and it's not like it's the first time it's happened with that guy."

All right, I get it.

A guy lays a clean hit, and this one certainly was, yet people are going to blow it up into something worse. It just follows suit with everything else that's gone on this year and allows Mike Milbury to hang on to the one thing he's ever been right about.

Oh sure, some folks are arguing that it's interference, others are arguing that it's charging - some folks even whipped out the rule book thinking that it helps solidify their case that's turned into an Abraham Zapruder-inspired Internet brouhaha.

Problem now is that Brian Campbell, of all people, has laid down the gauntlet and said that Kronwall is going to pay. This threat would sound more imposing if it came from just about anyone else on the Blackhawks roster. Adam Burish, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager... Pick one.

Brian Campbell though? What's he going to do to Kronwall, sweat all over him?



This is when keeping it real goes wrong.