Quote:
Originally Posted by PR_Glen
Everyone makes the argument that players are bigger and stronger and faster now... but is that even true? Equipment hasn't improved that much and training has gotten more technical but I wouldn't say its enough to make this much of a difference in injuries.
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go to youtube and find games from 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's - the speed difference is obvious, the speed of the game just keeps increasing decade by decade. when the NHL cracked down on obstruction fouls it weeded out all the slow skating players, you can't make an NHL team now if you can't skate, wasn't like that before. and LOL at are the players bigger? you only need to walk by a high school or anywhere else teenagers or young adults hang out and see how big kids are today - definitely a lot bigger than when I was in that age group. players are definitely bigger, stronger and faster now and it will keep increasing.
the equipment factor is real too. go to a sporting goods store which sells top of the line hockey equipment - my shoulder pads were cloth stuffed with some fuzzy cotton shit like old sleeping bags were, and some cheap light plastic that i could bend with my hands.
all the factors in this thread people have mentioned are real and contribute to the problem - how much each contributes to the concussion problem is up for debate.
the constant is that the human brain is just as fragile as it ever was meanwhile everything around it that impacts it in hockey has gotten bigger, faster, harder, stronger.
football has the same problems, the NFL has a new rule against hits where a player leads with his helmet using it as a weapon. the guys who play on the line in the NFL have always had horrible health problems following their careers, the average life expectancy of an NFL lineman is some ridiculously sad number like 54 years.
My favorite line as a kid was the French Connection for the Buffalo Sabres, Gilbert Perrault, Rene Robert and Richard Martin. Richard Martin died suddenly at 59 this summer, had a heart event while driving. His autopsy showed signficant brain damage of the kind caused by concussions. And Martin wasn't a goon, he was a scorer.