A Hockey Tough Guy Confronts His OCD: 'It Became Borderline Dangerous'
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2021
⏱️ 20 minutes
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Summary
Mark Borowiecki is best known as a hard-hitting defenseman with the NHL's Nashville Predators -- a guy who has doled out plenty of bone-crunching checks and who has dropped the gloves more than a few times. He's also earned the nickname "Boro-Cop" for his tendency to stand up for justice on and off the ice, and to defend people who need protecting. But the hardest battle of his 11-year NHL career has been the one going on inside his own mind. Borowiecki recently opened up to The Athletic's Adam Vingan about his being diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, the dark thoughts that consumed him for years, and why, after finally getting the help he needed, he wants other athletes to know what he's gone through.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to the lead ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi there, Wondry listeners. Hannah and Sruti here from TrueCram Podcast Redhanded. |
| 0:11.0 | Your favourite podcast Redhanded. We just wanted to say how excited we are to be included in Amazon Music |
| 0:16.0 | and Wondry's best podcasts of the year as chosen by their listeners, which is you. |
| 0:21.0 | So thank you so much to everyone who listened to us voted for us, all the things you do for us. |
| 0:26.0 | Any of you out there who haven't checked out Redhanded, what are you doing? What are you waiting for? |
| 0:31.0 | It's a weekly show where we deep dive into the most talked about cases like the Delphi murders |
| 0:35.0 | and also those you might never have heard of like the Nathari child sacrifices in Delhi. |
| 0:40.0 | Go listen to Redhanded right now on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:46.0 | This is an competition. I'm not going to make a competition, but I was hard on myself to the point where it became, I think, borderline dangerous. |
| 1:00.0 | For a long time, NHL defenseman Mark Borvietsky thought his tendency to obsess over his performance on the ice |
| 1:08.0 | and to question how hard he was working off it was more or less normal. |
| 1:12.0 | He figured it was what every elite athlete did to stay successful, but one day he realized it had crossed a line. |
| 1:19.0 | I was so upset about making any inconsequential mistake in a game that I was, you know, thoughts of taking my own life occurred. |
| 1:26.0 | Today, the Athletics Adam Vingen on Borvietsky's journey, how he finally got the help he needed and what he wants other athletes to know about his experience. |
| 1:36.0 | From wondering the Athletic, I'm Anders Kelto. It's Friday, November 12th, and this is The Lead. |
| 1:51.0 | So, Adam, for anyone who hasn't seen him play and hasn't seen him flash his smile, how would you describe Mark Borvietsky? |
| 1:59.0 | Mark Borvietsky is an old school physical defenseman. |
| 2:06.0 | He made him name for himself over the past decade for being one of the heaviest hitters in the league. |
| 2:16.0 | His nickname is Borrocock, a play on RoboCock. His teammates would joke that he was always on patrol on the blue line. |
| 2:31.0 | He has been known to fight. He is willing to chuck knuckles as they say. |
| 2:37.0 | You see the crooked nose, you see the lack of teeth, you see the scars on his face. If you were to have an image of a stereotypical hockey player, I think Mark Borvietsky would fit that to a tee. |
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