In stunning admission, NFL official affirms link between football and CTE

Football concussions not as dangerous as alleged

Sally Jenkins’s Oct. 2 Sports column, “CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] is NFL’s modern version of black lung,” perpetuated popular but mistaken views on sports concussions. I am a neurosurgeon and mother of a high school football player. No published study supports the notion that playing this sport engenders domestic violence . To assert a link between football and CTE , a degenerative brain disease, and then with domestic violence, trivializes the discussion. Nothing is more important to me than my son’s health and safety. Are there risks involved with football? Yes, as there are with every sport. However, calling youth tackle football “incredibly harmful” is itself harmful and regrettable in a society that faces a childhood obesity epidemic and widespread increase in sedentary lifestyles. The culture is changing. Best practices for concussion prevention, recognition and treatment are endorsed by leaders in medicine and education. USA Football, the sport’s governing body, is advancing protocols based on the best available scientific evidence. Parents, coaches and players know to remove an athlete from play immediately when concussion is suspected. Though media report a possible link between repeated head trauma and CTE, this research is in its infancy. Parents and athletes deserve reports rooted in fact, not fear. ****Gail Rosseau,** Chicago** The writer is a board member of USA Football.

The NFL can’t seem to make up its mind on a link between concussions and CTE

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The NFL made a seemingly straightforward admission last week when its top player safety official told a congressional committee that there is “certainly” a link between football and degenerative brain disease. The acknowledgment earned praise from medical experts and touched off speculation about the potential ramifications for the league in court and among parents deciding whether to allow their children to play the game. Since then, however, prominent NFL figures have been far less definitive on the subject. At least two influential team owners, including the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, said this week they aren’t certain about the relationship between football and brain disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). And at a news conference Wednesday, Commissioner Roger Goodell did not directly answer a question about whether he and the league believe such a link exists. “I think the most important thing for us is to support the medical [experts] and scientists who determine what those connections are,” Goodell said. The lack of clarity on the issue points to a league still struggling to figure out how to deal with a complex subject that eventually could threaten its very survival. By acknowledging a link between football and CTE, legal experts say, the NFL could undermine its position in court, where a proposed settlement between the league and retired players is under appeal, and potentially create an open-ended liability with current and future players. “I am not sure how we can react to their comments other than to simply shrug our shoulders and point,” said George Atallah, the assistant executive director of external affairs for the NFL Players Association. “We know we have to work with them, and it is important to have a level of professional decorum because we have to get things done, but it is hard when they say the things they say with a straight face.” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president of health and safety policy, made his attention-grabbing comment March 14 during a roundtable discussion on concussions before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) about a link between football and CTE and replied that “the answer to that is certainly yes.” It marked the first time a senior league official said a link existed, and the NFL issued a statement the following day saying Miller had not misspoken. “The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday accurately reflect the view of the NFL,” it said. League leaders were criticized as recently as at the Super Bowl last month for refusing to acknowledge a link between the sport and brain disease, which made Miller’s comments that much more noteworthy, even apparently among some NFL team owners. “It took us by surprise,” one owner said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity. Some team owners, who were gathered here this week for the league’s annual meeting, went even further when questioned about whether they believe a relationship between football and CTE has been firmly established. “No, that’s absurd,” said Jones, the Cowboys’ owner. “There’s no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There’s no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving.” Jones added: “We have millions of people that have played this game, have millions of people that are at various ages right now that have no issues at all. None at all. So that’s where we are. That didn’t alter at all what we’re doing about it. We’re going to do everything we can to understand it better and make it safer.” Jones’s remarks were echoed by Robert McNair, owner of the Houston Texans. “We don’t know does CTE exist among people who’ve never had any contact? We don’t know. Because when you’re alive they can’t check for it,” McNair said, according to ESPN.com. “The only players, the brains that have been checked, were ones who clearly were having problems. So it wasn’t a scientific sample that they were dealing with. We’ve got thousands of players who are not suffering from dementia of any type. So we have a lot to learn yet.” Chris Nowinski, a co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said Wednesday the owners’ remarks were “woefully ill-informed” given the overwhelming scientific and medical research that has established a link between brain trauma and CTE. “When the world’s top neuropathologists are on record saying they have never seen CTE in a brain donor who wasn’t exposed to repetitive brain trauma, and the Mayo Clinic just published a paper that found zero cases of CTE in 188 controls, but 21 cases of CTE among 66 contact sport athletes, Bob McNair sounds foolish,” Nowinski said in an email. At his news conference, Goodell played down the significance of Miller’s acknowledgment of a link, saying it was “consistent with our position over the years.” That was the same position taken by NFL attorney Paul Clement, who wrote a letter last week to the appeals court considering objections to the potential $1 billion concussion settlement in which he said that Miller’s admission “is consistent with NFL positions in court and otherwise.” Lawyers for some players involved in the lawsuit against the NFL, however, contend that the admission buttresses their argument that the league’s proposed settlement with retired players be extended to include future cases of CTE. Some outside legal experts agree. Arthur R. Miller, a professor at the New York University law school and director of the school’s Tisch Institute for sports management, media and business, said last week that the NFL’s CTE acknowledgment carried legal risk. “Although there is a settlement, the settlement might not be approved by the appellate court,” he said. “It could conceivably hurt them in this litigation or in future litigation. Additionally, it changes the dynamics of the next labor negotiation with the NFL Players Association. It becomes a labor-management issue.” The NFL’s annual revenues are estimated to be in excess of $13 billion; the league has set a goal of $25 billion in revenues by 2027. Future costs of concussion-related litigation are among the chief issues facing the sport going forward, sports business experts have said.

NFL owners surprised by league official’s CTE admission

BOCA RATON, Fla. — NFL owners were caught off guard by the acknowledgement to a Congressional panel last week by a top league safety official of a link between football and degenerative brain disease.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “It took us by surprise,” one NFL owner said at this week’s annual league meeting of the response to the statement made by Jeff Miller. Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, was asked during a roundtable discussion convened by the House Committee on Energy & Commerce last week by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) whether there is a link between football and degenerative brain disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Miller replied that “the answer to that is certainly, yes.” It was believed to be the first time that an NFL official acknowledged such a link between football and CTE. The league issued a statement by a spokesman the following day saying it stood by Miller’s comment. The admission was praised by some medical experts. Legal experts said the acknowledgement could have potential courtroom repercussions for the NFL. The league’s settlement with a group of former players who sued over concussion-related issues is before a federal appeals court. “I think the game of football has never been safer than it is today,” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday. “I played. My sons have played. I have three grandsons who play now. So we have three generations playing this game. We believe in it. I think what has been done with the rules, I think what has been done with the equipment — balancing everything, my family plays it because I think life lessons and what you get out of playing football is way beyond the risks of what happens. I honestly believe the risks are being managed as well as they can be today.”

Roger Goodell sidesteps CTE questions after NFL official’s acknowledgement to Congress

BOCA RATON, Fla. — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday the league will “support science and medicine and allow them to make those decisions” about the relationship between football and degenerative brain disease. An NFL owners’ meeting held the week after the league’s top player safety official, Jeff Miller, made a Capitol Hill acknowledgement of a link between football and degenerative brain disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, ended with Goodell not directly answering a question about whether he and the league believe such a link exists.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “I think the most important thing for us is to support the medical [experts] and scientists who determine what those connections are,” Goodell said at a news conference at the conclusion of the annual league meeting. “We think the statements that have been made through Jeff Miller and others have been consistent with our position over the years. We’ve actually funded those studies. So we not only are aware of those. We recognize them.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “But we support those studies. A lot of the research is still in its infancy. But we’re trying to find ways to accelerate that. And that’s part of what we’re doing with investing in additional research. But we’re also not waiting for the research. We’re going in and making the changes to our game.” Goodell’s answer to the question about the relationship between football and CTE came a day after one of the sport’s most prominent franchise owners, the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, called it “absurd” to suggest that such a link has been definitively established.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “No, that’s absurd,” Jones said Tuesday. “There’s no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There’s no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving. I grew up being told that aspirin was not good. I’m told that one a day is good for you. … I’m saying that changed over the years as we’ve had more research and knowledge. “So we are very supportive of the research. … We have for years been involved in trying to make it safer, safer as it pertains to head injury. We have millions of people that have played this game, have millions of people that are at various ages right now that have no issues at all. None at all. So that’s where we are. That didn’t alter at all what we’re doing about it. We’re gonna do everything we can to understand it better and make it safer.” Jones said he was not disagreeing with the comments made by Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president of health and safety policy, during a round-table discussion last week before a House committee. Miller was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) about a link between football and CTE, and replied that “the answer to that is certainly, yes.” Goodell said Wednesday that the NFL will continue to strive to make the sport safer. It also will continue to fund research, he said, aimed to determine the long-term health consequences of head injuries suffered by players. “We’re making the changes to our rules which you’ve heard about today,” Goodell said. “We made changes in 2011 that affected the way we train our athletes. Several coaches and I had conversations today about how it’s changing the way they’re teaching the techniques that are used on the field and in training, all very positive changes. You’ve also seen a lot of the changes we’ve made in equipment and there are more to come. There are changes with the fields, changes with helmets. … So there’s exciting technological changes that are going to, I think, make our game safer. “And we’re advancing that. We’re driving that. So our view is to try to continue to do that. We’ll support science and medicine and allow them to make those decisions. We’ll try to see what we can do to support that and advance that.” **More from the league meetings**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Owners vote to change touchbacks to 25-yards, approve unsportsmanlike conduct ejections    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Proposals on kickoff change, automatic ejections opposed by coaches    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

NHL commissioner refuses to believe there’s a link between concussions and CTE

Bettman blamed the media for creating a culture of “fear mongering” around the issue and ranted against “widely-publicized misinformation relating to a supposed causal connection between concussions and CTE.” “At bottom, the science just has not advanced to the point where causation determinations can responsibly be made,” he said, adding that the NHL’s stance on the matter reflects “medical consensus” that “a causal link between concussions and CTE has not been established.” “If that consensus changes, so, too, will my answers,” he added. Reaction to Bettman’s letter has been largely negative among hockey fans, some of whom believe Bettman has fallen behind the curve, especially in comparison to the NFL, which only this year acknowledged the link between concussions and CTE. When asked if he there was a link between football and CTE during a congressional roundtable in March, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety, Jeff Miller, said, “The answer to that question is certainly yes.” The NFL made the stunning admission after years of refuting a link while attempting to fight a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of former NFL players who suffered concussions while in the league. In April 2015, the court approved a settlement between the two sides and a year later, an appeals court upheld the decision that made the league accountable for upwards of $1 billion in monetary rewards to the group of around 4,500 retired players. The NHL, meanwhile, is currently fighting its own class-action lawsuit brought by more than 100 former players who suffered concussions and other brain injuries while playing. The plaintiffs claim while they understood their career choice could lead to broken bones and other bodily harm, they were not aware of the long-term effects of brain trauma associated with the game. The players are seeking medical care for themselves and roughly 4,300 living retired players. Bettman attempted to distance the NHL from comparisons to the NFL in his letter to Sen. Blumenthal, a tactic he’s used earlier, as well. In a subsection of the letter that appeared to be composed with the help of a legal team, Bettman argued football and hockey are very different and, thus, should not be compared in terms of injury risk. He made similar remarks in March, directly after the NFL admitted the connection between football and CTE. “It’s fairly clear that playing hockey isn’t the same as football,” he said then. “NHL Hockey Is Different Than NFL Football,” he titled a subsection of his letter that appeared to be written with the help of an attorney this week. “Until recently, the medical community’s discussions about CTE did not even touch about NHL hockey,” Bettman wrote. Indeed, researchers at Boston University’s CTE center — the most publicized researchers on CTE in football — told the NHL (and me personally) that they believe that NHL hockey is a vastly different sport than football, making it difficult to necessarily relate or link hypotheses on CTE as between the two sports.” He added: “Likewise, any suggestion that the NHL has been ‘dismissive’ of a potential causal link between concussions and CTE is simply not true.” Many hockey fans, however, are finding that statement hard to believe.

Another owner says he isn’t convinced of link between football, brain disease

Bob McNair joined the other owner of a Texas NFL team in questioning whether there is a conclusive link between football and degenerative brain disease. “I think it’s an important issue,” Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said at the NFL owners meetings (via ESPN). “I’m more concerned about the misconceptions people can have about it than I am about what’s really taking place. We’re studying this issue closely, more than anyone else. We’ve put up money for research before anyone else did. Our medical scientists still don’t know what the cause of CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] is. It appears that if you’ve had multiple concussions from whatever you’ve been doing, riding a bicycle, skateboarding, it’s not just football, that there’s a possibility it could lead to CTE.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico On Tuesday, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones expressed a similar belief to The Post’s Mark Maske, saying “it’s absurd” to think there’s enough data to link CTE to football. The topic is suddenly a hot one again because Jeff Miller, an NFL executive, told a Capitol Hill round table on March 15 that “certainly yes” there is a link between the sport and degenerative brain disease. That stunning admission carried sobering implications for the future of the sport and caught NFL owners off guard, Maske reported, even though the NFL stood by Miller’s comment. That left it to owners to reinvigorate the subject at this week’s NFL meetings in Florida. Enter McNair. “We don’t know does CTE exist among people who’ve never had any contact? We don’t know,” said McNair, who, according to ESPN, wasn’t specifically asked about Miller’s comment. “Because when you’re alive they can’t check for it. The only players, the brains that have been checked, were ones who clearly were having problems. So it wasn’t a scientific sample that they were dealing with. We’ve got thousands of players who are not suffering from dementia of any type. So we have a lot to learn yet. “But we’re not downplaying it. We’ve changed the rules to try to protect the players. We’re looking at equipment changes to protect the players. I think we’ve convinced the players that if you have had a hard hit to the head and you feel like you’ve been concussed, don’t be ashamed to say I need to come out, whereas before that was their attitude so it was never reported to us. But now they recognize that’s not smart. If they have a concussion, report it, come out, let us check ’em out. If they’re okay, fine, go back in, but if they’ve definitely been concussed, then they don’t go back in.” Commissioner Roger Goodell stressed that the NFL is changing as it awaits further scientific study. “I think the most important thing for us is to support the medical [experts] and scientists who determine what those connections are,” Goodell said in a news conference. “We think the statements that have been made through Jeff Miller and others have been consistent with our position over the years. We’ve actually funded those studies. So we not only are aware of those. We recognize them. “But we support those studies. A lot of the research is still in its infancy. But we’re trying to find ways to accelerate that. And that’s part of what we’re doing with investing in additional research. But we’re also not waiting for the research. We’re going in and making the changes to our game.”

NFL stands by safety official’s acknowledgement of CTE link to football

The NFL is standing by the acknowledgement on Capitol Hill by its top player safety official of a link between football and degenerative brain disease. “The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday accurately reflect the view of the NFL,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a written statement provided Tuesday to The Washington Post. Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, was asked during a round-table discussion Monday by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) whether there is a link between football and degenerative brain disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Miller said that “the answer to that is certainly, yes.” It was believed to be the first public acknowledgement by the NFL of such a link. League leaders previously said they would leave it to researchers and medical experts to determine whether such a link exists. Miller cited the work of Ann McKee and other researchers at Boston University who have found the disease when examining the brains of deceased NFL players. Miller said he would defer to medical experts on questions about the prevalence of the disease among players. “I’m very pleased that they did it,” Robert Cantu, a clinical professor of neurosurgery at Boston University and co-director of BU’s CTE Center, said in a phone interview Tuesday of the NFL’s acknowledgement. “All the signs at BU and around the world have connected this. We’re connecting the dots. … I think it’s very positive that the NFL has stepped forward. I look forward to other sports stepping forward as well.” Cantu is a senior adviser to the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee and a section co-chair of the NFL Players Association’s traumatic brain injury committee. “I think football has taken the lead and that’s great,” Cantu said. “Football has also taken the lead in terms of reducing the amount of head contact allowed in practices and so forth. I would have preferred to see this happen earlier but I’m pleased that it did happen. It’s an acknowledgement of what a number of us felt the science proved a number of years ago. The NFL promised it would go where the science leads. They’ve become the first major sport to do so.” Schakowsky and three other Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote Tuesday to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asking what further steps the league plans to take. The letter was co-authored by Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, Gene Green of Texas and Diana DeGette of Colorado. “We are encouraged by the NFL’s willingness to accept the science linking the repetitive hits inherent to football with CTE,” the letter said. “We seek to better understand whether this new attitude will translate into additional actionable measures to prevent repetitive brain trauma in current players, encourage programs and protocols to protect children in the youth leagues, and provide support for current and retired players at risk of this disease. The NFL’s leadership on this issue can serve as a guide to other professional sports leagues and youth sports organizations seeking to limit risks for their players.” The NFL’s acknowledgement raises questions about potential future legal liability and about participation rates in youth tackle football going forward, experts said. The league’s settlement with a group of former players who sued over concussion-related issues is before a federal appeals court. “Although there is a settlement, the settlement might not be approved by the appellate court,” said Arthur R. Miller, a university professor at the New York University law school and director of the school’s Tisch Institute for sports management, media and business. “It could conceivably hurt them in this litigation or in future litigation. Additionally, it changes the dynamics of the next labor negotiation with the NFL Players Association. It becomes a labor-management issue.” The appeals court is considering objections by groups of players to the class-action concussion settlement, and an attorney for an objecting group wrote to the court about Miller’s acknowledgement. Christopher Seeger, co-lead counsel for the player class plaintiffs, said in a written statement Tuesday that the objections to the settlement “are without merit” and the settlement, in his view, should be approved. “We welcome the NFL’s acknowledgement of what was alleged in our complaint: that reports have associated football with findings of CTE in deceased former players,” Seeger said. “Retired NFL players brought this case to obtain security and care for the devastating brain injuries they were experiencing at a rate much greater than the general population. The settlement achieves that, providing immediate care to the sickest retired players and long-term security over the next 65 years for those who are healthy now but develop a qualifying condition in the future. “However, as the district court correctly held, the scientific study into CTE is in its infancy and a reliable method for detecting it in living people does not exist. Therefore, the settlement provides compensation and care for those who exhibit neurocognitive symptoms associated with CTE–dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS–importantly without having to prove the cause or link to CTE.” The NFL filed a letter, written by attorney Paul Clement, with the appeals court late Tuesday saying that Miller’s admission on Capitol Hill “is consistent with NFL positions in court and otherwise. The NFL has previously acknowledged studies identifying a potential association between CTE and certain football players, including Dr. [Ann] McKee’s work, to which the NFL has contributed funding.” Clement also wrote in the NFL’s filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: “Simply put, Mr. Miller’s remarks have no bearing on the pending appeal.” Cantu said that Miller’s acknowledgement is not meaningful to future research but could be meaningful to the public’s perception of the research that is done. He expressed hope that the NFL’s admission of a link between football and CTE will lead parents to reconsider allowing children to play tackle football at a young age. “I think it will help immensely,” Cantu said. “I sure hope so. I sure hope with regard to football, the rise in participation in flag football being greater than [the most recent increase in participation] in tackle football is significant. I think to the greater extent we can replace tackle football with flag football, it’s all positive.” Figures released Monday showed participation in flag football among 6- to 14-year-olds up 8.7 percent in 2015 over 2014, compared to a 1.9 percent increase for tackle football. Among 15- to 18-year-olds, participation in flag football was up 10.5 percent while participation in tackle football was up 2.5 percent. The figures were part of an annual Physical Activity Council participation report. Steve Alic, a spokesman for USA Football, a national governing body for youth football that is also part of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said his organization is “continually working to improve what we offer” in promoting proper education and safety measures for tackle football at all levels. Alic said it is “too early to tell” if the increased participation in tackle football last year over 2014 is a trend, adding that “better education and standards may translate to better participation.”

The latest brain study examined 111 former NFL players. Only one didn’t have CTE.

