[Cali Panthers Fan]

I remember playing a season of high school football, just one, because of the way they wanted us to abuse our bodies.

The defense coaches were teaching us to lead with our head. "Put your helmet in their numbers! Knock him off balance and take him down!" Now I'm not saying that it's not an effective way to take someone off their feet, but there has to be about a thousand ways to tackle someone without destroying your brain, especially for young kids who don't have plans on playing professionally. That was about 20 years ago, so I doubt they would say the same thing now, but it does speak to the culture around sports and coaches where they are willing to forsake the health of their players to win.

There's elements of this same thing in hockey, and players often are told to forsake their health to play with injuries and ruin their bodies (see: Edmonton Oilers). I don't think it's fair to say that the league had no responsibility in these situations. In fact, they probably bear more responsibility as the governing body. I also put quite a bit of blame on the NHLPA for not protecting their players more.