The following is a transcript from a hospital visit involving a man in traction being treated for a concussion.
The athlete’s name, NHL team, agent’s name and hospital have been purposely deleted.
DOCTOR: "Do you know your name?"
PLAYER: "I uh…wait. Wait, here it comes. I have it. My name is__I play for the__. You are my son. This pretty lady is my wife. And you are…my agent!"
AGENT: "Yes!"
PLAYER: "And I gotta play this weekend, Doc. If I play in 65 per cent of the games, I make my bonus."
SON: "This is his fourth concussion. Shouldn’t somebody get him to stop?"
AGENT: "Come on — it’d take a tank to stop your dad. It would take all five Super Trooper VR Warriors, right?"
SON: "&%@! @$@"
"It’s been scary this year."
"We’re looking to make (the game) safer."
"I think we’re all concerned and I hope the league is concerned."
Comments like these are not headline-making. There are many in and around the sport who would immediately write them off as being authored by bleeding hearts who have forgotten that the NHL is supposed to be fast, physical, and yes, dangerous.
But what happens when those quotes are attributed to Steven Stamkos, Gary Bettman and Prime Minister Harper?
Combine serious trepidation from the NHL’s top goal scorer, the commissioner of the NHL and a head of state and you are left with a crisis on ice.
Can you place the player in the transcript? Scott Stevens? Marc Savard or David Booth? It’s none of the above and it’s not Lindros, Kariya or Lafontaine either.
That exchange dates back to 1996 and a scene many of the appropriate age have watched over and over probably without remembering it.
Does the name Steve Remo ring a bell? He played for the Blackhawks?
He isn’t a real person. Instead, what you read was the opening scene of the movie Jerry Maguire.
That exchange led to a shift in the super agent played by Tom Cruise’s philosophy.
It cost him his job, led to love and eventually, vindication.
It all started with a concussed player lying in a hospital bed. The NHL has dealt with this scenario more often than Jerry Maguire ever did, but will it be as brave to legitimately stem the dramatic increase of brain injuries?
Concussions are receiving more attention than the NHL scoring race and continue to overshadow sensational playoff races. I admit this has plenty to do with the absence of a concussed Sidney Crosby, but if Steve Remo can inspire ethics in the world of big-money agencies, then why can’t the threatened career of the NHL’s best player.
Steve Remo is a fictitious character Hollywood used to launch the Blockbuster movie but Sidney Crosby is very real and so is the impact of hits to the head and concussions. Anybody know a good script writer for a real-life drama?
Thursday on Sportsnet: Concussions in the NHL have nearly doubled this season, affecting more than 10 per cent of the league’s players. From the NHL to minor hockey, there is public outcry for action. On Thursday, March 24 we respond with “A Rogers Sportsnet Special – Crisis on Ice?” — a national conversation on the issue of serious injuries in hockey. | Premiere: East/Ont 7 p.m. ET, West 9 p.m. MT, Pacific 7 p.m. PT