By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=James_D._Silver]James D. Silver
Sports fans are jealous people. We are people who envy professional athletes. Some of us need vicarious competition in a dull life, so we gravitate to athletes. Others wish they were athletes themselves, and live vicariously through the athletes as individuals. Some like the perceived fame and glory (and girls) that go with being a famous person and others just wish they had the money.
Sorry to shock the average sports fan, but pro athletes have all the traits of regular people and are not much different from your best friend or perhaps the guy you hate who lives across the street. Some are criminals and loathsome creatures. Some are that guy at church who seems to do everything perfectly. Some are mean, some are decent, some are family friendly, and some are annoyingly over-competitive.
And some have mental health issues. Of course, since athletes are macho men who focus on a body and mind that function at a physical optimum, it's tough to accept the fact that, notwithstanding all these attributes, one can still have mental health issues. We see it in athletes who act like spoiled brats, who seem to think everyone is persecuting them, or who are overtly angry. But, while sportswriters are willing to conjecture about physical injuries, they never conjecture about the mental health of an athlete. Is it because they are afraid of being sued? I doubt it.
Think of recent highly publicized athletes - how about the college quarterback with the "I am privileged attitude" who takes no consideration of coach or team. Or, what about the athlete who was into animal fighting? Or,how about the athlete who threw a football as far as he could in anger, making a ball boy chase after it? Look at the depths of these characters, and it is easy to see a mental health issue being critical in defining the individual. In all of these cases, the potential mental health issues surrounding the player should be discussed in detail, rather than burying them under the carpet.
This brings us to Rick Rypien, an NHL player for the Vancouver Canucks who battled depression for a decade. Can you imagine a pro athlete, making all that money, having all that fame and not being happy about it? What gives? How does this affect our dream world of athletes being different? This guy suffered from depression - a real disease which can bring anyone down. Winston Churchill suffered from it, as have many others. Today we have medication, but it isn't always effective, and yet we still don't talk about it.
Can you imagine the NHL game announcer for the Vancouver Canucks: "Sorry, fans, but Center Ryan Kesler won't be on the ice tonight because of a sprained ankle, and enforcer Rick Rypien is day to day due to a bout of depression that has taken a turn for the worse."
But we should consider this as an option. Perhaps if Rick Rypien and other athletes who suffer from this illness went public with it, then it would be easier for them to cope with it. There is a lot of stress involved in a public person hiding something from the public, although it is clear that Winnepeg Jets Assistant GM Craig Heisinger was aware of Rick Rypien's illness. The good news is that it was being treated. The bad news is that the treatment didn't succeed.
It would be easy to talk superficially about the boxer's son who was an rel=nofollow [http://sportadore.com/NHL]NHL enforcer. (Would we use the word "goon" if he were still alive?) It would be easy to say he had an anger inside that couldn't be dealt with.
So, let's get it out on the table. Let's talk about athletes who suffer from mental issues just as we talk about their MCL's and elbow strains. http://sportadore.com - where the world speaks of sports.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Rick-Rypien---Depression-Is-Tough-in-the-NHL&id=6518769] Rick Rypien - Depression Is Tough in the NHL
No comments:
Post a Comment