Mike Peluso might not be a name that is commonly known among sports fans in the United States, but if you were a hockey fan during the 1990's you might know him. It is likely though, that you only really think of him for one reason, and it isn't being a Stanley Cup Champion with the New Jersey Devils.
Like most teams during the 80's and 90's, everyone had an enforcer, and that job was often assigned to Peluso. In those days, many fans would refer to those guys as the "goon." The goons weren't on the team to score goals or play solid defense against the top scorers on the opposing teams. They were basically there for one reason, and that was to fight.
If you look at the single season totals for most penalty minutes, you see names like Joey Kocur, Tie Domi, Marty McSorley, and Mike Peluso. And if you do recognize those names, it isn't because they were leading the league in points, it's because they were some of the biggest goons in the NHL. So, that's why Peluso's filing of a lawsuit this past weekend against the league and the Devils should not come as a surprise to anyone.
Over the past decade, the sports world has certainly made significant strides in, at the very least, acknowledging that head injuries are a major concern for the leagues and the players. The NFL, as the most popular league in the country, has been at the forefront of this revelation, but that does not mean that it is the only league in which head trauma and CTE exists.
Peluso's lawsuit claims that in a 1993 game against the Quebec Nordiques, he suffered serious head injuries during a fight with Tony Twist, another well known goon. It doesn't take long to search for video of the exact fight that was mentioned, and it doesn't take a doctor to realize that his claim is certainly realistic, and most likely completely accurate. Twist hits him with multiple punches in the head, Peluso falls to the ice, and then Twist hits him again while he is on the ice. As Peluso is helped up, he clearly is dazed and injured. Yet, in the world of the NHL in 1993, that just came with the territory, and the game continued.
Peluso's lawsuit claims that the Devils hid information about the seriousness of his injuries from not only him, but other teams that Peluso played for in his career as well. Despite the claims of doctors, team trainers simply said he was fine to go back out on the ice. He played games without remembering them, and showed serious signs of head trauma that were ignored by the team.
If this sounds familiar, it's because we have heard it before. The class-action lawsuit filed by former football players against the NFL cites almost identical examples of how the teams and the league covered up things that have ended up causing serious long term damage to its players. The only difference between those and Peluso's case is he was playing in a sport that was much less popular then, and is also much less popular now.
Fighting in the NHL occurs much less than it did 20 years ago. In those days, games were advertised almost secondarily to fights. If Detroit was playing Toronto, it wasn't the Red Wings against the Maple Leafs, it was Bob Probert against Tie Domi. It is similar to NASCAR. Fans go to see the race, but they really won't go home happy if they don't see an accident as well. Sure, Detroit and Toronto might be a competitive game, but it wasn't complete unless Domi and Probert dropped the gloves and fought. Then the hockey fan got the true experience.
Because, as I mentioned before, the NHL is far less popular than the NFL, concussion issues and head trauma usually don't center around the league. Often times, sports fans actually claim that hockey does the best job as a sport of policing itself, because if two players have a problem with one another during a game, they can simply square off and fight one-on-one.
It isn't like baseball where a pitcher might throw at a batter because of something another person did, or football where a defensive player might try to take out a quarterback because that is the position that is usually the most important on a team. In the NHL, two guys can go at one another while everyone else watches, and then head to the penalty box for five minutes, and it seems like everyone is happy and the matter is ended.
Just like the NFL, the NHL offered to help Peluso, but it was on their terms. They recommended a doctor for him, but the doctor was in a different state, and because of the head injuries Peluso previously suffered, and continued to suffer from, it was suggested that Peluso not travel from state to state. Therefore, Peluso often times spoke with doctors via Skype, but that obviously cannot be considered a true examination, since the doctor and patient are not even in the same state as one another, let alone the same room.
What I found to be even worse here was when I saw reports that the NHL was willing to recognize its sport did cause head trauma, but to remain in the background because the NFL was taking the brunt of the blame on this issue. Then, after reading about Peluso's lawsuit, I went to the official website of the NHL, and I could not find anything mentioning it. I saw the story for the first time on January 5th, and all I could find on NHL.com about January 5th was a "This Date In History" mention of the 62nd anniversary of the first professional hockey game being broadcast on network television in the United States.
If you think these health issues are going away any time soon, then it seems to be an almost accepted fact that you are either wrong or unwilling something that can now be medically proven as true. And, if you think these leagues are going to all of a sudden begin to pull the curtains back and air all of their problems, then you are wrong there too.
Thanks to players like Peluso, as well as others involved in class-action lawsuits against both the NHL and NFL, the general public is starting to finally become fully aware of the every day struggles some of these athletes have to deal with long after they are retired and out of the public eye.
I think testimonials and books and movies can make fans more aware of things like CTE and head trauma and long term brain damage. It is up to the fans to decide what they want to do with that information though. Teams and leagues being exposed for withholding substantial, sometimes life-altering information, is undoubtedly a significant step in the process of changing the minds of the public, but if we choose to still ignore cases like Peluso's, then I think athletes should be less willing to pursue careers in such dangerous games.
Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals last season was the highest rated Game Five since NBC began airing the Finals in 2006 though, and there were more viewers during four of the five Finals games in 2018 than there were in 2017. Television ratings were also up significantly during this past weekend's NFL playoff games.
I think what that shows us is that even though many of us are at least somewhat aware of the risk these players are putting themselves through for our entertainment, we simply choose to ignore it. If we can get competitive, entertaining action for a night or a weekend, we will continue to disregard the years of pain that might occur because of it. I place myself squarely in that category too. I watched Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals last year, and I watched all four NFL playoff games this weekend. I will watch every game of the playoffs next weekend, and all of the Stanley Cup Finals this summer as well.
Now that these leagues are being outed for information that they previously hid from the public, I almost feel as though the blame is falling less and less on them, and more and more on the fans. If leagues acknowledge the dangers of their games, but people still flock to both play and watch them, then what else can the leagues do? They are exposing themselves, but in most cases, we as fans don't even care.
Does that mean the onus is on the leagues anymore? Or has it shifted to the consumers? Cigarette and alcohol companies literally list the dangers of their own products on their labels, but they still continue to sell by the billions. Maybe if instead of names on the backs of jerseys, we listed injuries those same players sustained, or would sustain in the future it mind change our minds. Until the fans choose to turn off their televisions or stop buying tickets, and as soon as young athletes choose to stop playing though, then I'm not sure any of this can really come to a complete stop.
And at this point, I think these leagues and owners have to be surprised to see that even as we learn about what can happen when we give them our money, we continue to give it to them game after game, week after week, and year after year.
Daily NFL Update: It seems quite cynical to write this after what I just spoke about, but here we go anyway...
There were some very good games this past weekend. Sadly though, two of them ended with the Cowboys and Eagles winning. The Eagles victory in Chicago was another example of how we literally have no idea what to predict in the NFL, and that the sport literally comes down to inches, as Cody Parkey's attempt at a game-winning field goal hit both the upright and the crossbar before bouncing out and ending the Bears' season. The big boys join the party next week, as the Divisional round begins and the top seeds in each conference will be back in action.
Daily Rangers Update: It has been an absolutely awful stretch for the Rangers, as they were beaten soundly by the Coyotes, who have one of the worst records in the entire league.
Tomorrow, the team will play in Las Vegas against the defending Western Conference champs, so things do not get any easier.
Daily NBA Update: The Toronto Raptors beat the Indiana Pacers in a showdown between two very good Eastern Conference teams last night, and tonight we get two very good Western Conference teams squaring off with Denver heading into Houston.
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