Think!

A week ago, on October 14^th, Monte Whaley from the Denver Post posted the article, Teams Fined, Players Suspended, Criminal Charges Pondered in Pre-Season Hockey Brawl.  This hockey “brawl” was in a game between the Colorado Eagles and the Texas Jackalopes. Both teams are part of the Central Hockey League (CHL), which is a mid-level professional league.  In most hockey games, there are a few tense moments, and maybe even a couple punches thrown. However, this game was different and MUCH more tense than any ordinary game. This game was very edgy, and maybe even unlawful.  One of the Larimer sheriff’s told the Denver Post that there were “…seven fights in the first two minutes of the third period.” One of the Texan players was hospitalized with a broken nose and jaw.  He also needed 18 screws and a few metal plates to fix the damage done to his face.  Supposedly, he was taken off-guard when the fight started and what started the even bigger brawl was that one of the Colorado players (who used to be a Texas player) jumped off the bench and started throwing punches.  This just got worse as it went on.  The Colorado player who started it is suspended for 22 games, and the other two players who got into the fight have been suspended for four or five games. The Colorado coach got suspended for a few games as well. The league and these players have large fines to pay. These fines will be donated to the Wilbur’s Fund for Women with Breast Cancer in Northern Colorado.  

                This article caught my eye when it said hockey. My family is a HUGE hockey family. My extended family has all played, my dad is the coach for the Colorado Thunderbirds and the Arapahoe High School team, and my brother is playing juniors hockey right now in Texas.  I was in the ice rink when I was five days old. My family does not go one day without talking about hockey, hockey, hockey.  

                Although I am not aware of the exact punishments that were given, this article makes me feel very modern.  I mean “modern” by what this world is becoming. Why is “modern” defined (in this case) as violence, and such? Why do we get so angered? I do admit that I have had moments that I cannot stand the opposing team and I want to do something about it. But is it worth is to hurt someone else so severely and have a consequence to go along with it? In my eyes, it’s a tragedy that could have been avoided. These guys are playing hockey because they love it; why would they want to put the risk of losing it on the line? Anyone who has played any sport can put themselves in this position.

                This article can relate to my life because of volleyball experience and hockey experiences.  Firstly, when we play Cherry Creek, we always have the closest games and usually end up going into a third game.  The girls on the team can be rude and there are moments that everyone just wants to squeeze something so tight and get the anger out.  Another reason is that being a coach’s daughter and a player’s sister, I have seen many fights.  One being against Heritage High School. Tensions were high just because the two high schools are such rivals. There were at least four huge fights. Because of these, the players owed a fine, and the players and the coach (my dad) were suspended from the bench for two games.  One stupid mistake by teenage boys is not worth the consequences!

                This article made me realize that everyone should think twice before saying or doing something because no one wants to deal with the consequence, no matter how large or small.

Does High Altitude Have Anything To Do With Suicide Rates?

While browsing through many articles from Google Reader, I found an interesting article by Sarah Mausolf from the Denver Post and Vail Daily, “New Study Examines Suicide at High Altitude”, which really made me think hard. 

Mausolf starts out talking about a study published in September in the “American Journal of Psychiatry” that was concerning why suicide rates are higher in Western states which have higher altitudes than the other states. Since many residents in the West go hunting very often, they tend to have a higher gun population than those in any other region.  Also, due to lack of oxygen, it could have a metabolic stress impact on the brain, causing deeper depression. Another factor could be because in the West, there are many rural areas, that our more isolated and lonely, causing depression.  Although many of the causes of suicide differ all the way from age to family history, this is an inference of another cause of depression/suicide.  These statistic's are also backed up from when the lead researcher of this study looked at South Korea's suicide rates and found the same data that has to do with higher altitudes.

This article first caught my attention because of what happened last year at Arapahoe High School with so many suicides and because we live in the high altitudes. In this article, it states that “At Colorado’s high altitude, …the suicide rate is about 70 percent higher than it is at sea level.” That is a lot of people committing suicides in the West. This helps us to notice that since our high school is in a high altitude, we should be cautious of our friends, and that if they are suffering from this, we should help them.  Everyone at AHS would agree about this. What surprised me about this article was that it just said the statistics and facts; it did not even put a suicide prevention website or advice. I understand this was not the purpose of the article, but it would have been good if there was.  This article made me think why don’t we try to avoid these suicide rates and try to lower the statistics? Why don’t we TRY to do something like put more psychiatrists in more rural places in the US?

Taking everything into account, I hope the readers of this article try to change and lower these statistics!