The Players' Tribune: Very good piece on addiction from Colin Wilson

[wetcoast]

This is a very good article on the struggles of addiction from Colin Wilson here and it makes me look back when I picked him in hockey pools and he never came through and I wonder why do we react so poorly at times for something so trivial as a hockey pool or being a fan of a sports team when these guys are real human beings with real life problems.

Something to think about and the piece is well worth the read.

Addiction | By Colin Wilson

Click to read more...

 

[Jugitsu]

Thanks for the tip. I just browsed Player’s Tribune today for a new read but that wasn’t published yet.

 

[Aeroforce]

Thanks for sharing.

I remember reading Wilson's original article, and this new one gives great insight into what he was going through; which sadly other players unbeknownst to us are likely going through now.

 

[ItWasJustified]

and I wonder why do we react so poorly at times for something so trivial as a hockey pool or being a fan of a sports team when these guys are real human beings with real life problems.

They are also getting paid millions of dollars for playing a game for living.

 

[wetcoast]

They are also getting paid millions of dollars for playing a game for living.

Fair enough but sometimes that adds to the problem and doesn't make addiction any less worse for the addict does it?

 

[ItWasJustified]

Fair enough but sometimes that adds to the problem and doesn't make addiction any less worse for the addict does it?

Well, I rather be an addict with millions of dollars than an addict and homeless.

 

[Dust]

Well, I rather be an addict with millions of dollars than an addict and homeless.

These aren't mutually exclusive things, plenty of pro athletes with millions of dollars end up addicts and homeless. Money just buys you a little time before you get there.

 

[wetcoast]

These aren't mutually exclusive things, plenty of pro athletes with millions of dollars end up addicts and homeless. Money just buys you a little time before you get there.

Pretty much this.

 

[StreetHawk]

These aren't mutually exclusive things, plenty of pro athletes with millions of dollars end up addicts and homeless. Money just buys you a little time before you get there.

The lower you are in the pecking order the more you will probably take the pills in order to return to the ice. Kucherov Will be afforded the time to recover. Another player making $800k can’t afford that time. His spot could be taken and be played by someone else or the team moves on since they want guys who are healthy more often.

 

[ijuka]

These aren't mutually exclusive things, plenty of pro athletes with millions of dollars end up addicts and homeless. Money just buys you a little time before you get there.

Well at least you can afford a top notch rehab program and can return to a normal life. Quite a bit easier to deal with than if you were homeless and had to choose between drugs and food for example.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

Well, I rather be an addict with millions of dollars than an addict and homeless.

Whose making you choose here?


Instead of just reading a touching and impactful story you’ve chosen to make it into an artificial choice and make it divisive.


Talk about creating a victim complex here. No one is saying that athletes with money don’t enjoy finer things in life, but that also doesn’t mean that they’re immune to life shattering faults like the rest of us.


This post is like the poster child for the relative privation fallacy. “Well because I can imagine worse scenarios it therefore makes your situation irrelevant”

Fallacy of Relative Privation: All Problems Are Relative - Academy 4SC


Bunch of bitter ass people here angry not at the systems that derive us from resources for addicts and wealth but the people who are simply the beneficiaries of being financially fortunate.

 

[Oan]

Some really big name like McDavid or Crosby needs to come out with this subject before anything tangible happens, because until then no one cares.

 

[StreetHawk]

Some really big name like McDavid or Crosby needs to come out with this subject before anything tangible happens, because until then no one cares.

Guys like them would likely be afforded the time to recover from injuries and not feel the pressure of a future contract to take pills to continue to play, especially in the regular season. They have their contracts long term guaranteed.

probably won’t see a bigger name than Kesler who was a selke caliber C in his prime who took stuff to play. he’s a driven hard nosed guy who wanted to win.

 

[Chips]

They are also getting paid millions of dollars for playing a game for living.

So? Who’s making you pay their whole salary? Or anything if you don’t want. That really has little or no significance to the point of the OP
(Edit: also ignores/dismisses how much real, tangible dedication and sacrifice goes into “playing a game for a living” as if they’re little kids getting dropped off to practice for an hour twice a week, and a couple hours game on the weekend)

They’re human beings and money doesn’t mean they feel less emotion, are immune to many of the personal and mental problems the rest of us have;

not to mention they feel even more pressure due to that money not less, most won’t make enough to live the rest of their life off unless they majorly budget, and even still they likely feel pressure to maximize potential earnings; someone who is further down the line up, bottom six for sure, and even second liners to an extent are replaceable and feel more pressure to show up and show less weakness “for the good of the team” even to their detriment



then non financial reasons they feel emotional effects; they’re genuinely competitive and are probably of the mentality they might beat themselves up for messing up in any way; they’re loyal to their teammates and may feel like they’ve let everyone down etc. there’s been more and more acknowledgment across major sports the last few years of how some guys, even solid players having panic attacks before games


Everything is relative: if you even made the nhl for 5 years most of us would consider them successful hockey players. If you’re of them mentality required to be intensely competitive and get that far, you might feel like a failure because you fee you could have done more, but you never made it.
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I assumed the part of the OP you quoted wasn’t just about any and every example of fan criticism no matter how small,
but rather how noticeably many fans take it pretty far and even make it personal. Many players already feeling pressure are probably tempted to read what people are saying about them and you always notice the negatives more

it feels like some fan bases will go from loving their team entirely for a two game win stretch, to completely dumping on whichever player they perceived to have the worst game for the next two losses, shitting on them personally and or blaming them almost entirely for their teams loss, and or wishing they’d be traded.

 

[Dust]

Some really big name like McDavid or Crosby needs to come out with this subject before anything tangible happens, because until then no one cares.

Carey Price going into the player assistance program I think opened a lot of eyes. Not to say that its' related to this because we just don't know, but nobody could have saw that coming.

 

[wetcoast]

Some really big name like McDavid or Crosby needs to come out with this subject before anything tangible happens, because until then no one cares.

It wouldn't matter either people are touched and feel emotion of caring or they don't, it doesn't really matter on the player it happens with you.

 

[redandyellowcametobe]

Well, I rather be an addict with millions of dollars than an addict and homeless.

This is ridiculous

 

[Legionnaire]

This is a very good article on the struggles of addiction from Colin Wilson here and it makes me look back when I picked him in hockey pools and he never came through and I wonder why do we react so poorly at times for something so trivial as a hockey pool or being a fan of a sports team when these guys are real human beings with real life problems.

Something to think about and the piece is well worth the read.

Addiction | By Colin Wilson[/QUOTAmp?

As I've said for more than 20 years it's the NHL's dirty little secret.

 

[jMoneyBrah]

They are also getting paid millions of dollars for playing a game for living.

They get paid millions of dollars for dedicating a period of their life to physical excellence, to extract the maximum out of their genetic traits. They are paid for when they f*** up on the job, it happens in front of thousands watching live and tens/hundreds of thousands watching via TV, it gets reported on the news, social media, across the internet. Same for when they f*** up outside of the office. Does your performance in and outside of work get commented when you’re at a restaurant with your family, on vacation, or filling your gas tank? They are paid for when they put their physical well-being on the line, one play away from a life-altering hit or collision.

But yeah it’s just a game, and the fact they have more money than most makes their pain less real than other people.

 

[CrazyMonkey1208]

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