Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Another good one to read:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en...ythings-not-ok
"I’ve thought about death a lot over the past few years.
About dying. And what it might be like if I wasn’t around.
I’ve struggled a ton since I retired from hockey in 2011, and I’ve faced a bunch of different personal demons. But recently I’ve been unable to shake thoughts of….
Steve Montador.
Wade Belak.
Derek Boogaard.
Rick Rypien.
I knew those guys. They were real people to me.
They played the same game I did, and when it was all said and done … they were really just suffering, man.
They struggled with depression and anxiety and substance abuse and just … pain. All of the things I’ve been dealing with. They went through some of the exact same stuff.
And now … I talk about them in the past tense. How they were my friends. And how they used to be my brothers.
They’re just … gone."
" And I can tell you that, yes, coaches do actually sometimes tap you on the back and tell you to get out there on the ice and fight. Whether you want to believe it or not, it happens.
And I was always game — right there at a moment’s notice, ready to oblige."
Do you think he could change that decision now if he could? I bet he would
More....
"I had it in my head that there was a specific way that hockey needed to be played. And there was a level honor to it, a certain pride that came along with kicking some ass.
I didn’t enjoy it, though. That’s for sure.
It’s what I did, and it paid the bills and allowed me to support my family. But I never loved it."
It's a goddamn waste of human life. |
I think you missed something in your zeal to blme fighting:
Quote:
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I can honestly say that it was the everyday hits during the course of the game — little blind-side shots and other things you wouldn’t even notice if you were watching on TV — that did the most damage over time.
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What you found was more a testament to removing hitting than fighting.
So can someone point to statistical evidence that hitting is a necessary part of the game? Women's hockey proves you can play the game without it, so should we remove the barbaric act of one player slamming into another to take the puck away? After all, hits lead to way more concussions, and presumably CTE cases, than fights.
Have slapshots been statistically proven to be a necessary part of the game? Propelling the puck around at 90+ mph injures players all of the time. Should we remove this reckless act?
There are few things that you can say are proven necessary for the game. One thing that is proven by clips like the one below is that as soon as a fight starts the crowd erupts like it only other does for a goal or a barbaric big hit. Qoutes like the one from Iginla show the players still feel it serves a useful purpose, and other than players who feel that they needed to fight regularly to stay in the league, I've never heard a big outcry that the players themselves dislike fighting.
Like many things, fighting may not be a necessary part of the game, but it's a wildly popular part of the game with fans, the players support it in the game, and players are very seldomly injured in fights, which is why it's remained in the game despite the league's increased focus on reducing concussions.
It may pass from the game naturally, but I don't see it being banned.