Players that have trashed their careers

[PROBIE4PREZ 58]

Link

Hockey

"Theo Fleury: A mighty mouse of hockey, Fleury usually was the smallest player on the ice, but that didn't stop him (it actually encouraged him) to play as physical as anyone in the NHL. He scored 455 goals, had more than 1,800 penalty minutes in 1,084 career NHL games, but he also has a legacy in international play with Team Canada. Fleury also drank — a lot; he was released by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2003 after he admitted his own aftercare violation. That was his last stop in the NHL. Also an admitted cocaine user, Fleury was given the cruel nickname "Crackhead Theo" for, well, you might be able to guess. How he survived to operate a successful concrete coating business, who knows?

Bob Probert: Being one of the game's all-time tough guys wasn't enough for Probert, a Detroit winger who repeatedly smuggled cocaine back and forth into Canada. He was caught doing so twice in three weeks in 1989 and was banned by the NHL, but not forever. Probert's career persisted, as did drug and alcohol problems, and he's still fighting substance abuse today.

Pelle Lindbergh: He was 26 years old and a top goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985 when he crashed his sports car into a concrete wall, receiving injuries from which he soon would die. He reportedly had a .24 alcohol content in his blood. Lindbergh, who was from Sweden, had won the Vezina Trophy the season before, being the first European to do so. Steve Chaisson, in 1999, died in a similar way.

John Kordic: Probert had some hockey skills. Kordic was a straight-up goon, an alcoholic who used cocaine and took steroids to make him fight harder. Living a tormented life from an early age, Kordic died of heart and lung failure in 1992, at age 27, following a struggle with no fewer than nine police officers in a Quebec hotel room.

Mark Bell: After a promising start to his career with the Chicago Blackhawks, Bell finds himself in the minors after a drunken driving hit-and-run conviction in 2007. The NHL also suspended him. "

[Wings_Fan_In_Exile 3]

Kinda depressing, but interesting read nonetheless.

Fleury was fun to watch back in the day, I had already forgotten about him. And Lindbergh's story reminds me of the lead singer of Blind Mellon or something.

It's kinda crazy how long the list could be for some of the other leagues.. especially the NFL.

[Johnny Law 15]

Theo has a book out that is supposed to be pretty interesting.

[akustyk 84]

Pelle Lindbergh: He was 26 years old and a top goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985 when he crashed his sports car into a concrete wall, receiving injuries from which he soon would die. He reportedly had a .24 alcohol content in his blood. Lindbergh, who was from Sweden, had won the Vezina Trophy the season before, being the first European to do so. Steve Chaisson, in 1999, died in a similar way.

.24 seems huge for US standards but in some parts of the world (Eastern Europe that is) this is by far not a big achievement

there's been cases of people driving bicycles with almost .5 and still being able to somehow conversate with the police

[Superman54 91]

My Parents friend was once a teacher for Theo and she told me all sorts of intresting stories of his youth. His dad abused him and was a alcoholic. When Theo was in hockey he wore things he needed duck taped to himself to stay on, and while all the other kids made fun of him he continued persuing to play.Hearing that Iv'e always had a soft spot for the guy.

[Shaman 713]

.24 seems huge for US standards but in some parts of the world (Eastern Europe that is) this is by far not a big achievement

there's been cases of people driving bicycles with almost .5 and still being able to somehow conversate with the police

Hey, being someone who was born in the US but spends most of his days now in Romania, I can attest that .24 is impressive there too.

[up2here 41]

Link

Hockey

"Theo Fleury: A mighty mouse of hockey, Fleury usually was the smallest player on the ice, but that didn't stop him (it actually encouraged him) to play as physical as anyone in the NHL. He scored 455 goals, had more than 1,800 penalty minutes in 1,084 career NHL games, but he also has a legacy in international play with Team Canada. Fleury also drank — a lot; he was released by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2003 after he admitted his own aftercare violation. That was his last stop in the NHL. Also an admitted cocaine user, Fleury was given the cruel nickname "Crackhead Theo" for, well, you might be able to guess. How he survived to operate a successful concrete coating business, who knows?

Bob Probert: Being one of the game's all-time tough guys wasn't enough for Probert, a Detroit winger who repeatedly smuggled cocaine back and forth into Canada. He was caught doing so twice in three weeks in 1989 and was banned by the NHL, but not forever. Probert's career persisted, as did drug and alcohol problems, and he's still fighting substance abuse today.

Pelle Lindbergh: He was 26 years old and a top goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985 when he crashed his sports car into a concrete wall, receiving injuries from which he soon would die. He reportedly had a .24 alcohol content in his blood. Lindbergh, who was from Sweden, had won the Vezina Trophy the season before, being the first European to do so. Steve Chaisson, in 1999, died in a similar way.

