About 11 months ago, I wrote an article about star hockey player, Sidney Crosby, entitled "Crosby's Concussion." That article was read by 95 people, exactly five times more than my second most read article, "Storming in with a Championship Mentality," which was about the St. John's men's basketball team. This statistic prompted me to write a follow up on Sid the Kid (who is out with concussion-like symptoms, again).
Last article I was ripping Crosby for blaming the NHL for what was all his, and his team's, fault. He should never played the game after the infamous Steckel hit. But that's in the past, that was almost a year ago. Crosby returned to the ice November 21, a home game against the NY Islanders. He scored two goals and assisted two more. It was a glorious return for the NHL's best player. (Ovechkin fans don't even try to dispute this. Crosby has 12 points in 8 games while Ovechkin has 22 in 31. That's just sad.) Those two goals are the only two he has, but he has been an assist machine this year grabbing 10 in eight games. Unfortunately, after the eighth game, he complained of headaches and has been out ever since.
No reports of a specific hit on Crosby have surfaced, which is not good for Sid. It would be better for a specific hit because then that could be the explanation of why Crosby is sidelined. Instead, he is out because he simply can't play hockey without the symptoms resurfacing. When you play hockey, you are expected to be able to take bone-jarring hits, get up, and continue playing. Right now, Crosby cannot do this without suffering major aftereffects, a very ominous sign.
Right now, it seems that the Penguins are willing to take a patient approach with their young captain, which makes sense because the kid can still play when he's on the ice. The question remains how long Crosby's latest setback will, well, set him back. It's been two weeks and all that's happened is that the Penguins put him on the injured list. This could either be procedural, or it could mean Crosby is not close to coming back any time soon. Since the move is retroactive to the amount of time he has already missed, he can be taken off the injury list at any point (players are required to miss two weeks if they are put on the injured list). But if he were coming back soon, I don't think the Pens would have made that move. This leads me to believe that Crosby may go through what he went through in the beginning of the year, which was not being able to do anything until the symptoms left and then increasing his rehabilitation at a very slow rate. I am predicting at least another two weeks, which would make a month total.
Depending on his recovery time and return to the ice, you may hear retirement speculation for Crosby. Retirement is something Sid the Kid should be seriously considering for two reasons. The major one being health reasons. Head injuries and concussions are no joke, and could lead to serious problems later in life or even death. (Yea, I know what you're thinking, 'But Troy Aikman suffered at least eight concussions in his career and he seems fine.' Well just because someone seems fine doesn't mean they actually are, you don't know what kind of problems Aikman could have. Even if he was fine, there are always exceptions to the rule, but would you want to gamble with a head injury? No? Thank you.) The other reason being no team is going to want a player who can barely play, no matter how good the player is. If Crosby doesn't retire and plays on, then the Penguins, or any other team, will never be able to pinpoint when his symptoms could return. This may mean Crosby will be forced to retire.
I don't think Crosby will consider retiring just yet though. Why you ask? The main reason being because he is only 24 years old. He could decide to take two, three, or even four years off and still be near his prime. (If he decided to do this, he may have to find a new team though. I don't think the Penguins are that patient.) His youth also means he still has the energy and drive to get back to the ice. The older you are, the harder it is to find the will to come back, unless your name is either Michael Jordan or Brett Favre. Another reason he won't retire any time soon is that he is has already made one comeback, and played well. This is an encouraging point for Crosby because it should be a definite confidence booster.
Yep, Sidney Crosby will be back. No one knows when, but everyone's waiting. After all, you know, there's nothing better than a good comeback story.
References
http://spotlightsonsports.blogspot.com/2011/01/crosbys-concussion.html#inscore_ifheight_xdc_500
http://www.blogger.com/stats2.g?blogID=6086517375313657516#posts,ALL_TIME
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7363769/sidney-crosby-put-injured-list-pittsburgh-penguins
http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/3114/sidney-crosby
http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/_/id/3101/alex-ovechkin
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