Do Not Watch This Video

I'm actually not using reverse psychology. I have not watched this video and I'm pretty sure that I won't ever hit the play button. I've read the descriptions and gruesome doesn't begin to cover it.

Anyway, since you shouldn't watch it I'll give you the sum up. A gentleman named Richard Zednik, a right winger for the Florida Panthers, took a skate to the neck in a game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo on Sunday night and nearly severed his common carotid artery. I don't watch a ton of hockey. I watch a fair amount and I do love it but I'm no expert. This isn't something I'd ever considered. Whenever I think about how dangerous it is to give a bunch of men each a weapon, strap some knives on their feet and shove them out onto a slippery surface I imagine severed fingers or cut faces but it never occurred to me to think about neck injuries. I know that goalies wear neck protection but I thought that was about taking a puck to the throat and crushing your larynx. Wow I was wrong.

This is going to make it very hard for me to convince people that hockey isn't terribly violent and that I'm not a blood thirsty freak for loving it. I mean, the guy got his carotid slashed and they still finished the game. Many of the players said they were both surprised and unhappy that officials did not call off the game but the fact remains that nobody walked off the ice in a huff.

Also not helping my cause is that I watch the bull riding. I was actually watching some this weekend (you know the strike has been going on a long while when TNT is showing bull riding in prime time, even on a Saturday). I watch these guys and I'm amazed when they get thrown and they bounce across the dirt and eventually end up under the hooves of these 1000 pound behemoths for a few seconds then get up and walk away. I don't know if that means they have big balls or no brains but it's mesmerizing to watch. Well, one of these guys didn't walk away on Saturday. He snapped his femur. The femur is, I'm pretty sure, the thickest bone in the body. Snapped it as he was thrown, fell, got trampled a little, and still had the presence of mind to cover his head with his arms (I always wonder, does that really save you much injury?).

I came to the conclusion long ago that, while I'd really like to see bull riding live, I don't think I could manage the stress. I wouldn't want to see crushed pelvises (pelvi?) and bloody noses and whatnot live. I wouldn't want to be witness to the pain and suffering. My mother always told me to just walk past house fires and car accidents and other emergencies so that the rescue workers could do their work without interference. It feels weird to go somewhere where you're likely to be all up in the midst of that, for lack of a better word, ooginess.

Does this mean I'm going to have to stop watching hockey live now?