The Times podcast: Coyotes go urban; humans freak out.
The Tucson Republic, reporting on the new and controversial policy of the Arizona Coyotes on the use of dogs in minor hockey, is a good place to start a story on the modern scourge of the animal in sports. As the paper describes the issue, “Since it came to light, thousands of complaints have poured into the offices of the Coyotes, the National Hockey League’s Western Division, and the United Hockey League, the sport’s national governing body.”
I do understand the need for, or even the desire for, a dog-friendly game or sport. But as a sport, hockey, like many other sports, has always been about the animal, not the human.
The original game, the Russian baltic game of skat, was known in the West as the “hockey game,” although some sources say that it was also played in the Soviet Union as a game of skill and the animal, in the form of a ball (or a leather puck), was the most important tool for winning an individual contest.
The NHL, like many other sports leagues, has followed the game of hockey in its approach to the use of animals. And in doing so, has helped create what is now known as “banned sports”, where it would be unthinkable to include an animal in any sport, for any reason, in any shape or form.
So, in keeping with the modern trend in sports law, let us follow this story of the Arizona Coyotes as it goes from one animal-friendly law to another.
The Coyotes play in a building, the arena, which is a facility where all sorts of people, especially those involved in other sports, gather, either for the games themselves, or to socialize. They have a roof over the arena that is considered a common gathering place. This roof, and the arena, is called an “arena” and it is open to people, either from outside the state, or from within Arizona, to
