Former NHL enforcer Jim Thomson: My case against fighting

The concussion suffered by George Parros (15) on opening night reignited the debate over fighting.

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Jim Thomson says that his work as an enforcer led him into a hell of fear and substance abuse.

Courtesy of Your Life Counts/SI

Gary Bettman has to wake up and say "Enough is enough." You know what his problem is going to be? With all this knowledge we have of how wrong this is, what if he doesn't do anything about it and somebody dies? The NHL could go bankrupt. You think about the devastation of a lawsuit if somebody dies in a fight. Think of sponsors leaving, parents pulling their kids. And we sat here. I've been saying this for five years, and I've taken a lot of beatings in the media. Don Cherry called me a puke and a hypocrite. Well, you know, it's just my opinion. What did it get Derek Boogaard? Drug overdose. And when they did a study on his brain, he had the brain of a seven-year old. How did it help him in life? We won't even get into the way most of the enforcers live. They live in fear. They turn to drugs and alcohol to live with this lifestyle.

Bob Probert, perhaps the most feared enforcer of all time, was troubled by his role.

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