One of my first things to do in the morning is to head to Yahoo sports and check out what's happening. I was saddened to hear of the passing of yet another hockey "tough guy", Rick Rypien of the Winnipeg Jets. Rick was only 27, which as everyone will agree with me, is way to young to pass away. Here is a link to the article on Puck Daddy's Blog.
What is making me start to wonder now is will this 2nd death this summer (Derek Boogaard died not too long before the draft at age 28) of a player primarily known for fighting prompt the NHL into looking at banning fights. There are people out there looking for an excuse to ban fighting, and the deaths of these 2 players over the past couple of months has no doubt strengthened their position, because you have to wonder what runs through a person's mind after taking years of fists to the head. I'll say this, I took a fist to the head in a fight once, I didn't care for it too much!
As a lifelong hockey fan, I really hope they don't ban fighting, but with the way hockey has evolved over the past few years, you have to wonder how the game will change now.
Time will only tell.....
fortunately, or unfortunately, the fact of both players being "tough guys" has nothing to do with their deaths other than mere coincidence.
ReplyDeleteBoth young men had demons in their lives, off of the ice. Neither was strong enough to overcome them.
I hope the peace they sought has been found.