John Kordic: Probert had some hockey skills. Kordic was a straight-up goon, an alcoholic who used cocaine and took steroids to make him fight harder. Living a tormented life from an early age, Kordic died of heart and lung failure in 1992, at age 27, following a struggle with no fewer than nine police officers in a Quebec hotel room.

Mark Bell: After a promising start to his career with the Chicago Blackhawks, Bell finds himself in the minors after a drunken driving hit-and-run conviction in 2007. The NHL also suspended him. "

One name you should add is Bryan Fogarty.Quebec picked him ahead of Joe Sakic and he drank his career away. If I remember right he was even John Kordics roommate.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

It's a real shame about Theo Fleury.

Had he not had the addiction problems, he'd have been an easy 500 goal scorer. IMO, for a guy his stature, to rack up the stats he did, I would've lobbied for him to get inducted into the HHOF.

Damned shame.

[toby91_ca 620]

Hey, being someone who was born in the US but spends most of his days now in Romania, I can attest that .24 is impressive there too.

Agreed. The suggestion that .24 is not that big of deal over in Eurpoe and .50 may be somewhat normal occurence (I know those words weren't used, but it seemed to be implied) would appear to be complete BS. While there have been occurences of BAC above 0.5, a lot of people would actually be dead at that level.

Progressive Effects of Alcohol[1]

BAC Behavior Impairment

.01–.06 Relaxation

Sense of Well-being

Loss of Inhibition

Lowered Alertness

Joyous

Thought

Judgment

Coordination

Concentration

.06–.10 Blunted Feelings

Disinhibition

Extroversion

Impaired Sexual Pleasure

Reflexes Impaired

Reasoning

Depth Perception

Distance Acuity

Peripheral Vision

Glare Recovery

.11–.20 Over-Expression

Emotional Swings

Angry or Sad

Boisterous

Reaction Time

Gross Motor Control

Staggering

Slurred Speech

.21–.29 Stupor

Lose Understanding

Impaired Sensations

Severe Motor Impairment

Loss of Consciousness

Memory Blackout

.30–.39 Severe Depression

Unconsciousness

Death Possible

Bladder Function

Breathing

Heart Rate

>.40 Unconsciousness

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[puckloo39 5,686]

.30–.39 Severe Depression

Unconsciousness

Death Possible

Bladder Function

Breathing

Heart Rate

holy ****, I learned something from your post. I am very lucky to still be alive, pure luck. The drunk driver who destroyed the car I was a passenger in Christmas Eve, 2006, clocked in at .31 BAC at the hospital. He was unhurt, by the way, despite hitting us at 80 MPH after blowing a red light, thus literally shredding my friend's Honda Accord -- but not us, fortunately.

I was a big admirer of Theo Fluery, the Robert Downey of the NHL. What a shame he was unable to continue playing, due to his demons. But at least he's survived thus far.

This list makes me grateful that Mac saw the light in time to correct his course.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Kind of a stupid list since Lindbergh and Kordic lost their lives, while Probert and Fleury went on to have pretty good careers. There shouldn't be any comparison between these athletes just because they all did something wrong.

Also, Lindbergh wasn't some chronic alcoholic from what I've heard, making it even harder to compare him to someone like Fleury who was always in trouble.

[Guest Shoreline]

I don't feel terribly bad for Fleury at all. I've been around plenty of alcoholics. He had enough environment changes, punishments, and wake up calls to get his s*** together. No one here can value their career more than Fleury. He didn't value it, and I just hope he ends up ok in life -- not terribly concerned about his hockey career.

Probert seems ok now, but he did have a fairly lengthy and memory-filled career. Even though his career was obviously cut short by drugs, I still think he put his stamp on the game as one of the best fighters and enforcers.

[LeftWinger 5,153]

holy ****, I learned something from your post. I am very lucky to still be alive, pure luck. The drunk driver who destroyed the car I was a passenger in Christmas Eve, 2006, clocked in at .31 BAC at the hospital. He was unhurt, by the way, despite hitting us at 80 MPH after blowing a red light, thus literally shredding my friend's Honda Accord -- but not us, fortunately.

I was a big admirer of Theo Fluery, the Robert Downey of the NHL. What a shame he was unable to continue playing, due to his demons. But at least he's survived thus far.

This list makes me grateful that Mac saw the light in time to correct his course.

...every last one of those guys "saw the light" at one time in their lives as well. Lets hope McWatse of Roster Spot keeps in the light or he could fall back into the dark bellows of which all of these guys fell back into more than once! And then they saw they light again, and so on, and so on...

[egroen 384]

One name you should add is Bryan Fogarty.Quebec picked him ahead of Joe Sakic and he drank his career away. If I remember right he was even John Kordics roommate.