Researchers studying the link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy found that 99 percent of the brains donated by families of former NFL players showed signs of the neurodegenerative disease, according to a new study published Tuesday. In all, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the VA Boston Healthcare System examined 202 brains that belonged to men who played football at all levels and were later donated for research. They found CTE in 177 of them — 87 percent. While they found evidence of the disease across all levels of play, the highest percentage was found among those who competed at the highest level; all but one of the 111 brains belonging to ex-NFL players were diagnosed post-mortem with CTE. “Obviously, this doesn’t represent the prevalence in the general population, but the fact that we’ve been able to gather this high a number of cases in such a short period of time says that this disease is not uncommon,” said neuropathologist Ann McKee, the researcher credited with some of the most high-profile CTE diagnoses. “In fact, I think it’s much more common than we currently realize. And more importantly, this is a problem in football that we need to address and we need to address now in order to bring some hope and optimism to football players.” The study drew the immediate attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been monitoring the issue. “The time for denying facts and looking the other way is over,” Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said in a release. “We must now actively seek out ways to protect the health and [well-being] of players from Pop Warner to the NFL and every league in between.” In addition, four Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce committee called the study “a heartbreaking reminder that we must continue the fight to protect current, former, and future NFL players from CTE.” “We know that there is a direct relationship between football and CTE, and we cannot afford to wait to take substantive action to protect players of all ages from the risks of head trauma in contact sports,” read a statement, signed by Schakowsky, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). “This study also demonstrates the importance of continued scientific research on CTE, which is why we must continue to support the important work carried out by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in this area, including on the relationship between this degenerative brain disease and contact sports.” McKee cautions that the study, which was  published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, has some limitations and doesn’t attempt to pinpoint a CTE rate. The brains studied were mostly donated by concerned families, which means they weren’t random and not necessarily representative of all men who have played football. “A family is much more likely to donate if they’re concerned about their loved one — if they’re exhibiting symptoms or signs that are concerning them, or if they died accidentally or especially if they committed suicide,” she said. “It skews for accidental deaths, suicide and individuals with disabling or discomforting symptoms.” While the study isn’t focused on causality, McKee says it provides “overwhelming circumstantial evidence that CTE is linked to football.” The NFL pledged $100 million for concussion-related research last September — $60 million on technological development, with an emphasis on improving helmets, and $40 million earmarked for medical research — and in a statement a league spokesman expressed appreciation for the latest study. “The medical and scientific communities will benefit from this publication, and the NFL will continue to work with a wide range of experts to improve the health of current and former NFL athletes,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “As noted by the authors, there are still many unanswered questions relating to the cause, incidence and prevalence of long-term effects of head trauma such as CTE. The NFL is committed to supporting scientific research into CTE and advancing progress in the prevention and treatment of head injuries.” The study marks the largest CTE case series ever published. The research was drawn from a brain bank established and maintained by the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University School of Medicine and the Concussion Legacy Foundation. The 177 brains found to have CTE belonged to former players who had an average of 15 years of football experience. In addition to the NFL diagnoses, the group included three of 14 who played at the high school level, 48 of 53 who played in college, nine of 14 who competed semiprofessionally and seven of eight who played in the Canadian Football League. “To me, it’s very concerning that we have college-level players who have severe CTE who did not go on to play professionally,” McKee said. “That means they most likely retired before the age of 25 and we still are seeing in some of those individuals very severe repercussions.” The researchers distinguished between mild and severe cases of CTE, finding the majority of former college (56 percent), semipro (56 percent) and professional (86 percent) players to have exhibited severe pathology. The impact of concussions and head trauma meted out on the football field has been an active area of study in recent years. And while much of the research has highlighted the potential long-term dangers posed by football, JAMA Neurology published a study this month that showed not all former players suffer from cognitive impairment. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania looked at Wisconsin men who graduated high school in 1957, comparing those who played football in school and those who didn’t. The men were assessed for depression and cognitive impairment later in life — in their 60s and 70s — and the research found similar outcomes for those who played high school football and those who didn’t. That study also had its limitations, and the authors noted that the game 60 years ago is different in many ways from the present-day high school football experience, from playing style to equipment to the rule book. The Boston University study doesn’t necessarily reflect the same era of football. According to the researchers, the vast majority of the brains studied belonged to players who played in the 1960s or later. In addition to examining the brains, researchers interviewed family members and loved ones of the deceased former players and found that behavioral and mood symptoms were common with those who suffered from CTE, including impulsivity, signs of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and violent tendencies. While the disease can only be diagnosed post-mortem, the researchers urge for a wide-ranging longitudinal study to better understand the impact head trauma has on football players across all levels. In the meantime, the brain bank has about 425 donated brains at its disposal, including those from men and women who played a variety of sports, as well as military veterans, with many more pledged. “It’s not an inert study,” McKee said. “This is a very large resource that will advance research in many directions. . . . The whole point is to advance and accelerate our knowledge of CTE in order to aid the living people who are at risk for it or who have it.” **More coverage of football and concussions:** The NFL acknowledges a link between football and CTE, or does it? Sally Jenkins: The NFL dodges blame on concussions Retired hockey players sue NHL over concussions

What the NFL’s admission of a brain disease link means for the future of football

On Monday, an NFL official finally truly acknowledged what the families of Junior Seau and Mike Webster and Frank Gifford and Ken Stabler and many, many other football players have long known: There is a link between playing the game and degenerative brain disease. With that out in the open for the first time, the question now becomes: What changes going forward? The admission took all of two words. It came when Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in a Capitol Hill round-table discussion whether there was a link between football and diseases like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). “The answer to that is certainly, yes,” Miller responded. Certainly, yes. Years of kicking the issue down the road by the NFL, which Schakowsky said has had “a very troubling track record of denying and discrediting scientific inquiry into the risks of playing football,” appeared to have ended with those words. But it’s never that simple with an issue that threatens a multi-billion-dollar industry. No sooner did Miller speak than the NFL issued a statement, saying that he was referring to research by Boston University neuropathologist Ann McKee, a top concussion expert. “He was discussing Dr. McKee’s findings and made the additional point that a lot more questions need to be answered,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement emailed to The Post. “He said that experts should speak to the state of the science.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico That has long been the NFL’s position. It has argued, as the link between repeated hits and later cognitive issues became increasingly apparent, that it was best to let the medical community determine whether there was a relationship between playing the game and CTE. As it waited “to let the science go where the science goes,” as McCarthy put it Monday night, big-name players were, one after the other, found to have had the disease in the only way presently possible, during autopsy. The news about Hall of Famer Ken Stabler was revealed during Super Bowl week and we’ve reached the point at which a former football player who does _not_ have CTE is more surprising than not. Boston University researchers found evidence of CTE in the brains of 90 of 94 former NFL players.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico But what happens now? Does an admission by Miller really change anything? Was it an over-reach that the league can downplay? Long-term, the game will evolve. Already, the NFL stresses that there is greater emphasis, for instance, on teaching kids safe tackling techniques and doing less tackling during practices even as more and more parents consider whether to let their kids play the sport. Much may have changed, but the NFL isn’t entirely on board as it seeks to protect its business and, of course, it can be petty. Last December, the league backed out of an ambitious study aimed at finding a way to diagnose CTE in living patients, ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” reported. “The seven-year, $16 million initiative was to be funded out of a $30 million research grant the NFL gave the National Institutes of Health in 2012,” Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada wrote. “The NFL has said repeatedly that it has no control over how that money is spent, but the league balked at this study, sources said, because the NIH awarded the project to a group led by Dr. Robert Stern, a prominent Boston University researcher who has been critical of the league.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The NFL announced in 2012 that it would give the NIH $30 million “with no strings attached,” but an NIH official told “OTL” two years later that the NFL had veto power over projects. Against that backdrop, Miller’s comment was significant. It was so significant, in fact, that the NFL initially distanced itself from it, then sought to regain its footing Tuesday afternoon with a statement emailed to Maske in which McCarthy said, “The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday accurately reflect the view of the NFL.” Miller’s comment had an almost immediate impact Tuesday morning in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which is hearing the appeal of the settlement between thousands of retired NFL players and the league. At issue is whether players found with CTE in the future should also be paid. As a result, lawyers pounced Miller’s comments. In a letter to the court, the New York Times reports that the players’ lawyer, Steven Molo, wrote:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “The NFL’s statements make clear that the NFL now accepts what science already knows: a ‘direct link’ exists between traumatic brain injury and CTE. Given that, the settlement’s failure to compensate present and future CTE is inexcusable.” With two little words — “certainly, yes” — the story of CTE and the NFL may have begun to change.

Brain disease from contact sports ‘may be much more common than anybody imagined’

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain disease that the NFL acknowledged this week is linked to football, may be more prevalent than previously believed, ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” reports. Recent research shows that the degenerative disease, which is caused by repetitive hits to the head, may be prevalent among those in the general population who played contact sports, not just former NFL players. Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada write that the research includes brain bank studies that found CTE in a large percentage of former high school football players and other athletes; scans that showed signs of the disease in NFL players decades after they stopped playing; animal models designed to replicate NFL-style hits; and a consensus statement by two dozen neuroscientists who noted that CTE has “only been found in individuals who were exposed to brain trauma, typically multiple episodes.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “At least at this early stage, it seems to be much more common than anybody imagined,” Dr. Walter Koroshetz, director of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told ESPN. “That’s kind of what we’ve been afraid of for a while, and now we have data that it is more widespread. … I think we have a significant problem that’s getting bigger as we see how this pathology is more common.” Although an NFL executive acknowledged a connection between football and CTE for the first time Monday, CTE science remains in its infancy. Koroshetz pointed out that it remains unknown how common CTE is, when and why symptoms develop and how the disease spreads inside the brain. Symptoms of CTE can include memory loss, mood swings and depression. Presently, the presence of CTE can only be confirmed at autopsy.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Dr. Ann McKee heads up the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, which is a collaboration among the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Her group has found CTE in 176 former athletes, 141 of whom were football players. The disease could be found in 90 of 94 brains of former NFL players, 45 of 55 brains of former college players, and six of 26 people who played no football past high school.

New research on football and brain trauma sounds an alarm

RESEARCHERS WHO studied the donated brains of 111 former National Football League players found that all but one had evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The link between the degenerative brain disease and football already had been well-established, but the findings are nonetheless startling, indicating that CTE is much more common than had been thought. That should spur more — and urgent — action to reduce the risks that football presents to players of all ages. A study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers from Boston University and the VA Boston Healthcare System is the largest to date and is the continuation of work started eight years ago. Researchers examined the brains of 202 deceased former football players at all levels. Nearly 88 percent of the brains, 177, had CTE. Most concerning: Three of 14 who had played only high school football had CTE, as did 48 of 53 college players. The study, as its lead researcher, neuropathologist Ann McKee, cautioned, has limitations, because the brains studied were mostly donated by families who had been concerned that their loved ones may have had CTE because they had exhibited symptoms or died accidentally or by suicide. That skews the results; this is not a randomized study. But Dr. McKee said that “the fact we’ve been able to gather this high a number of cases in such a short period of time says this disease is not uncommon.” No doubt there are players who will say they know the risks but will accept them along with the rewards of playing football. But the findings should give pause to parents deciding whether their children should play, to fans who think only of the entertainment offered by the sport, and most of all to professional and college football operations that make big money from players willing to put their health on the line. Memory loss, confusion, depression and dementia are among the symptoms of CTE, sometimes appearing decades after the trauma occurs. While concussion is the most obvious risk factor, research has established the danger of cumulative impact, even when non-concussive. CTE can be diagnosed only after death. The NFL, which had been deplorably slow to acknowledge a link between football-related head injury and brain damage, has changed some rules and strengthened protocols for handling players who suffer concussions. But more must be done. Research is key to coming up with better answers; it’s encouraging that the NFL issued a statement expressing appreciation for Dr. McKee’s work. Even better: making sure that some of the $100 million the league pledged in 2016 to support medical research and engineering advancements goes to ensuring that the vital work being conducted by this independent team of researchers continues. **Read more here:** The Post’s View: An intelligent step forward for concussion prevention The Post’s View: Concussions, memory problems and depression: It’s clear that football must change Kathleen Parker: The hard knocks of pro football

Should kids play tackle football? Brain injury researcher says no.

Football season is almost here. The Washington Redskins are getting ready. Lots of kids are deciding whether to play this exciting but dangerous sport. So I talked with Ann McKee. She is the director of the Boston University CTE Center in Massachusetts. The center is studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players and other people. CTE is a brain disease found in people with a history of brain trauma, or blows to the head. CTE can cause a person to be confused and to have problems with memory and anger control. As of now, there is no way to diagnose the disease while a person is living. Researchers are able to study CTE because people have donated their brains for testing after they have died. **KidsPost:** Describe what you do at the CTE Center after the brain of a dead person (the donor) comes in. **Ann McKee:** We examine the brain thoroughly. That can take a few months. We also interview the donor’s family to find out all we can about the donor — for example, what sports he played and for how long. **KP:** How many brains have you examined in BU’s brain-donation program? **A.M.:** We have examined 310 brains, mostly from former football players, but also from people who have played hockey, rugby, soccer and other sports. **KP** : After all these examinations, can you say what causes CTE? **A.M.:** Head trauma. But you do not have to have a concussion to get CTE. CTE can be caused by smaller hits to the head over time. Twenty percent of the people who we found had CTE had never had a reported concussion. **KP** : Does playing professional football or other contact sports make it more likely for a person to get CTE? **A.M.:** Yes. More than 95 percent of the NFL players — 90 of 94 players — whom we have examined had CTE. While we often receive brains of ex-players who had been showing signs of memory loss and other brain-related problems, these percentages are so high that CTE cannot be rare in professional football. **KP** : Are just NFL players at risk? **A.M.:** No. We have examined 58 former college football players who never played professionally and found that 48 of them — 82.8 percent — had CTE. **KP** : Who is the youngest person you have ever found who had CTE? **A.M.:** We have found indications of CTE in the brain of a high school football player who was 17 years old. **KP** : Are kids younger than 14 more at risk for brain injuries than adults? **A.M.:** That’s an important question. Kids’ brains are developing. Their heads are a larger part of their body, and their necks are not as strong as adults’ necks. So kids may be at a greater risk of head and brain injuries than adults. **KP** : Should those kids play tackle football? **A.M.:** No. I would advise kids not to play any sports, such as tackle football, where they are exposed to repeated blows to the head. **KP** : Are you a sports fan? **A.M.:** Yes, I was a gymnast and played volleyball growing up in Wisconsin. My three children played soccer and lacrosse. I grew up as a Green Bay Packers fan. I am not against sports. We want kids to play sports, but we want them to be safe. Bowen writes the sports opinion column for KidsPost. He is the author of 21 sports books for kids.

Should colleges let football players risk damaging their brains?

Big football news: Researchers in Boston announced last week that they had examined the brains of 111 former National Football League (NFL) players and determined that 110 had a serious brain disease — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE is found in people with a history of blows to the head. Symptoms include headaches, confusion, memory loss and anger control. The symptoms usually get worse with time. This doesn’t mean that every NFL player gets CTE. Ann McKee, the head of the research project, says that the study may not be representative of the whole league because most of the brains examined were from players who had shown symptoms of the disease. Researchers can examine someone’s brain for CTE only after the person dies. For the Boston study, the players or their families donated the brains. While CTE may not affect every NFL player, McKee says her findings show that the disease is “not uncommon” in the league. Sometimes, however, the big news is behind the headlines. If you read deeper into the story and the study, you will learn that the researchers also examined the brains of 53 men who played football in college but never in the pros. Forty-eight of the college players — or 91 percent — were found to have CTE. This means that college football players may be at a similar risk of getting CTE as professional players. That finding, it seems to me, raises several important questions as the college football season approaches. NFL players are paid millions of dollars to play football. Someone such as superstar quarterback Tom Brady may think it’s worth the risk of injuring his brain to make all that money. College players, however, are not paid. Many receive scholarships. But that is small compensation compared with the money that coaches, athletic administrators and people at the television networks make from college football. Shouldn’t the athletes — the people who may be risking their brains to play — receive a greater share of that money? Also, colleges and universities sponsor the football teams we watch on Saturdays. The mission of these institutions is to develop and train the minds of their students. Should these schools be sponsoring a sport that may be damaging the brains of their student-athletes? And shouldn’t the schools consider ways to lessen the risk for their players? Maybe teams should play only eight or nine regular-season games. (Many schools play 12.) Or perhaps teams should not allow hitting during practices. (The Ivy League has eliminated full contact during practices.) Shouldn’t colleges and universities think more about their football players’ health than the money they make from the sport? Bowen writes the sports opinion column for KidsPost. He is the author of 22 sports books for kids. His latest football book is called “Double Reverse.”

George F. Will: Football’s problem with danger on the field isn’t going away

Are you ready for some football? First, however, are you ready for some autopsies? The opening of the NFL training camps coincided with the closing of the investigation into the April suicide by gunshot of Ray Easterling, 62, an eight-season NFL safety in the 1970s. The autopsy found moderately severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), progressive damage to the brain associated with repeated blows to the head. CTE was identified as a major cause of Easterling’s depression and dementia. In February 2011, Dave Duerson, 50, an 11-year NFL safety, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest to spare his brain tissue for research, which has found evidence of CTE. Brain tissue of 20-season linebacker Junior Seau, who was 43 when he killed himself the same way in May, is being studied. The NFL launched a mental health hotline developed and operated with the assistance of specialists in suicide prevention. Football is bigger than ever, in several senses. Bear Bryant’s 1966 undefeated Alabama team had only 19 players who weighed more than 200 pounds. The heaviest weighed 223. The linemen averaged 194. The quarterback weighed 177. Today, many high school teams are much bigger. In 1980, only three NFL players weighed 300 or more pounds. In 2011, according to pro-football-reference.com, there were 352, including three 350-pounders. Thirty-one of the NFL’s 32 offensive lines averaged more than 300. Various unsurprising studies indicate high early mortality rates among linemen resulting from cardiovascular disease. For all players who play five or more years, life expectancy is less than 60; for linemen it is much less. After 20 years of caring for her husband, Easterling’s widow is one of more than 3,000 plaintiffs — former players, spouses, relatives — in a lawsuit charging that the NFL inadequately acted on knowledge it had, or should have had, about hazards such as CTE. We are, however, rapidly reaching the point where playing football is like smoking cigarettes: The risks are well-known. Not that this has prevented smokers from successfully suing tobacco companies. But, then, smoking is an addiction. Football is just an increasingly guilty pleasure. Might Americans someday feel as queasy enjoying it as sensible people now do watching boxing and wondering how the nation was once enamored of a sport the _point_ of which is brain trauma? That is unlikely. Degenerate prizefighting, or prizefighting for degenerates — called mixed martial arts or “ultimate fighting” — is booming. Still, football has bigger long-term problems than lawsuits. Football is entertainment in which the audience is expected to delight in gladiatorial action that a growing portion of the audience knows may cause the players degenerative brain disease. Not even football fans, a tribe not known for savoring nuance, can forever block that fact from their excited brains. Furthermore, in this age of bubble-wrapped children, when parents put helmets on wee _tricycle_ riders, many children are going to be steered away from youth football, diverting the flow of talent to the benefit of other sports. In the NFL, especially, football is increasingly a spectacle, a game surrounded by manufactured frenzy, on the grass and in the increasingly unpleasant ambiance of the fans in the stands. Football on the field is a three-hour adrenaline-and-testosterone bath. For all its occasional elegance and beauty, it is basically violence for, among other purposes, inflicting intimidating pain. (Seau said his job was “to inflict pain on my opponent and have him quit.”) The New Orleans Saints’ “bounty” system of cash payments to players who knocked opposing players out of games crossed a line distinguishing the essence of the game from the perversion of it. This is, however, an increasingly faint line. Decades ago, this column lightheartedly called football a mistake because it combines two of the worst features of American life — violence, punctuated by committee meetings, which football calls huddles. Now, however, accumulating evidence about new understandings of the human body — the brain, especially, but not exclusively — compel the conclusion that football is a mistake because the body is not built to absorb, and cannot be adequately modified by training or protected by equipment to absorb, the game’s kinetic energies. After 18 people died playing football in 1905, even President Theodore Roosevelt, who loved war and gore generally, flinched and forced some rules changes. Today, however, the problem is not the rules; it is the fiction that football can be fixed and still resemble the game fans relish. **_georgewill@washpost.com _ ** **Read more from Opinions:** George F. Will: The irresistible force of college football The Post’s View: Punish football’s bounty hunters Jason Reid: Seau’s death should force fans to ask uncomfortable questions Cindy Boren: Junior Seau: ‘The game needs to change’

Now the NFL’s gameplan for surviving CTE is coming into focus

We have a clearer picture of how the NFL will combat the threat that degenerative brain disease poses to a business that hopes it will achieve $27 billion in annual revenue by 2027. The playbook is thick, with a gameplan that includes heavily lobbying members of a congressional committee reviewing concussion research, putting out a cohesive message that the science isn’t yet conclusive on the link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and revamping its public-relations approach by hiring a person wise in the ways of politics to rebut stories it deems negative. One component of the NFL’s approach is using its influence with politicians. Its political action committee, according to the San Jose Mercury News, has given nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions to 41 of 54 members of the congressional committee reviewing concussion research. MapLight, a Berkeley, Calif., group told the newspaper that campaign finance data since 2008 shows that the NFL’s Gridiron PAC has supported members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that began informal hearings.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico It was during a round table on Capitol Hill on March 14 that Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, was asked if there was a link between playing football and CTE. He answered: “The answer to that question is certainly yes.” The NFL had little choice but to support the statement, the first by a senior league official acknowledging such a link exits. But the NFL used its annual meetings this week to paint a much less clear picture. Commissioner Roger Goodell wouldn’t directly answer a question from reporters about whether he believed there’s a link, though he went on to say that Miller was only re- stating what has long been the league’s position. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Houston Texans owner Bob McNair weren’t so sure.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “That’s absurd,” Jones told The Post’s Mark Maske about a possible connection. “There’s no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There’s no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving.” Jones added: “We have millions of people that have played this game, have millions of people that are at various ages right now that have no issues at all. None at all. So that’s where we are. That didn’t alter at all what we’re doing about it. We’re going to do everything we can to understand it better and make it safer.” McNair agreed, telling ESPN.com: “We don’t know does CTE exist among people who’ve never had any contact? We don’t know. Because when you’re alive they can’t check for it,” McNair said, according to ESPN.com. “The only players, the brains that have been checked, were ones who clearly were having problems. So it wasn’t a scientific sample that they were dealing with. We’ve got thousands of players who are not suffering from dementia of any type. So we have a lot to learn yet.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The league has stepped up its public relations as well as its influence in Washington, with new jobs given to Joe Lockhart and Cynthia Hogan. Lockhart, a White House press secretary and senior adviser during the Clinton administration, is the NFL’s new executive vice president of communications and Hogan, a deputy assistant to the president and counsel to the vice president from 2009-13 in the Obama administration, is now the senior vice president of public policy and government affairs. On the heels of mixed signals the NFL has sent came a story Thursday in the New York Times, which reported that the league’s previous concussion research was “more flawed than previously known” and looked at the relationship between some with league ties and Big Tobacco.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “Concussions can hardly be equated with smoking, which kills 1,300 people a day in the United States, and The Times has found no direct evidence that the league took its strategy from Big Tobacco. But records show a long relationship between two businesses with little in common beyond the health risks associated with their products,” the story states. It goes on to note: The Times’ investigation points out that many teams withheld concussion information on more than 100 cases, including those involving Troy Aikman and Steve Young. That led to studies that were flawed, whether innocently or intentionally. The NFL faced criticism for being unresponsive during its 2014 domestic violence crisis, but that’s the old way of doing business. This time, the NFL fired back. It issued a lengthy statement with a six-point rebuttal in which it said the Times “published pages of innuendo and speculation for a headline with no basis in fact.” Among other things, the statement said: Calling the Times’ story “sensationalized,” the statement concludes: “Contact sports will never be concussion-free, but we are dedicated to caring for our players, not just throughout long careers but over the course of long lives.” The NFL wasn’t done there, though. Lockhart and NFL general counsel Jeff Pash followed up with a lengthy memo (read it here) in which it promises “chief executives” and “club presidents” that “we will continue to press both the Times and other media outlets to print facts, not innuendo and speculation. Today’s piece, unfortunately, is very much on the latter side of that line.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico And Lockhart followed up with an even longer statement (read it here) in the late afternoon, concluding: “The facts, fairly read, are clear. The NFL is not the tobacco industry. It had no connection to the tobacco industry. Nor did it follow the tobacco industry playbook to conceal data to skew scientific research. The Times had the facts – now you do.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Lions linebacker’s open letter: ‘It’s scary to think I may have CTE’

Detroit Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy, a seven-year pro, has some thoughts to air on the ongoing NFL-CTE saga. The Detroit Free-Press published an email by Levy in article-form Wednesday in a piece that, apart from the introductory opening and a transition to indicate a follow-up email, was entirely written by the active Lions player.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Levy, 29, opens his extended statement by explaining that he missed the entire 2015-16 NFL season after sustaining a hip injury and being placed on the injured reserve during training camp. In his time away from the field and in the training room, Levy wrote, he had more time to think about the casualness of injury in the league. This is something he had not taken the time to do before, as he noted that when he was playing, he was able to block out the thoughts of CTE and write off instances of forgetfulness and “head buzzing” and instead focus on the task at hand. The goal of Levy’s email was to show that having conversation about the long-term effects of football, specifically CTE, would be more beneficial than the silent approach that many players and executives currently maintain. Levy also made sure to extend the conversation to the NFL’s handling of the brain damage epidemic. The league has had more than its fair share of controversy surrounding the subject play out publicly in recent years, including the latest scandal in which the NFL and New York Times engaged in a war of words over a story the newspaper published last Thursday, “N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to Tobacco Industry“.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico In writing to the Free-Press, Levy points to this story and others in which the league has been fighting the idea of making the connection between brain damage and the game. The lack of conversation and trust in the shield has resulted in a silence among players, who are stuck without a party to turn to for trustworthy information on the matter. As a result of the information that has been brought forth by independent researchers, the NFL has had a number of players retire relatively early and cite the possibility of brain damage as a key factor — just this week, 30-year old Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah announced his retirement, saying, “Having a sound mind will be vital to accomplishing these goals.” Levy closed his first email by trying to extend his thought process to the financial realm, making the case that by allowing the players to consume accurate information, the league would ultimately benefit, as it would avoid lawsuits and negative press in the future. He sent a follow-up email detailing the reasoning and inspiration he draws from to continue playing football. In the note, he writes that considering he is entering his eighth year in the league, the damage has already been done to his body and that “I might as well secure comfort for my family so I leave with more than just a beat-up body.” Levy is expected to be fully healthy and back in the starting lineup for the Lions upcoming season.

