MR_BIGGS | 08-16-2011 08:17 AM | It will be interesting to see how the NHL responds to this incident and how the media write about it once the dust settles.
Was this an isolated incident where a hockey player had past emotional or mental problems/issues (ie. depression), or was this the result of the lifestyle of NHL hockey enforcers?
Think about it. How many people could do what players like Rypien and Boogaard did game in and game out? How many sports do you know where bare knuckle fighting is allowed to occur?
These guys have to play this kind of style just to make it in the bigs. They may not want to play that style, but if thats the only way to play the game they love, they take on the risk.
I remember a George Parros interview, where he said he had to make a decision near his rookie year about changing his game to being a tough guy, because he wouldn't last in the league if he didn't.
You basically have to man up and fight, even if you don't want to. Youtubing all of Rypien's fights, you can't help but think that this is going to ware you down mentally and physically.
Some sentiments from sports media I agree with: Quote:
From Mark Spector at Sportsnet:
"Rypien was, pound-for-pound, as punishing a fighter as we can recall seeing in years. Like a Wendel Clark in the old Norris Division, Rypien regularly beat up Edmonton's Zack Stortini(notes), despite giving up five inches and 25 lbs.
"And that's what always puzzles about players who do what these guys do. They always look so comfortable in their craft when they set the ground rules with a fellow enforcer while waiting for the puck to be dropped. You never see the fear when they stand there in front of 18,000 fans, bare-knuckle fighting under the glare of the TV cameras.
"But so many of them speak later of how scared they were at that moment; how they barely got out of the shower after the game when the thought of the tough guy from tomorrow night's opponent darkened their head space. The toughest part, a fighter once told us, is that guys like Rypien could never let that fear show. That there was no one to talk to about it." | This one also struck a cord with me: Quote:
"Symptoms of CTE include depression and suicidal tendencies. We don't know anything about Rick Rypien's death today but if anybody wants to place a cash bet that it wasn't suicide and he didn't have CTE I'm willing to give you good odds. Ultimately we, the fans who pay for tickets and cheer for fights, are responsible for the men who sacrifice their brains for our entertainment.
"This isn't intended to be a sanctimonious lecture on the evils of fighting because I stood up for every fight I ever saw in a hockey rink.
"I don't think people who like fights are troglodytes because when I woke up this morning I was a fan of hockey fights. Speaking as someone who's had some serious brain trauma though the stories of Derek Boogaard, Bob Probert and others have been on my bruised mind for a while. I like watching fights and I like it when players fight but I just don't think I can support it anymore so count me out." | |