• qwestjest78@lemmy.ca
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    12 hours ago

    People in Edmonton have been literally shitting on his statue. We know about the traitor.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    12 hours ago

    Why does it matter? He chose america willingly and they welcomed him a long time ago. They say never meet your heroes but the internet makes that almost impossible.

  • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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    13 hours ago

    One of my best friends is from Brantford, huge hockey nut and a big Gretzky fan and man this must sting her so bad and it’s understandable. Gotta be so frustrating.

    As one of the “Lemieux is the GOAT” crowd… LOL

    • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      I’m not from Brantford, but I’m from SOnt, and he was a god to a kid in the 80s. I remember fighting every ounce of my energy trying to stay up to watch the late night games as a little tiny kid. I remember saying as a 3 or 4 year old that I’m going to Edmonton when I grow up, I’m going to work and watch Wayne Gretzky (and it’s funny how that almost actually played out, but I got the wrong city). It breaks my fucking heart. You broke our hearts Wayne. Never meet your heroes they say, and it’s a funny saying because most of my heroes have actually turned out to be pretty stand up in person too. All but one.

    • TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.works
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      8 hours ago

      Lemieux still isn’t the goat. Gretzky sucks hot ass, fuck the guy thoroughly and completely. But you can’t take his stats away. There’s plenty of athletes who have done impressive feats of athleticism and are still total pieces of shit.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      Brantford is the most MAGA place in Canada outside of Alberta. Worst drunk driving and domestic violence rates in Southern Ontario.

    • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Wayne wasn’t the subject of very many hits in hockey. CTE isn’t a factor that you can blame. As it goes with shit stains, everyone around him probably has the CTE as they were collateral damage, guys like Dave Semenko (it’s never been publically disclosed but he was post-mortem investigated for it after dying of cancer) or Marty McSorley (who is not dead but he states he has memory loss and other symptoms).

    • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      I’ll spam this fact wherever I see comments on CTE.

      CTE is not correlated with the number of concussions. It’s correlated with years of exposure to repetitive minor hits. It’s a very important distinction because the NFL (and every other professional sport with blows to the head) is trying to push the narrative that concussion is the boogeyman, so that if they can reduce concussion (and they can), they can declare their hands clean from CTE. The only way to reduce CTE is drastic changes to the game.

      • TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        While I have no doubt they’d skin their grandmother’s alive to save a buck, reducing concussions and head injuries is straight up just a good thing. Having concussion protocols etc and taking these decisions out of the hands of people motivated to win at all costs and into the hands of medical professionals is a good if incomplete step

        • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Yeah, agreed that reducing concussion is definitely a good thing. Especially strict rules around return to play after concussion cause that’s when you can really do damage.

          My problem is that scientists can say: “CTE is a problem in the NFL.” And then the NFL can say “we are addressing it by offering goofy helmet coverings, reducing punt return collision speed, and using better protocols for post concussion”. Then no one is pointing out that none of those changes address CTE at all, and the NFL knows that. In reality, reducing CTE would involve changing the sport in ways that the fans would not like.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        9 hours ago

        We know this from military deployments. Even office staff near bombed regions get TBI, and certainly civilians will get brain damage from forces traveling through them.

        NFL players die 25 years younger than national average, a combination of brain injury and long term effects of steroids.

  • Caveman@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    That’s the guy that ripped off the Michael Scott with the quote “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”

  • stickly@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    I have a groundbreaking theory about prolonged playing of contact sports, traumatic brain injury, and far right politics… You generally don’t hear these headlines about tennis/soccer players, or nearly as often about basketball/baseball players.

    As someone who enjoys American football and hockey, it’s a damn shame that we still paint athletes as role models.

    • Glide@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      I know it’s funny to insinuate that brain damage caused people to become conservatives, but I think we should accept that the culture around aggressive, full-contact sports tends to be conservative to start with. Surround yourself with that culture day-in, day-out, and before long you find yourself ingrained in more than just their favorite sports.

      But I mean, that doesn’t mean it’s not the brain damage. A thing can be more than one thing.

      • stickly@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        That’s true, it’s a combination of factors. A big part is the insular nature of the team and coaching as you go higher up the ladder. If you’re not thanking God in your post-win interview you’re a “locker room problem”; if you want a coaching job after you retire you’ve gotta be on good terms with the good ol’ boys network.

        I do think that the brain damage does compound heavily though. I know Mormons who get out and become well adjusted people later in life; the semi-pro football players I know get more irrational and violent as the CTE sets in.

    • Ougie@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Football (soccer as you call it) is so underrated in this respect it’s not even funny, heading the ball is extremely dangerous for the brain in the long term. Not to mention head clashes in challenges etc. Granted, most injuries are in the lower limbs but still.