Jets rookie on CTE: ‘If I had a perfect place to die, I would die on the field’

New York Jets rookie safety Jamal Adams drew applause from some in a crowd of about 150 season ticket holders when he answered a question about head injuries and player safety in the NFL by saying, “Literally, if I had a perfect place to die, I would die on the field and that’s not a lie.” It was an answer long on passion for the game, short on situational awareness about an issue critical to the NFL’s future. The controversial topic of conversation was chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive or severe blows to the head. NFL players are particularly susceptible and Adams was asked about making the game of football safer to lessen the chances of CTE later in life. With his 22nd birthday still months away, his answer reflected the sense of invincibility common among 21-year-olds.  Still, there was some discomfort over his statement and the reaction by some fans. After the forum, Commissioner Roger Goodell — who had been seated by Adams during the panel — was asked to clarify what the rookie meant.

Boomer Esiason says he and ‘all football players probably have’ CTE

More than a few current and former NFL players have recently expressed concern that they might have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that studies have linked to the sorts of concussive and sub-concussive impacts common in football. On Monday, Boomer Esiason went a step further, claiming that he “likely” has the condition, as do “all football players.”  “If I died tomorrow and my brain basically was taken and researched and I was found to have CTE, which most likely I have,” he said, before co-host Craig Carton asked why he thought that was the case. “Because I think all football players probably have it,” Esiason replied. Esiason clarified that he thought many people who have suffered brain injuries in a variety of sports could be subject to CTE, or at least symptoms thereof. Noting that Carton had “played soccer,” the former Bengals, Jets and Cardinals quarterback told his co-host, “You’ve had a head injury, you’ve had a number of concussions yourself, you might have had a car wreck, where you hit your head or something like that — I wouldn’t be surprised if you had it, as well.”  “We’re concerned because we don’t know what the future holds,” the 44-year-old Davis said of himself and other ex-NFL players. “When I’m at home and I do something, if I forget something I have to stop to think, ‘Is this because I’m getting older or I’m just not using my brain, or is this an effect of playing football?’ I don’t know that.”   On Monday, Esiason pointed out one positive in the news about CTE, saying, “The more we learn about our brains, the better it is for the guys who are playing today.” He added that “the good news for the guys who are playing today, especially the guys who have been playing for a long time,” was that “they get paid a hell of a lot more money than we ever did.”

Jerry Jones’s comments about CTE did not sit well with ex-quarterback Jake Plummer

Jake Plummer has joined the ranks of former football players now advocating for medical marijuana, and he has strong feelings about its usage in limiting the brain damage inflicted by the sport. As such, the former NFL quarterback recently had some choice words for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who has cast doubt upon the reported link between football and degenerative neurological diseases such as CTE.  “Like Jerry Jones, who says it’s ‘absurd’ that there would be a link between brain trauma, football and CTE,” Plummer continued. “Shame on him for saying that, that billionaire a–hole. It’s the worst thing in the world for a guy like that to say. “That’s where we’re sitting. Grown-a– men are asked to go out there for millions of dollars — which, yeah, it’s a lot of money — bang themselves around and completely f— their lives over for their 40s and 50s.”  “We don’t have that knowledge and background and scientifically, so there’s no way in the world to say you have a relationship relative to anything here,” Jones added. “There’s no research. There’s no data. . . . We’re not disagreeing. We’re just basically saying the same thing. We’re doing a lot more. It’s the kind of thing that you want to work . . . to prevent injury. A big part of this is prevention. But the other part of it is to basically understand that we don’t know or have any idea that there is a consequence as to any type of head injury in the future.” Jones’s comments had come shortly after Jeff Miller, the NFL’s top official in charge of player safety, had agreed at a Congressional panel that there was a connection between football and neurodegenerative diseases. It was the first time the league had acknowledged such a link did exist, and it followed a Boston University professor of neurology and pathology’s testimony that she had discovered CTE in 90 out of 94 NFL players, 45 of 55 college players and 26 of 65 high school players whose brains had been posthumously donated for examination. To Plummer, the NFL’s stance on marijuana is particularly misguided because the league encourages players to take addictive opioids so they can play through injuries. Meanwhile, a substance found in marijuana called cannabidiol (CBD) has shown promise in a variety of therapeutic applications, and it produces little of the psychoactive effects of THC, the best-known component of pot. “Everybody deals with pain. Whether you played in the NFL or not, there are a lot of people that are in pain on a daily basis,” Plummer told BSN Denver. “But the effects that the game has on your body and the effect it has on your brain, we might not be as well suited to deal with that as the rest of normal society. Some of these guys might have some mental problems from banging their heads against each other, and they need that pain to go away. “When you’ve been taking these pills for so long, you don’t just take one — you eventually move to two and then three because you don’t feel the same effects of it anymore. . . . If CBD is right for them, hopefully they give it a shot and it’ll do what it’s done for me — help them feel a lot better and just feel good about where they’re at.”

Group of ex-Raiders to donate brains for CTE research in memory of Kenny Stabler

The conversation surrounding NFL veterans and head trauma had yet another entry, this one inspired by late Oakland quarterback Kenny Stabler. George Atkinson, George Buehler, and Art Thomas told the San Jose Mercury-News they will be donating their brains to the Concussion Legacy Foundation in Boston. All three played on the Oakland Raiders in the early 1970s and were members of the Super Bowl XI winning 1976 squad. The donations are being made with Kenny “Snake” Stabler in mind. Stabler died July 8 of colon cancer, but his brain was sent to be studied by Boston researcher Ann McKee, who determined “he had moderately severe” CTE.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The trio hoped to spark a change in the conversation around degenerative brain disease. Each of them shared their personal struggles with memory and daily functions with the Mercury-News — Atkinson said that he can’t remember yesterday half of the time. All three determined that these facts, combined with McKee’s findings regarding Stabler, made the decision to donate their brains the right thing to do.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The NFL has recently come under fire for a piece that ran in the New York Times that claimed the league did not thoroughly report concussions from 1996-2001, including notable cases involving Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman. The NFL issued a strongly worded response to the Times piece, which then sparked a tweeted list of fact-checking statements from the Times rebuking the league’s statement. Commissioner Roger Goodell stated at the owners meeting this past week that there has been no link made between CTE and the head trauma suffered while playing football, according to the league’s top medical and safety official, Jeff Miller. The Mercury-News reports that Buehler was tested two days before Stabler died. His test did not show significant signs of CTE.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: ‘Absurd’ to think current data shows clear link between CTE, football

BOCA RATON, Fla.—Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday he does not believe there is a firmly established link between football and degenerative brain disease. “We want to continue to be safer and want to continue to support any type of research that would let us know what [the] consequences really are,” Jones said at the annual league meeting. “In no way should we be basically making assumptions with no more data than we’ve got about the consequences of a head injury.” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, last week on Capitol Hill acknowledged a link between football and degenerative brain disorders such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Miller was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) about such a link, and replied that “the answer to that is certainly, yes.” Jones said Tuesday he was not disagreeing with Miller’s comments. “The thing that I don’t want to get caught up in is semantics, the semantics of it,” Jones said. “We as a league, we have not in any way changed our desire to do everything we can to make it safe, make it safe as to head injury. We hope and will support any data that would give us more insight into any short- and long-term consequences. We would support that.” But Jones said he is not convinced that medical and scientific research have established a link between football and brain disease. “We don’t have that knowledge and background and scientifically, so there’s no way in the world to say you have a relationship relative to anything here,” Jones said. “There’s no research. There’s no data…. We’re not disagreeing. We’re just basically saying the same thing. We’re doing a lot more. It’s the kind of thing that you want to work… to prevent injury. A big part of this is prevention. But the other part of it is to basically understand that we don’t know or have any idea that there is a consequence as to any type of head injury in the future. “That has to have a lot of research, just as the heart did 50 years ago. And certainly everybody that had heart issues 50 years ago didn’t live a normal life. Nature takes care of that. So no, I didn’t think at all that his statements altered anything…. It didn’t alter anything about where we are.” Jones was asked by a reporter to clarify whether there is, in his view, enough data to establish such a link. “No, that’s absurd,” Jones said. “There’s no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There’s no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving. I grew up being told that aspirin was not good. I’m told that one a day is good for you…. I’m saying that changed over the years as we’ve had more research and knowledge. “So we are very supportive of the research…. We have for years been involved in trying to make it safer, safer as it pertains to head injury. We have millions of people that have played this game, have millions of people that are at various ages right now that have no issues at all. None at all. So that’s where we are. That didn’t alter at all what we’re doing about it. We’re gonna do everything we can to understand it better and make it safer.”

ESPN set to air ads for Will Smith’s controversial NFL movie ‘Concussion’

“Concussion,” the controversial film starring Will Smith about one Nigerian-born doctor’s discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), will have its commercials aired on ESPN, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It is not clear whether or not the ads will run during “Monday Night Football.” The NFL is TV partners with the Disney-owned ESPN, and it’s not the first time the two have crossed paths in terms of portraying the league in a negative light. In 2003, the network was pressured to cancel the series “Playmakers” which depicted a fictional NFL team. It only lasted 11 episodes and the show’s creators are still upset about that. Two years ago, ESPN pulled out of a project in conjunction with PBS that was designed to look at the the league concussion problems, according to the New York Times.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico But most recently, Sony’s removal of a scene that directly tied back to the suicide of former Bears safety Dave Duerson made this movie feel like it would never get true promotional backing. The scene, which opened the film, involved a concerned Roger Goodell receiving a phone call at his home informing him of Duerson’s suicide. The former Bears and Giants player killed himself in 2011 in his Florida home by shooting himself in the chest.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Duerson requested that his brain be sent away for testing, where doctors determined he suffered from  CTE. The film centers around doctor Bennet Omalu who draws a direct line between the disease and the physical toll of football. According to THR, neither NBC, CBS, Fox Sports, ESPN, Sony, nor the NFL Network responded to comment.

NFL disputes ESPN report on brain study funding; NIH says no NFL veto

An ESPN report on the NFL reportedly withholding funding of a study of brain trauma and football touched off controversy Tuesday when the league pushed back on the piece, calling it “not accurate.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Citing “sources familiar with the project,” the Outside the Lines story, headlined “NFL backs away from funding BU brain study; NIH to fund it instead,” reported the league “backed out” of the planned seven-year, $16 million research project to attempt to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in living patients. The study was to have been paid for by a $30 million grant from the NFL made to the National Institutes of Health in 2012. Instead, the NIH will fund the study itself, according to a Tuesday morning news release.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The NFL, however, challenged ESPN’s report, saying the league’s $30 million grant was still available to the NIH and the decision to not use the NFL’s money to fund the study was made by the NIH. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health confirmed that in a statement late Tuesday afternoon, noting the intent to use the NFL’s grant on a different project.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “NIH made the decision to fund this study in its entirety and to issue a Request for Applications (RFA) early next year to support an additional study on CTE using funds from SHRP [Sports and Health Research Program], which will double the support for research in this area,” the statement read.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The statement further added that the NFL was “willing to contribute to the Boston University CTE study.” The NFL’s $30 million grant was called an “unrestricted gift” when it was announced back in 2012 . ESPN’s report indicated otherwise, suggesting the league directly prohibited NIH from using that money to fund the Boston University project.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The ESPN article states: “The NFL has said repeatedly that it has no control over how that money is spent, but the league balked at this study, sources said, because the NIH awarded the project to a group led by Dr. Robert Stern, a prominent Boston University researcher who has been critical of the league.” The article also states that the NFL possesses veto power over how the funds are applied, a fact the league has disputed. More from the the ESPN report: However, Tuesday afternoon FNIH spokeswoman Abbey Meltzer told The Post in an email that the NFL “has no control over the use of these grant funds. According to our agreement with the NFL, they also have no veto power over NIH’s funding decisions.” She added that the funds from the league are subject to NIH’s normal grant terms and conditions. “The NFL did not pull funding from the BU study,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email to The Post. “The NIH makes all funding decisions. The NFL has no ‘veto power’ as part of its unrestricted $30 million grant to NIH.” “We stand by our reporting,” an ESPN spokesman told The Post in an email. In BU’s news release about the study, Stern called the project: “the biggest study of CTE in living subjects to date, in terms of the scope of the science, the number of participants, the breadth and depth and size of the group of investigators, and the amount of the grant.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “The NIH is funding the CTE study led by Dr. Robert Stern at Boston University, in coordination with three other sites, which was announced this week,” the NIH said in a statement, which also noted that the NFL was funding eight ongoing studies in the area of brain trauma. “We expect that the NFL will fund future studies to help improve player safety and health, on and off the field,” the statement continued. _This post has been updated._    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **Read More**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico For ‘Concussion’ doctor, the spotlight only gets brighter    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Scientists question legacy of ‘American hero’ played by Will Smith in ‘Concussion’    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico ‘Concussion’ movie subject exaggerated role, researchers say    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Bob Costas thinks concussions are causing violent off-field behavior for some NFL players

While interested viewers await the much-anticipated episode of HBO’s “Real Sports” that will examine the link between brain injury and domestic violence in the NFL (set to air Oct. 21), NBC Sports’ Bob Costas is ready to talk now about that connection. The respected sportscaster, who’s been in the business since the 1980s, went on Lawrence O’Donnell’s “Last Word” Tuesday night, and declared “there is a connection” between violent behavior, and head injuries. The 26-time Emmy winner continued:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The discussion, which was pinned to the string of incidents set off by the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson scandals, later turned to the role of helmets, and whether they can help prevent brain trauma and, thus, aggressive behavior off the field. Costas said: Costas’s statements are backed up by numerous studies, many of which were presented as evidence in the NFL’s concussion lawsuit that former players brought. The NFL settled with the group for an uncapped amount of $765 million partly because of a study that found 30 percent of former NFL players will develop “at least moderate neurocognitive problems,” ranging from dementia to CTE, a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated concussions that can cause violent behavioral changes.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Studies on the short-term effects on hits to the head reveal equally disturbing evidence that perpetuates Costas’s theory about football’s link to increased violent behavior. A condition called “Post-concussion syndrome,” a short-term condition that can appear in the weeks or months following a traumatic head injury, can affect the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain’s frontal lobe, which works to regulate behavior. Studies have linked concussions, a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI), to increased depression, and the scholarly journal Psychiatric Times declares. “Irritability and aggression are probably the most common behavioral consequences of TBI.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The evidence may sound compelling when parsed out, but it’s important to note the full picture of how head injuries may affect behavior, specifically as said behavior relates to domestic violence, is not yet clear. For instance, the Psychiatric Times adds directly after the above declaration, “However, it can be difficult to know the extent to which brain injury is a factor in aggressive behavior. Many patients who have sustained a TBI were prone to antisocial behavior before the injury.” What’s important is that the discussion, which is likely long overdue, is finally happening. More importantly, the NFL and the public are both listening.

Jim Irsay says playing football is risky, but so is taking an aspirin

Jim Irsay is the third NFL owner to question the link between playing football and degenerative brain disease and the Indianapolis Colts owner did it in his own inimitable way. “I believe this: that the game has always been a risk, you know, and the way certain people are. Look at it,” he told the Sports Business Daily last week during the NFL’s annual meeting. “You take an aspirin, I take an aspirin, it might give you extreme side effects of illness and your body … may reject it, where I would be fine. So there is so much we don’t know.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The NFL has clarified what will be its message going forward about the possible health dangers from playing its multi-billion-dollar sport and Irsay’s comments, echo, to a degree, comments made by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Bob McNair. Jones said it was “absurd” to think that CTE and football were linked based on the present data; McNair said “our medical scientists still don’t know what the cause of CTE is.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pointed out at the Super Bowl that there were “risks in sitting on the couch,” a theme that Irsay expanded on. “Look at it: When you get into Olympic bobsledding — I could sit down and name a dozen different sports — it has always been a known factor that you know you are going in there and you are taking a risk.” Still, Irsay points out that there’s no point in making the game so safe that it “becomes a pillow fight, so to speak. We are trying to look at everything about the safety of the game without changing the game.” Irsay, who has battled addiction to painkillers, also spoke of possible ties between football and off-the-field violence. “To try to tie football, like I said, to suicides or murders or what have you, I believe that is just so absurd as well and it is harmful to other diseases, harmful to things like … when you get into the use of steroids, when you get into substance abuse, you get into the illness of alcohol and addiction.” he said. “It’s a shame that gets missed, because there [are] very deadly diseases there, for instance, like alcoholism and addiction. That gets pushed to the side and [a person] says, ‘Oh, no. Football.’ To me, that’s really absurd.”

Junior Seau’s family sues NFL over brain injuries

The family of Junior Seau has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, alleging that he committed suicide because of brain disease caused by repeated violent hits over the course of his football career. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed Wednesday in California Superior Court in San Diego, where Seau committed suicide last May by shooting himself in the chest. It alleges, according to the Associated Press, that the NFL, though “acts or omissions,” hid the dangers of repetitive blows to the head. Seau’s family recently revealed that an examination of his brain showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss, behavioral changes and depression.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University The Seau family’s lawsuit alleges that the NFL of ignored and concealed evidence of the risks associated with traumatic brain injuries. Seau’s family is just the latest to sue the NFL; nearly 4,000 former players have sued as the dangers of concussions have become apparent. The Seau family also is suing Riddell, Inc., the helmet manufacturer they say “negligent in their design, testing, assembly, manufacture, marketing, and engineering of the helmets.” used by NFL players. “We were saddened to learn that Junior, a loving father and teammate, suffered from CTE,” the family said in a statement released to the Associated Press. “While Junior always expected to have aches and pains from his playing days, none of us ever fathomed that he would suffer a debilitating brain disease that would cause him to leave us too soon. “We know this lawsuit will not bring back Junior. But it will send a message that the NFL needs to care for its former players, acknowledge its decades of deception on the issue of head injuries and player safety, and make the game safer for future generations.” Junior Seau’s ex-wife Gina and children Tyler, Sydney, Jake and Hunter are the plaintiffs, along with Bette Hoffman, trustee of Seau’s estate. The lawsuit accuses the NFL, and NFL Films, of creating the myth that jarring hits are “a badge of courage which does not seriously threaten one’s health.” The NFL consistently has denied allegations similar to those in the lawsuit. “I think it’s important for everyone to know that Junior did indeed suffer from CTE,” Gina Seau, who was married to Seau for 11 years, told “Good Morning America” on Jan. 10.  “It’s important that we take steps to help these players. We certainly don’t want to see anything like this happen again to any of our athletes.” Follow @CindyBoren on Twitter and on Facebook.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University **More**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Seau’s brain showed signs of CTE    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Junior Seau dies, an apparent suicide    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Seau: “The game needs to change”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University  Player reaction to Seau’s death    *[WSU]: Wayne State University From the archives: The ’94 Chargers’ Tragic Toll    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Seau’s 2010 auto accident    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Gallery: Seau’s life in photos    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Gallery: Eight members of 1994 Chargers Super Bowl team have died before age of 45    *[WSU]: Wayne State University

Of soccer and football … and America’s love of proceduralism

Professor Birdthistle’s guest blogging about the upcoming World Cup has reminded me of one of my favorite law review articles. Professor Bill Pizzi wrote a great piece, titled “Soccer, Football and Trial Systems,” which he later developed into a very informative book, Trials Without Truth. The article and the book compared American football (with its heavy emphasis on proceduralism) and soccer (with its emphasis on a free-flowing, beautiful game). Pizzi made lots of interesting points about how football’s proceduralism parallels some of the excesses of our trial system. Pizzi observed that “In soccer, the rules that control the play of the game are comparatively few and most are fairly obvious — you can’t intentionally trip someone or physically knock them off the ball or engage in dangerous play. By contrast, the rules that govern American football are incredibly complicated. Consider just a few: Certain players on the offensive team may move before the snap of the ball but only in certain directions, others may not even flinch; certain offensive players may be blocked or impeded a certain way, but others may be blocked only if within a specified distance from the line of scrimmage; offensive tackles usually may not receive a forward pass, but sometimes they may be eligible to do so; a quarterback may not intentionally throw the ball to the ground to avoid being tackled for a loss, but in certain areas on the field he may do so and, at certain points in the game, he is even permitted to spike the ball at his feet.” Pizzi went on to find parallels to this lengthy football rule book in our complex rules of criminal procedure. Pizzi argued that “[o]ur American trial system reflects many of the cultural values encoded in the rules and traditions of professional football: the worship of proceduralism, the attempt to rationalize every aspect of the decision-making process, the distrust of spontaneous action, the heavy preference for managerial control over participants, and, above all, the daunting complexity of the rules that such a system requires.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday While Pizzi first published his article in 1994, I think his point rings even more true today. Focusing just on the sports side of the equation, of course, the NFL has now added appellate review to on-the-field calls in the form of instant reply. Soccer, on the other hand, has resisted such “improvements” — unless you consider the new goal line technology (an electronic device that beeps when a ball goes over the goal line) to be further proceduralism. To me, goal line technology is nothing more than a technological enhancement of the referee’s vision — something akin to 21st century eyeglasses — although it is interesting that FIFA (the World Cup’s organizer) was so concerned about lawsuits over even this modest technological enhancement that it insisted on insurance coverage against lawsuits for equipment malfunctions.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday So along with much of the rest of the world, I’ll be watching the World Cup kickoff today. The action won’t stop for flags to prevent illegal formations, huddles to craft plays, two minute warnings to hawk products, or chains to measure ten-yard first downs. Instead, there will be a free-flowing spectacle of eleven-man teams from countries all over the world simply striving to put a ball in the back of the net … with their feet of all things! I’ll be cheering for my team — which even has a new anthem written for it by Branden Steineckert, fan of my home team (Real Salt Lake). I believe that we will win — go USA!    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday

Former NFL player Kevin Turner’s death caused by CTE, not ALS

Former New England Patriots and Phialdelphia Eagles fullback Kevin Turner, who played in the NFL from 1992 to 1999, died in March at age 46. Turner was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2010, but Thursday the Boston University Brain CTE Center announced that it was a severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy that killed him, not ALS.   While ALS is covered under the current terms of the settlement, CTE is not. “The one thing the settlement had going for it was that it delivered compensation to a player suffering present injury — people with a ‘qualifying diagnosis’,” Gupta said. “This means that the one person put forward as a representative for all the players with present injuries isn’t even in that category.” McKee noted that 17 brain autopsies performed on athletes thought to have died of ALS, including both football and soccer players, in fact reflected the cause of death to be CTE.

