Don't rush Sid the Kid back

Many Pittsburgh Penguins fans and even more media types keep speculating about the return of Sidney Crosby, the team’s captain and most popular Canadian hockey player.

Crosby received a brutal check to the head at the Winter Classic game played in January. A week later he was hit again in the head by Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman. He was pulled from the Penguin’s lineup and it was announced he had suffered a minor concussion.

‘Minor concussion’ is a term that’s loosely used in hockey circles but anyone in the medical community could tell you a concussion is anything but minor. When your brain gets bounced around and bruised it’s serious. When it happens to possibly one of the best players in the game it’s a big deal.

A few years ago my wife suffered a concussion after she slipped on the stairs and hit her head falling. The pain and suffering she went through for a good year seriously impacted her life and those around her. Her doctor told her that she had to go symptom free for as long as she had symptoms in order to be considered healed. It took her almost two years before she felt like her old self.

There have been far too many hockey players return to the game while exhibiting symptoms. Last year Boston’s Marc Savard returned to play in post season play after spending a large part of the regular season recovering from a concussion. This year his symptoms returned and just this week he announced his season’s over after he knocked his noodle once again. Should he have returned as early as he did? In my opinion, no.

I think the NHL should implement a rule governing concussions. If a player suffers a head injury he’s out for a minimum of six months. A second concussion would put him out for a season. It may sound a little drastic but for anyone who has ever suffered a head injury I don’t think they’d think of it as such a bad idea.

Eric Lindros was one of the premier players in the NHL before he suffered his first, second, third, fourth, fifth, (shall I go on?) concussions. His brother Brett got his head knocked around too and retired from the game early. Could you imagine how much more success these two players could have achieved if they’d just recuperated longer after their injuries?

At 23 years of age Sidney Crosby is too young a player and far too great a talent to have his career shortened by head injuries. If rushed back he would risk another concussion and the next one could be his last one. Everyone is different so just because Lindros was able to endure countless concussions and still managed to play off and on doesn’t mean Crosby will be the same. He may be one of the best conditioned athletes in the game but no amount of conditioning could help him when he was checked in the head. Game shape doesn’t necessarily equate to head shape.

If I don’t see Crosby back on the ice this season it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Granted it could shorten the Penguin’s season but at least fans will get to see their beloved captain return healthy again next season.

Crosby’s as competitive an athlete as they come so being out has got to be tough for him. But I’d rather see him enjoy a long, successful career than to bow out early because it was the ‘manly’ thing to do and come back early. He should stay out for as long as it takes and not rush back to the game. His health should come before hockey.

Confessions of an e-book convert

In the summer of 1989 a pretty student named Heather Russell sat across the table from me in the General Motors cafeteria. She was reading the paperback novel IT by Stephen King. I quickly struck up a conversation with her about the book and 22 years and three kids later we still enjoy talking to one another about all the books we’re reading.  Just call us the nerdy couple, we’re good with that!

A few weeks ago Heather stopped me at Chapters as we were walking by the Kobos. Those are the e-book readers offered here in Canada. They’re similar to the Kindles sold in the United States. The salesman was alone so she had 20 minutes of one-on-one time to quiz him about the Kobos. Whatever he told her was convincing enough to sell her on the device.


Two John Saul books, two different formats. Despite some reservations
about e-books this Kobo reader has won me over.

 A few nights later I sat in bed reading and finished one of John Saul’s novels, In the Dark of the Night.  I was not ready to fall asleep so I took a look for another book to start. The only problem though was I’d come to the end of my reading list. I needed another book to read.

“Why don’t you download a book on my Kobo,” Heather suggested.

Always the traditionalist I hesitated. Downloading a book seemed like cheating.  Besides, I preferred a book I could feel, something to hold onto I told myself. 

“It’s cheaper than buying a book,” Heather said.

Cheaper? Oh, well, what could it hurt?

I logged onto the Indigo/Chapters site and found a book in no time and it indeed was cheaper than buying the actual book. A paperback that costs $10.99 generally costs $6.99 for the Kobo. Click, click, click, and presto, I had another book to read.

A few days later at a Writers Community of Durham Region meeting I discovered another advantage to e-books, they put more money in the pockets of the authors. E-books are cheaper to produce because they don’t need to be printed and as such the author gets more royalties from every book sold. Given I make my living from the written word that fact appealed to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the look, the feel, the smell, the whole experience an actual book gives me when I read it. I also find it more enjoyable searching out a book at a bookstore. I know you can’t judge a book by its cover but to me the cover is part of the appeal of a book. A cover does appear on the Kobo reader but it’s black and white and isn’t half as appealing as the real thing you get with an actual book.
The Kobo does have an advantage over a traditional book. For those who need larger type, it can be changed on  any book you’re reading. No book mark is required either as where you stop reading is exactly where the book opens for you the next time you pick it up and turn it on.

The only thing a Kobo won’t do is show everyone around you the book you’re currently reading. Thankfully that wasn’t the case back in 1989. Otherwise I may have never met that pretty girl reading the Stephen King novel.

Things that go 'boing' in the night

I don't know anyone who enjoys getting woken up at night. No matter what it is that pulls you from your slumber, a crying child, a hungry baby or a cat who demands to be fed at all hours of the night, waking up before the alarm sucks.

In my family it's a safe bet that if anyone was to wake up in the middle of the night it would be Heather, my wife. She cannot string eight hours of sleep together -- EVER. And once she wakes up that's it, she's up. It can be 2:30 in the morning and if Heather's eyes flutter open she just goes downstairs to watch some late night TV. She doesn't even fight it anymore.

These decorative metal trays that my wife Heather made
looked great on the wall. It's too bad they didn't stay there.

During all these early morning hours Heather has developed a few hobbies to pass the time. The other day she spray painted some metal trays to mount on our bedroom wall. She got the idea from one of the blogs she follows. The finished trays decorated a previously bare wall behind our bed.

When I saw the new home made artwork I was both pleased and surprised. I was pleased at the appearance of Heather's craft and surprised that the trays were actually on the wall. Heather never hangs anything on our walls. Those tasks are left to me.

A few hours later I had all but forgotten about Heather's crafts when I climbed into bed. I was exhausted so it took all of a few minutes for me to fall fast asleep. A few hours went by when all of a sudden I was jolted from a deep sleep.

"Boing!"

It sounded like somebody from the Gong Show had rang the gong right over top of my head.

I shot straight up in bed, dazed and confused. My heart was racing so fast in my chest I thought, "This is it, this is the big one." I was terrified.

Under the bed the tray vibrated like a drum cymbal shattering the silence of the night.

To my surprise Heather was not even remotely startled by the nighttime interruption. Her muted interest in my terror was confusing because I was freaking out due to the fact that I'd forgotten about the crafts she had hung above our bed. All she did was grunt and roll over.

When the cymbal sound finally stopped I remained upright wondering what the hell was going on and waiting for any subsequent "boings". Meanwhile Heather, who never sleeps more than a few hours a night, was clearly out like a light.

What was going on? Was I losing my mind?

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of waiting for an after shock, I put my head down and eventually fell back asleep. When I awoke a few hours later I still had no idea what had made such a horrible noise until Heather reached under the bed and pulled out one of the trays she'd hung up the day before.

"I guess I didn't attach this to the wall right, " she said.

Ya think?!?

There's a reason why Heather doesn't hang pictures or anything else on our walls. That 'boing' in the middle of the night was it. I swear to God she'll never hang another thing in the house ever again.