Passing the blame
Tweets abound over the death of Wade Belak. One in particular caught my eye.Tyson Nash, formerly with the Phoenix Coyotes tweeted: "Ur entire life is dedicated to hockey and then one day it's all over and ur kicked to the curb! And the NHLPA does nothing to prepare u”
That’s a pretty powerful statement on it’s own. It is, of course, tied to the death of Wade Belak, but obviously hits home with Nash who left the NHL in 2007 after 7 seasons in the league.
Wade Belak played 14 seasons in the NHL. Kicked to the curb? Well 8 goals and 25 assists is a not-so-bad season for an enforcer in the league. The problem is that Belak produced those 33 points over those 14 seasons. Nash, for his part, produced 64 points over his 7 seasons. Neither of these players were exactly top line players. I am not trying to sound harsh by belittling these players and their stats, Belak hanged himself, and that’s a horrible thing, not for him as much as his wife and kids. But kicked to the curb?
If your entire life is dedicated to music, finance, engineering, sports, gardening or anything, one day it will come to an end. Life is about beginnings and endings. I have worked for wll over 30 years of my life at various and sundry positions, some being pastimes, some being careers, others being jobs. Realistically, while my bank manager has told me to prepare for when it’s all over, but I am not prepared.
My employer has in the past and will in the future tell me my services are no longer needed. And they will provide me with little if anything to prepare me for the days that lie ahead. Never having been in a union, I don’t really have an association to turn to either. When it happens (and it has) I am completely out there on my own. My curb, as it were, is but a pink-slip away. It’s no one else’s responsibility, it’s mine and mine alone.
We always hear about pro athletes, hard on their luck. Selling a Rolls Royce to pay the rent, selling a championship ring to pay alimony or even sleeping in a cardboard box under an overpass. These poor men and women, given nothing but fame and fortune in their prime, end up with nothing. People like Nash blame the system and I guess in some way I do too. The system I am blaming is the one that drafts and hires these athletes, who, in my opinion, are not smart enough to manage their own lives.
Gretzky? Richard? Belliveau? Sittler? Magic? Elway? Marino? The Big O? Staubach? Did the system let these men down? They all ended up on the curb at some point – but they were all able to figure it out. The PA’s of their respective leagues were no different than the NHLPA – It’s just that these men took it upon themselves to be smart. They thought about the what’s and wherefores and made changes or did things to affect change so they could live happily ever after.
The difference between Nash, Belak and me?
Tyson Nash – whom I don’t really think I had ever heard of prior to his tweet, made over $5 million in his 7 years, Belak made closer to $9 million. Since those two started be paid to play hockey, I have earned about one tenth of Nash’s money.
I love sports. I love that athletes do what they do. I can’t say I love that they make as much as they do – however we, as fans, pay them to do so. As long as someone pays, they are worth what they are paid is the rule.
But to be paid what they are and to place blame on the system for being kicked to the curb? To me that’s a very very poor expectation, if you ask me.
Sadly, Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak were not failed by the system of which Nash speaks.
They were failed by the system that says that fighting is illegal in the game and those that fight are punished by having to spend 2-10 minutes in solitary while their friends get to continue playing. Those fights affected their brains.
The only way the PA let them down was by not regulating the agents. Tyson Nash paid someone over $500,000.00 to represent him – perhaps that person could have been on the curb awaiting his arrival – or better yet, could have better prepared Nash and his brethren for their fall from grace.
Maybe these three men, now dead, already had depression running through those brains, and maybe not – either way, it’s apparently that some form of depression weighed heavily on them and reality wasn’t what they really wanted to deal with. No one will ever know the whole truth, but it’s a seemingly well substantiated claim that their bare knuckle fisticuffs at least played some part in creating or promoting that depression.
posted by G.M. Shier @ Friday, September 02, 2011
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