Study: Full Hockey Masks Better Than Half Masks

Hockey players who wear full facemasks run no higher risk of neck and other injuries than those wearing half masks, according to a study that could ease fears that the greater protection only encourages more dangerous play.

The Canadian study, reported in today’s Journal of the American Medical Assn., also confirmed that full masks are significantly better at protecting players from facial injuries.

U.S. college hockey players have been required to wear full facemasks since 1980, and high schoolers since 1983, but controversy about the decision persists. In April, coaches asked the NCAA to go back to half masks.

A half mask extends from the front rim of the helmet down to the tip of the nose. A full mask goes all the way down and cups around the chin.

Some think an increase in head and neck injuries in recent years has occurred because full facemasks promote aggressive play or change the mechanics of the head and neck so that the spine is more easily hurt.

Boxing

A federal jury in Pittsburgh took only about an hour to reject claims by Michael Moorer’s grandfather that the former heavyweight boxing champion owed him more than $1 million for work the grandfather claims he did training the fighter.

Henry Smith, 79, introduced Moorer to boxing and, in the 1980s, regularly took him from his home in Monessen to a gym in Charleroi, southeast of Pittsburgh, where Smith trained fighters. Moorer, 32, convinced the eight-person jury that Smith’s work as his trainer ended when the boxer turned professional and signed a contract with Emanuel Steward to be trained at Detroit’s Kronk gym in 1988.

Jacqui Frazier Lyde, a 38-year-old lawyer and the daughter of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, has decided to become a professional boxer and wants to fight against Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila, the New York Post reported.

Lyde said she decided to enter the ring after watching the 21-year-old Ali’s debut in October.

A High Court judge in London placed the British Boxing Board of Control in receivership after it said it was unable to pay the $1.6 million in damages being sought by brain-damaged boxer Michael Watson.

Watson was awarded the settlement this year when a judge ruled the BBBC was liable for the brain injuries the boxer received in a title fight eight years ago against Chris Eubank.

Watson is reported to have lost half of his brain function and is paralyzed on his left side. He claimed he didn’t receive proper medical attention at ringside in the World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title in September 1991.

Britain’s Naseem Hamed will defend his WBO featherweight title against American challenger Junior Jones in London on March 11.

The fight had originally been planned for New York but was switched to England after Hamed’s latest disappointing performance in the United States.

Miscellany

Manchester United won four major titles in 1999, cementing its place as the richest and most successful club in soccer and earning its spot as the top international sports story in a worldwide poll by the Associated Press.

The Red Devils won the Premier League, the F.A. Cup, the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. Their season edged out the corruption scandal that rocked the Olympic movement as the No. 1 story.

The World Cup champion women’s soccer team, Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and record-setting swimmer Jenny Thompson were honored by the U.S. Olympic Committee as team, sportsman and sportswoman of the year, respectively.

The Garden City School Board in Kansas is investigating whether a high school football coach rubbed down his players with an ointment known to cause liver and kidney damage.

Coach Dave Meadows is accused of applying the ointment dimethyl sulfoxide, or DMSO, to players on his state championship football team.

School board President John Scheopner said the board is looking into the accusations by an assistant football coach who says he saw Meadows using the ointment on a student.

The ointment is used on horses to relieve muscle soreness and inflammation of joints or muscles. It is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Danielle and Steve Hartsell will not defend their U.S. Figure Skating Championship pairs title in February after she suffered a broken right kneecap.

Dick Button, who won Olympic gold medals in 1948 and 1952, was selected as the man of the century by International Figure Skating magazine. Button was chosen not only for his skating prowess, but for his role in creating events for professionals.

Didier Plaschy of Switzerland won a men’s slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia--his second World Cup skiing victory in four weeks.

Ruth Van’t Land, a junior forward at Cal Poly Pomona, was named the Division II player of the year in women’s soccer by the National Soccer Coaches of Association of America.

Dick Bertell, a catcher for the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants from 1960 to ‘67, has died in Mission Viejo of influenza and pneumonia-related causes. He was 64.

Bertell died early Monday at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, his son said. He was hospitalized Saturday night.

A memorial service will be held today at Mount of Olives Lutheran Church in Mission Viejo.