I'm Sean McIndoe, author of The Down Goes Brown History of the NHL, which comes out today. AMA

(Thought I'd replied to this but it didn't stick.)

I think everyone's entitled to their opinions, but if you're being honest and fair then your opinion should be open to change in the face of new information. When it comes to fighting and enforcers, we know things now that we didn't know 20 or even 10 years ago.

Concussions are obviously a big part of that. But for me, it was hearing about how difficult the job was on so many of the guys who did it. The drugs and alcohol, anxiety issues, guys not being able to sleep and getting up in the middle of the night to watch clips of the guy they knew they had to fight the next game. Stories about Kordic calling home after games and crying on the phone because his dad thought he wasn't a real player.

We were led to think that these guys loved their jobs and were happy to do them, which made it OK for us to cheer them on. But in a lot of cases, maybe most, that just wasn't true. And we've seen some of the tragic results of that.

/r/hockey Thread Parent