Tuesday, June 25, 2013

PLAYING THROUGH PAIN: IT'S WHY I LOVE HOCKEY PLAYERS.



It's why I love hockey players

Patrice Bergeron is why hockey players are the toughest athletes in professional sports. The
Bruins center played Game 6 with a broken rid, separated shoulder, and torn cartilage. Are you kidding  me? Bears quarterback Jay Cutler twisted his knee during a playoff game two years
ago and was sill standing, but he waved the white towel  and didn't return to help his team try
to win.

It's why I love hockey players.

Andrew Shaw of the Chicago Blackhawks got drilled in the face with a puck in Game 6 and
was practically sipping from a pool of own blood. Dazed and confused, Shaw went to the
locker room, got stitched up and returned to help his team win the Stanley Cup. He didn't
even put on a protective shield to shield his stitches from possibly ripping apart. Carl Crawford
of the Los Angeles Dodgers feels a twinge in his hamstring and he goes on the disabled list for
60-days.
 

As the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blawkhawks and Boston Bruins clearly
demonstrated, hockey players are resilient, passionate, incredibly hardworking, but most of
all, tough. The series gave us six brutally competitive games, but if you add up all the
overtimes, it came out to more than seven.  They battled fiercely, dishing out big body
checks, and took them, as well, squeezing every ounce of sweat out of their bodies, with
one goal in mind: winning the Stanley Cup.


It's why I love hockey players

In baseball, if you get hurt, you go on the disabled list. If you get injured, you go into the
witness protection program. Hockey players don't get hurt, and if they get injured, they never
show it. Oh, the 25 stitches across their forehead might give it away, but hockey players never
let anybody see they might be in pain.

Four years ago, Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith took a puck to the mouth and ended up
spitting Chick-lets. He lost seven teeth! Seven. Did he go on the disabled list for 15-days?
Hell, no. He went to the locker room, got sewed up and returned to play in the same game.
Unreal.


It's why I love hockey players.

There are no athletes in any sport, anywhere, who endure so much physical pain as hockey
players. But they never show it. They are the toughest athletes in professional sports. I just
wis the entire country would appreciate it like many fans in hockey do. They really deserve more
attention and admiration than they get. But they would never complain about it.

It's why I love hockey players

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