Here’s the thing: if you’re fine with Tom Wilson’s actions b/c hockey is a “violent game” then you’re also fine w/ excess rates of substance use, depression & other mental health problems.
One leads to the other. You’re either pro-Wilson or pro-mental health. You can’t be both.
Hockey is a fast, physical game. People will get hurt. Concussions will happen.
But if the explicit way to mitigate intentional head injuries is to have ‘tough’ players to cause head injuries back, we basically just openly want hockey players & their families to suffer.
Which, I mean, if that’s what you want then fine. But own it. Say it.
“I want hockey to be as violent a game as possible and if the players suffer from substance use, depression, maybe suicide... so be it. They signed up for it. They & their families pay that price.”
At least that’s internally consistent.
I don’t agree with it, but you can have your own beliefs.
At least our eyes are open to consequences and we can accept them.
But if you want hockey to be a physical, aggressive game, and accept that there are some risks to playing, but we should endeavor to mitigate those risks where we reasonably can... well then I’m not sure we can be in favour of Tom Wilson’s actions or DoPS’ reaction to it.
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No vaccine is 100% effective. Especially in the elderly, immunocompromised, and most vulnerable individuals. Continued virus circulating in the community is a threat to them.
More vaccination = Less virus = Less threat
Mutations can lead to variants that spread faster, are more deadly, and could evade immunity... as we’ve already seen.
Less vaccination -> more virus -> more mutations -> more variants
I do not remember the feel of ice. A hockey stick in my hands. The cool breeze as I skate. Some days I wonder if hockey was but a dream. An echo of a past life. Was I once a hockey player? Who am I now? Just a man who wishes an end to purgatory.
- Evan Bouchard
Maybe they sent Evan Bouchard on a near light-speed orbit so he returns some time in the future when they need him most though he ages only days like Mazer Rackham in Ender’s Game.
Perhaps Evan The Grey is currently fighting a Balrog deep in the Mines of Rogers Place. His last words to Drai and McDavid as he was pulled into the large cracks in the ice at Rogers Place: Fly, you fools!
Here’s the thing, we’re “managing” right now because the variant load is still mostly in Regina & patients can be spread elsewhere. But if/when the variants go widespread... there’s no longer ‘some’ triaging.