As if the fact that Sidney Crosby missed the rest of the 2010-11 NHL regular and the proceeding playoffs due to a concussion wasn't worrying enough, on September 7th Sidney Crosby, Crosby's two doctors responsible for his rehab, and the Pittsburgh Penguins' General Manager Ray Shero held a press conference to discuss how Sid's doing? What? You mean a reporter couldn't just have sat around a Sidney Crosby solo practice session and conducted a short interview afterwards? Nope. Instead, Sid and company felt the need to hold a forty minute press conference to tell the press, Penguins fans, and everyone else interested in NHL hockey that Sidney Crosby is doing fine. But is he really?
On new years day 2011 during the Winter Classic played at Heinz Field against the Washington Capitals, David Steckel hits Crosby in the head from the blindside and instantly dropped him to the ice. Crosby was slow to get up, but was able to skate to the bench under his own power.
On January 5th, only a few days separated from the vicious hit he took from Steckel, Crosby plays at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning. During that game he got drove to the boards from behind by Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman. The next day the Penguins flew to Montreal, but upon that trip Crosby felt severe discomfort with symptoms of headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Later he consulted with Michael Collins, a concussion specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and he diagnosed Crosby with a concussion.
It has been eight months since Crosby's initial incident that forced him to the sidelines and into serious rehabilitation for his brain injury. For long periods of time we never heard from Crosby. We never even bothered to pay too much attention to him or the Penguins since they got ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning. "How is Crosby actually doing?" you ask - not so great.
Despite Sid's constant positivity throughout the press conference, he was forced to answer tough questions - I mean seriously piercing questions about his health and future in the game of hockey. "Were there ever times in the last few months you considered retirement?". "What are the chances you'll return this season?". What is his is place in the future in the game exactly? Well, he's going to make a full recovery, go on to play very well and help the Penguins win a few more Cups right? Maybe not. This press conference was more disturbing than it was optimistic with Sid sitting in the middle of the table flanked by two very respected doctors (who know what they're talking about) spitting out words like "vestibular system" and "neurons", and if those words were too complex for you, try "inability to decipher his place in space" and "doesn't know where his hands and feet are". Yeah, I bet you understood those terms. Basically, when Sid first got hit he didn't really understand the severity of the injury he sustained. Only a few days later when he tried to gut it out at the next home game did he realize there might be a serious problem with his brain and motor skills. Only problem was before they could pull him out of action and have him properly assessed, he got clipped one more time into the boards and that forced him to leave for good. Way to go Penguins coaching and training staff. Good job in clearing him for action when he was probably one more severe head shot away from landing in a wheelchair.
And that brings us to that oh-so common word these days in the NHL: head shot. I know the league has come a long way in dealing with these things. I know the tolerance level is very low and the disciplinary action taken on head shots these days is very serious. But why has the NHL not taken it out of their vocabulary all together? Why are there players out on the ice who still skate around every night hunting down vulnerable players to potentially intentionally injure? And the penalty for such unsportsmanlike and disgusting acts is only a game misconduct and a suspension of a few games? Please!
Players who play dirty have no place in the NHL or any professional (or even amateur) league for that matter; they should be kicked out all together. And that's not just for the NHL (listen up NBA, NFL, and MLB). Players who display a disregard to the well being of fellow competitors on the field of play and commit acts of intentional injurement would no longer be able to play in their respective leagues. Period. They would have their contracts terminated, and would even adopt a criminal record. And I'm saying that exactly because, in this case, the NHL's poster boy got sidelined and his future in the game is in jeopardy. "Poster boys" and "ambassadors" of professional sports are exactly those figures for good reasons: they help promote the sport, make the sport popular to youth, and help the leagues (most importantly) make a ton of cash! When you lose one because they got "legally" hit by a fellow competitor and is forced to miss an entire season and even contemplate retirement, that's not cool. How do you think David Stern would feel if a player undercut Derrick Rose on his way to the basket, suffers a bad fall, breaks his back, doesn't ever fully recover, and is forced to end a bright career abruptly? How do you think Roger Goodell would react if a free safety were to deliver a late hit on Tom Brady long after he stepped out of bounds on the sidelines and suffers a broken collar bone in the process, hence forcing him into early retirement? Yeah, probably not good.
This brings us back to Sidney Crosby. Crosby has just reached his prime in the game of hockey. Up until he sustained his concussion he was fresh off winning an Olympic gold medal and, the year before that, a Stanley Cup. He was what every peewee hockey player aspired to be and what every NHL hockey player trained so hard to try to be better than. And in a split second, he was reduced to a mere mortal who can't even stand upright and couldn't concentrate while watching game film. Sad.
I'm not going to accuse the NHL of being a league of dirty players, but there are a few bad apples in the bunch. The league is one of the most competitive in the four major North American professional sports leagues if not the most. And the funny thing is that when the NHL reaches the post season, all that blindsiding and cheap-shotting garbage goes right out the window - almost. The point is there's no intensity like playoff hockey intensity; the action is fast and the drama is unbearable. It's a lot like a really great thrilling movie, but for those moments to exist, it must have it's hero's. Sidney Crosby was the biggest one the NHL has had in a long time.
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