In land of soccer and snooker, the British press has little use for the NFL

There is nary a mention of Sunday’s Redskins-Bengals game at Wembley Stadium, the last of three regular-season NFL games to be staged in London this year, in four major daily papers — the Sunday Times (of London), The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer and The Mail. The more sports-oriented Sun has a story about Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Domata Peko on page 55. But its focus is Peko’s love of Premier League soccer and his Chelsea fandom, in particular. It’s accompanied by a splashy photo of Peko’s hair. The similarly sports-oriented Mirror has a story on Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins on page 57. Alas, it’s really about Cousins’s lack of desire to play rugby, given the violence. The Mail’s 24-page sports section offers a window on current British sporting interest. It devotes pages 1 through 13 to soccer. That’s followed by coverage of cricket (pp. 14-15), rugby (pp. 16-17), tennis and Formula One (p. 18), golf (p.19), horse racing (p. 20) and a mixture of lower-level soccer, schedules and results on the last four pages. The Premier League — specifically, an outburst by Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho — dominates the front page of nearly every London newspaper sports sections. The Sunday Telegraph is a bit of an outlier, squeezing in stories, photos or teases about five sports on its sports-front: Soccer, cycling, Formula One, cricket and rugby union. But there’s not a mention of Redskins-Bengals in all 14 pages, suggesting that the NFL ranks somewhere behind not only the aforementioned five sports but also the following: boxing, tennis, horseracing, golf, cycling, motorcycling, rallying and snooker.

Bruce Arians calls parents who won’t let children play football ‘fools’

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently made news when he said it was “absurd” to suggest that a clear link had been established between football and CTE. Now another major NFL figure, Arizona Cardinals Coach Bruce Arians, is pushing back against the sport’s reported connection to brain injuries.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico In fact, Arians told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King in a video published Wednesday, “people who say ‘I won’t let my son play it’ are fools.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Arians pointed to “DNA tests” that he said can “tell you the chances of your child having a concussion, or should they play a contact sport of any kind.” In recent years, tests have been developed that look for a gene marker that may indicate a person’s propensity for recovering slowly from head trauma. Overall, Arians’s point in his comments to King was that football is “the greatest game in the world,” and that people who avoid it based on fears of concussions are doing themselves a disservice. “I think it teaches more values than any other game that you play,” Arians said “You have things that happen in your life that aren’t going to be good,” the 63-year-old coach added. “If you play football, you know how to handle them. It doesn’t necessarily equate in track and other things.” Other sports, Arians said, “are not as physical, and you don’t grow as a man — or a woman, if you play the game — like you should, in other sports. “We have this fear of concussion, that is real,” Arians continued, appearing to choose his words carefully, “but not all of those, I think … statistics can prove anything. We’ve got new helmets coming out, we’ve got safety issues. There are more more concussions in girls’ soccer than in football at that age, the number two sport with concussions is women’s soccer, but no one says we’ve got to stop playing soccer.” A 2015 study found that, as soccer has grown in popularity, so have the numbers of concussions among high school players, and that girls suffered concussions at a higher rate than boys. However, an author of the study told CNN, “The rate is certainly much lower than football. Football is more than double that.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Just as governing bodies such as U.S. Soccer have sought to address the issue of concussions by proposing to limit or even ban youth players heading the ball, some suggest that football could be made safer if players’ exposure to tackling was drastically reduced. For example, Ivy League coaches recently agreed to remove player-on-player tackling drills during regular-season practices.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player who co-founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation, recently told The Post that he would like to see tackling in football banned until the high school level. That way, given that a relative handful move on to college football and a tiny fraction make it to the pros, most football players will have just four years’ worth of such exposure to potential brain injuries.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Prior to that, Nowinski suggested, kids could learn and enjoy the sport by playing flag football. But perhaps that’s not “physical” enough for Arians’s liking.

Sony execs concerned about NFL may have unintentionally helped league with ‘Concussion’

Last July, a Sony executive e-mailed a few colleagues about the script for “Concussion,” an upcoming film about the NFL’s brain disease crisis starring Will Smith, asking whether it was possible to identify individual officials responsible for any attempted cover-up, rather than casting the entire league as responsible. The e-mail is one of dozens released by hackers last year that show Sony executives discussing how to minimize blowback from the NFL over the film, though director Peter Landesman, who wrote the script, has said he sought NFL input only to ensure accuracy. But regardless of the harshness of the portrayal, the film, set to be released in December, might benefit the NFL in one sense. The film’s simple title focuses attention on concussions, an area in which the league’s safety efforts have made strides, but also an injury medical experts increasingly believe does not cause the disease discovered by the film’s protagonist. In the film, Smith plays Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian doctor who, while performing an autopsy on retired Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, discovers chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a progressive brain disease marked by confusion, aggression, depression and, eventually, dementia. After retiring, “Iron Mike” Webster struggled with depression, dementia, and bouts of homelessness he blamed on football. Omalu blamed CTE for Webster’s demise, and the doctor later found CTE in the brain of another former Steeler: Terry Long, who killed himself in 2005 by drinking antifreeze. (The somber subject matter and focus on American football left several Sony executives pessimistic about the overseas earnings prospects of “Concussion.” “A sport that is not popular and generally unfamiliar, depression, homelessness and a suicide do not make it a very “attractive package,” one vice president wrote in an e-mail that was among dozens released by hackers last year. The e-mails were first reported on Reddit and by the New York Times _._ ) NFL executives and league-affiliated doctors initially disputed Omalu’s conclusions and ridiculed him. But in the past few years, the league has pulled an about-face on brain injuries and focused safety efforts primarily on one goal: minimizing concussions. The league’s new approach — which has included dozens of rule changes aimed at eliminating helmet-to-helmet hits, and stricter protocols about removing players suspected of suffering concussions from play — has made a difference. In 2014, concussions in regular season NFL games were down 36 percent from two years prior, according to league numbers. “There’s a lot more work to do. I don’t think anyone’s declaring success . . . but the results are real,” said Jeffrey A. Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy. “Football has never been safer.” The big problem for Miller and the NFL, though, is the growing belief by some doctors following Omalu’s work that there is no change you can make to football, short of eliminating contact, that will reduce the risk of CTE. Doctors at Boston University’s CTE Center suspect that the disease is not the result of the occasional highlight-reel collisions, but rather the ordinary head knocks that happen on every play. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at Boston University who has called for “radical changes” to football, said she and her colleagues have found no correlation between CTE and the number of concussions a player suffered. Among the 86 dead former NFL players with CTE they’ve examined, McKee noted, is one who never suffered a diagnosed concussion: Tom McHale, an Ivy League-educated former offensive guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who died of a drug overdose at 45. “Our work is consistently showing it’s not the number of concussions, it’s the years of exposure to the sport,” McKee said. “What we really need to eliminate from football is the repetitive head injury that does not rise to the level of a concussion.” McKee’s opinion is controversial in the brain science world. While she believes football causes CTE, she is unable to prove it. McKee acknowledged she doesn’t know why many former NFL players don’t have CTE, and she is also unsure what role factors such as genetics, substance abuse, and steroid use play in determining whether someone develops the disease. “There’s definitely cause for concern, but I don’t think there’s enough data to merit the alarm that surrounds this thing now,” said Geoffrey Manley, professor of neurosurgery at University of California, San Francisco, and co-director of the school’s Brain and Spinal Injury Center. “Unfortunately we live in a society where everyone wants a 15-second soundbite, and everyone wants something solved yesterday,” Manley said. “We’re very, very early on this, and the only way we’re going to solve it is with more information.” McKee and Manley agree on what’s needed to definitively determine what causes the disease at the center of “Concussion”: a prospective, longitudinal study. In lay terms, this means a long-running study of a lot of people in which doctors collect lots of data and observe which people develop diseases and which ones don’t. The Framingham Heart Study is the iconic example. Since 1948, doctors have tracked the medical histories of thousands of residents of Framingham, Mass., a small town 20 miles west of Boston. Now on its third generation, the Framingham study has basically discovered much of what doctors now know about risk factors for heart attacks and strokes, such as smoking, poor dieting and inactivity. The obvious challenge to launching such a study is money. To date, the Framingham Study has cost $158.4 million. In 2014, the National Institutes of Health — the largest funder of medical research in America — spent $87 million total on traumatic brain research. So while “Concussion” might leave audiences wondering if football causes brain disease, answers will have to wait for a sequel. Such a movie would be made over the strenuous objections of Sony’s international film executives, who were far more concerned in hacked e-mails about the box office prospects of “Concussion” than any criticism from the NFL. Last July, Sun Yong Hwang, a Sony executive in South Korea, e-mailed a list of the film’s “pros and cons” to several colleagues. The pros: “Will Smith” and “True story.” The cons: “Will Smith in drama, he is only strong in the blockbuster. . . . Concussion and NFL are not an interesting area.”

National characteristics do not explain soccer styles

_We continue ourseries on politics, political science and the World Cup (here are posts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). University of Michigan political scientist Andy Markovits has written extensively on soccer, politics and culture. Here he attacks a widely held stereotype: that the playing style of national teams somehow reflects a deep cultural trait of a country. _    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday _— Erik Voeten_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Bespeaking the cultural potency of a handful of sports – almost all played by teams contesting a ball-like contraption (pace hockey puck) – is the fact that they all allege to stand for much more than the events between the lines. Indeed, as I argue in “Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism“ (co- authored with Steven Hellerman), one of the most decisive ingredients of those few sports that are consumed and followed by millions is the rhapsodization in which the on-field activities are imbued with meanings that reach far beyond their actual confines.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday These sports stand for moods, trends, Zeitgeist, politics. They are alleged to represent the true nature of the most diverse collectives be they geographic, ethnic, linguistic, religious or class-related. Baseball has spawned a gigantic literature that rhapsodizes about how the game embodies the true traits of the American soul. A parallel phenomenon exists for cricket in England, in which the game is interpreted to characterize the depth of genuine “Englishness.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday While the two football codes (American and Association) have attained a somewhat smaller literary representation, here, too, authors allege that the games have much greater meaning than the actual contests on the field. But in no case is this metaphoric assignation more potent than in the most global sport of all – Association Football – in which, due to its international character, individual nations have become the most common collective representatives.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Thus, one constantly encounters the alleged “Gallic flair” of the French; the supposed “rhythmic samba-infused jogo bonito” of the Brazilians; and the workmanlike “clinical and effective” play of the Germans whose fighting spirit (Kampfgeist) and team orientation always supersede individual brilliance and lead the team to victory analogous to “Modell Deutschland’s” economic prowess catapulting the country to become the world’s leading exporter.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Such links have become common to much soccer analysis and we will hear them repeatedly in the coming weeks during the impending World Cup. But if there is one thing that my life-long engagement with Germany has shown me, it is the fact that national characteristics of any meaningful longevity do not exist. After all, the Germans mutated in a matter of a few years from allegedly being Europe’s most bellicose nation to its most peace-seeking. So what then is the German national character? And even if such existed, it is very doubtful whether it would spawn a commensurate on-the-field demeanor in any sport, soccer included.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Take the Italians: They are alleged to be a nation of bon vivants, given to “dolce vivere,” carefree, upbeat and unplanned – the essential non-Germans. And yet, for decades now, arguably reaching into the 1930s, the Italians have come to play a highly defensive, deeply organized, even dour soccer style which, under the aegis of the Argentinian Helenio Herrera, who presided over Inter Milan’s brilliance of the mid-1960s, has assumed the term “catenaccio” (door bolt).    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Or take the Canadians, those civilized, non-violent and empathic North Americans (in notable contrast to their purportedly brutish southern neighbors) who claim that the savage custom of fighting in hockey comprises part of their deeper culture that they will not surrender in light of the onslaught of sissy Europeans who do not engage in such. (Have you noticed that, miraculously, fighting disappears during the splendid Stanley Cup playoffs?)    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday The point here is that alleged national characteristics, if in fact existent, cannot serve as proper explanations for a particular team’s style of play (see also my book: “Gaming the World: How Sports Are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture“). This is not to argue that there are no differences in such styles. They certainly exist, but they are due to discernible structural influences represented by extant institutions, concrete coaching philosophies and the actual availability of real players that vary widely over time.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday The dazzling “total football” that charmed the world at the 1974 World Cup in Germany and revolutionized the way the game came to be played – the explicit anti-catenaccio — had very little to do with any purported shifts, cultural or otherwise, in the Dutch national character but quite a lot with the playing philosophy of Rinus Michels and his immense successes at Ajax Amsterdam in the early 1970s. Having geniuses of the caliber of Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens contributed to this style. And just think of the “total anti-football” that Michels’ Dutch compatriots displayed in the World Cup final in 2010 when it was their Spanish opponents whose game was much more reminiscent of Michels’s institutional legacy. With Cruyff becoming a key player in FC Barcelona’s recent history, the institutional lineage makes good sense. Thus Spaniards, via a Catalan club, play Dutch on occasion while Brazilians can play Italian and Germans Brazilian.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday No matter, the national characteristics as explanation will not disappear. They are too facile and convenient while at the same time also conveying some knowledge. One of the patterns that has emerged over the years is that nations of the southern hemisphere and warm European climes (with Italy being a major exception) allegedly present a style of play that is constantly categorized as playful, ingenious, spur-of-the-moment, innovative, rhythmic, but essentially undisciplined and unregimented. In other words, these are the countries that – by dint of national character – play an unstructured and spontaneous game that remains resistant to the exigencies of modernity such as discipline, strategy, perseverance, organization, hard training that are purported to be the hallmark of the style of play performed by countries of the northern hemisphere, meaning northern Europe.  The former possess innate talent and genius that you cannot teach who are burdened not only by having to win but to do so with grace and beauty, while the latter are systematic, plodding and purposive in their sole aim to win at all cost regardless of the esthetics of such victory. This widely held view remains perilously close for me to the alleged distinction between playing “white” and “black” in basketball, with the former guided by hard work, perseverance, intelligence and strategy; and the latter by unteachable impulse, genius, innate talent and creative interpretation. _Andrei S. Markovits is the Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His most recent book is “Sportista: Female Fandom in the United States”(Temple University Press, 2012 co-authored with Emily Albertson)._    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday

Judge orders further revisions in NFL concussion lawsuit settlement

The proposed settlement agreement in the concussion litigation between former football players and the NFL will need to undergo further changes before U.S. District Judge Anita Brody will sign off on it. Brody issued an order Monday asking the two sides to amend and expand some of the settlement terms, giving lawyers until Feb. 13 to hammer out the details. Attorney Christopher Seeger, co-lead counsel for the former players, and the NFL both expressed confidence Monday that the settlement would receive final approval. “We intend promptly to discuss with class counsel the points addressed in the order and continue to have a high degree of confidence that this settlement — which has been accepted by more than 99 percent of retirees — will receive final approval and provide important and generous benefits to retirees and their families,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. Brody held a “fairness hearing” Nov. 19 listen to objections posed by some former players and their attorneys, as well as a defense of the settlement. Brody already rejected a proposed settlement once, last January, and is now considering an uncapped proposal that provides generous benefits for former players who are suffering from debilitating conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The proposal also calls for $75 million devoted to baseline assessments and $10 million dedicated to educational efforts. Brody’s latest request calls for slight changes to the group of players who would qualify for monetary rewards that she believes “would enhance the fairness, reasonableness, and adequacy" of the deal, according to Monday’s court order. In addition to clarifying some language, Brody instructed the attorneys to give credit to players who competed in NFL Europe and the World League of American Football and to extend benefits to any ex-players who were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after death between preliminary approval and final approval. “We are grateful to Judge Brody for her guidance and continued efforts to protect the rights of all class members,” Seeger said in a statement. “We look forward to finalizing this agreement so that retired players can begin taking advantage of its benefits.” While Brody did not indicate in her order that final approval of the settlement would be forthcoming following any changes to the deal, Steven Molo, lead counsel for those objecting to the settlement, said he’s “pleased that the court agrees with us that the settlement is deficient. “ Molo and his clients have argued that the agreement is too restrictive and doesn’t do enough to aid players who might be suffering as a result of concussions they experienced while playing but haven’t yet been diagnosed with a debilitating disease. “We look forward to seeing whether the NFL and Class Counsel will make, at a minimum, the improvements suggested in the Court's order,” Molo said in a statement. “We intend to continue the fight to achieve a fair, adequate, and reasonable settlement for the Class.”

Lions’ DeAndre Levy takes a shot at Jim Irsay over CTE remarks

Detroit Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy appears to use his Instagram account mostly to post mind-blowing photos of his vacations in spectacular parts of the world, but lately, he has also used to it tweak the NFL about its position on concussions and CTE. Things got personal Monday, when Levy took square aim at Colts owner Jim Irsay.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Irsay had recently been quoted as likening the risks of playing football to those of taking an aspirin. “I believe this: that the game has always been a risk, you know, and the way certain people are,” he told Sports Business Daily. “… You take an aspirin, I take an aspirin, it might give you extreme side effects of illness and your body … may reject it, where I would be fine. So there is so much we don’t know.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico That prompted Levy to post a screenshot of an article about Irsay’s remarks, along with the caption, “Frequent trips to the pharmacy makes you a medical expert on CTE?” Irsay is known to have battled an addiction to painkillers; a 2014 arrest for DUI revealed “multiple prescription drugs” in his car.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The post continues a pattern of Levy becoming increasingly outspoken about the NFL, which has been attempting to clarify its approach to the possible concussion-CTE connection in the wake of a league official affirming such a link. Several days ago, the 29-year-old linebacker posted to Instagram a screenshot, without comment, of a New York Times story about how the NFL reportedly omitted over 100 cases of player concussions from a study it had to used to downplay fears of head trauma leading to degenerative brain injuries.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Two weeks ago, Levy posted a photo of Dr. Elliot Pellman, a trained rheumatologist who was formerly the chairman of the league’s concussion research committee, and a man widely scorned as having been the face of the league’s efforts to discredit the concussions-CTE link. Levy wondered aloud why Pellman was still employed by the NFL. An NFL spokesman recently told ESPN that Pellman is “not a member of any league medical committee,” but that he “performs administrative functions for the committees which are responsible for the implementation of the league’s protocols and making improvements as necessary.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Levy, who missed most of last season with a hip injury, has been a member of the Lions since they made him a third-round draft pick in 2009, and in 2014, he was named to the AP all-NFL second team. It seems safe to say that Levy won’t be a member of the Colts anytime soon.

