With Lightning center Jeff Halpern sidelined possibly six months because of a knee injury suffered in the world championships, it's time to ask once again if it's such a swell idea for NHL players to play in such events. Halpern is not an isolated case. In 2006, the Vancouver Canucks briefly lost the services of two key defensemen because of injuries suffered in the Olympics. And the Ottawa Senators lost star goalie Dominik Hasek for the playoffs because of an injury suffered in those same Olympics.
You really can't blame the players. When asked to play for their country without pay in any international event, they're almost obligated to say yes. Should they refuse, they are viewed as arrogant and ungrateful and, worst of all, unpatriotic. The teams have no say in the matter, but you know owners, general managers and coaches of NHL teams are holding their collective breaths while their players are playing in a tournament that doesn't mean a thing to the NHL. They are forced to grit their teeth when they get that call in the middle of the night from a hospital in Prague or Moscow. What makes this one bitter is no one in North America, not even hockey diehards, cares about the world championships.
With all due respect to Halpern, whom the Lightning will sorely miss for the first month of next season, an injury to him isn't going to change the culture of NHL players playing in international events. But someday it's going to be Sidney Crosby going down with an injury. Or Alex Ovechkin. Or Ilya Kovalchuk. A franchise player is going to miss six months or the postseason because he was trying to help his country win an event that, in many cases, is pretty meaningless. That leaves two questions:
Is it worth the risk and, more important, do we have to wait until then to change anything?
Tom Jones doesn't sing "It's Not Unusual'' or shake his hips (well, unless you're willing to pay cash), but he does have plenty to say about sports. If it's funny, crazy, weird, irreverent or worth arguing, Tom has his opinions. So pull up a chair and get his two cents -- and give him your two cents, as well.
E-mail Tom Jones:
You dish some garbage now and then, but you story on Lebron was criminal in is's stupidity. He makes millions, like your gods MJ and Tiger, on the backs of children working for slave wages at Nike. The Chinese should laugh at this modern day slave master, who makes millions while the actual people making the shoes live in plywood boxes, die of malnutrition, and are thrown away by his company when they become worn out at an age most Americans haven't even begun working. Try going to this country and not trusting the garbage Nike puts on you FOOL.
Posted by: D. Kown | May 19, 2008 at 07:27 PM