text: Hockey Hits Can Lead to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury - East Idaho News
  Updated at 5:26 pm, December 19th, 2011
  Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(PITTSBURGH) — Hits and checks have long been accepted as inherent to the game of hockey, but a decision by the NHL's biggest star to sit out of the game indefinitely represents only the latest professional athlete to suffer lasting injuries to the brain.
  "I've got to make sure with these sort of things that I'm careful and aware and making sure I'm 100 percent before I come back," Crosby, 24, told reporters in Pittsburgh last Monday. "You've got to listen to your body on these things."
  "When you find any tradition is causing damage to human's brain, it's time to change traditions," Kale told ABCNews.com. "We found traditions that are harmful and we need to give them up."
  While Kale noted in the editorial that he was fascinated by the skill, grace and physical fitness needed to play hockey, he "was appalled by the disgraceful and uncivilized practice of fighting and causing intentional head trauma. The tragic story of Sidney Crosby's layoff due to concussions has not been sufficient for society to hang its head in shame and stop violent play immediately."
  Kale cited three other hockey players — Rick Martin, Reggie Fleming and Bob Probert — who have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalophy, or CTE, a progressive degenerative disease found in people who have sustained several concussions or other head injuries.