Concussions - Fantasy Impact

No I'm not that shallow. I know they're serious, and career threatening- never mind life changing. Some of the the players I looked up to when I was a kid had their careers end because of concussions. Namely Steve Young, and Paul Kariya. With all this talk about Crosby being out because of recurring symptoms and Colt McCoy being hit in the head and the subsequent suspension of Harrison because of it.... kinda made me wonder.

Then... watching my fantasy teams tank (in all 3 leagues i'm in) I decided to start overhauling my roster. And I saw this:

Milan Michalek - DTD, Concussion

Martin St. Lous- DTD (yeah right!), Facial Fractures (ouch!)

Mike Richards- IR, Concussion

Jeff Skinner- DTD, Concussion

Chris Pronger- IR, Concussion

Ryan Wilson- DTD, Concussion

Brayden Schenn- IR, Concussion

Matt D'Agostini- DTD, Concussion

Peter Mueller- IR, Head (aka concussion)

And that's just guys that are or were on my teams. Nevermind these guys:

Sidney Crosby- Concussion

Claude Giroux- Concussion

Kris Letang- Concussion

Zbynek Michalek - Concussion

The list goes on, and on, and on. And then add to that players like Ryan Miller, Andy McDonald, Marc Saverd, David Perron, James Reimer, Mark Staal, etc.

Is it me... or does it just seem like this is happening more often this year? And I'm not talking about just the Crosby affect where there's more media attention because of him, but just in general. Look at your fantasy teams. How many times have you had to drop guys from your roster, or put them on IR because of "Concussion." Thats how I notice it more. Not just because I'm in more leagues this year, but because a good chunk of the transactions are injury related, and even more specifically Concussion related.

This article was interesting, from SI.com: Concussions

And this from The Hockey Writers: Lingering

Ultimately, I believe it's the players responsibility. Take the Harrison hit on McCoy for example. In my opinion, Harrison clearly lead with the helmet. I understand it's hard to make split second decisions in sport, especially one as fast as hockey. Instinct and natural reaction kind of take over. In Harrison's case though- and I know this isn't hockey, but its the best example I can think of right now- he clearly, and purposefully lead with this helmet. Whether he aimed for McCoy's head or not, I can't tell. But I've seen many great tackles where responsible players lead with there shoulders. When you launch yourself like that at a player, whether you aim at their head or chest or crotch for that matter- its irresponsible. The Tootoo (I hate him!) hit on Miller is a somewhat similar example, though it didn't result in an injury. You have to make an effort to not injure a player. If you play the game to hurt people, like Harrison, you shouldn't be allowed to play.

What do you guys think? Media attention, or more frequent? How is it affecting your fantasy teams - let's assume all players will be forever healthy, and have great careers- get the 'human side' out of this equation for arguments sake.