#that post thats like 'lots of jocks are just autistic but their special interest is sports' fixed me

[sergeifyodorov]

Would you care to elaborate on the Sid and Davo autism truthing because I agree but I want to hear your thoughts?

Not To Diagnose Men I Don't Know, But:

autism is highly characterized by:

restrictive interests, which they are highly invested in (you know. stories growing up about how they ONLY ever wanted to play hockey, connor for instance getting fixated on how the other kids "weren't doing enough" when his team was losing)

resistance to change in routine (sid keeping that jockstrap for EIGHTEEN PLUS YEARS, refusing to move/adjust things in his pregame routine that aren't "lucky," etc)

social difficulties (connor was described as a child + teenager as "painfully shy," "blunt to the point of being phlegmatic," etc, sid was sweet but there are stories of him not understanding why he was being picked on and stuff)

i think professional sports and especially ones where the pipeline starts as young as it does in hockey are essentially a breeding ground for neurodiverse individuals to "hide," as it were. hyperfixation and special interests are "good work ethic," ocd superstitions/autistic commitment to routine is just "pregame ritual", adhd energy is "drive."

that absolute narrow focus a lot of neurodiverse individuals can get, in the context of competitive sport, is a fairly straightforward way to get really really good at something really really fast, which is how individuals like sid or davo or nathan mackinnon or countless others all show up with reputations like "incredibly skilled, relentlessly focused, will stop at nothing to win."

im going to leave my thoughts on it at that; im not intimately familiar with the psychiatry and ethics of competitive sport and how they intertwine, so i don't have much else to say. sidney crosby's giant eyes DO have tbh swag though i love him