The Semi-Official Hockey Thread... Hat trick!
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 111,886
Likes: 2,035
From: SoCal
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 93,305
Likes: 820
From: Nowhere
The concussions, and the outcomes for so many hockey players (and really, professional athletes of all stripes, but especially football and hockey). They abuse their bodies for 20+ years trying to make it, and when they don't, they have nothing to fall back on. Throw in the concussion aspect and a lot of these guys end up in really bad places, addicted to pain killers (which invariably get replaced with illegal drugs, especially heroin, when they can no longer get their prescriptions filled), no real job skills and only their hockey career to fall back on - which doesn't get them very far other than someone remembering them and buying them a beer at the bar. And even without the concussion/drug aspect, most of them end up with no money and no idea how to make money, because all they ever knew was sports.
If you have Hulu, watch the 30 for 30 episode called "Broke".
If you have Hulu, watch the 30 for 30 episode called "Broke".
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 111,886
Likes: 2,035
From: SoCal
The concussions, and the outcomes for so many hockey players (and really, professional athletes of all stripes, but especially football and hockey). They abuse their bodies for 20+ years trying to make it, and when they don't, they have nothing to fall back on. Throw in the concussion aspect and a lot of these guys end up in really bad places, addicted to pain killers (which invariably get replaced with illegal drugs, especially heroin, when they can no longer get their prescriptions filled), no real job skills and only their hockey career to fall back on - which doesn't get them very far other than someone remembering them and buying them a beer at the bar. And even without the concussion/drug aspect, most of them end up with no money and no idea how to make money, because all they ever knew was sports.
If you have Hulu, watch the 30 for 30 episode called "Broke".
If you have Hulu, watch the 30 for 30 episode called "Broke".
Yeah I KNEW you'd have some good input on this hence my tossing it in here. Tanks BB & yeah I hear ya on most all of this.
I will say that it IS possible to be on a said FB team - the concussion aspect if your say a Coach or Punter who I had the pleasure of knowing on a personal basis in WA as my next door neighbor was the Seachicken's Def Coach... & few blocks over was their Punter at the time. Both no longer in WA as yeah they have to move a lot. Do know that job wise they sometimes end up owning Car Dealerships
I do have the Hulu & will look for that episode!
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 64,605
Likes: 1,226
The concussions, and the outcomes for so many hockey players (and really, professional athletes of all stripes, but especially football and hockey). They abuse their bodies for 20+ years trying to make it, and when they don't, they have nothing to fall back on. Throw in the concussion aspect and a lot of these guys end up in really bad places, addicted to pain killers (which invariably get replaced with illegal drugs, especially heroin, when they can no longer get their prescriptions filled), no real job skills and only their hockey career to fall back on - which doesn't get them very far other than someone remembering them and buying them a beer at the bar. And even without the concussion/drug aspect, most of them end up with no money and no idea how to make money, because all they ever knew was sports.
If you have Hulu, watch the 30 for 30 episode called "Broke".
If you have Hulu, watch the 30 for 30 episode called "Broke".
Having known the guy in real life (we weren't friends - I wasn't the puck bunny type :P ), it hits home. Obviously the PCS part touches a nerve with me too...I often wondered what became of some of the guys after high school. I heard one became a financial planner and another one was a firefighter/model. I suspect the guys who had the chance to pursue post-secondary (while still playing or not) fared better than others. Clearly I have no data to back that up though. 
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 93,305
Likes: 820
From: Nowhere
Yeah I agree it shouldn't be all that shocking - how many blows to the head did he take as an enforcer?! And it's not like the impact of sports concussions is some giant secret. Having known the guy in real life (we weren't friends - I wasn't the puck bunny type :P ), it hits home. Obviously the PCS part touches a nerve with me too...I often wondered what became of some of the guys after high school. I heard one became a financial planner and another one was a firefighter/model. I suspect the guys who had the chance to pursue post-secondary (while still playing or not) fared better than others. Clearly I have no data to back that up though.
Having known the guy in real life (we weren't friends - I wasn't the puck bunny type :P ), it hits home. Obviously the PCS part touches a nerve with me too...I often wondered what became of some of the guys after high school. I heard one became a financial planner and another one was a firefighter/model. I suspect the guys who had the chance to pursue post-secondary (while still playing or not) fared better than others. Clearly I have no data to back that up though. One of my gripes with college hockey (not style wise, where i have a lot of gripes
) is that the NCAA treats players in major junior as professionals because they get a living stipend. So a lot of American players who play a year or two of junior in the CHL are blocked from getting scholarships when it's fairly obvious they're not NHL (or even AHL) caliber.
