Weekly Musings: NHL Concussion Suit a Joke & Rogers Pulls a Fast one on Bell

Let the Shopping Season Begin!

US Thanksgiving is upon us and the manufactured "Black Friday" is only hours away from making shoppers look like idiots yet again, truly showing us all what many people see as the real reason for the season: Shopping and keeping our economy moving along. As much as we all hate the consumerism that our society nurtures each and every Christmas season, without it we would be living in 3rd world conditions because after all, it is the flowing of money from consumers to businesses back to consumers in an endless cycle that keeps our economy humming along.
 

As good as that is for all of us, there is an inherent evil that has worked it's way into our society through some horrendous corporate values started in the 1980's. Too many corporations are committing 2 hugely immoral acts that are forcing our society to deteriorate at a rapid rate; Underpaying its workforce and overworking at the same time and secondly not paying their fair share of corporate taxes placing an even larger burden on the taxes paid out by the everyday citizen.

Enough of that anti-corporate tirade for now, let's focus on a couple of sporting world issues to throw our minds off the problems of the world.

There was a lawsuit filed on Monday in Washington, DC by former NHL players similar to the one filed by former NFL players claiming that their concussion issues and other life after the sport issues are a direct result of the head injuries they sustained while playing in the league and that the league failed to adequately protect them (in essence, lied to them when they had head injuries during their careers).  I have several issues with this suit which I will explain shortly. The lawyer heading up this suit is a guy names Steve Silverman. I listened to him on TSN Radio 1050 a couple of nights ago as I drove home and wanted to punch him in the face for the smug attitude he was displaying and ludicrous arguments he seems to basing this lawsuit upon.

Rumour has it Eric Lindros is one of the Claimants in this concussion lawsuit

First, let me just say that as of about an hour ago, one of the 10 named claimants in the suit, former Leaf captain Rick Vaive, pulled himself from the suit saying that he had no intention of suing the league and mistakenly thought it was a workman compensation suit filed in California. Not sure what that one is about, but if the most notable name of the 10 claimants pulls his name off your suit, you are already in trouble.

Secondly, Silverman stated bluntly that this suit was only against the league and not at all against the players association. This is so incredibly illogical that it makes my head spin. If there are players suffering from injuries incurred while playing in a sports league that HAS a players union, it is incumbent for those said players to first go after their union to assist them. I mean what else is the point of a union if not to help protect the health and safety of its members, right? How then is it logical to not go after your union if they refuse to cover your medical bills?

Bob Bourne said in an interview yesterday that he is part of the suit and he blames his hockey injuries for going through 5 jobs since he retired. Hardly scientific proof mind you, I've gone through 5 too so who can I sue?

 That right there should be grounds enough for any judge to tell this moron to take a hike. But wait, there is more! Unlike the NFL, the NHL never once took a stand publicly with regards to the effects of head injuries until the mid to late 1990's when the effects of head injuries started to shorten the careers of players like Pat LaFontaine, Paul Kariya and Eric and Brett Lindros.The only team to even question head injuries publicly was the Flyers and that was more of a personal feud between Bobby Clarke, then GM of the Flyers, and Eric Lindros and his family (which, in hindsight, appears the family was correct all along in terms of the poor medical care their son was receiving). So without any direct quotes (which the NFL players had tons to use of former NFL commish Paul Tagliabue saying that anyone could play through a concussion), there is even less evidence they have to support their claims.

Lastly, some of the players in question in this suit played in the late 1970's all the way through to the mid-1990's at a time when even wearing a helmet as a player was not mandatory. The league tried on several occasions to make helmets mandatory but there was constant push back from, <Cue the shocking music>, the players union itself. Unlike other sports, the players have always had a large role in determining their own safety standards as can be seen with how long it took before they grandfathered in helmets as well as visors and their demand to leave the rules around fighting alone.

Saying the league is at fault for "allowing" fighting and body checking clearly tells me this lawyer does not understand how the league and the Players Association actually works

Which brings me to the last part of this suit that should get Silverman laughed out of the courtroom. Part of the suit claims that the league is at fault because the allow bare-knuckle fighting and body checking in the sport which causes these types of injuries. I would have to say on some level the answer is both yes and no to these claims. Yes body checking is allowed but the way he made it sound on the radio, the league is openly demanding that it's players hit fellow players in the head directly when they are close to the boards, almost as if they are the evil coach in the movie "Youngblood" demanding that his tough guy names "Rackie" go out and nail the Captain of the Hamilton Wings, Don Sutton (Patrick Swayze) to take him out and then go after Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) as well.