Fogarty was the most talented of them all. Broke Orr's records in juniors (and they still stand today). Unbelievably talented... Sundin once said Fogarty could outplay them all, drunk.

"In 1987, when he was eligible for the draft, I brought him to Detroit. We took him out for lunch in Windsor. Just to see what kind of 18-year-old he was. It didn't take me five minutes to know he wasn't someone we were going to draft. He kept banging his fork on the table. I could tell he was a very nervous kid."

-Jim Devellano, former Detroit Red Wings GM and current senior VP

Edited November 8, 2008 by egroen

[55fan 5,133]

This list makes me grateful that Mac saw the light in time to correct his course.

I had the same thought. No matter where Mac ends up hockey-wise, at least he got his personal life back on track.

It's a good thing to hear when someone makes it back from the brink- and a tragedy when they don't. I've seen it too many times, as I'm sure we all have, and it's got to be harder when one is in the spotlight.

[Aeothe Kaear 0]

there's been cases of people driving bicycles with almost .5 and still being able to somehow conversate with the police

This made me instantly picture that scene in Pollock where he's riding the bike...

[BeeRYCE 2]

I think Fleury had a magnificant career, especially for a guy who wasn't a high end prospect. His career ended early, but at least he reached 1000 games.

[RainingBlood 8]

.24 seems huge for US standards but in some parts of the world (Eastern Europe that is) this is by far not a big achievement

there's been cases of people driving bicycles with almost .5 and still being able to somehow conversate with the police

My mom works at a gym and one of the guys who goes in for rehab was one of the 2 passengers in Lindbergh's sports car when he crashed in Somerdale NJ. From what he says there was a girl in the front seat giving him favors and he wasn't paying attention. When he realized Pelle wasn't paying attention he tried to alert him but it was too late. The girl and him are paralyzed from the crash and Pelle died the next day from his injuries. I thought the guy was bsing me but he showed me several pics of him and pelle partying. He also showed me his wedding pics and Pelle was his best man. So I dunno the story sounds like it has merit

Edited November 8, 2008 by RainingBlood

[Casey 145]

...every last one of those guys "saw the light" at one time in their lives as well. Lets hope McWatse of Roster Spot keeps in the light or he could fall back into the dark bellows of which all of these guys fell back into more than once! And then they saw they light again, and so on, and so on...

I'd put a significant amount of money on McCarty staying clean. With the recovered addicts I've known, the ones who had the possibility of relapse had a certain look in the eyes, a certain mannerism that is hard to describe. Get that look, and the most dangerous times are the highs and lows. Considering I didn't see it during the Cup celebration- a time when no one would have blamed him for a drink or two- I'd say he's on the wagon for good.

[RainingBlood 8]

I'd put a significant amount of money on McCarty staying clean. With the recovered addicts I've known, the ones who had the possibility of relapse had a certain look in the eyes, a certain mannerism that is hard to describe. Get that look, and the most dangerous times are the highs and lows. Considering I didn't see it during the Cup celebration- a time when no one would have blamed him for a drink or two- I'd say he's on the wagon for good.

Yeah I dont see Darren ******* up again because that would destroy his friendship with draper. He went to Kris for help, and that shows me that he wants to stay clean. Plus it cost him his mariage, and im sure if Darren could do it all over again he would.

Edited November 8, 2008 by RainingBlood

[DaKineMaui 8]

I'd put a significant amount of money on McCarty staying clean. With the recovered addicts I've known,

Hate to be a stickler, but there's no such thing.

Mac is, and always will be, a recovering addict. It's just the way it goes.

Day atta time right?

[akustyk 84]

Agreed. The suggestion that .24 is not that big of deal over in Eurpoe and .50 may be somewhat normal occurence (I know those words weren't used, but it seemed to be implied)

nope, this wasn't implied. the thing I was talking about is that .24 is far from the records set

in Eastern Europe. but it isn't implying that those "record beaters" are usual people. it just

says that while in normal countries .24 is considered serious state and at .4 there's very low

likelihood of the person surviving such abuse, the margin is much wider for many Polish,

Russian, etc. it doesn't apply to most Poles or Russians but from statistical point of view

if you take a Russian and an American with same weight and let them drink as much to

reach certain promile level the Russian fellow is likely to be in (much) better shape.

would appear to be complete BS. While there have been occurences of BAC above 0.5, a lot of people would actually be dead at that level.

almost all people would be dead at such level. basically, .4 is sufficient to kill average

person and .5 is simply beyond talk. you need years of "training" and good "coaching staff"

to achieve this level of resistance against alcohol.

[BlueMonk 102]

Mike Danton probably belongs somewhere on a list like this.

[hokeychik22 17]

like some people have said, i'm also glad Mac is turning himself around.

[lidstromboli03 0]

>.40 Unconsciousness

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