Player Safety or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying

So there was another "scary" incident in the NHL recently. So lets all go through the motions.

When any one of a list of ugly incidents occurs on the ice, the media goes into full freak-out mode about rules that need to be altered, implemented or removed from the game in order to avoid such unbecoming visuals.

Something must be done!

Good clean hockey

But really, who cares? Why should anybody care about the health and safety of NHL players? They all have the option to protect themselves, either through equipment like visors, or through action like influencing rule changes. They choose not to; so we might as well just sit back and wait for the wreck.

The media discourse surrounding the game has become a never-ending cycle of hand wringing and finger pointing. “Problems” (basically the same ones over and over, just in a rotation) with the game are pointed out, dissected, and churned over; but why? What is the point?

The players don’t care. If they did care, we would see action taken on things like no-touch icing, mandatory visors, and a ban on head shots. They like the game as it is, and evidently, so do plenty of consumers. If they want to continue playing pin-ball on ice, giving and receiving brain damage, breaking legs and losing eyes than it should be their prerogative.

They know the consequences. They have seen the research and they know possible outcomes, and still, their response amounts to “we would rather just smash each others heads in”.

So that’s fine. I don’t like it in the game, but I still like a lot of what the game is, so I will watch.

What does get annoying though, is that when we see former players having troubles (and God knows with this past summer everybody is well aware of them), we then hear about the “lack of support” for former players. The lack of “support structures” for these young men who, gosh darnit, just don’t know how to live without a six to seven figure paycheck and someone telling them when and where to be for 8 months a year.

"He's not that kind of player"

 When a Canadian sports network talks about how the game is being played, and they throw to a panel made up of Nick Kypreos and Marty McSorley, not much really needs to be said. We know their position. Its how they made their living. But it would be slightly less annoying if all parties (and not just those previously mentioned) would drop the act where they pretend to be concerned about player safety.

As I wrote this and was browsing articles on the topic I came across this bit by Dave Shoalts. Its from an article he wrote about visors in 2004. The story is just as applicable now as it was then, so he quite efficiently just quoted himself; and I will do the same...

This is not a public-safety issue. The public is not at risk, just a small group of willful boneheads, 65 per cent of those 700 players.

The stupidity here is nothing short of astounding.

These guys spend tens of thousands of dollars on personal trainers to get in the best physical condition possible in order to extend their careers and collect those million-dollar salaries for as long as they can. Yet they will not spend less than $100 to protect something vital to their careers, something that could be lost in, yes, the blink of an eye.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/the-nhls-annual-visor-brouhaha/article2214364/


Links and Twitter handles: @FadooBobcat @FriedgeHNIC, @DamoSpin, @JeffMarek, @michaelgrange @GloBlair @GordStellick @darrenrovell @Paul__Jones @Wilnerness590 @keithlaw @sportsnetsoccer @bgnewf @LukeWileman @Nigel_Reed @TimSidizen @TSNProducerTim @DShulman_ESPN @gareth_wheeler @_Joe_Ross @tsnotoole @Sid_Seixeiro @JayOnrait @GloBlair @tsnjamesduthie @dshoalts @GregSansone @tim_micallef @jamessharman @bruce_arthur @DarrenDreger Listen Here - http://www.fan590.com/onair/primetimesports/

Why the Jets' Return Means So Much to all of Canada

The NHL's return to Winnipeg has been the biggest positive story of this off season. A midst all the tragedy this past summer, Winnipeg's return to professional hockey remained a beacon of optimism for hockey fans in Canada. With their debut now out of the way, and with the deluge of good will and support from hockey fans across the country we can start to reflect on what happened, how it happened, and why it was received like it was. Why did the return of the NHL to Winnipeg, or more succinctly, the return of the Winnipeg Jets, create such a swell of emotion from people who otherwise, have never been Jets fans?

The overwhelming love for these new Jets comes less from the reality of the current situation, and more from the climate in which the original Jets left.

I know it was ugly, but I still wanted to win it.

I was an eleven year old kid when the Jets left (so I suspect I was ten when the Nordiques left). Not at the age where you have become "smart" by any means, but at the age where you have become "aware" of what is going around you. I had liked hockey since I was about 5 years old, but was obviously too young to understand the inner-workings of, not necessarily the game, but the league.