Body checking is shoulder to shoulder and is legal. When a body check is done correctly, there should be not be any involvement of a players head in a hit and the league has slowly started to take steps towards that as more and more knowledge of head injuries becomes known. A hockey fight is neither legal nor encouraged as he claims as combatants are penalized in increasing severity depending on the situation in which a fight happens, time of the game, etc.

With the rash of head injuries to the games biggest stars over the last 10 years, the NHL has been doing everything it can to try to make the game safer. Given how little we know about head injuries, having this accusatory lawsuit come out is not only wrong but clearly demonstrates how little the lawyer knows about the sport and its inner workings 

Yes the referee and linesman essentially stay away until the 2 willing fighters are too tired to keep fighting or if one of the players cannot continue to defend himself (similar to UFC rules really), but not getting between 2 men willing to fight each other does not imply acceptance. Plus, on multiple occasions the league has tried to increase penalties to the players who decide to fight and they have been met with intense push back from the same players union who was supposed to be there to promote a healthy and safe workplace environment.

All of this leads me to conclude several things about this suit that everyone else should realize right now. The lawyer is an ambulance chaser who saw an opportunity to try to both make a name for himself and a buck, the suit will be thrown out so fast that it will result in a new one being filed shortly thereafter which will include the Players Association and an eventual change to the PA's constitution will result in more money going to help players who are down on their luck resulting from injuries they got when they played. At least something good will come out of this frivolous and misdirected lawsuit.

Bettman with retiring Rogers CEO Nazir Mohammed all smiles. My Cable and Cell bill better not increase

So Rogers communications (owners of numerous TV stations including Sportsnet) was able to sneak their way in and steal the national TV and multimedia rights out from under Bell (owners of TSN) for a staggering 12 years and $5.23 BILLION, essentially changing the landscape of hockey viewing in this country. The only good thing about this deal is that we will now have more options to watch games on Saturday nights what with the fact that although CBC was able to keep leasing games off of Rogers moving forward but Rogers will be able to post up to 9 additional games on their multitude of channels on both basic and cable TV as well as online and through their apps.

As good as it will be to have so many options on Saturday night, it sucks that the lead host on national broadcasts will be Daren Milard, the same guy who seems out of his element hosting Hockey Central at Noon will now take over for James Duthie who is the multi-award winning host of TSN's panel. We will be inundated by Nick Kypreos and Paul McClean for the next 12 years unless a mass exodus starts and some of the most talented and available people who work for TSN now will most definitely move over to Rogers over the next few years.

Yes the "Count" will be counting money for years after this crazy deal he and Rogers signed

 
The fact that Rogers and Bell could forge an alliance on one hand to purchase MLSE and then be back to their old selves in terms of fighting it out at the corporate level is good in the sense that it still shows that they are willing to compete. But this deal is bad in another way. The sheer length of this deal makes it bad. 12 years in the control of a communication giant that SHOULD have better production values then it currently has does not bode well for the future of hockey on Rogers. Again, the talent drain from TSN may help to fix that but still. The last part of this deal I think will be bad is the fact that Rogers now has creative control over Hockey Night in Canada as well which means that a now faceless corporate giant like them will be doing their best to keep Don Cherry on a leesh (if they even keep him at all). Times they are a changing.

I have a suggestion for Bell that might help them ease into the transition into other sports as their main bread and butter; Take a good $2 billion of the $4 billion you were looking at spending on the NHL rights, buy the Tampa Bay Rays, some land in Montreal and build a new baseball stadium there then move the Rays to that city. You could probably even do it for a lot less then $2 billion but I think you get my point.

If you had $2 billion lying around, what would you do with it?

Why do you ask would I suggest such a thing? Well, Rogers has turned their investment in the Blue Jays into a major cash cow as they have been able to milk Jays fans out of just about every dollar they possibly can. Since they own the Skydome and broadcast every game on almost every channel they have in the summer, they dominate baseball coverage in this country. Attendance has increased so much that Rogers invested last winter in a big way and major talent came into the fold. Yes, the Jays had a bad year but not because of a lack of effort.

Far too often, this is the case in the summer at Rays games. What Montrealers wouldn't give to have a 2nd chance...

Bell could do the same thing with a young, up and coming team like the Rays who draw flies in the St. Pete's Times Forum (which used to be where the Lightning played their home games) by moving them to a city that did not deserve to have it's team slowly destroyed from the inside by bad ownership and a piss poor stadium that kept fans away more then anything else.

With a 12 year programing gap looming large starting next year, Bell should seriously consider going after the Rays and moving them to "La Belle Province". Maybe then that nomad known as Youppi! can return home

With a 12 year gap looming large on it's TV schedule, why not buy a baseball team and move it to a market that deserves a 2nd chance. Why not bring back "Les Expos"?

Christmas is just around the corner but the sporting world keeps on turning so stay tuned for more entries over the next few weeks.

Until next time...