Book review: ‘Why Football Matters,’ and ‘Against Football’

What is it about football, anyway? It long ago passed baseball as America’s most popular sport and now attracts millions of viewers to a “weekend” that stretches from Thursday to Monday. Its followers range from people who paint themselves in team colors on game day to those who casually keep up with the home team’s fortunes in the sports pages. Many explanations of this phenomenon have been offered. Football is a game made for television. It is truly a team sport, in which every play demands top performance from all the specialized athletes on the field. Professional teams provide a kind of glue that binds metropolitan areas together — an effect familiar to Redskins fans. But most of all, from my point of view, football provides a kind of universal bond in the male culture, in a world where such bonds are rare. This was brought home to me several years ago, when I was lecturing to a group of judges. The man introducing me had been my host at dinner the night before, and he began his introduction by describing his trepidation at having to hold a conversation with a theoretical physicist. “But it turns out he’s a major Bears fan,” he said, and I could feel an instant connection forming between me and the (largely male) audience. To my mind, this sort of shared bond may be the game’s most important contribution to society. These two books approach the game in very different ways. In “Why Football Matters” University of Virginia English professor Mark Edmundson uses his experience as a high school football player to examine how the sport functions as a preparation for life. His basic approach is to take each personal quality that football is supposed to develop — character, loyalty, courage, etc. — and describe how those traits proved valuable in his life, with frequent references to notable figures in Western culture. In this analysis, football becomes a tool for human development. Take character as an example. Edmundson shows how the brutal two-a-day practices at the start of the season functioned as a kind of trial by fire — an ordeal that caused many prospective athletes to drop out but rewarded those who persevered with a coveted team uniform. The ability to stay with it, to keep on going, to refuse to quit, is what he calls character. He talks about how this trait, developed on the practice field, helped him get through a particularly difficult period in the writing of his PhD thesis. Similarly, in writing about courage, he talks about the problem faced by players first learning to make hard physical contact. This time he delves into Homer’s “Iliad,” discussing the different manifestations of courage in Hector (a decent human being who could become a warrior when needed) and Achilles (a pure warrior), and wonders which kind of man football training will produce and which kind society needs. After all, as Edmundson points out later in the book, courage can be a positive aspect of a man’s life, but can easily turn into aggression and bullying. In a wonderful literary aside, he compares the work of William Wordsworth (who would probably have made it through the two-a-days) with that of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (who clearly would not have) and wonders whether the kind of character football develops would preclude the writing of a creative masterpiece such as “Kubla Khan.” Deep stuff. In subsequent chapters he talks about the ability of the game to teach young men how to handle loss — a subject rarely broached — and brings in Sigmund Freud’s scientific paper “Mourning and Melancholia.” He talks about the association of football with patriotism, religion and the military; touches on issues of race (bringing in Ralph Ellison’s novel “Invisible Man”); and concludes with a description of his mixed feelings when his son started playing the game. All in all, he presents a richly textured look at football as a vital part of American culture. I don’t know — maybe it’s just that Edmundson and I both grew up in blue-collar towns, played the same position on teams named “the Mustangs” and wound up as professors, but this book really resonated with me. It shows the deep connection between football and the core values of Western culture, something that isn’t often stressed in as-told-to football books. Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to while away the time between games this season than reading it. As the title suggests, “Against Football” takes a very different view of the sport. Journalist Steve Almond clearly knows and loves the game. He also takes a point of view more easily associated with left-wing professors in the faculty club than with guys in a sports bar, a point of view that unfortunately seeps into his analysis. He is a very good writer, and his analysis of problems confronting the game today is well done. His work concentrates on the NFL, with short asides about the college and high school games. He is incensed with the league’s corporate structure but concentrates on the main problem we have to think about these days: the risk of permanent brain injury suffered by players because of repeated blows to the head. His discussion concludes with the argument that people who watch and enjoy football are committing an immoral act, and he spends a good deal of time trying to reconcile this feeling with his love of the game. It’s easy to find fault with this kind of overheated argument. As it did in 1905, when Theodore Roosevelt remade the game because of the deaths of college athletes, football seems to be able to adjust to new concerns as they arise. The kind of helmet-to-helmet collision from the year 2003 that Almond cites in his introduction has already been banned, for example, and newly instituted medical rules for concussion management are already a familiar feature to fans. This season will see new rules about tackling receivers as well. When he visits the Center for Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University, one of the major research centers for brain damage, Almond grudgingly admits that it receives major funding from the NFL — hardly what you would expect from unethical executives unconcerned about player safety. The main value of “Against Football” for followers of the game, I think, will be to highlight the problems we now face. Will an ethical stance based on today’s problems make us stop watching? I doubt it, and I think Almond doubts it, too. In fact, as I put the book down, my main sense was that I had been reading the manifesto of a man desperately trying to convince himself of something he doesn’t really believe. **James Trefil** is the Clarence J. Robinson professor of physics at George Mason University and the editor in chief of Discoveries in Modern Science. **WHY FOOTBALL MATTERS** **My Education in the Game** By Mark Edmundson Penguin Press. 229 pp. $26.95 **AGAINST FOOTBALL** **One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto** By Steve Almond Melville House. 178 pp. $22.95

Concussions, memory problems and depression: It’s clear that football must change

SOME 50 million people are likely to watch Tom Brady take on Peyton Manning in Sunday’s AFC championship game, and an even larger share of the U.S. population will probably tune in to Super Bowl 50 next month. Watching (though not playing) football is the American pastime. One of the few near-universal experiences that remains in the Internet age is enjoying a form of moderately restrained violence. But, for increasing numbers of fans, that enjoyment is tinged with moral qualm. Seemingly every week brings stories about the awful toll the sport takes on its players. Antwaan Randle El, a former wide receiver for Washington’s professional football team, is not even 40, but he cannot descend stairs normally, has serious memory problems and told the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette this week that he regrets ever playing the game. This month, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study of a deceased 25-year-old former college football player’s brain, finding that the man, who had suffered more than 10 concussions during 16 years of play, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a debilitating disorder similar to Alzheimer’s disease that scientists have been finding in autopsies of other football players. Before dying of cardiac arrest, the former player dropped out of school and suffered from headaches, anxiety and depression. Football must change. Ivy League undergraduates who did not have the “opportunity” to prove their toughness in the Civil War developed the game in the late 19th century. The point was brutality. Football developed over the years in ways that lessened and heightened the various risks — the dangerous “flying wedge” formation was banned, the forward pass became an essential part of the game, helmets were mandated. More recently, the National Football League has imposed concussion protocols, forcing players to sit on the sidelines after a concussion diagnosis, and discouraged head-to-head contact. The league claims it has reduced concussions by a third. The scandal of the past is the extent to which players were kept ignorant of the risks they were taking, ending up in middle age with severe disabilities — or dead. Now that the risks are clearer, some argue that players are capable of informed consent; if they want to play, let them. Yet researchers still know relatively little about why CTE develops in some athletes’ brains and not in others’. And even if the science were further along, it would not end the ambivalence Americans felt about taking pleasure in a gladiator spectacle. “I wouldn’t be surprised if football isn’t around in 20, 25 years,” Mr. Randle El said. If it wants to prove him wrong, the NFL will have to reform the game. Some research suggests that teaching proper tackling technique, which may counterintuitively involve banning helmets during practices, could help. Some have suggested speeding up the play clock, which could give coaches less time to dictate dangerous plays. We don’t pretend to know the answers. But pretending no problem exists shouldn’t be an option. **Read more about this topic:** Kathleen Parker: The hard knocks of pro football Letter to the Editor: Football concussions not as dangerous as alleged Colbert I. King: Why I’m dreading the start of football season

Translating a not so Khan-crete report on the Jaguars moving to London

At first glance, the report from the London Evening Standard looked like a Jacksonville Jaguars fan’s worst nightmare, a turd-shaped Baby Ruth floating in the pool at EverBank Field. The Standard reported Friday that billionaire Shad Khan, who owns the Jaguars along with Fulham F.C. in England’s Football League Championship division and has been outspoken about the Jaguars adopting fans in London, was considering selling Fulham, purchasing Tottenham in the Barclays Premier League and permanently moving his NFL franchise to the Spurs’ stadium, White Hart Lane, which is being renovated and will open in 2018 with a seating capacity of 61,000. Just two days before the report, the NFL announced a partnership with Tottenham to play a minimum of two NFL games per year for 10 years.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Khan’s camp responded to the Evening Standard with denial. Spokesman Jim Woodcock said the story was “utter nonsense and complete fiction.” So who can we believe? Let’s take a look at the report, which is carefully worded to make the weakest connections between Khan and the plan to move the team.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **Key word: considering**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

The NFL writes on concussion awareness

Steve Almond’s Sept. 13 Outlook essay, “Hollywood’s version of the gridiron is just fantasy football,” stated that the upcoming movie “Concussion” is “no doubt a headache for league executives.” Some people may be unaware of the league’s efforts to better protect players and the positive effect these efforts have had for the game of football and beyond. We welcome any opportunity to talk about this important issue and the work that has been done. The NFL’s player health and safety efforts include nearly 40 recent safety-related rules’ changes, groundbreaking and longtime investments in independent research to advance knowledge, equipment, diagnostics and treatment, and a well-established suite of programs to promote youth safety in football and across all sports. These initiatives and others are producing real results in the NFL: Concussions are down 35 percent since 2012, helmet-to-helmet hits are down 43 percent since 2012, concussions caused by helmet-to-helmet or shoulder-to- helmet hits were almost exactly halved in 2014 from two years before, and hits to defenseless players were down 68 percent from 2013 to 2014. There is more public attention paid now to player health and safety. For that we are grateful. Broadened and deepened awareness will serve only to provide a better and safer game for players and fans. ****Jeff Miller** , New York ** The writer is senior vice president of health and safety policy for the National Football League.

The White House weighs in on NFL’s domestic violence problems

ISIS, Ebola, Ukraine … the NFL? Yes, the National Football League’s issues with domestic violence have become so problematic that the White House is now weighing in. A senior administration official spoke to reporters Thursday and noted (via CBS News) “the most recent revelations of abuse by the NFL players is really deeply troubling.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The remarks came as part of a briefing on “It’s On Us,” a newly initiated public awareness campaign about the prevention of sexual assaults on college campuses, but it was the official’s remarks regarding the NFL that got people’s attention. “The NFL has an obligation not only to their fans but to the American people to properly discipline anyone involved in domestic violence or child abuse and more broadly, gain control of the situation,” the official said (via CBS). “Many of these professional athletes are marketed as role models to young people and so their behavior does have the potential to influence these young people, and it’s one of the many reasons it’s important that the league get a handle on it and have a zero tolerance.” The latest statement is the second time the White House has addressed the NFL in the the last two weeks. Shortly after the Baltimore Ravens cut Ray Rice for his involvement in a domestic violence case with his then-fiancee Janay Palmer, the White House seized the opportunity to press the issue forward. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement, “Stopping domestic violence is something that’s bigger than football — and all of us have a responsibility to put a stop to it.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Vice President Joe Biden made his own remarks, zeroing in specifically on Rice’s situation, noting the NFL and the Ravens “did the right thing.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Meanwhile, Congress has also inserted its voice. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has been the most vocal, criticizing Commissioner Roger Goodell and even going so far to float changes to the NFL’s antitrust exemption. A group of female senators have also spoken up on the issue, urging the NFL to adopt very much what the White House also suggested — zero tolerance on domestic violence.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico ( _H/t:NESN)_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

NBA, Pacers speak out about Indiana’s controversial religious freedom law

Although the NFL and Indianapolis Colts have so far been silent on the matter, the NBA and the Indiana Pacers added their voices to those of the NCAA, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller in speaking out about Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. On Saturday, the league, the Pacers, the WNBA and the Indiana Fever addressed the law, which could make it easier for religious conservatives to refuse service to gay people. The NCAA, with headquarters in the state as well as the Final Four next week, promised to “closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce” in a statement last week. The NBA took a different approach.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “The game of basketball is grounded in long established principles of inclusion and mutual respect,” the leagues and teams said in a joint statement. “We will continue to ensure that all fans, players and employees feel welcome at all NBA and WNBA events in Indiana and elsewhere.” _[Why the backlash against Indiana now?]_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Herb Simon, owner of the Pacers and Fever, added: “The Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever and Bankers Life Fieldhouse have the strongest possible commitment to inclusion and non-discrimination on any basis. Everyone is always welcome at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That has always been the policy from the very beginning of the Simon family’s involvement and it always will be.” Although the NFL reportedly had privately considered moving Super Bowl XLIX out of Arizona if it passed a similar measure, a spokesman declined comment about Indiana’s law. Indianapolis has attracted major sporting events over the years, including a Super Bowl and the annual scouting combine, and a spokesman for Gov. Mike Pence said the governor believes it would not legalize discrimination in Indiana. In addition to men’s and women’s Big Ten tournaments over the next few years, the city hopes to land the 2019 Super Bowl. The Final Four is scheduled to return in 2021; the city will host the national gymnastics championships and next year’s diving Olympic team trials.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Since the law was passed last week, there has been a social media storm with calls to #boycottIndiana. “I just can’t account for the hostility that’s been directed at our state,” Pence said, via the Associated Press. “I’ve been taken aback by the mischaracterizations from outside the state of Indiana about what is in this bill.” The state will attempt to clarify the law, Pence told the Indianapolis Star’s Tim Swarens. Are gays, lesbians still welcome in Indiana, Swarens asked Pence.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “First, this law is not about discrimination. It’s about protecting religious liberty and giving people full access to the judicial system,” he said. “But, yes, Hoosier hospitality is about making all people feel welcome in our state. We did that with the Super Bowl and with many other events, and with bringing businesses here. We will continue to do that.” But Mark Emmert of the NCAA, Barkley and Miller, who played pro ball in Indiana, feel differently. Barkley wants action, with the Final Four tipping off Saturday in Indianapolis.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “Discrimination in any form is unacceptable to me,” Barkley said in a statement sent by his agent to USA Today on Friday. “As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.”

HBO’s ‘Real Sports’ to examine link between brain injury and domestic violence

What if the two issues that are the biggest bogeymen for the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell were actually linked? That’s what “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” has promised to explore in a new episode of the show airing Oct. 21 on HBO. The network released a preview Tuesday night of Jon Frankel speaking with Chelsea Oliver, the widow of Paul Oliver, a former safety for the San Diego Chargers who shot and killed himself in front of Chelsea and their two young sons last year. Before he killed himself, he had become unrecognizable, she said — abusive and threatening. Paul Oliver had an advanced form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease linked with continued concussions or blows to the head. It’s associated with with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, paranoia, impulse control problems, aggression, depression and progressive dementia, according to the Sports Legacy Institute, an organization dedicated to studying, treating, and preventing brain trauma in athletes.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico This is one of many reasons why the issue is more complicated than a zero- tolerance policy for a first time offense, as Dave Zirin of the Nation has noted. Prison isn’t exactly a corrective for traumatic brain injury. At the same time, there has to be care taken to ensure that CTE isn’t used to lessen the horror of domestic abuse — or as a fallback excuse.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico But imagine if a woman was victimized by a partner who had CTE as a result of concussions sustained during his pro football career — something the league has tried its best to accept as little responsibility for as it possibly can. Would the NFL be liable for her injuries? The only thing worse for the NFL than being found complicit in covering up or simply not caring about domestic abuse is if they could be held responsible for it. To wit, Chelsea Oliver and her sons are suing the NFL for wrongful death, citing the concussions her husband sustained that she says led to his suicide. She blamed those same concussions for the domestic abuse she endured. The Chargers, the New Orleans Saints and several helmet makers are named in the suit.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico According to the suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Oliver’s death was the “direct result of the injuries, depression and emotional suffering caused by repetitive head trauma and concussions suffered as a result of playing football, not properly appreciating football’s risks with respect to head trauma” and using substandard helmets, the Associated Press reported. The concussion lawsuit, settled, but not capped, at $675 million, does not apply to current football players. Oliver isn’t the first to sue the NFL for wrongful death in connection with CTE. The familes of Dave Duerson, who committed suicide in 2011, and Junior Seau, who killed himself in 2012, did the same. Both men had CTE.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico This is why it’s important the issue of domestic abuse not be treated as a public-relations problem that can be solved with an ostentatious crackdown. It actually demands attention to the wives/girlfriends/partners who are on the receiving end of such abuse. One would imagine that, like Chelsea Oliver, there are others who noticed dramatic changes in their partners’ personalities and didn’t necessarily dismiss it as some sort of football mindset. “These women may feel the same way that I did in the sense that this isn’t who this person is and I’m going to help them get through this,” Oliver said. The NFL is accused of erecting a facade of concern when it comes to dealing with domestic violence and CTE rather than instituting meaningful changes. It’s waited until its hand was forced through public outcry, catalyzed by TMZ videos or concussion lawsuits or documentaries such as “League of Denial” that claim the NFL railroaded Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who discovered CTE in the late Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Its modus operandi, critics say, is one of minimization and denial. When those are no longer viable options, they say, it institutes some sort of program or partnership that mollifies most critics without actually addressing the problem’s complexity. The latest evidence of this comes in the form of the NFL’s youth safety program, which was met with skepticism by none other than John Madden.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The league’s Heads Up Football program hosts events called Moms Football Safety Clinics supposedly to educate mothers about safety on the gridiron. They go through tackling drills, learn the best way to position the head to avoid injury and proper helmet fit. “This is clearly a marketing program designed to get mothers comfortable with their kids playing football at a very young age, against the advice of a lot of doctors,” Chris Nowinski of the Sports Legacy Institute told WBUR’s “Here & Now.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “And all due respect to the program, I don’t believe in it,” Madden said during an NFL Network roundtable with Goodell. He continued: “I’m a firm believer that there’s no way that a six-year-old should have a helmet on and learn a tackling drill,” Madden said. “There’s no way. Or a seven-year-old or an eight-year-old. They’re not ready for it. Take the helmets off kids. Take the helmet off young kids. Start at six years old, seven years old, eight years old, nine years old. They don’t need a helmet. They can play flag football. And with flag football you can get all the techniques. Why do we have to start with a six-year-old who was just potty trained a year ago and put a helmet on him and tackle? I have no idea. We’ll eventually get to tackling.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico To be clear, CTE isn’t a disease that affects only football players, but they are often its most visible victims. The NFL recently acknowledged that 3 in 10 former players will develop some form of debilitating brain condition, including Alzheimer’s, dementia, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s. The late WWE wrestler Chris Benoit was diagnosed with CTE after he murdered his wife and child, then killed himself in January 2007. Recently, the Brazilian soccer star Bellini was posthumously diagnosed with CTE as well.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico It doesn’t take that many instances of getting your “bell rung” or becoming “punch drunk” to show signs of serious injury. Oliver experienced three major, diagnosed concussions, his widow told HBO. Putting off tackling, as Madden suggested, could be a start, but will it be enough?

Why Daniel Murphy is such a big Tottenham fan

Aside from his strong left-handed bat, new National Daniel Murphy stands out because of his love of soccer, specifically Tottenham Hotspur FC. Soccer isn’t as popular in baseball circles as football, basketball or golf. In the Nationals clubhouse, Bryce Harper likes soccer; so did former teammate Ian Desmond. “It’s an acquired taste,” Murphy said. But when did Murphy, a Jacksonville, Fla., native, develop such a love for Tottenham, a team based in north London? “FIFA Soccer,” said Murphy, referring to the video game. “[Former Spur] Peter Crouch was really tall in the video game so I’d send in crosses to him and he’d hit them in. I played it quite a bit with my brother before I got married.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico That led to watching games, developing an affinity, wearing their shirts, hats and scarfs and eventually meeting them. Murphy is such a big fan of the English Premier League team that he has planned vacations around visits to England to watch them play. He and his wife visited London and watched Tottenham play in the 2013 offseason. He went with Mets teammates, such as Matt Harvey and Curtis Granderson, in 2014. And last offseason, he visited again with a close friend. But these aren’t just sit-in-the-stands visits. A few years ago, after Murphy talked about his love of Tottenham in an interview, the soccer team got in touch with the Mets public relations department, and the second baseman made his connection. He has met players and appeared in Tottenham videos, including one this offseason in which he and defender Eric Dier challenge each other to hitting competitions. A headline on Tottenham’s website in 2013 read “Mets baseball star Daniel Murphy at the Lane!”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Murphy either wakes up early to watch Tottenham games, because of the time difference, on television or his iPad, or records them to watch later. He tries not to miss a game.

Anelka’s Anti-Semitism Puts West Brom in Hot Water

**_All articles are written by YJDP Student Sports Writers and edited by mentors from The Washington Post prior to publishing._ ** European soccer, specifically domestic leagues within countries like the United Kingdom, Italy and others, are known for their worldliness. For example, English Premier League side West Bromwich Albion has players from the likes of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Sweden, and even the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, despite the cultural variety throughout the sport, anti-Semitism remains a key problem within soccer, and this has been on display within recent weeks. On December 28th, 2013, journeyman striker Nicolas Anelka scored his first goal of the game for West Brom. Although this brought joy to the teams’ supporters, his celebration, which was a ‘quenelle’ salute, was highly controversial. Anelka, a black French player who converted to Islam in 2004, initially defended his questionable gesture by saying he was attempting to defend and support his personal friend and famous French comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, who has used the gesture as an anti-societal and anti-system protest, as Anelka noted. However, the gesture is also seen as highly anti-Semitic. This is due to the fact that M’bala M’bala has been previously fined and banned from performing due to being a perpetrator of anti-Semitism, according to the French government. Less than a month after the incident, the comedian spoke with Sky Sports and stated that not only does Anelka have his full support, but that the salute had nothing to do with racism whatsoever. Roger Cukierman (head of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions and vice-president of the World Jewish Congress) weighed in on the issue by stating that the salute is only anti-Semitic when performed at places with Jewish values, although he later followed up that comment with a reaffirmation that it is in fact a clear reverse Nazi salute. However, Cukierman’s position was still used by Anelka to defend his actions via the French footballer’s Facebook page, where Anelka posted a video of Cukierman explaining how he felt about the controversial salute. Although many see it as anti-Semitic, Anelka, Dieudonne, and possibly even Cukierman are on the other side of the fence. As controversial as the celebration was, the response to it was even more so. The first thing that angered Jews and religious freedom supporting peoples alike was the delayed response to the action by the English Football Association. Much like the National Football League’s Roger Goodell they have the responsibility of suspending or fining players as they see fit for actions they partake in whilst playing. Finally, on January 21st, 2014, the FA charged Anelka with making a gesture that had been deemed "abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper," according to the FA’s statement and their rulebook. Soon after that, Anelka denied the charge and requested a personal hearing as many expected he would, once again citing that he was not a racist and that the quenelle was simply expressing his anti-establishment/anti-system sentiments. He will attend a personal hearing, and if found guilty will be banned a minimum of five games and might also be fined separately. In recent years, other English Premier League players, namely John Terry and Luis Suarez, have been found guilty of such actions and were suspended accordingly. As if the delayed response by the club and the FA was not enough, West Brom has been further shrouded in controversy via their sponsor, Zoopla, an English company that tracks housing prices. Zoopla is co-owned by Alex Chesterman, who is Jewish. After not only Anelka’s celebration but also the fact that he played for West Brom in the following week’s fixture, Chesterman announced that Zoopla and West Brom would not be seeking a re-negotiation of their sponsorship contract at the end of the season. Initially, the two sides would have likely sought a one-year extension for the company to appear on the club’s jerseys. However, after the announcement from Zoopla, West Brom will have to search for a new jersey sponsor this offseason. They currently sit 15th in the 20-team league. Ian Berner, an 11th grader at Yorktown High School, is both a Reform Jew as well as a devout English Premier League follower. Berner believes Anelka “[didn’t] have any bad intentions, but he still needs to be more careful with stuff like that.” Although many players pride themselves on their signature celebrations, Berner believes players who perform such celebrations are completely responsible for their own actions. “If [Anelka] plans on doing a certain celebration it’s his responsibility to be sure it can’t be regarded as an offensive gesture...that can mess with his team’s reputation,” noted Berner. Anelka is certainly no stranger to controversy. After locker room squabbles between himself and former French national team coach Raymond Domenech during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Anelka was banned for 18 games from the national team by the French FA, only to retire promptly after. In both 2000 and 2012, Anelka became wrapped up in confrontations with coaches at two of his various former club teams. Furthermore, Anelka is not the only French athlete to be labeled anti-Semitic by using the gesture. According to BBC Sport, fellow soccer players Samir Nasri and Mamadou Sahko, both who are French and now play for English clubs like Anelka, have been in hot water for using the quenelle in pictures they had posted on Twitter. Veteran San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who was pictured using the controversial gesture roughly three years ago, fell to the same criticism. All later apologized for their actions and claimed that they were unaware of the anti-Semitic connections with the celebration at the time they were found using it. The FA and West Brom’s delay in response to the incident appears even worse than it is after the decision in mid-December by the international governing body of soccer, FIFA, to suspend Croatian defender Josip Simunic for ten matches of international play. Why? Simunic incited a fascist chant with fans after Croatia punched their ticket to the 2014 World Cup after defeating Iceland. Although ten matches is a decently large amount, the ban is much more significant because Simunic now cannot represent Croatia in the World Cup because the ten-match ban falls within Croatia’s World Cup games. Much like the equally controversial quenelle, this sparked a debate about the thin line between dated, revolutionary chants or gestures and their anti-Semitic values, as many defended Simunic for simply boasting his Croatian nationalism regardless of the possible anti-Semitism it might represent. And just as Anelka has had controversy follow him throughout his career, Croatian fans have been reprimanded before for scathing racist chants. What happens next is certainly unpredictable. Most pundits believe Anelka will be charged and suspended, and whether or not West Brom decide to keep him on their roster will largely depend on how lengthy the suspension is. Teams are currently approaching their 24th game of the 38-game season. If Anelka is suspended for a significant period of time, he might be let go by the club to sign other places, namely for teams not in England so he does not have to serve his suspension. Regardless, it is certain Anelka has sparked a grand debate with one simple gesture on a Saturday afternoon that has polarized British soccer itself.

