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Originally Posted by RchW
I feel the same way about hockey. It bears no resemblance to the game I played and watched until 2004. I stopped watching after the lockout in 2004-05. I do watch a few games each season but find the game like pinball played with inflated armored cars. I can't stand the weenie mentality where a clean hit calls for retaliation but not by the player hit. Tough players take a hit and carry on. Now the "offended" team sends out a thug to go after someone on the other team so they send out their thug for a staged fight. I'm not against fighting in the course of a physical contest but staged fights drag hockey to the level of WWE.
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I got tired of hockey because of all the cheap shots that players seem to like taking against each other; deliberate elbows to the head of the other player being the most notable. (Though of course the players deny the head hit was deliberate.) This is why I now call the league the NCSHL—the National Cheap Shot Hockey League.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnar
I do not believe the NFL will ever follow. There is too much money in the sport. At some point they will make players sign waivers before they step out on to the field. Or, they'll promise some type of lifetime care regarding retired players. Or both. But I don't see the NFL going away. Not while they are all adults making the decisions.
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If the NFLPA had anywhere near the resolve, strength, and unity of the MLBPA, there would more examination of the health issues and some sort of steps taken to ameliorate them (as best can be done given the realities of the technology and circumstances). Unless the players take an active and determined interest in protecting their own health, they'll be the ones paying the price.
There does not seem to be any sort of Marvin Miller on the horizon to galvanize professional football players into standing up for themselves...