This week's death Derek Boogaard is certainly a tragedy for his friends and family, who are to be commended for their decision to donate his brain to scientists studying the effects of repeated head injuries on the brain even before the investigation into the causes of the hockey enforcer's unexpected passing is completed.
Boogaard's brain will be examined by researchers for the Boston University for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, who earlier this year linked the deaths of former NHL enforcers Reggie Fleming and Bob Probert to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
The issue is especially important and timely for hockey-mad Canadians given the fact that our most revered current star, Sidney Crosby, was sidelined for the season after two successive blows to the head. The fact that even this writer, a casual fan of the sport at best, has the date that Crosby went down -Jan. 6 - committed to memory is an indication of where Canadians' heads are at on this issue.
Long story short: We as a society that seems inexorably driven to greater and greater extremes - bigger air, higher speeds, more seemingly unreasonable risks -need to do everything we can to promote injury prevention and keep athletes safe. Sure, a level of personal responsibility is part of the equation, and programs that teach youngsters to make sound decisions in potentially risky situations deserve our support.
Civil society also has a role to play, and there's a bit of a local connection here: Vancouver MP Hedy Fry's Private Members' Bill C-289 would prevent the advertising, import and sale of snowsports helmets that do not meet Canadian Standards Association standards. At least some of the impetus for the bill is the result of the efforts of West Vancouver-based activist Richard Kinar, who has spent years lobbying the likes of Whistler Blackcomb to take steps to increase on-hill helmet use, with some success. We hope Fry will re-introduce her bill when Parliament resumes on June 2 and that it will gain swift passage.
Contact sports such as hockey and football and speed/amplitude sports such as freestyle skiing and snowboarding are inherently risky, and studies into the effects of repeated blows to the head can only go so far in preventing debilitating and/or life threatening injuries in the future. The leaders of the sports should be part of the effort to reduce the frequency and severity of injuries. The NHL must do a better job of punishing those who slam into opponents with intent to injure; they also need to be far less tolerant of fighting. While hockey will certainly always be a contact sport, it doesn't have to include one or two all-out, drop-the-gloves brawls per game.
This writer is frankly mystified by the increasing popularity of sports such as mixed martial arts, in which the object of the "game" is to do harm. Why would anyone want to watch it, much less do it? Before UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) became the force it is today, the popularity of its precursor, boxing, was on the wane -as it should be. We're not calling for those sports to be outlawed, but to borrow a phrase from Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along" and stop promoting violence for the sake of violence?
- David Burke
