Saturday, March 3, 2012

Hockey Fights and Lost Lives

I don't want to sound heartless, because I'm not, I've just observed things.  Whenever talk about banning fighting in hockey comes up Rick Rypien, Wade Belak, and Derek Boogaard are always mentioned, because they were enforcers.  These men did not die because of head trauma. Yes, Boogaard died because of his addictions to painkillers, because of trauma, but the actual trauma was not his killer.  Belak and Rypien committed suicide. Because they had issues far greater than the sport of hockey.
All of these men were fighters and hitters and did all of those things that they want removed from the game.  But these things were not their killers.  So I don't think it's fair to them, to mention them in your crusade to end fighting in the game.
I am not trying to down play the fact that they died, not at all.  I'm trying to show the people that mention them when fighting comes up how wrong they are.
I feel for these men every single day.  For their families and their friends.  For the NHL that is left with gaps where these men should be.

No comments:

Post a Comment