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The Penguins, hockey and more, by the PG's Seth Rorabaugh. |

The NHL's decision to resist introducing a universal ban on head shots at this week's general managers meetings was disappointing but hardly surprising. Afterall, this is the same league which balked at making helmets mandatory for over a decade after North Stars forward Bill Masterton died as a result of striking his head off the ice in 1968. It wasn't until 1979 that they became mandatory, and even then, it was a soft "mandatory" as players who were in the league prior to 1979, were given grandfather status and allowed to play the rest of their careers without a helmet.
Progressive thinking has always been fought tooth and nail within the NHL.
The thinking then is the same as it was then. Danger has always been "a part of the game." Even if that danger could result in life-altering or -ending injuries. And that thinking extends from management to the rank and file players.
Even in the aftermath of seeing former Senators defenseman Bryan Berard suffer a gruesome eye injury on the ice just over a decade ago, players who wear visors are still seen as soft or even cowards by many involved in the sport. In many circles, just mentioning that one wears a visors is enough language to convey that a player isn't brave.
So to say the least, plenty of NHL types, including those in power, are still comfortable with the idea of concussions not being a serious problem. The notion of playing the game the way it was "meant" to carries far more weight than the inconvenient facts of medical science
Their counterparts in the NFL changed that mindset a long time ago. But not for any sense of moral obligation over the health of players.
They changed it because it was a good business decision forced on them.
Much like the NHL, the NFL didn't regard head injuries with a great deal of seriousness at one time. A broken leg or a torn knee ligament were viewed as death sentences. At least for the season. A head injury? That was nothing. There was even a cute name for that diagnosis. That was was "getting your bell rung."
Mike Webster (above) got his bell rung quite a bit during his hall-of-fame career as a center for the Steelers and Chiefs. Despite playing a position which was among the most brutal in the sport, Webster only missed four games in his first 16 seasons. "Iron Mike" played through all sort of ailments, including as we learned much later, concussions. Webster endured 17 seasons of hell on the field. As a result, his life became hell off it.
Prior to his death in 2002 at the all-too-young age of 50, Webster lived a broken existence as a human being. He essentially spent many nights homeless, sleeping in bus stations, Kinkos offices or his truck. He would go days without eating. He didn't file a tax return for the last 11 years of his life.
And Webster constantly lived with pain. When prescriptions for painkillers wouldn't work, Webster would ask his son or a family friend to use a stun gun on him to snap him into unconsciousness.
By the time Webster died, he lived in a dingy apartment with his son, Garrett Webster. Garrett, who was a senior in high school at that time, often said he was the "father" in the relationship.
Fast forward to April 26, 2005. That's when U.S. District Judge William Quarles Jr. made a decision in a Baltimore courtroom on Civil Action No. WDQ-04-cv-1606, the Estate of Michael L. Webster v. The Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan and The NFL Player Supplemental Disability Plan. It's a decision which changed how professional football is played today.
Quarles ruled in favor of the Webster estate and ordered the NFL to pay 1.18 million in disability benefits. The NFL appealed the decision but Quarles' ruling was upheld in 2006.
That ruling opened the door for countless other players to make claims for other disabilities for all sorts of injuries, including concussions.
From that point on, the NFL made stronger efforts to curtail head injuries. New helmet designs and different protocol for diagnosing and treating head injuries were slowly introduced. Most notably, we saw a low level of tolerance for any sort of blow to the head during the 2010 NFL season.
Fans, coaches and players - such as Steelers linebacker James Harrison who was fined a total of $125,000 for violent hits last season - complained that the NFL was changing the sport.
The NFL was simply doing what was good for business. The Webster lawsuit forced the NFL to change its game for the sake of money.
The NHL has thankfully never had a high profile player deteriorate publicly the way Webster did. There are some players such as Paul Kariya and Keith Primeau who have had their quality of life impacted off the ice, but not quite to the level Webster endured.
And thus far, there has never been a legal case against the NHL such as the one involving Webster's estate. The NHL has never had to make a business decision with regards to head injuries quite like the NFL was forced to.
Expect head shots, albeit on a smaller scale, to remain part of the NHL unless the league is faced with making a decision on them based on finances.
Until then, it will be business as usual for the NHL.
(Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)

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I read recently (and can't remember where, otherwise I would provide a link) that football teams used to have a drill to simulate what it was like to play with their "bells rung."
Basically, a player would lie on his back with feet and arms raised in the air, and a teammate would spin you around until you were dizzy. Then they would have ball recovery drills, chasing an opponent down the field. Unbelievable that they would actually train for this.