I think there are two different types of unwritten rules in sports. There are the rules that players follow, which I assume begins with something like: “don’t throw your teammate under a bus.” Then there are the rules that we, as watchers and commentators, have, which start with something along the lines of “players should play hard” and “players should care about rivalries” and includes “players should be approachable and likeable but also tough and, when appropriate, cruel.”
As is often pointed out, the rules we want players to follow aren’t always the unwritten rules that they do follow (cut to a patented Bill Simmons joke about Johnny Damon nodding in the corner). But I think there’s one that both players and fans tend to agree on: players shouldn’t be blamed for one injury. There’s a line, of course: players who refuse to play through any pain, players who don’t seem to care so long as they’re receiving their paycheck, players who just want a day off—these players are fair game, according to the unwritten rules, but we’re not allowed to lambaste someone for having a bone broken. We generally assume that they would have liked to avoid that outcome as much as anyone.
This is especially true with what you might call “robber” injuries. You know what I’m talking about—Orr’s knees, Koufax’s elbow, Bo’s hip. These are the most extreme examples, maybe, injuries that quite possibly stole GOAT-level players from us, but there are dozens of others of players who took a freak hit (Neely), who were overworked (Bird), or whose bodies just broke down early (Walton). We don’t blame these players for having to end it too soon; instead, we regret it, and curse the sports gods for their fickle nature, and start muttering to ourselves whenever a baseball player breaks a wrist, a basketball player blows an ACL, or a hockey player gets a concussion.[1]
It's that association—hockey and concussions—that makes this week’s news about Sidney Crosby all the more depressing. Reports of a setback were rapidly denied by his agent, but the fact that we’re even questioning whether he’ll be ready for camp at all is bad news. I could write quite a lot about what Crosby’s loss will mean for the sport (let’s put it this way: it wouldn’t be good) and probably even more about how incredible he’s been since his debut six years ago, but I don’t want to eulogize his career before it’s over. I’m hoping that he’ll return in two weeks and the only mention that I’ll ever make of this again is in remembering that, in 2011, Crosby’s best season up to that point was prematurely ended (note the “up to that point”) by a concussion that was the eventual impetus behind major rule overhauls.
Right now, frankly, that’s what the NHL needs. NHL discipline over the last four or five years has been more of a joke than putting Neifi Perez and slugger in the same sentence.[2] Colin Campbell retired at the end of last season—technically he changed positions—so the new regime might be more consistent, or at least more open about why they aren’t consistent. Hopefully, they’ll also be harsher towards headshots, kicks with the skate, and Chris Pronger in general than anyone has been in the past, but I doubt it. There are a lot of suggestions out there that could increase safety, from changing icing regulations to better glass, but really, it all comes down to enforcing penalties for hits to the head.
I have suggested before—and I’m relatively serious about this, though it wouldn’t penalize those hits that don’t end in injury enough—but that NHL could actually decide that discipline for an injury would be commensurate with the time missed by the injured player. That determination, of course, would require serious consideration whether the hit was intentionally aimed at the head or so negligent regarding safety considerations that it might have well been.
Practically, of course, that’s not a workable proposition. There’s simply too much chance involved in injury severity to truly penalize players based on length of time off-ice (though, it should be noted, the NHL admits to using that criteria right now). But it would stop headshots—something that can only be done with serious threats that are carried out. Whether that means automatic ten-game suspensions with the time doubling for each infraction, or something equally severe is merely a question of method.
[1] I think I need to create a designation for Albert Pujols-related side notes. The guy is hitting like, well, Pujols, since coming back from a wrist injury two weeks earlier than expected. You might remember that it was a broken wrist that took out Nomar for a year and started the end of his career, that made David Ortiz into a shell of himself for all of 2008 and most of 2009. Pujols, ladies and gentlemen, was out of the game for one month.
[2] I know, it’s a dated joke. But considering how well Betancourt has hit over the last month (wRC+ over a hundred! For Yuniesky Betancourt!), I felt we collectively needed to lay off him for awhile.
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