NHL commissioner asked to ban fighting
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader wants to ban fighting in the National Hockey League.
Nader, who is founder of the League of Fans —a group that encourages social and civic responsibility in sports — wrote an open letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman saying, “it’s time to ban fighting and outlaw all blows to the head.”
“Fighting in hockey can no longer be a long-debated issue pitting those who find it barbaric and unsportsmanlike and those who argue that it’s an integral part of the fabric of the game,” Nader wrote. “The growing mound of research on sports concussions and brain injuries has taken the fighting issue to an entirely different level. We’re talking about short-and-long-term damage to the brain, the very foundation of who we are as people.”
Nader said that repeated head trauma shortened the careers of Pat LaFontaine, Eric Lindros and Keith Primeau. He added that concussions are threatening the careers of the Philadelphia Flyers’ Chris Pronger and the Pittsburgh Penguin’s Sidney Crosby.
Crosby missed the final 41 games of last season after suffering a concussion. He’s played only eight games this season due to concussion and neck issues. There is no timetable for his return.
Three enforcers, Derek Boogard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak, have died in the past year.
More than 60 players have suffered a concussion so far this season, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Ithought ralphy boy was dead. I know his opinions are.Theres more concussions in football with little fighting , so let the NFL go to flag football. And theres Ultimate fighting, I;ll bet theres a few concussions there too.Maybe they can outlaw hits to the head in that sport too. And boxing…Why doesnt Nader just dry up and disappear.
Nader is delivering the right message to Bettman. How can the NHL care about the players when they allow two people to pound each other in the head. It’s time to eliminate fighting from the game – http://itsnotpartofthegame.blogspot.com/.
I don’t believe that fighting ever had a place in the game and as far as the accountability argument goes, why were the 70′s and 80′s some of the bloodiest hockey years while fighting was at its peak? There were lots of “policemen” in the game but it didn’t seem to help. Let’s focus on skilled hockey players, good hard hitting and fast paced action. Not two grown men wrestling for a few minutes before falling to the ice.
All the players mentioned in this article received concussions from hits during the game, not from fighting. More illegal hits are occuring because fighting is being eliminated from the game and since it is such a fast contact sport, fighting does relieve tension during the game when two rival teams want to vent their frustrations.
There are more concussion related injuries now that fighting has ben curtailed the all the years the players played without helmets. Concussions occuring more now also because the players are bigger and stronger then back in the day so I don’t know where the queen of the clowns Ralph Nader is coming from, he should just keep his name in the news by running for president, at least he will know that the few hundred voters that vote for him is interested in his opinions.
I agree.
Didja ever notice how fighting disappears from the game during the playoffs?