The tragic plane crash in New York this past week that took the life of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle gave rise to several columns in the hockey media over so-called "dangerous pursuits" of NHL players away from the ice.
Those "dangerous pursuits" include piloting an airplane, skydiving, hang-gliding, bungee-jumping or driving fast cars, motorcycles and boats, even skiing.
Now I understand the concern over some of these pursuits, but when common sense is used these activities can be fun. Heck, they're more than that, they're exhilirating, speaking as someone who has bungee-jumped, skiied, surfed, water-skied and rappled.
Most importantly, they can be safe pursuits.
The concerns NHL teams may have about some of their players pursuing these activities are justified, after all, these teams rely on these players as their meal tickets. By comparison, through most of my adult life I've never had a boss express concern to me over my personal pursuits. Indeed, because I spent most of my adult life in the Canadian military, these pursuits were encouraged as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Still, I had to shake my head when Montreal Canadiens forward Alexei Kovalev, a licensed pilot, was asked more than once this past week by reporters if he would give up flying in the wake of the Lidle tragedy.
Why?
Pro atheletes usually engage in expensive off-ice thrills and adventures that most average folks couldn't do, but why did flying an aircraft become a "dangerous pursuit"?
If Lidle had died in a car accident, reporters wouldn't ask athletes if they'll stop driving.
Obviously some of those activities I noted earlier are more dangerous than others, but it's not as though small aircraft are regularly dropping out of the skies. It's not as though any schmuck can just go out and get a pilot's license.
I realize the Lidle story was big news, but asking other athletes who are certified pilots if they'll stop flying because of it is not only over-reacting, it's ridiculous.
No wonder some athletes refuse to talk to the press!
I was watching on ESPN after what happened to Ben Rothlisberger and this psychologist was saying its not the activities themselves that are neccessarily dangerous but the way in which the athletes participate in them.
He was saying that because athletes play at such a high level, where the adrenaline is flowing at heights that humans rarely get to, they go to "extreme" sports and they try to take risks so they can get the extreme highs that they are used to as playing sports. In a way, that makes sense.
As for the media, don't they over-hype, over-kill, over-sympathize, over-(anyword fits) any and every story?
Personally, I wouldn't compare flying to driving. Getting in a plane crash is totally different than getting in a car crash.
For a lot of hockey players, the most extreme sports they participate in are golf and fishing. The physical demands of an NHL season are such that when these guys get "down time", the last thing they want to do is participate in something that's physically punishing.
My point about reporters asking athletes who are licensed pilots if they'll continue flying is that, prior to the Lidle accident, it wasn't a concern.
Flying a plane comes with a potential element of danger, but statistically it's considerably safer for someone who's a licensed pilot to fly a plane than for that same person to drive a car.
Wasn't it Steve Chiasson from Carolina who was killed in a boating accident a number of years back? I was overseas at the time, but were North American athletes asked if they would stop boating to the cottage after that tragedy?
Statistically, flying is much safer than boating (and driving) after all.
I completely agree with the flying aspect--All of a sudden, Kovalev, Juneau, Regehr, anybody who'd actually piloted a plane was suddenly doing something dangerous and "extreme," and that's bunk.
My personal take is that the line between "acceptable risk" and "stupid" is the real issue.
When Schneid talked to the Detroit Free Press about the fact that he'd love to ski regularly, but he feels that it's too risky in terms of blowing out a knee, he's also intonating that, given his persistent groin issues, it's just not smart for him to do something during the season that would be asking for trouble.
Guys surf in the summer, there're professional cyclists, rock-climbers, mountain-bikers, motorcyclists, guys that take part in so-called "extreme" sports in adventurous guys like Andrew Ference, Selanne's taken part in races in Finland and got into a bad car accident, etc.
It's risk management that's the issue. The Uwe Krupps of the world who decided that persistent back problems didn't preclude them from hunching behind a dogsled for an extended period of time, or the Malakhovs of the world who refused to stop skiing at Mont Tremblant during the regular season despite his persistent knee issues, and the simple but stupid decisions of more than a few hockey players to drive themselves home after having a few too many beers...Those are the issues that make GM's cringe.
There's nothing that can be done to stop the freak accidents that've cost us the Tertershnys or ended the careers of guys like Konstantinov; it's the DUI's and the losses of guys like Chiasson.
Oodler - There was a death in a boating accident but it wasn't Steve Chiasson. Chiasson was killed in an alcohol-related one-car accident the night Carolina was eliminated in the 2002 Finals.
The guy you're thinking of was Dmitry Tertyshny, a defense prospect for the Flyers.
In a case like Lidle's or Tertyshny's, accidents are accidents. Unfortunately, much more press is involved in cases of professional athletes and other celebrities and it puts everyone else under a microscope. These two guys weren't doing anything reckless, they just had some extremely unfortunate luck.
I thought we went through all of this after the Rothlisberger accident.
I think it's ridiculous that they would question Kovalev about giving up flying. Was Bill Barilko flying the plane when it went down in '51 or was he just a passenger? Are we going to start asking these men to stay out of private planes entirely?
I suppose we shouldn't be suprised by the question, the press always over-dramatized every little story...
There are accidents and then there are times when people do just plain stupid things that cause accidents which could have never happened to begin with.
Case in point - the late, great Pelle Lindbergh. He was a brilliant goaltender with the Flyers who got drunk & skunked out of his mind and then drove his Porsche into a brick wall! What a tragic loss to the NHL, but especially to his family - but again it all could be avoided if he would not have gotten drunk as a skunk that night.
Whether it's Joe Ordinary, you, me or some famous person - there's also the possibility you could be totally sober and not make it back home tonight. I truly believe when it's your time, it's your time.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
