Anyone who saw Casey Printers crash into the table and chairs located along the sidelines during the B.C./Edmonton game
had to be concerned. There are accidents and there are "freak" accidents. Printers was fortunate that he was not impaled in the chest or in the throat by a metal broken table leg. Imagine if one of the metal chair or table legs snapped and Printers came down on it with his full 225 pounds or if he received a deep laceration to the throat, hands, legs or arms.
We've all seen "freakish" accidents in pro-sports from time to time. They are the kind that rarely repeat themselves but the kind we never forget. That's why they're called freakish.
With so much concern over players' safety on the field during play the League needs to address all the "junk" along the
sidelines. I'm amazed that these players are not getting killed crashing into TV cameras, computer monitors, tables, chairs and what have you.
Locate this junk to a safer place, remove it, put sufficient protective padding around it or build the fixtures out of styro-foam instead of hoping that nothing bad will happen.
In my opinion it's just a matter of time before we witness one of these freakish accidents.
Exactly. It is totally stupid to have it all so close to the sidelines. Even the collapsible advertising boards can cause an injury, guys have gotten tripped up over them, it surprises me no ones been hurt. But this league isn't nearly as bad as the arena league with the physical barriers at the very end of the end zones/sidelines. That shocks me no has been killed.
NS - earlier someone else ran into the punters pracrice net and I wondered WTF.
Meanwhile Ricky Ray is developing the title of the Fumble King when the game is on the line. I can remember him coughing up the ball lots of times over the years and you always think it was just bad luck for him but it is good to see him keeping it alive right off the bat in the new year. (with a little help from his friends )
Wait until you see the End zones at Empire Field…The walls in the end zone is like 2 yards from the dead ball line. I know they are padded, but there is an accident waiting to happen. Thank goodness it is only for one year.
Marty York reports that Tom Higgins has consulted with Gary Bettman, and the Officials have been told to call a new rule…“Tackling from behind.” Any receiver within 5 yards of the end line shall only be two handed touch. Any excessive force or push from behind causing the ball carrier to go face first in the wall will be penalized 2 minutes sitting at the corner on Main St & Hastings St.
"Wait until you see the End zones at Empire Field...The walls in the end zone is like 2 yards from the dead ball line. I know they are padded, but there is an accident waiting to happen. "
Good grief. Seriously? Padded or not a guy running full tilt and hitting a padded wall [or TSN camera mobile cart for that matter] at just the right angle can snap his neck or break his arm. I know these players have a good 'field sense' and always try to be aware of boundary lines but that is all they are- boundary lines painted on the field. They will not stop a player. I've seen players crashing their bodies into the TSN mobile cart, tables, the metal framed netting where the kicker practices and like someone said, even into the seemingly harmless folding advertising boards boardering the sidelines. Some players hotdog it to avoid crashing into the advertising signs by doing a a hop scotch type jump over it. One day a player is going to come down the wrong way and seriously twist or worse, break an ankle.