Crosby: Steelers’ Clark taking chance

[zulater]

Sidney Crosby has spent much of his time during the NHL lockout watching NFL games, specifically when the Steelers are playing.
He will be watching Sunday night’s game against Baltimore with a cautious eye as free safety Ryan Clark has been cleared to play despite absorbing two concussions in the past three weeks.
Few athletes are sensitive to concussions like Crosby, who has missed 101 games in the past two years because of concussion symptoms.
“He’s taking a chance,” Crosby said. “There are a lot of things that can happen.”
Clark was cleared to play Friday and seemed miffed that so many are questioning his decision to play. Crosby believes the pressure of a 16-game schedule is typically why football players are quicker to return from concussions than hockey players.
“The fact that there’s only 16 games doesn’t help,” Crosby said. “You miss one game in 16, that’s (essentially) a playoff game that you’re missing. There’s a lot of pressure on you when you’re making that decision. If a guy feels like he can get through it, and he’s willing to take the chance, then by all means … but first of all, you’ve got your health, And then, can you even perform? Those are decisions you have to make.”


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/2973873-85/crosby-game-games-clark-concussions-pressure-chance-baltimore-bay-cleared#ixzz2CSNHrLXD
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I've got to admit there's part of me that when I saw this article I wanted to say STFU Sid. We know you wouldn't dare play for another 6 months! Leave Ryan the hell alone.

But I guess that's unfair of me? :noidea:

[steelreserve]

Meh. Different people are affected differently by concussions and have different luck with them. Unfortunately, despite being the best player in the NHL, Crosby is like Jahvid Best when it comes to his vulnerability to head injuries. Eric Lindros was the same way. Pat LaFontaine had some career-altering experiences with it as well, if I'm not mistaken. Then there are other guys who go out there and slam each other around and knock each other out like 50 times a year and just get right up and say "whatever."

The more I see about head injuries, the more I'm convinced that there are no absolutes about what's going to happen. Some guys beat the shit out of each other and laugh about it into their 70s and 80s; other guys do the exact same thing and wind up sitting on the lawn separating the good daisies from the bad daisies at age 45. And of course, the majority are somewhere in between. I hope Clark is in the former group, obviously. But really the whole thing is seeming more and more like a big gamble on random chance, for him and everybody else.

[polamalubeast]

I love Pittsburgh & the way we all ban together. To have a great like Sid the Kid reach out in any way is awesome. Appreciate his concern

https://mobile.twitter.com/RealRClark25/status/269861991445835776#tweet_269861991445835776

[X-Terminator]

Sidney Crosby has spent much of his time during the NHL lockout watching NFL games, specifically when the Steelers are playing.
He will be watching Sunday night’s game against Baltimore with a cautious eye as free safety Ryan Clark has been cleared to play despite absorbing two concussions in the past three weeks.
Few athletes are sensitive to concussions like Crosby, who has missed 101 games in the past two years because of concussion symptoms.
“He’s taking a chance,” Crosby said. “There are a lot of things that can happen.”
Clark was cleared to play Friday and seemed miffed that so many are questioning his decision to play. Crosby believes the pressure of a 16-game schedule is typically why football players are quicker to return from concussions than hockey players.
“The fact that there’s only 16 games doesn’t help,” Crosby said. “You miss one game in 16, that’s (essentially) a playoff game that you’re missing. There’s a lot of pressure on you when you’re making that decision. If a guy feels like he can get through it, and he’s willing to take the chance, then by all means … but first of all, you’ve got your health, And then, can you even perform? Those are decisions you have to make.”


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/2973873-85/crosby-game-games-clark-concussions-pressure-chance-baltimore-bay-cleared#ixzz2CSNHrLXD
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

I've got to admit there's part of me that when I saw this article I wanted to say STFU Sid. We know you wouldn't dare play for another 6 months! Leave Ryan the hell alone.

But I guess that's unfair of me? :noidea:

Uh yeah, considering that hockey players take WAY, WAY more punishment in one season than Ryan Clark will take or deliver in 3 seasons, thus increasing the concussion risk. Not only that, concussions affect some people differently than others. Players have missed entire seasons and numerous NHL players have been forced to retire early due to concussions. So the man knows of what he speaks. Just because he missed the equivalent of an entire season plus playoffs because of PCS doesn't make him any less of an authority on this issue, and it certainly doesn't make him soft, which is obviously what you are implying.

[GodfatherofSoul]

These concussions have been happening for decades now. I think it was Clark (one of our defenders at least ) who said a few years back, he got what the league calls a concussion about once a game. I'm still a skeptic about the concussion-mental issue links getting all the attention lately.

[Craic]

These concussions have been happening for decades now. I think it was Clark (one of our defenders at least ) who said a few years back, he got what the league calls a concussion about once a game. I'm still a skeptic about the concussion-mental issue links getting all the attention lately.

Not in the amount and to the degree they are now. If there was ever a way to go back and chart it, there is every reason to expect that you'd see a dramatic increase in head injuries over the last twenty to thirty years in sports based on three main issues:

1. Pay. That's right, salary. As the rugby leagues are finding out, when a player doesn't have to worry about working on Monday, or even in the off-season, they play much harder and faster, and much more dangerous. The result is a lot more injuries and consequently, head injuries.

2. Speed/Size. Somewhere on this site or the other one, if my post didn't get erased over there, is a thread I started highlighting the difference in humans concerning speed and weight since (I think) 1970, or something like that. The conclusion was that you have some people who are 30 and 40 pounds heavier running 20 and 30 percent faster than before. Those collisions cause a whole lot more damage.

3. Equipment. Yeah, I know, that seems to be off. The problem is, it's not. When the NFL went from leather helmets to molded helmets, they began noticing a horrendous new form of hitting, and made a rule against spearing. However, since the head is protected by a helmet, why not use it as a weapon? And that's exactly what's been happening. The better and safer helmets got, the more the players went at it recklessly, negating the safety increases of the helmets.

So no, this type of thing hasn't been happing for decades now. It got much worse, peaking probably in the 1990's, and then studies started coming out concerning head injuries and I think it began to level off, mainly because concussed players weren't going back out on the fields quite as much (though still much, much more than what they should have).

And, as for your last phrase - are you serious? Concussion = a bruise TO THE BRAIN, and is considered a "tramautic brain injury" (usually mild) by neurosurgeons and the CDC. The brain has moved fast enough and crashed into the skull hard enough, that it literally causes the brain to stretch and cells to rip (see the video on the cdc (http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/index.html)site). On top of that, the brain actually bruises at the point of inpact, which necessarily means tissue bleeding. Worse yet, there are always two sites of impact, the coup, and the contrecoup. The first is the primary site of impact, the second is the opposite side of the brain, where the brain and skull impact from the bounce back. Hence, every concussion includes two sites of tissue damage and bleeding, plus tissue damage in various parts of the brain due to tearing from the stretching of the brain matter.

And you're seriously trying to tell me that you're skeptical about how that could lead to longer term mental issues?