Ian White Alert

[CarltonTheBear]

Mark Divver ‏@MarkDivver  17 minutes ago
Ex-NHL defenseman Ian White signs a PTO with @AHLBruins

Thought it was very weird this guy fell off the rails.

 

[Highlander]

ya what went wrong with Ian?  Woman, booze, bad facial hair? 

I remember the Canadian Junior 2003 team with so many young guys that seemed to have an amazing futures:  Wellwood, Stajan, White, Colliacavo, Brendan Bell, and a guy named Geof Lupal

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

ya what went wrong with Ian?  Woman, booze, bad facial hair? 

I remember the Canadian Junior 2003 team with so many young guys that seemed to have an amazing futures:  Wellwood, Stajan, White, Colliacavo, Brendan Bell, and a guy named Geof Lupal

You're not far wrong by some accounts, always some whispers surrounding him off-ice.

 

[Highlander]

I will never understand pro athletes signing million dollar deals and then doing substance abuse whether drugs or alcohol or both. Hey I like to party more than the next guy, but why not put it off till after the career is over?lots of time then to waste your money and ruin lives including your own.
There are probably lots of programs available to the younger guys entering the league.
I am not saying White is in this category, as I know nothing about him except his playing time in T.O. but I liked him a lot as a Leaf and would be a shame if this is/was the case.

 

[L K]

I will never understand pro athletes signing million dollar deals and then doing substance abuse whether drugs or alcohol or both. Hey I like to party more than the next guy, but why not put it off till after the career is over?lots of time then to waste your money and ruin lives including your own.
There are probably lots of programs available to the younger guys entering the league.
I am not saying White is in this category, as I know nothing about him except his playing time in T.O. but I liked him a lot as a Leaf and would be a shame if this is/was the case.

That's kind of a silly stance to take.  I find it strange that ANYONE gets involved with substance abuse.  It's not that simple of the thing to dismiss.  Addiction isn't really something that people set out to do...and beyond that how is substance abuse any less damaging to other people if it happens after their career?

 

[Bullfrog]

I will never understand pro athletes signing million dollar deals and then doing substance abuse whether drugs or alcohol or both....

Because generally the underlying issue behind the substance abuse isn't magically solved by all of a sudden having fame and money. I'm sure you can see how those things can easily add to escalation of the issue.

 

[Kessel Run]

Was wondering myself about him. He was in a few old St. John's Maple Leafs photos I was looking at yesterday.

 

[Highlander]

LK, if you read the Alcoholic A book there is a case about a guy whom realised he loved to drink but he realised early that it would ruin him and he would not have a career. So he made an agreement with himself that in his mid 50's when he had made himself successful that he would take up drinking again. He did and was dead 2 years later. Make sense? No but it was a bit of what I was talking about.

 

[bustaheims]

LK, if you read the Alcoholic A book there is a case about a guy whom realised he loved to drink but he realised early that it would ruin him and he would not have a career. So he made an agreement with himself that in his mid 50's when he had made himself successful that he would take up drinking again. He did and was dead 2 years later. Make sense? No but it was a bit of what I was talking about.

You do realize that that guy is a huge exception to how things usually play out. People who are prone to addictions generally do not have that kind of willpower. As for White, if he did in fact have a substance issue, it likely started long before he signed any substantial contracts, and, well, if you've ever known anyone with an addiction, you'd know that having earning potential like that is hardly a reason for them to stop. In fact, it's usually the reason they go harder.

 

[Highlander]

understood on all of this..just pisses me off when someone with talent goes into the toilet for all the wrong reasons and I know we all share this sentiment.

 

[Nik]

Considering that we don't actually know why White seems to have declined so rapidly then we might want to hold off on taking strong opinions on possible reasons based on unspecified "whispers".

 

[Highlander]

Hey Nik was not speaking about White but young people in general. I don t know if he has an substance abuse problem, just wondering what caused his decline. 

 

[LuncheonMeat]

LK, if you read the Alcoholic A book there is a case about a guy whom realised he loved to drink but he realised early that it would ruin him and he would not have a career. So he made an agreement with himself that in his mid 50's when he had made himself successful that he would take up drinking again. He did and was dead 2 years later. Make sense? No but it was a bit of what I was talking about.

You do realize that that guy is a huge exception to how things usually play out. People who are prone to addictions generally do not have that kind of willpower. As for White, if he did in fact have a substance issue, it likely started long before he signed any substantial contracts, and, well, if you've ever known anyone with an addiction, you'd know that having earning potential like that is hardly a reason for them to stop. In fact, it's usually the reason they go harder.

Theo Fleury is a pretty fascinating example.  Addiction, in a lot of cases, is an attempt to self-medicate or numb something deeper and often painful - emotions/experience/trauma, etc. - and doesn't come down to willpower at all.  Throw in money and celebrity and it's a pretty dangerous combination.

 

[Highlander]

To bad it touches almost all families including mental illness, and the combination of substance abuse with mental problems just elevates the problems.

 

[2badknees]

White played well in Babcock's system, but that's not the first time a 5-6 at best defenseman has managed to play above his talent level in Detroit.

He's not a big guy, and its not at all surprising to me he's having to fight his way onto a roster at this point in his career.