>>information or protecting them from themselves and over
>>regulation and hounding them with useless info.
>
>In regard to protection, most players don't want to hear about it. The
>majority of participants on this list are very opinionated about what they do
>and don't want to read. It just depends on how well informed you want to be.
>There is no such thing as being over-informed about equipment safety. The
>truths about helmets may seem hard to swallow, insignificant, silly, but facts
>don't lie! The opinion of college coaches to NHL VPs is that helmet technology
>needs a boost! This is not just my opinion!
You missed my point, especially in the pros where these are grown men, but
this also applies to college. There's a point of over-regulation. Why not
just get them all to wear suits of armor where no one will ever get hurt or
anything? I see the point about getting standardized helmets and stuff, but
I think you need to realize that injuries are a part of every sport, and
they'll never be 100% prevented without absurd padding and regulation.
Also, if the people don't want it, you can't force it on them. Smokers will
always smoke despite what it does to them. I've tried to get my mom to quit
smoking for years and it won't happen. The same applies here. The players
want the choice, they don't want to be forced into anything. I think a
minimum standard could be set while still allowing them choices.
BTW, Craig McTavish said he'd never suffered a head injury while playing
without a helmet, infact he think players paid a little closer attention to
make sure they didn't get the stick up high on him since he ahd no helmet.
Then, first game behind the bench as a coach, he got hit in the head by a
puck and required stiches to close it. Everyone on the bench started
cracking up.
>>Hey a fight makes a good spectacle.
>
>I definitely am in the minority here! Maybe if you had sons out there playing
>you would feel differently about that part of the sport. I can hardly be
>detached about seeing someone lose an eye or lose their motor capability,
>whether it's my son or not! Yes, of course play goes on and it's a
>contact/collision sport! In a THN article Jeff Libby said, if he had to do it
>all over again he wished he would have worn the shield.
Maybe if I was out of school and had kids I'd understand better. I do know
that parents, especially mothers, have an overprotectiveness about them. And
I've changed my mind somewhat, I used to think college hockey should drop
the game DQ for fighting, now I think that's fine. On USCHO, a fellow Mav
fan pointed out that in colleges, fights are usually the last resort of
retalition and usually only come about after a ref loses control of a game
due to non-calls earlier.
As far as the eye thing, hockey fights rarely last long enough for serious
damage to be done, and those that do are the exception to the rule, not the
rule themselves. I don't think you should regulate something based on a
minority of the cases, unless that minority becomes significant, which I
guess is a debateable %. You sound like the % you'd say is significant is a
lot lower than what most people would.
>There are two factions here: you may represent the kind of fan who is only
>into stats, season outcomes, fights, etc. I'm interested in everything related
>to the sport.
I'm interested in a good product and enjoying the atmosphere of a crowd.
Because Omaha has no major pro sports (we had CBA basketball and have AAA
baseball), we follow college and amateur sports alot. And you can't call
anyone who goes to a lot of UNO games interested in stats and season
outcomes. Just check our recrod for the past two years. Oh, I'm also a Cubs fan
>I'm not just limited in interest to player safety, better
>equipment, and enforcement of the rules! But, I don't hide my head in the sand
>in regard to the truths about equipment failure and unnecessary brutal on ice
>behavior!
Unnecessary to you as a fan and a player's mother. I'd like to know what the
players and coaches think.
>And, now, either does the NHL! They want on the tube, so their act
>gets cleaned up or there's no SHOW!
Fights will never dissappear from the NHL. I can only imagine what would
have happened in the Detroit/Colorado rivalry if fights were outlawed (can
you say stick fighting thru the roof?) But that's for an NHL discussion
list, not this one.
I admire your enthusiasm for your cause, it rivals mine in trying to get
Omaha to build a new arena finally. But all those exclamation points reminds
me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine either loses her job or loses a big
deal because she made too many exclamation points while editing a
transcript. And as my English teacher says, use words to show your emotion,
not exclamation points. Plus too much energy may possibly turn some people
away who otherwise would listen. It's all about balance. (dang, this reminds
me of an essay I had to write about finding a happy medium.) :-)
===============================
Ben Flickinger
-------------------------------
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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(Stanley Cup Champion) Detroit Red Wings Fan for Life
Proud resident of Bugaha(Omaha)-Home of the 1st Jim Rome World Tour Stop.
U!N!0! U!N!O!
Everyone can have a bad century or two. Cubbies all the way in 1999.
===============================
QOTW: "Every day I set a new record for consecutive days that I've lived."
(Anonymous)
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