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"Deorbiting" The NHL As extreme force environments go our atmosphere is mighty roughneck. Rogue stars colliding and holes that eat up galaxies are common galactic occurrences. As real in the high speed universe of the NHL, two hundred pound plus athletes orbit at 30 miles plus per hour in ice dimensions of 200 x 85 feet. Speed is effortless, impact unforgiving. Seen a game lately? With screaming approval, fans are fueled by adrenalin absorption watching illegal plays and intent to injure hits. And, that's just a commercial intermission viewed from computerized scoreboards. Officiating seems a diversionary side attraction rather than enforcement of the rules. The boards feature nationally recognized corporations like Wendys and Pepsi-Cola, leaders in public consumption who have teamed with the NHL for profit maximization. The front office stance on the violent nature of the sport comes through loud and clear: "Keep fighting on the back burner" and sell, sell, sell. In 1994, NHL Vice President, Brian Burke said, "Physical hockey is a requirement for our fans. I think it's a terrible product if we don't have hitting." In 1998, Brian's successor, Colin Campbell's mandate at headquarters is "not to eliminate hard hockey but deal appropriately with hardheaded hockey." Three out of every ten players aren't hard hatted. They might as well be wearing toy replicas as helmets. Sixty percent of NHL players do not wearapproved head gear. A CSA approved helmet must meet safety standards. Though helmets are hardly a concussion cure-all. Here's a no brainer; helmets give players a false sense of security. That invincibility breeds more hard headed hockey. A pre-helmet NHL had less violence, less speed, no 250 pound players and no checking from behind penalties. Seems, players had more respect and regard for each other without a hard hat. Last season's NHL league wide "concussion evaluation study" was in response to a league hit hard by catastrophic impact. As of February 1998, there were 56 players with concussions as compared to 60 for the entire 96-97 season. The comeback luck of Mighty Duck, Paul Kariya who has suffered 4 concussions finally received a clean bill of health from the director of the brain injury program, Dr. James Kelley at Chicago's Rehabiliation Institute. In Karyia'scase an enforcer has been hired by the Ducks to help keep the star concussion free this season. Some players didn't make a comeback. Recently retired, Brett Lindros, Jim Johnson, Dean Chynoweth, and Pat LaFontaine did not receive the go ahead from Dr. Kelley. In the NHL, violent contact is the result of a violent force environment. Fans buy into it supporting the kind of unethical behavior that is deemed publically unacceptable. Grinders, bangers, muckers and enforcers with seven figure salaries can make the job of low man on the ladder look lucrative. In analysis data published in the Atlantic Economic Journal on "employment and salary effects of violence in the National Hockey League", the salary base of a"grunt" player, namely the "physical or violent player" is based on the results that any performance that enhances revenue is rewarded." In a "relationship between salaries, violence and revenue generation" violent behavior is a "positive and significant determinant of players salary in the NHL." Under the auspices of "professionalism", for the benefit of fan amusement, violent contact has become the game's ticket to economic maximization. In deep space science, "deorbiting" space objects is serious government business. In space, orbital objects move at 6 miles a second; a speed that would cause liquefaction in the earth's atmosphere. There are enough of these objects orbiting the earth 600 to 1000 miles up to cause a violent impact with earth. A National Surveillance network tracks these objects to divert a "major catastrophic collision event". This isn't science fiction, neither is the life threatening reality a concussed athlete faces when dealing with the trauma of concussion. Annual neuropsychological testing and utilizing a scale for grading, diagnosing and managing concussion should be a mandatory ongoing process in the NHL. Factors such as arena size, player size and weight, officiating, rules, equipment all should be evaluated on the basis of player safety, not just fan approval and profit maximization. The violence and commercialism that pervades sports today sadly seems to be the only ticket in town. (c)Copyright 1998-2000 |