Deflating Deflategate

I told you so (here): the NFL’s case is something of an embarrassing joke – a “simple misunderstanding” leading to “incorrect conclusions.” Three economists at the American Enterprise Institute ( Kevin A. Hassett, Joseph W. Sullivan, and Stan A. Veuger) have published a devastating critique of the Wells Report that was prepared by the NFL’s lawyers. Their findings, in summary form:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Will Smith to play Bennet Omalu, who changed the way we think about football

It is generally impossible to tell if a movie will be good or bad simply because of its choice of subject matter or leading actor. But sometimes it is significant that a movie is in production at all. Such is the case with Will Smith’s new project, in which he will play Bennet Omalu, the forensic pathologist and neuropathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition caused by repeated blows to the head.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Omalu’s discovery has raised serious questions about whether there is any safe way for people to play football as the game is currently conceived. Those doubts about what is arguably the most popular sport in America reach all the way to the White House: President Obama has repeatedly said that if he had a son, he would not let the boy play football. Smith’s decision to play Omalu is a nod to that growing unease.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday There is a particular vindication in the idea of Smith playing Omalu, given some of the struggles that Omalu, who is Nigerian and knew little about football when he began his research, has faced in his efforts to study players’ brains. Omalu’s work on CTE began when he performed the autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster. Omalu was struck by reports of changes in Webster’s personality toward the end of his life and wondered whether they might be due to head injury.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Last year, Omalu told Frontline reporter Michael Kirk that he had expected that the National Football League would embrace his findings. Instead, after Omalu submitted a paper to Neurosurgery, the journal where NFL doctors often submit their papers, the league sent a letter to Omalu’s colleague Cyril Wecht, accusing Omalu of fraud.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday “They went to the press. They insinuated I was not practicing medicine; I was practicing voodoo,” Omalu said. Jabs at Omalu’s place of birth were routine, he told Frontline. “Some of them actually said that I’m attacking the American way of life. ‘How dare you, a foreigner like you from Nigeria? What is Nigeria known for, the eighth most corrupt country in the world? Who are you? Who do you think you are to come to tell us how to live our lives?’ ”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday That Omalu will not just get the big-screen biopic treatment, but gets to be played by Will Smith, one of the most successful black movie stars in the world and an icon of a certain kind of American success, is the sort of turnabout that feels exactly like fair play. It is the cap on a shift in awareness that suggests the public — and NFL players — trust Omalu and his findings more than they trust the league. When veteran player Junior Seau committed suicide in 2012, he did so by shooting himself in the chest so that his brain could be studied after his death. His was the second such suicide by an NFL player in two years.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday A 2013 Marist poll, conducted in conjunction with HBO’s Real Sports, found that 86 percent of Americans have heard at least something about the link between concussions and football. Thirty-three percent said that information would “make them less likely to allow a son to participate in the game,” with 16 percent saying that would be the most important factor in their choice. Thirteen percent reported that they would not let their sons play the game at all.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday If those numbers increase, the NFL’s player pipeline could narrow, or even be shut off altogether, though it will be a long time until the NFL is in serious peril. Eighty-five percent of American families in the Marist poll would still let their boys put on pads. Thirty-five percent of Americans who follow sports name football as their favorite, with baseball lagging behind in second place.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday In the interim, though, Smith’s movie will continue to advance the argument that it can be just as American to question the impact of football as it is to play the game. And if football players are American heroes, they deserve doctors with the same sense of determination and curiosity as Bennet Omalu looking out for them.

Former NFL QB Erik Kramer shoots himself in apparent suicide attempt

Erik Kramer, who played for four NFL teams during a 10-year career, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies Tuesday night, the result of an apparent suicide attempt. Kramer’s ex-wife said that he had been suffering from depression caused by brain injuries. Authorities were called to a Calabasas, Calif., motel, where Kramer, 50, had what was described as a non-life-threatening injury, according to NBC News. However, Kramer’s sister reportedly told his ex-wife that the injury could be very serious.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Kramer’s former wife, Marshawn Kramer, had this to say to NBC News: A California native who played college ball at North Carolina State, Kramer is best known for stints with the Lions, whom he led to a 12-4 record and a playoff win in 1991, and Bears, for whom he threw 29 touchdowns in 1995. His first NFL experience came as a replacement player for the Falcons during the 1987 strike, before he joined the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders; his final NFL season was with the Chargers in 1999. In 2011, Kramer’s 18-year-old son, Griffen, died of a heroin overdose. He and his former wife have another son, Dillon, who is 17.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Several former football players, most notably recent Hall of Famer Junior Seau, have committed suicide in acts linked to head injuries. As with Seau in 2012, ex-Bear Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest in 2011, specifically so that his brain could be studied.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Several studies have linked the violence in football to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease that can cause symptoms such as depression, memory loss, aggression and dementia. Whether Kramer has CTE, or any other specific condition, is not yet known.

Obama and Paul Ryan agree (on NFL lockout)

President Obama has taken a bold stand in favor of good football -- putting him on the same side as Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan. "I mean, give me a break! It is time to get the real refs," Packers fan Ryan told a crowd in Ohio on Tuesday. Of course, he went on to say, "And you know what? It reminds me of President Obama and the economy. If you can't get it right, it's time to get out." For those who don't watch football and aren't friends with any aggrieved Wisconsinites, the NFL is currently employing replacement referees during a lockout of professional refs. Those replacements made a highly-disputed call in Monday night's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks, giving the Seahawks the win.

Couch Slouch: The NFL and gambling, most awkward

This is what I love about the NFL: On weekends, it puts on the greatest show on Earth, sporting-wise; then, on weekdays, it puts on the greatest show on Earth, sanctimonious-wise. Case in point — the NFL and gambling. When it comes to gambling, the NFL always has been — how shall we say? — a little bit pregnant. Let me put it this way: If gambling were the preacher’s daughter, the NFL would knock her up, raise its hands plaintively as if it had never touched her — and then go to church to pray for her unborn child. If the NFL were around in the 4th century BC, Hypocrisy would’ve been its commissioner. (Hypocrisy was a spiritual descendant of the Greek god Hypocrates, who never practiced what he preached and purportedly was the first Raiders fan.) The NFL’s spectacular growth over the past half-century has been dual-fueled by television and gambling. The league puts out a compelling product greatly enhanced by broadcasters and bookies, yet the league has always distanced itself from the serious and friendly money wagered on all of its games. And, thus, we have witnessed the evolution of the NFL’s awkward position — it’s enriched by sports betting yet condemns it. The NFL has taken various public stances against gambling interests for years, lobbying, for instance, against sports betting and online poker. Earlier this year, the NFL — along with the NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA — filed a complaint in federal court in Trenton, seeking to stop New Jersey from implementing sports betting on pro and college games. But Couch Slouch is tired of this storefront sermonizing. Because while the NFL’s left hand is pointing fingers, the NFL’s right hand is pocketing money. In fact, at the moment the NFL has both hands in a couple of cookie jars full of gambling dollars. This year, for the first time, the league is allowing teams to display local casino advertising in stadiums, as long as the casino does not have a sports book. “We remain steadfast in our opposition to the proliferation of gambling on NFL games,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy announced. “There is a distinction between accepting advertising in a limited fashion and gambling on the outcome of our games.” Let’s review both parts of that statement. _“We remain steadfast in our opposition to the proliferation of gambling on NFL games.”_ Translation: “Where would we be WITHOUT the proliferation of gambling on our games? _“There is a distinction between accepting advertising in a limited fashion and gambling on the outcome of our games.”_ Translation: “Casino millions, come on down!!!” By the way, what exactly is “accepting advertising in a limited fashion”? Does that mean they only take small bills in unmarked envelopes. _A limited fashion?_ Isn’t it UNLIMITED if you keep accepting it? Hah! Speaking of the proliferation of gambling on NFL games, the league has its own Web site — nfl.com/fantasy. As in fantasy football. If fantasy sports isn’t gambling, then Penthouse isn’t pornographic. Fantasy football is as addicting, if not more so, then betting the point spread. It puts a more insidious hook into its practitioners: Sports bettors operate under the delusion they’re smart enough to beat the game; fantasy savants operate under the delusion _they could be NFL general managers._ (For real. I’ve seen these guys wandering into sports bars on Sundays, with their printouts, clipboards, baseball caps and iPhones. They’re all Bill Polian with a Bud Light.) The NFL’s McCarthy denounces “gambling on the outcome of our games.” Well, fantasy followers are gambling _on the outcome of every play._ With apologies to Faith Hill, Americans aren’t waiting all day for Sunday night, they’re waiting all day for fantasy results. This Fantasy Island is a gambler’s paradise; Roger Goodell looks almost as sharp as Ricardo Montalban. But it’s like a speakeasy: You’ve got to know the doorman — the NFL — to get in. **Q**. With the NHL canceling two weeks of regular season games, what will The Slouch do to fill those cold, empty autumn nights? (Patrick Long; Franklin, Ind.) **A**. Actually, I think this is a brilliant marketing ploy by the NHL — it creates a buzz, like when “Mad Men” extends production time between seasons. **Q**. When a catcher visits the mound, the pitcher always seems to put his glove up in front of his face. What does your wife put up in front of her face when you visit? (Brian Coffman; Gaithersburg) **A**. Usually, a bounced check and a notarized “Dear John” letter. **Q**. Whatever happened to common courtesy and Southern hospitality? (Matthew Pines; Monroeville, Pa.) **A.** I’d have to lay the blame at the feet of the SEC. **Q**. If Bud Selig were poker commissioner, would he add two wild cards to the World Series of Poker? (Mark Pattison; Washington) **A**. Pay the man, Shirley.

Family of Junior Seau talks about why it is pursuing a lawsuit against the NFL

Just two and a half years after a decorated, 20-year NFL career ended, Junior Seau committed suicide. He shot himself in the chest in May 2012 so that his brain could be preserved for study.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Sure enough, an examination of Seau’s brain tissue revealed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease that can cause behavioral changes, depression, memory loss and dementia. The disease has been found in the brains of dozens of deceased football players.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Seau’s case of CTE made his family eligible for a $4 million payout from the NFL, under the terms of a settlement of a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of former players. But Seau’s family, including his ex- wife, Gina, and children Tyler, Sydney, Jake and Hunter opted out of the settlement, choosing to continue their own lawsuit against the league.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico In a “60 Minutes Sports” segment set to air Tuesday night on Showtime, family members discussed losing Seau and why they are pursuing their action against the league. They took issue with the fact that the blockbuster settlement involved no admission on the part of the NFL that its policies led directly to brain injuries. “The NFL is taking no ownership for what they’ve done. There’s no responsibility on their part,” Tyler Seau told reporter Armen Keteyian. In September, Steven Strauss, a lawyer for the family made this statement to ESPN:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Another problem Strauss noted that the Seau family had with the settlement was that it inadequately compensated descendants of former players, a position that drew a rebuke from one of the lawyers who represented the players’ side. But Sydney Seau told Keteyian that she and her family were not motivated by the possibility of a bigger payout.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “We’re risking everything. It’s about the message,” Sydney said. Here is a clip of the “60 Minutes Sports” segment:

Josh Norman’s next challenge to the NFL involves imaginary beer

Has the NFL’s recent crackdown on excessive-celebration penalties persuaded Josh Norman to mute his on-field happiness? Nah. Nope. Not at all. Instead, it seems to have fired up Norman’s creative energy.   As with many things Norman says, it wasn’t totally clear if he was being serious. A quick scan of the rulebook, though, indicates that he might be in the clear. The rules prohibit acts “committed directly at an opponent,” such as military salutes, verbal taunting and incredible hulking, but you wouldn’t tap a keg toward an opponent. The rules prohibit specific acts like throat thrashes, sexually suggestive gestures, logo stomps and machine-gun salutes, but there’s nothing about pretending to drink a delicious cold beverage. The rules prohibit using the football as a prop, but you don’t need a football to pretend to tap a keg. The rules prohibit two or more players “engaging in prolonged, excessive, premeditated or choreographed celebrations or demonstrations,” but there’s nothing wrong with drinking alone. I can personally vouch for that one. Where Norman might get tripped up is the prohibition against “prolonged or excessive celebrations or demonstrations by an individual player,” although the rules specify that celebrations only become “prolonged” if they continue after an official’s warning.  A bigger problem, of course, is that it might be hard for the average fan to recognize this bit of pantomime from Norman, since tapping a keg is not as universal a gesture as shooting a bow and arrow, and no one goes to an NFL game thinking about charades. “If they don’t, I’ll explain it afterwards,” Norman said. “Why can’t my celebration be legal?” he asked. “I mean, you’re selling [beer] on TV, so why can’t my celebration be legal?” He has a point. And as it turns out, this is the second time Norman has brought up NFL beer sales in response to its crackdown on celebrations.   So I guess the question is which is a more PG action: drinking a brewski or firing a bow and arrow. I know which one I’d let my fourth-grader do. But I don’t want to say too much, lest the NFL find a way to actually penalize Norman’s fake keg tap.

The Insiders: It’s time for soccer to yield to proper American football

Okay, I watched the World Cup. And as readers know, I am a fair-minded sort of guy. Now that the United States is out of the competition, I think we can rightfully assume it’s all over. There’s nothing left to see; it’s time to move on. But it is right to ask ourselves what lessons have been learned. My conclusion, after giving soccer a fair shot on the global stage, is that it’s time for the entire world to yield to American football. Yes, there is a place for soccer and children should continue to play in their spare time. However, henceforth the worldwide name for “soccer” should be “soccer.” When “football” is spoken of, it should be in the reverent, respectful tone and vocabulary of _American_ football. Otherwise it just creates unnecessary international confusion.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday But I digress. The fact is that football is an infinitely better game than soccer. Period. Football requires a much wider range of physical talent and a broader variety of athletic skills and capabilities. Soccer is too monolithic. Also, football has much cooler uniforms and equipment. And we have cheerleaders who make a meaningful contribution to the football experience. Plus, football offers the satisfaction that comes from watching fun beer and car commercials and provides needed interludes to retrieve more liquor and food during the game. Think about it: When every other country in the world starts playing real football, we could hold a really spectacular World Bowl in a few years, complete with a great halftime show and the best commercials ever. And the United States almost certainly would win. So I think this settles it. President Obama should use the remainder of his term and his love of ruling by fiat to produce the international protocols, treaties or whatever else (short of drone strikes) would ensure the dominance of football around the world. The president undoubtedly would have huge congressional support, and the American people would be with him. And if handled correctly, who knows? President Obama could finally get what he has always wanted, and the rise of the oceans would begin to slow and the planet would begin to heal. Just as he promised.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday If the installation of football is managed well and insurgent deadender soccer fans are adequately suppressed, as a famous Republican almost once said in an analogous situation, “our coaches and players will be greeted as liberators.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday  _Follow Ed on Twitter: **@EdRogersDC**_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday

Tom Brady lied; only the consequences are open to debate

Tom Brady is one of the greatest players in NFL history, the only quarterback to play in six Super Bowls, the undisputed on-field leader of the sport’s most successful franchise in this generation. He is also a liar. Brady probably cheated, an NFL-commissioned report found, and he lied about it. The actions do not invalidate his career, but they incinerated his golden-boy image and made messy the once-simple assessment of his place in history. Investigator Ted Wells’s NFL-commissioned report regarding the New England Patriots’ DeflateGate scandal concluded, with a strong degree of probability, that two equipment men – one of them hilariously foul-mouthed and unabashedly fond of sneakers, size 11 – deflated footballs at the behest of Brady.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico We don’t know exactly how much throwing a deflated football helped him, or if it should measurably change the way we view Brady as a quarterback. Truth-telling and athletic greatness are not inextricably linked. Wells and the NFL found a professional athlete most likely sought and gained an illicit competitive advantage, which happens to at least a minor degree every time a professional sporting event happens. [ _Wells Report: ‘More probable than not’ that Patriots violated rules with Brady’s knowledge_ ]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico But Brady broke the rules, and even if the advantage he gained can and will be debated, the NFL should punish Brady. What penalty fits the crime? The investigation found Brady, in all likelihood, knowingly cheated in one game. It happened to be the AFC championship game, a far more important contest than a regular-season game. The NFL should suspend Brady at least two games. Does it have the temerity to bench Brady for the nationally televised season opener? Brady deserves a suspension because messing with the air inside of a football messes with competitive fairness. We know it matters to Brady, because he said so back in 2006, before the NFL changed its rules to allow quarterbacks to adjust the inflation of a ball between certain parameters. And we know it with even more certainty now, because Brady took the risk of gaining a better grip through systematic measures before one of the most scrutinized games of the sports calendar. If it didn’t have the potential to make him better, Brady wouldn’t have gone to the trouble. [ _Patriots’ punishment may hinge on repeat offender status_]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico We know the rest of the NFL believed it mattered, too, because Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson broached the topic of air pressure of the Patriots’ footballs with the NFL before the AFC title game. “It is well known around the league that after the Patriots gameballs [SIC] are checked by the officials and brought out for game usage the ballboys for the patriots will let out some air with a ball needle because their quarterback likes a smaller football so he can grip it better,” Grigson wrote. “It would be great if someone would be able to check the air in the game balls as the game goes on so that they don’t get an illegal advantage.” Wells’s investigation could not determine the full scope of Brady’s cheating, in part because of the quarterback’s lack of cooperation and his lack of veracity. Brady refused to turn over electronic communication such as text messages and cell phone records. Even more brashly, Brady told lies during his interview with Wells’s team. [ _Read the full report_]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The report called him out in no uncertain terms. “Brady denied any knowledge of or involvement in any efforts to deflate game balls after the pre-game inspection by the game officials,” the report said. He also claimed he knew neither the identity nor role of Jim McNally, the officials’ locker room attendant who tampered with footballs after referees inspected them. “We found these claims not plausible and contradicted by other evidence,” the report said. “In fact, during his interview, [John] Jastremski” — an equipment manager who worked with McNally and had a flurry of cell phone contact with Brady — “acknowledged that Brady knew McNally and McNally’s role as Officials Locker Room attendant. Similarly, McNally told NFL Security that he had been personally told by Brady of Brady’s inflation level preference.” Before Brady lied to Wells, he lied to the public. Two days after the AFC championship, Brady delivered an unconvincing news conference. The quivering in his voice could be blamed, at the times, on plain nerves. Now we know he looked like he was lying because he was. “I have no knowledge of anything,” Brady said then, among other falsehoods. “I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. I’m very comfortable saying nobody did it, as far as I know.” [ _Early Lead: Hilarious texts between Patriots equipment handlers_ ]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Wells’s report turned anyone who believed Brady into a fool. The Patriots might try to cling to Wells’s admission that he cannot state with utter certainty that Brady knew about the pregame ball deflation. But Wells presents enough evidence for only a blind sycophant to believe Brady had no say in the air pressure inside the balls. Brady’s historic place as a quarterback should remain stable, because to say otherwise would make the mistake of conflating morals and athletic achievement. The enhanced grip matters, yes, but it is not responsible for Super Bowl rings and 4,000-yard passing seasons. It helped, just like Vaseline on an offensive lineman’s jersey helps keep defensive linemen from yanking him around. He cheated, but not in a way that guaranteed success. But what remains of Brady’s golden reputation just disappeared. You can still appreciate Brady’s precision, his quick mind, his steady leadership. Much of his brilliance on the field resided in his ability to always find the right play, to never put himself in a tough situation. Away from the field, when he found himself in a difficult spot, he resorted to a different tactic. There was no defense to manipulate or play to change. He had two choices: to admit and explain what he did or evade. And Tom Brady lied. **DeflateGate backstory**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Five questions answered on DeflateGate    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Kilgore: Tired of DeflateGate? Blame the NFL.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Brady on DeflateGate: ‘I didn’t alter ball in any way’    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico President Obama zings Patriots over DeflateGate    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

George Will: College football and big government

With two extravagant entertainments under way, it is instructive to note the connection between the presidential election and the college football season: Barack Obama represents progressivism, a doctrine whose many blemishes on American life include universities as football factories, which progressivism helped to create. Higher education embraced athletics in the first half of the 19th century, when most colleges were denominational and most instruction was considered mental and moral preparation for a small minority — clergy and other professionals. Physical education had nothing to do with spectator sports entertaining people from outside the campus community. Rather, it was individual fitness — especially gymnastics — for the moral and pedagogic purposes of muscular Christianity — mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body. The collective activity of team sports came after a great collective exertion, the Civil War, and two great social changes, urbanization and industrialization. This story is told well in “The Rise of Gridiron University: Higher Education’s Uneasy Alliance with Big-Time Football,” by Brian M. Ingrassia, a Middle Tennessee State University historian. Intercollegiate football began when Rutgers played Princeton in 1869, four years after Appomattox. In 1878, one of Princeton’s two undergraduate student managers was Thomas — he was called Tommy — Woodrow Wilson. For the rest of the 19th century, football appealed as a venue for valor for collegians whose fathers’ venues had been battlefields. Stephen Crane, author of the Civil War novel “The Red Badge of Courage” (1895) — the badge was a wound — said: “Of course, I have never been in a battle, but I believe that I got my sense of the rage of conflict on the football field.” Harvard philosopher William James then spoke of society finding new sources of discipline and inspiration in “the moral equivalent of war.” Society found football, which like war required the subordination of the individual, and which would relieve the supposed monotony of workers enmeshed in mass production. College football became a national phenomenon because it supposedly served the values of progressivism, in two ways. It exemplified specialization, expertise and scientific management. And it would reconcile the public to the transformation of universities, especially public universities, into something progressivism desired but the public found alien. Replicating industrialism’s division of labor, universities introduced the fragmentation of the old curriculum of moral instruction into increasingly specialized and arcane disciplines. These included the recently founded social sciences — economics, sociology, political science — that were supposed to supply progressive governments with the expertise to manage the complexities of the modern economy and the simplicities of the uninstructed masses. Football taught the progressive virtue of subordinating the individual to the collectivity. Inevitably, this led to the cult of one individual, the coach. Today, in almost every state, at least one public university football coach is paid more than the governor. As universities multiplied, football fueled the competition for prestige and other scarce resources. Shortly after it was founded, the University of Chicago hired as football coach the nation’s first tenured professor of physical culture and athletics, Amos Alonzo Stagg, who had played at Yale for Walter Camp, an early shaper of the rules and structure of intercollegiate football. Camp also was president of the New Haven Clock Co. Clocks were emblematic of modernity — workers punching time clocks, time-and-motion efficiency studies. Camp saw football as basic training for the managerial elites demanded by corporations. Progressives saw football as training managers for the modern regulatory state. Ingrassia says that a Yale professor, the social Darwinist William Graham Sumner (who was Camp’s brother-in-law), produced one academic acolyte who thought the “English race” was establishing hegemony because it played the “sturdiest” sports. Reinforced concrete and other advancements in construction were put to use building huge stadiums to bring the public onto campuses that, to many, seemed increasingly unintelligible. Ingrassia says “Harvard Stadium was the prototype” for dozens of early 20th-century stadiums. In 1914, the inaugural game in the Yale Bowl drew 70,055 spectators. The Alabama, Louisiana State and Southern California football programs are the children of Harvard’s, Yale’s and Princeton’s. “It’s kind of hard,” said Alabama’s Bear Bryant, “to rally ’round a math class.” And today college football is said to give vast, fragmented universities a sense of community through shared ritual. In this year’s first “game of the century,” Alabama’s student-athletes played those from Michigan in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., which is 605 miles and 1,191 miles from Tuscaloosa and Ann Arbor, respectively. **_georgewill@washpost.com _ ** ****

Paul Ryan pokes at Christie after Cowboys’ loss: ‘do you need a hug now?’