When the Jets left, there was a very strong narrative surrounding professional sports in Canada; Things were bad, and they weren't getting any better. Two of our hockey teams had fled, not just to the US, but to the sunbelt. The CFL was embarking on its ill-fated American experiment. The Expos and Blue Jays had just been robbed of a potential World Series meeting. And to cap that summer off, in the World Cup of Hockey, Canada lost two out of three, and had to watch the United States celebrate on the ice in Montreal. Follow that up with a horrible run at the World Junior Hockey Championship (bookended by dynasties as they were), and things looked bleak for Canadian sports fan. The Jets (and the Nordiques) became more than just individual teams. They were symbols of the fleeting Canadian sports scene.

Another awful 90's moment I just remembered

The rivalry that has emerged between US and Canadian hockey is a symptom of that mid to late 90's, almost "moral panic", about the game in our country. Obviously there are other reasons contributing to the US supplanting Russia as our number one hockey rival, but this feeling that emerged then, that "the big bad Americans" were coming for us, that was a big spark to what is certainly the best current rivalry in international hockey. The stars of today are about my age and everyone I knew growing up and know now look at the Americans as our primary hockey rival. The Russian rivalry is quaint and nostalgic, but the American rivalry is mean and aggressive.

Fifteen years on, and the nation wide jubilation at the return of the Winnipeg Jets is emblematic of a feeling that Canada is "taking back" a sport that "those greedy Americans" tried to steal from us.

Kind of a big deal

Now obviously, that was never the case. Canada wasn't losing "its" sport and the US wasn't "stealing" anything. The economic realities of the time (both general and specific to those organizations) forced a sort of restructuring of North American professional sports landscape, and that restructuring is a part of why the Winnipeg Jets were able to return.

Antropov? That doesn't bode well

I think Canadians would be absolutely satisfied if the Jets were the last team to move to Canada. I think Canadians are happy with seven representatives in the top flight of professional hockey. Not that they wouldn't take more, and maybe time will change, but as it stands, I think Canadians feel somewhat vindicated that the NHL returned to Winnipeg. It was sort of like a nation wide "told ya so!" to the NHL.

So congrats Winnipeg. We are all pulling for you. And so long as you never cost my team points or a playoff spot, that will never change.









Links and Twitter handles: @FadooBobcat @FriedgeHNIC, @DamoSpin, @JeffMarek, @michaelgrange @GloBlair @GordStellick @darrenrovell @Paul__Jones @Wilnerness590 @keithlaw @sportsnetsoccer @bgnewf @LukeWileman @Nigel_Reed @TimSidizen @TSNProducerTim @DShulman_ESPN @gareth_wheeler @_Joe_Ross @tsnotoole @Sid_Seixeiro @JayOnrait @GloBlair @tsnjamesduthie @dshoalts @GregSansone @tim_micallef @jamessharman @bruce_arthur @DarrenDreger Listen Here - http://www.fan590.com/onair/primetimesports/

Mascot Musical Chairs

The Jets announced they will be using the former Moose mascot, Mick-E Moose as their new mascot, and as someone who likes all things meaningless and superfluous to the actual games, I think this is a great idea.

Why you heff to be mad?

Mascots are stupid. They arent supposed to be too logical. Why would a Moose be the mascot for a team called the Jets? Why not? The Maple Leafs have a polar bear, as if that makes any sense; the Flames have a hound dog; the Senators have a lion; and the Canadiens have a furry orange butt-plug.

The truth is, the best mascots are ones that are not a literal interpretation of the team name. Mascots are something so trivial that it only makes sense to reach into the past and use something familiar, yet quirky.

In 30 years (God willing), when a young kid asks why the Jets mascot is a moose, there will be a real good answer.

My only gripe is that he looks kind of angry (if not downright sadistic). Mascots are for kids (and losers like me who like to analyze their useless nonsense). They should have nothing but a big dopey grin on their face.

Bears are Godless killing machines

Re-purposing mascots is always a good idea.

Links and Twitter handles: @FadooBobcat @FriedgeHNIC, @DamoSpin, @JeffMarek, @michaelgrange @GloBlair @GordStellick @darrenrovell @Paul__Jones @Wilnerness590 @keithlaw @sportsnetsoccer @bgnewf @LukeWileman @Nigel_Reed @TimSidizen @TSNProducerTim @DShulman_ESPN @gareth_wheeler @_Joe_Ross @tsnotoole @Sid_Seixeiro @JayOnrait @GloBlair @tsnjamesduthie @dshoalts @GregSansone @tim_micallef @jamessharman @bruce_arthur @DarrenDreger Listen Here - http://www.fan590.com/onair/primetimesports/