_This item has been updated._    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to cheer on his team, the Dallas Cowboys, as it played the Green Bay Packers in a key NFL playoff game. Reporters spotted Christie before the game near the 35-yard line posing for photos and talking to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The Packers hosted the Cowboys in a key divisional playoff game — the first time Dallas has traveled to Lambeau Field in the postseason since the famed Dec. 31, 1967 "Ice Bowl." Ultimately, the Packers bested the Cowboys, 26 to 21. Christie has earned the ire of critics and New Jersey Democrats for traveling to Texas several times in recent weeks to attend Cowboys games as a guest of Jones, who owns a company that operates the observation deck at One World Trade Center in New York. The skyscraper is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which Christie and New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) control. Jones dismissed concerns about his relationship with the governor in a recent interview. “He’s a friend. … He’s gonna be true blue. I admire that in him. I hope he just keeps coming to games for about the next three, stirring it up out here. … He’s our mojo," Jones said of Christie during the interview, which aired Friday on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning" program. But Christie wasn't the only governor — or potential 2016 presidential candidate — in the stands. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is also braving the cold temperatures and has been talking up the game for several days on his social media accounts: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), another Packers devotee and potential 2016 contender, also talked up the game — and the cold temps — on his Twitter account: Once the game was over, Ryan worked in a jab at Christie and that awkward hug he had with Jones after last week's Cowboys game:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

NFL must pay for its handling of concussion issues — or Congress should intervene

Since the NFL insists on behaving like the coal industry circa 1969, the only solution to its problems is for Congress to step in and regulate the business of these 32 billionaire plunderers. This week, the Department of Veterans Affairs brain bank announced that 76 out of 79 deceased NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. The price for owning a team just went up. Jerry Jones, Bob Kraft, Dan Snyder, Steve Bisciotti and all the rest, if you want to enrich yourselves at the expense of the ravaged health of others, be prepared to pay for it. Your future is endless litigation and government interference. The CTE thunderbolt follows closely on the league’s callous handling of domestic violence cases. A new raft of medical investigations and lawsuits say that CTE caused some of these devastating domestic explosions, such as Jovan Belcher’s 2013 murder-suicide. CTE leads to aggression, paranoia, impaired judgment and depression. Junior Seau had it. Dave Duerson had it. And CTE is now being diagnosed in living players such as Tony Dorsett, not just those whose families donated their brains to science. Here’s the deal: Concussions are the black lung of the NFL. And the league knows it. “The reality is we need to talk about this brain injury as an environmental risk factor,” says Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit think-tank devoted to the issue. If you want to be a mine owner, the price of doing business in that dark and hazardous industry is federal oversight and lifetime compensation for workers who are permanently disabled by your coal dust. The NFL is not coal, obviously; it’s entertainment. But it has a dirty, dangerous problem that looks a lot like black dust. That black dust is spreading; it’s impacting and sickening un-consenting people outside the league — such as wives and kids. The NFL has become a public health issue, and that’s not an overstatement. Here’s why: The league is spending $45 million to sponsor tackle football for children. The league encourages small boys to participate in an activity that beats their heads to pulp and persuades parents that such a thing is okay in order to keep the participation pipeline going. Via the USA Heads Up program, it preaches that tackling technique can limit the risk of head injuries in football — despite the fact that not an iota of science supports that claim. On the contrary, the science shows that tackle football for kids is incredibly harmful. A Virginia Tech project demonstrated that the impact of helmeted 7-year-olds is similar in force to that of college players. Brain expert Robert Cantu has been insisting, in vain, for years that we need a helmeted age limit. The NFL has chosen to build its brand on the broken heads of kids. “The interaction between the NFL and youth football is a business that affects our children,” Nowinski says. “What they subsidize and pay for — and what their message is — needs to be scrutinized.” The NFL’s influence over youth football is vast and critical medically. PBS Frontline reported that 128 former football players were studied by the Department of Veterans Affairs brain repository in Bedford, Mass., including some college and high school players, not just professionals. Of those, 101 tested positive for CTE. The authors of the study cautioned that the sample may be somewhat skewed by the fact that some donors already suspected they had CTE. Nonetheless, the study shows that “the longer you play football, the higher your risk,” according to director Ann McKee. If you let your small child play tackle and he continues to play the game through college and has pro aspirations, “It’s just a question of whether they will live long enough for this to turn into clinical symptoms,” Nowinski observes. The NFL doesn’t just have an injury problem; it has a degenerative disease problem, and this transforms the discussion about it. Lots of people choose to do dangerous things for a living, knowingly. As a society, we allow folks to make these individual calculations as long as we feel they understand the risks and proper precautions are taken. But there is a serious question as to whether NFL players and their families have had truly informed consent as to the risks of the game. You think the league will ever voluntarily admit that frontal lobe damage from football concussions can make you a suicidal monster or a vegetable? What we’ve been watching these past few weeks in the Ray Rice case, the scandal, coverups, evasions, stone-wallings, all lead to the same conclusion: Time after time, the league is dragged into a sense of responsibility only by legal force. Congress needs to write the equivalent of the Coal Act for the league, with monetary and criminal penalties for knowing and willful violations of health and safety. Owners should pay mandatory lifetime medical care for brain injuries as an environmental hazard. Every team should undergo regular OSHA health and safety audits to make sure teams are reporting the statistical prevalence of injuries and players have independent records. The Drug Enforcement Agency should conduct regular special investigations of NFL trainers and physicians, whose pain-killer practices leach down to the college and school level. And helmeted football should be prohibited under the age of 14. Government regulation is never a first choice; it’s a last one. But on subject after subject, the NFL demonstrates chronic insincerity and reckless disregard. League leadership all but ignored painkiller abuse in locker rooms until a DEA investigation. It all but ignored domestic violence cases until the Rice cold-cock video forced it to form a more coherent human resources policy — something other American businesses did decades ago. And it ignored concussions until it was sued by 4,500 former players — whereupon it filed court papers revealing the league has been fully aware that one third of its players will develop Alzheimer’s, dementia or other neurologic disease. Congress needs to say to Roger Goodell and the owners who pay him $44 million a year to cover up their dirt and disease for them, “Your anti-trust protected, $10-billion-dollar-revenue-producing, nonprofit, corporate-welfare special status is up. You didn’t take care of your business voluntarily. So now it’s our business.”

Researchers tested the brains of 91 deceased NFL players. Nearly all of them had CTE

Researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University on Friday announced the results of their ongoing study into the prevalence of a degenerative brain disease among NFL players. The results will not shock you. The study examined the brains of 91 deceased NFL players. It found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in 87 of them. “The disease is widely believed to stem from repetitive trauma to the head, and can lead to conditions such as memory loss, depression and dementia,” PBS wrote in announcing the results its Web site.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico In total, the researchers examined the brains of 165 people who played football either professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school. They found 131 with evidence of CTE in the brain tissue. Forty percent of them played either on the offensive or defensive line, where head trauma occurs on just about every play. “That finding supports past research suggesting that it’s the repeat, more minor head trauma that occurs regularly in football that may pose the greatest risk to players, as opposed to just the sometimes violent collisions that cause concussions,” PBS writes. Said Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System: “People think that we’re blowing this out of proportion, that this is a very rare disease and that we’re sensationalizing it. My response is that where I sit, this is a very real disease. We have had no problem identifying it in hundreds of players.” There is one caveat to the study, as noted by PBS: “We are dedicated to making football safer and continue to take steps to protect players, including rule changes, advanced sideline technology, and expanded medical resources. We continue to make significant investments in independent research through our gifts to Boston University, the [National Institutes of Health] and other efforts to accelerate the science and understanding of these issues,” the NFL said in a statement.

Sports behavior that could be criminal

Reporter Mark Maske’s article concerning the alleged NFL “bounty” program [“Bounty penalties could be severe,” Sports, March 5] mentioned possible penalties to be imposed by the NFL on the coaches and teams involved. Nowhere, however, did it mention criminal charges. In general, behavior on “the field” that would, in any other area of life, constitute criminal activity, such as assault, is tolerated because players understand the rules and assume the risk. This arrangement breaks down, however, when rules are deliberately not followed in an attempt to injure others. If a tight end ran down the field bashing other players in the knees with a baseball bat, clearly he would be criminally liable. Mr. Maske reported, “According to the NFL’s investigation, the [New Orleans] Saints’ bounty system was primarily player-funded and paid for hits that forced opponents off the field or knocked them out of a game. . . . Such payments violate league rules, according to the NFL.” A handful of targeted prosecutions would go much farther in halting this type of practice than any penalty the NFL might impose. ****Scott Barden,** Leesburg**

Jets’ Brandon Marshall says ref saved him on touchdown-celebration prayer

New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall nearly was flagged Sunday for a touchdown celebration Sunday, until a referee reminded him that religious displays are allowed. “Sunday, I score a touchdown and I fall to the ground and I put my hands up and I pray, like I always do,” Marshall said on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” where he is a weekly panelist. “The ref comes to me and said: ‘Brandon, that’s a celebration. Were you praying? Because if you weren’t, we’re going to have to throw that flag.’ … Are you kidding me? Is that a flag? . . . It happened. “It’s true.” The NFL has clamped down on group celebrations, on using the football as a prop and on going to the ground in celebration … unless it’s a religious act. In 2014, Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah was given a 15-yard penalty for dropping to his knees in prayer after a pick-six, a flag the NFL said should not have been thrown. The NFL’s rules about celebrations stand out from those in other sports, in part because the NFL chooses to limit planned displays of glee, even if it costs them the kind of attention Major League Baseball got for a bat flip by Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. “Jose Bautista smashes the ball, home run, throws the bat up, stares at the pitcher,” Marshall said of the game-winning home run in Game 5 of the American League Division Series. “And what does the MLB do? They celebrate it.” H/T Newsday    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

In football, America loves a winner — and a runner-up

You'll forgive us a slight digression from all-politics-all-the-time, given that this weekend is America's greatest secular holiday: St. Pigskin's Day. (I guess that isn't secular, but whatever.) While your humble author is more of a college football fan than pro (having gone to the undisputed national champion Ohio State University), it's impossible not to pay at least some attention to what's going on in the NFL. (Although someone with whom we are acquainted keeps asking who is in The Big Game (no ™ needed) and, when told, has twice exclaimed, "The Patriots? They _always_ win," which has not been true over the last 12 months.)    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico If the saying is correct, America loves a winner. We were curious if there was a way to tell _how much_ America loved winners, in part because we like to look at numbers and so on, but in part because we thought that might have interesting implications elsewhere. We know that college sports success is linked to incumbent electoral victories (congratulations to Ohio Governor-for- life John Kasich!), but that didn't tell us how much people started liking the _teams_ that won.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Happily, the folks at Harris Interactive have been asking Americans for years which NFL teams are their favorites. Each team is ranked from 1 to thirty- however-many-teams-there-are-that-year at the start of the NFL season. Which lets us compare how team popularity has changed in relation to Super Bowl™ wins.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico For example. Here is the popularity (relative to other NFL teams) of the two teams that are in this year's game: the Seattle Seahawks and the New England They-Always-Wins. That spike for the Seahawks is something, isn't it? The team has been in two straight Super Bowls, which is impressive. In 2010, when they were basically the least popular team in the league (except the always-hated Jacksonville Jaguars), they were 7-and-9, squeaking into the playoffs where they promptly lost to the Bears. Doing well helps a team's popularity. But it isn't only Super Bowl winners that see boosts. In nearly every instance since 1999, both teams that have been in the Super Bowl have seen jumps in popularity, if they weren't already in the upper echelon of popularity. If they were, they stayed relatively flat. The one exception: the Baltimore Ravens, who dropped a few spots over two seasons. (If Harris was missing data, we used the Super Bowl immediately prior to the listed year.) America loves a winner; America also loves a winner that wins a league championship even if they then went on to lose The Very Large Game™. Oh, but we're supposed to write about politics. So, um: I guess that's why Mitt Romney polled well?

Bills GM: Used ‘poor choice of words’ when discussing violent nature of football

Buffalo Bills General Manager Doug Whaley is now saying that his public musing, inferring humans were not built to play the the game of football, was simply a misstep and the game is set to prosper for the foreseeable future. The Bills released a statement Wednesday from Whaley a day after he was quoted on-record calling football a sport humans are not meant to play. The comments were in response to a question asked of Whaley during a radio interview about the status of an injured Buffalo player. In his latest statement, Whaley says he made a “poor choice of words” and that the NFL’s “safety advancements and numerous rule changes” have made the game much safer.  In his carefully-worded clarifying comment, Whaley backtracks his prior statement on the sport, downplaying the inherent violence the sport exhibits, with his harshest criticism now being that football is “physically, mentally and emotionally challenging,” though that has its legs cut off by the next clause positing this is the reason many follow the sport.  Whaley’s initial comments were correct in the sense that the human body is not designed for high-speed, head-on collisions. But the idea that his comments were simply non-revolutionary scientific analysis is not what caught the eye of those who covered the league.

London fans greet the Redskins with a mix of curiosity and excitement

LONDON — Dan Hanly had not been to a tailgate party, so he arrived three hours before kickoff at London’s Wembley Stadium to see what the fuss was about. In recent years, American football has developed deep roots in the United Kingdom, and some 84,488 fans descended Sunday on Wembley Stadium to see the Washington Redskins face the Cincinnati Bengals in a dramatic game that ended with a very undramatic 27-27 tie. The game was part of the NFL’s International Series, which has brought regular season games to London since 2007. The popularity of American football in the United Kingdom has grown massively in recent years, and there are serious discussions about London one day getting its own NFL franchise. But the sport for many dedicated American football fans here is something consumed mostly on cable television or the Internet. Taking part in the whole game day experience is something of a novelty. In the United Kingdom, fans from opposing soccer teams aren’t used to merrily mixing before the games — this is, after all, a country that was once infamous for its soccer hooliganism — and many stadiums are located in cities where it’s easiest to travel to the game by public transport. There didn’t appear to be a single pickup truck at the London tailgate party, but there were, among other things, food stalls, merchandise tents, former players signing autographs and giving talks to the crowd, and a performance by the Bengals cheerleaders. “It’s not what I was expecting,” said Hanly, a 64-year-old IT worker from Gloucester. “Apparently it’s too civilized. A friend of my daughter’s said this is like a funeral compared to a U.S. tailgate party. I think they need to amp it up.” The NFL certainly has been trying hard to amp things up in London. The league hosted a number of fan events this week, including wildly popular rallies with Redskins and Bengals players and cheerleaders, as well as a “Jerry Maguire” movie night. It also set up a temporary space in central London where fans could see the Lombardi Trophy and Super Bowl rings. “The rings are a bit garish. The players must have really big hands,” said Graham Longden, a 63-year-old IT trainer who traveled to London from Clacton, England, to see the displays up close. Although he has not been to Washington, he has supported the Redskins for more than three decades, which he noted hasn’t been smooth sailing since the glory years in the 1980s and ’90s. But Brits are loyal fans who enjoy rooting for the underdog. “You stick with it. You pick a team and stick with it regardless,” Longden said. Like many Redskins fans in the United Kingdom, he began following the team in the 1980s when British broadcaster Channel 4 began showing games on terrestrial television for the first time. It also was around the time when the Redskins won the first of their three Super Bowls , and so it’s perhaps not surprising that there are many fans here who have stuck with teams such as the Redskins who were dominant in that era. It seemed as if every single one of those fans turned up Saturday to the Barrowboy & Banker, a pub close to London’s famous Borough Market that was temporarily transformed into a sea of burgundy and gold. The team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, and its president, Bruce Allen, pulled pints for customers. Throngs of fans frequently belted out “Hail to the Redskins.” There were multiple accents in the pub — American, British, French, German and Swiss, among others. Erik Rossow, 42, came from Germany for the game. In 1990, the year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he saw the Redskins on television for the first time and was drawn by how tactical and physical the sport was. “This is the first time I have seen them live. It’s indescribable,” said the surgeon, who was at the packed pub wearing a pig’s snout and a red “Hoggettes” sash. Ankit Mittal, a 30-year-old budget analyst from Washington, flew over for the game and expanded his trip to include a visit to Buckingham Palace and a speedboat tour on the River Thames. “It was the perfect birthday gift to myself,” he said. Luckily, Mittal and Rossow both had tickets to Wembley the next day because the pub didn’t plan to broadcast the game, despite being festooned with Redskins balloons and banners. A bartender explained they weren’t able to show it with their cable TV package, and so they showed a rugby game instead. American football lags far behind soccer in the United Kingdom — the sport most people around the world call “football” — not to mention a number of other sports, including rugby, cricket, Formula One auto racing and tennis. The Sun tabloid, which aggressively covers sports, referenced the game only fleetingly in its Sunday paper. Chris Cooley, the former Redskins tight end who has been broadcasting his popular ESPN radio show from London this week, said in an interview that most people in the United Kingdom “have no idea what we are doing whatsoever.” He recounted talking to a woman in a shopping mall in London who seemed floored that Wembley Stadium could sell out for an NFL game. “ ‘But that’s a big stadium!’ she said. And I was like, ‘Yeah, we sell that out,’ ” he said.

Even the name ‘football’ is wrong

In response to the ongoing discussion on changing the Washington Redskins’ name, I agree that we should definitely pay more respect to Native Americans. We also ought to change the name of the sport. Real “football” is actually what we strangely call “soccer.” American football has very little to do with the feet. How about “Concussion Competition”? ****Bill Schneider** , Annapolis**

NFL competition committee not likely to endorse shortened preseason

The NFL’s competition committee does not appear inclined to endorse a proposal to shorten the sport’s preseason to three games per team beginning this year.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The committee is unlikely to recommend a reduction of the preseason to the NFL’s franchise owners, according to a person familiar with the league’s inner workings. That person said he foresees “no recommendation on the three-game preseason.” Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy, a member of the competition committee, told reporters at the NFL scouting combine last month he believed there was support for reducing the preseason from four to three games per team.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico It is not clear if the owners would give serious consideration to a reduction of the preseason without an endorsement from the competition committee. Typically, rule changes without the backing of the committee face long odds of being ratified. Any rule-change proposal must be approved by at least 24 of the 32 NFL teams. The owners are scheduled to meet next week in Boca Raton, Fla., at the annual league meeting. Competition committee members are meeting this week to finalize recommendations they will make to the owners. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and others within the sport previously have been critical of the quality of the preseason. The owners, as part of the sport’s most recent set of labor negotiations with the NFL Players Association, proposed reducing the preseason and lengthening the regular season. But the union objected strenuously for player-safety reasons, and the owners dropped the proposal. More recently, the notion of shortening the preseason has been tied to a measure to expand the NFL playoff field from 12 to 14 teams, which would add two extra first-round postseason games league-wide (with one fewer opening-round bye per conference). A reduction of the preseason eventually could come about through negotiations between the league and union. In the meantime, some within the league have pointed out that some teams have addressed the issue of the quality of play during the preseason with variable pricing plans that charge fans less to attend preseason games.

Can Redskins-Bengals help NFL become a ‘top-three’ sport in sports-mad UK?

Sunday’s game between the Washington Redskins (4-3) and Cincinnati Bengals (3-4) at Wembley Stadium is the third and final regular-season game to be staged in London this fall as part of the NFL’s International Series, which was launched a decade ago. Earlier this week, I spoke with Mark Waller, executive vice president of NFL International, about the NFL’s interest in overseas markets and London, specifically, where league has targeted most of its marketing efforts. A British national, Waller joined the NFL in 2006 and became its chief marketing officer in 2009, overseeing the league’s marketing and international activities. In 2014 he was named NFL Executive Vice President of International, charged with overseeing the league’s international growth. Here’s a bit of what Waller had to say in our conversation:

The case for Tom Brady: An arbitrator’s take

The importance of arbitration in the workplace is one of the key components in the NFL Players Association’s argument that the full panel of judges of Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals should hear the Deflategate case involving Tom Brady and the NFL. Brady, in what is likely to be a long shot, has petitioned to have full panel reconsider the 2-1 ruling of judges upholding Roger Goodell’s four-game suspension of the quarterback over allegedly deflating footballs in the AFC championship game in 2015. David Evans, an attorney with Boston law firm Murphy and King and an arbitrator on the panels of organizations that include the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, the American Arbitration Association and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, recently submitted an opinion piece to the NFLPA about what he believes to be the core concept at stake in this case. Evans, a member of the board of directors of the AAA, and the NFLPA gave permission for his work to be reprinted here.

Ryan Clark used ESPN’s Redskins-Cowboys promo to motivate his teammates

Here’s an ESPN promo for Monday night’s Redskins-Cowboys game. I can’t promise that this was the one Ryan Clark urged his Redskins teammates to use as motivation, as reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Phillips. But, well, he could have. By my count, 30 of the promo’s 30 seconds feature either a Dallas player, fan, mascot or logo. Eight of the promo’s 30 seconds feature the Redskins, in a supporting role. The ad includes footage of Tony Romo (three times), Dez Bryant (twice), DeMarco Murray and Jerry Jones. Featured Redskins players include Kedric Golston, chasing after a Dallas player; DeAngelo Hall, chasing after a Dallas player, and Ryan Kerrigan; chasing after a Dallas player. Plus some players at the line of scrimmage. The music is Kid Rock’s Cowboy. And the text reads “How ‘Bout Them Cowboys!” Via Phillips:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico (Via @dreyesceron)    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

The Sept. 26 Sports article “Wisconsin governor fumbles on Twitter,” on the NFL referees’ pension fight and similar battles in involving other parts of the American economy, was very informative. Unfortunately, the article included the misleading suggestion that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was being hypocritical in showing support for locked-out NFL referees in their struggle with NFL owners. Mr. Walker’s efforts on collective bargaining are focused solely on public employees in conjunction with efforts to restrain state spending. The NFL is a private enterprise, and Mr. Walker fully supports the right of collective bargaining in private companies. ****John B. Ramsey,** New Carrollton **

Judge considers concussion settlement

PHILADELPHIA — While the NFL seemingly was able to avert a lengthy trial by reaching a settlement to end high-profile concussion litigation last year, the proposed deal between the league and its retired players had its day in court Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Anita Brody oversaw a “fairness hearing” to hear both a defense of the proposed settlement and objections posed by some former players and their attorneys. Brody heard arguments for more than four hours from 14 lawyers, two former players and the family members of three other retirees. She did not make an immediate ruling and might not issue an order accepting or rejecting the deal for several weeks. “The whole goal of the litigation from Day 1 was to get help to the sickest players. . . . We’re one step closer to achieving that goal,” lead plaintiffs’ attorney Christopher Seeger said following the hearing. But even in defending the proposed settlement to the courtroom, Seeger conceded it wasn’t “perfect.” “But it is really good,” he told the judge, “and it is fair.” Seeger said only 199 of the more than 22,000 retired players opted out of the proposed settlement and another 206 objected. The deal was initially for $765 million, though it could exceed that figure once the sides agreed in June to make some aspects of it uncapped. Seeger outlined for the judge the three main components of the revised deal: $75 million devoted to conducting baseline assessments, an uncapped amount for those suffering from a limited number of qualifying diseases and $10 million dedicated to educational efforts. Objectors focused, meanwhile, on what’s missing — namely, compensation for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease resulting from repetitive brain trauma. While the initial complaint outlined issues faced by former players associated with CTE, objectors argue the proposed settlement does little to provide relief for those issues. “They’re gone. They’re nowhere to be found in the document,” former player Eugene Moore, who played parts of the 1969-71 NFL seasons, told Brody. “How does that happen? It’s astonishing. . . . It’s akin to bringing a coal miners’ health claim without black lung disease.” While settlement attorneys point out that CTE cannot be diagnosed until death, Steven Molo, lead attorney for the objectors, told the court that within 10 years, scientists will be able to diagnose CTE in living people. Class attorneys who filed an initial complaint linking football with CTE told the court Wednesday the science is too incomplete to draw definitive lines and establish causation. “We were building the case to get around the scientific issues,” Seeger explained later. “What I was highlighting today, just to make a point, was that was going to be a really big issue in the case.” Brad Karp, the attorney for the NFL, called the proposed deal a “historic settlement” but made clear the league feels it would’ve prevailed had the case gone to trial. The proposed settlement is “measurably superior than the likely outcome” of continued litigation, he said. “This has been missing from the public debate. . . . The league could have fought these claims — successfully fought these claims — for many, many years,” he said. He noted the league’s misgivings with the allegations but said “the NFL is proud of this settlement.” Responded Thomas Demetrio, one of the attorneys representing objectors: “The NFL is ‘proud of this settlement.’ Yeah, no kidding. I would be, too.” Demetrio and his colleagues also took issue with the amount of money the class attorneys stand to make off the case — about $112 million. Demetrio told the judge the proposed settlement lets the league off too easy, while the settlement negotiators insisted the agreement takes care of the retired players most in need. They pointed out that one of the lead plaintiffs, former fullback Kevin Turner, was unable to attend Wednesday’s hearing. The 45-year old is battling Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his condition has worsened in recent weeks, making travel impossible, Seeger said.

Do NFL games really take eyeballs off presidential debates?

You may have heard that ratings-conscious Donald Trump is miffed that two of the three general election presidential debates are scheduled on the same autumn nights as prime-time NFL games. The first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton on Sept. 26 will compete against ESPN's "Monday Night Football" telecast of the New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons. The second, on Oct. 4, is up against NBC's "Football Night in America" broadcast of the New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers.   Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said on CNN on Monday that he believes the Republican presidential nominee will ultimately succeed in pressuring the commission to reschedule. "Donald Trump is going to get the debate schedule changed, regardless of when those debates were set," Lewandowski said confidently.  Presidential debates have competed with prime-time NFL games three times since 1992, always against "Monday Night Football." Among 17 total debates, these three rank third, sixth and eighth in viewership — all in the top half. As you can see, interest in the debates varies widely from one election cycle to the next, so it is also worth examining how debates that clashed with football rated in comparison to others in the same years. In 1992, the football debate drew the second-biggest audience out of three; it was first of three in 2004 and third of three in 2012. There is no pattern, in other words.  A vice presidential debate has conflicted with an NFL game only once in the previous six election years. Out of six VP debates since 1992, the 2012 showdown between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan — up against "Thursday Night Football" on the NFL Network — attracted the second-biggest audience.

Bruce Arians: Vital ‘moms get the message’ that their kids should play football

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians sought to clarify comments he made Friday that football is being “attacked,” and that “we have to make sure that moms get the message, because that’s who’s afraid of our game right now.” In a Twitter post Sunday afternoon, Arians wrote that mothers “are often the ones making those decisions” about their children playing football,” and that “we have to make sure that they’re getting the message about everything being done to make the game as safe as possible.”  “This is our sport, and it’s being attacked,” Arians said at the clinic. “We have to stop it at the grass roots. It’s the best game that’s ever been [expletive] invented. And we have to make sure that moms get the message, because that’s who’s afraid of our game right now. “It’s not dads, it’s moms. And our job is to make sure the game is safe, at all levels,” Arians continued. “The head really has no business being in the game.” Arians is clearly perturbed about the implications the reported link between concussions and degenerative brain injuries such as CTE has for his sport. Last month, a high-ranking NFL official made news when he affirmed that link at a Congressional panel, and it came while an appeal is ongoing of a massive class-action lawsuit settlement that the league reached with thousands of former players who were asking to be compensated for head injuries.  “We have this fear of concussion, that is real,” Arians told SI, appearing to choose his words carefully, “but not all of those, I think … statistics can prove anything. We’ve got new helmets coming out, we’ve got safety issues. There are more more concussions in girls’ soccer than in football at that age, the number two sport with concussions is women’s soccer, but no one says we’ve got to stop playing soccer.”

Jovan Belcher likely had CTE, a study of his brain shows

A post-mortem examination of the brain of Jovan Belcher, the Kansas City Chiefs player who shot his girlfriend to death and then committed suicide in December 2012, showed that the linebacker was likely suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Belcher, 25, killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, on the morning of Dec. 1, 2012, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and turned the gun on himself as former coach Romeo Crennel and former general manager Scott Pioli pleaded with him. CTE is a degenerative disease linked to dementia, aggression, confusion and depression in people who had had repeated head trauma. It has been found in the brains of a number of former NFL players who have died. The Kansas City Star first reported the results of Belcher’s autopsy.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” obtained the results, as well, and in the report Dr. Piotr Kozlowski writes that he detected neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein, which is identified with CTE.. The tangles were evident all through Belcher’s hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with memory, learning and emotion. From ESPN:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

NFL considers playing a regular season game in China

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The NFL is considering playing a regular season game in China as soon as 2018. With owners, team executives and coaches meeting this week at a Boca Raton resort at the annual league meeting, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday that the possibility of a game in China is being explored. “We are completing a detailed analysis of playing a regular season game in China as early as 2018,” McCarthy said. “A handful of teams have already expressed interest.” No further vote of the owners would be required to approve such a game. The NFL plays an extensive slate of games in London and the owners already have authorized the league to schedule further games overseas through 2025. There will be three regular season games played next season in London and one in Mexico City. The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks planned to play a preseason game in Beijing in 2007. But the game was never played as the NFL turned its international focus to London.

Tom Brady’s agent calls Wells report ‘a significant and terrible disappointment’

Tom Brady’s agent issued a stinging rebuttal Thursday to the Wells report, which found that Brady “more probably than not” had a hand in deflating footballs in violation of NFL rules. However, Don Yee stopped short of proclaiming his client’s innocence. Instead, the entirety of his statement amounts to a point-by-point takedown of the Wells report itself. [ _Tom Brady lied_]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “The Wells report, with all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment. It’s omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later,” Yee writes in the statement.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Yee accuses the NFL of operating a sting operation at the behest of the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots’ opponent in last season’s AFC championship game. “What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game? This suggests it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetrating a sting operation,” he writes. Yee also accuses the Wells report of omitting “nearly all” of Brady’s testimony, “most of which was critical because it would have provided this report with the context that it lacks.” This assertion — that Brady answered all of the investigators’ questions — goes against how the Wells report painted the Patriots quarterback. “Of note, Tom Brady was asked to provide emails and text messages in response to our narrowly tailored requests pertinent to the subject of our investigation. Brady declined our request,” the report noted. Yee also suggests that the NFL ordered up the Wells report with a predetermined outcome in mind — to punish Brady — and that similar reports ordered up by companies are “written for the benefit of the purchaser.” But observers were quick to point out the logical flaws in that argument.

Atlanta Falcons owner predicts NFL will put team (or teams!) in London

Since 2007, the NFL has held games each season at London’s Wembley Stadium, and there will be three this season (Raiders-Dolphins on Sept. 28, Falcons- Lions on Oct. 26 and Cowboys-Jaguars on Nov. 9). But if you ask Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, as MMQB’s Peter King did, this is only the beginning.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday But wait, you say: How can the NFL be thinking of putting a team (or teams!) in London when it doesn’t have a team in Los Angeles, which is only America’s most-populous U.S. city? Blank apparently thinks there will be a team (or teams!) there, too.

Miami Dolphins’ Richie Incognito bullying allegations are the latest in long list of NFL problems

On Thursday night, I’ll watch when Washington visits Minnesota, just as I’ve enjoyed the NFL since I was a boy 50 years ago. My father, my son and I have watched the evolution of the NFL for generations. It has been the backlighting for Thanksgivings and a cause for phone calls of delight or misery as recently as Sunday. But especially in the last couple of years, the deluge of ugly, even horrific news surrounding the NFL has become a source of shock, chagrin and even critical self-examination for many of us. Where are we? Where is pro football? The NFL doesn’t have a PR problem. It has a reality problem. And it may be a grave one. Every month — and it seems every few days — the NFL is inundated by new, barely suspected revelations. What has the NFL become? Or is this what it has been for some time? Is the truth coming out of the shadows? The list is stunning. Its cumulative effect, not any one particular item, is the true confidence-shaking shock. The NFL is now the league of murder charges against Aaron Hernandez — gang execution style. The NFL is the league of murder, then suicide, with Jovan Belcher killing his girlfriend and then shooting himself in the head in a parking lot by his stadium as his coach and general manager watched. The NFL is the league of concussions, cover-ups for decades and in-house pseudo-science to discredit critical research. That is, until dementia, insanity and a $765 million settlement with its players hits the headlines. The NFL is a “League of Denial.” The NFL is the league where future Hall of Famer Junior Seau, barely retired, shot himself in the heart so his brain could be studied by science to help prove that chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a core part of football, with risk of brain damage down to the smallest kids who play it. It’s the league of Dave Duerson, 50, who also took a bullet-to-the-chest exit in 2011. CTE found. Ray Easterling, 2012 suicide, CTE found. Six weeks ago, Paul Oliver, 29, committed suicide in front of his wife and children. The NFL is the league of chronic degenerative injuries and grotesquely crippled stars, such as Jim McMahon, who can’t remember his name just 25 years after playing quarterback in the Super Bowl. The NFL is the league of thug bullies such as suspended Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito, who allegedly extorted money, texted racist insults and made death threats to a younger teammate. It’s the league of $15,000 stripper parties in Las Vegas, paid for by intimidated, hazed rookies who don’t make the trip but pay the check even if it busts them. The NFL is the league where, a year ago, greedy owners planned union-crushing lockouts and pulled it off. It’s the league where owners gang up to enforce collusion and punish Washington with a $36 million salary cap penalty because it didn’t go along. The NFL is the workaholic league of coaches who know 100-hour weeks are expected — to the point of self-destructive obsession. On Sunday, Gary Kubiak had a minor stroke and collapsed as he walked off the field; just two days earlier John Fox, who had heart surgery Monday, collapsed on an off day when he took a break to play golf. The NFL is the league where famous teams and coaches, such as the Patriots and Bill Belichick, are fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for cheating, where a Super Bowl-winning coach (Sean Payton) is suspended for a year because his assistants offered cash bounties to injure opposing players (more if they are carried off the field). It’s the league that suspends and fines Brandon Meriweather for intentional hits to the head only to have him respond that he’ll just switch to “ending careers” with hits to the knee. The NFL is the league where star quarterbacks face sexual harassment or rape charges and a hero of the last Super Bowl has beaten a murder rap. The NFL is the league that, to save money, fights in court to maintain a college-based feeder system for its pro talent, contributing to corruption of college athletics. The NFL is the league that used incompetent scab referees last year to wrestle a few bucks from its real officials. The list seems endless, yet it never ends. The NFL is the league where you hold your breath week to week, almost day to day, to find out what crime, what betrayal of trust, what warped values for the young the sport can become identified with next. The NFL is the league where a nickname like “Redskins” looks comfortably at home. This is what we know, what we now have to digest, as individuals and as a sports-fascinated culture that has raised the NFL to the status of “favorite game” — by far. We already know these NFL shock headlines and more. What we haven’t done yet is put it all together, look at the monstrosity that has risen before our eyes in the past couple of years and weep. The NFL PR machine always has small-picture rebuttals for big-picture incriminations. That works one issue at a time. But the day comes — and may have arrived — when the correct response is simply, “Look at all of it. Explain away the entire pattern.” If the NFL doesn’t alter its culture, it won’t be “America’s game” forever. Pro football isn’t going away any more than prize fighting has died. But status among sports can change — a lot. Is the NFL already so violent and infatuated with its own wealth that its phenomenal success will handicap it in facing the breadth and depth of its problems and prevent it from properly protecting its long-term future? On Thursday night, I’ll still be watching. What my late father and I didn’t know when we cheered the sport we had both played was that, someday, a game that linked generations would also be the source of so many ugly questions. Like millions, I grew up as pro football grew up. It has been part of my life. But in time, I can gradually change. Can the NFL? For more by Thomas Boswell, visit washingtonpost.com/boswell. More on the NFL: Thursday turnaround is a challenge Redskins-Vikings: Five story lines to follow Great moments in light-hearted Redskins hazing Is Thursday a must-win for Redskins?

Players union faces tough legal obstacles in proving collusion

The NFL Players Association faces significant legal obstacles, experts say, in its bid to win damages from the league via a lawsuit that accuses the 32 teams of colluding to hold down player salaries in 2010, when there was no NFL salary cap. For starters, the league contends that the union doesn’t even have the right to bring the case. “I understand the union’s argument,” said Gary Roberts, dean of the Indiana University law school. “Certainly, superficially there’s some evidence to support it. But you have to get past the first procedural issue of whether they have waived their right to bring the claim.” Other legal and business experts said the union’s task is difficult but perhaps not impossible. “Collusion is very, very difficult to prove,” said David Carter, executive director of the sports business institute at the University of Southern California. “It takes an awful lot of connecting of dots that might or might not exist. It’s a tall order.” The players’ union filed its collusion lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Minnesota, alleging that the NFL operated with a secret salary cap of $123 million per team in 2010, the uncapped year. NFL teams are barred from conspiring to restrict players’ salaries. The union is seeking at least $1 billion in damages. The league denied the collusion accusations and maintains that the union is prohibited from filing its lawsuit by a provision of the collective bargaining agreement reached in 2011 and an agreement filed in court last year. Experts predicted that the NFL will attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed on those grounds and said the league has a strong case. “Even if the [players association] believes they have strong evidence of collusion, they still have to overcome a very large threshold of whether they have waived their right to bring this case,” said Gabriel Feldman, director of the sports law program at Tulane University. “Initially they are going to be arguing over whether there is a right to bring this claim.” An article in the CBA prohibits the union from filing “any claim relating to. . . collusion with respect to any league year prior to 2011.” Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the union, said this week he does not believe the CBA article prohibits the filing of the collusion lawsuit because the union did not know at the time the labor deal was completed that collusion had occurred and therefore was not aware such a claim was possible. In addition, the two sides filed a court document last year that says: “The parties stipulate to the dismissal with prejudice of all claims, known and unknown, whether pending or not, regarding the stipulation and settlement agreement…” The document specifically mentions a case related to the league’s television contracts and a previous collusion claim by the union. But Kessler said that broad dismissal of all claims known and unknown was rejected by the court and the court instead dismissed only existing claims. The league contends that the original wording was accepted and applies now. “It’s very broad language,” Feldman said. “When you read it, your first reaction is that it appears to block the PA from bringing these claims. But the PA has a different interpretation of the language. I can’t handicap it. It’s an uphill battle for the PA but they do have an interpretation that they are going to offer that would enable them to bring the claim.” Not enough is known yet, Roberts said, about the strength of the union’s case if the complaint is not dismissed. “Once you get to the merits, it will turn on the evidence,” Roberts said. “It’s not a frivolous complaint on its face. I think it will gain some traction. But there are an awful lot of unanswered questions at the moment.” The Minnesota federal court in which the case is filed often has been depicted as a favorable legal venue for the union. But the federal appeals court that would be the next step in the legal process regularly is portrayed as business-friendly. Experts expressed mixed views about the importance of that, ranging from saying it matters little during the dismissal debate to expressing confidence the union will prevail at the district court level but the league will win on appeal.

When we cheer for our team, do we have to cheer for America, too?

_Tricia Jenkins is an assistant professor of film, television and digital media at Texas Christian University and the author of“The CIA in Hollywood: How the Agency Shapes Film and Television.”  _ The customary flyover by fighter jets may be absent from this weekend’s Super Bowl; after all, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans is covered. But a military color guard will be on the field during the pregame ceremonies. CBS will cut to shots of troops watching the game overseas. Veterans will be recognized on the stadium’s video boards. And flag imagery will abound, as will stirring renditions of the national anthem and, most likely, “America the Beautiful.” Sports games — some of the only events that lead Americans to set their differences aside and sit down and watch together — have become stages for large-scale patriotic theater. This is no accident; many of the militaristic rituals we see in stadiums and arenas across the country were deliberately designed to promote unity during times of crisis. But they’ve stuck around far longer than needed, making sports feel less like pastimes than pep rallies for our military or a particular war. During World War II, team owners introduced the national anthem and ceremonies honoring the armed forces as a way to win President Franklin Roosevelt’s support for continuing play amid the conflict. The weekend after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle inserted moments of silence and flag ceremonies into his league’s games. The small flag decals on many athletes’ uniforms arose from basketball and football organizers’ desire to show unified support for the Persian Gulf War. And “God Bless America” has replaced or supplemented “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during baseball’s seventh inning stretch; the New York Yankees introduced this tradition after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But gestures that once offered comfort have become habit. And the patriotic displays have only gotten more inventive. College football’s national championship game last month between Notre Dame and Alabama featured Air Force paratroopers who jumped out of a plane and glided onto the field to deliver the game ball to officials. Sure, it’s a thrill for fans in the stadium. But such vaudeville quiets political dissent. When NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the national anthem during the 1995-1996 season, he was suspended by the league. An American Muslim, Abdul-Rauf said that he saw the flag as a symbol of oppression and that standing for the anthem conflicted with his religious beliefs. The league barred him from playing until it came up with a compromise: He had to stand, but he was allowed to look down rather than at the flag. Likewise, Toni Smith of Manhattanville College turned her back on the flag during the national anthem in the 2002-2003 basketball season. A player of white, African American, Jewish and Native American heritage, she was protesting the coming U.S. war in Iraq and the government’s mistreatment of minorities. “Iraq was the icing on the cake,” she said. “But it wasn’t just the war. It was everything before that. It was everything that the flag is built on, everything that is continuing to happen and things that haven’t even happened yet.” In response, fellow students started a petition demanding that she return her financial aid, and spectators shouted obscenities at her during away games. In 2004, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado called the Iraq conflict “the stupidest war ever” and refused to stand with his teammates when “God Bless America” was played, often disappearing into the dugout instead. Yankees fans booed Delgado when he came to play New York and shouted “U.S.A., U.S.A.” when he lined out. By refusing to participate in patriotic gimmickry because of their objections to U.S. policy, these athletes were exercising their constitutional right to dissent. Still, their teams, leagues and crowds tried to silence them. That’s their right, too, of course. But somehow, a country founded on rebellion finds not standing for an anthem or saluting a flag un-American. The militarism of our sporting events is particularly jarring given American ambivalence about the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a 2010 poll, 59 percent of Americans said the war in Iraq was a mistake, and 72 percent said it was not worth the costs. In May 2012, a poll showed that support for the war in Afghanistan had dropped to a new low: Only 27 percent of Americans said they backed the conflict, and 66 percent said they opposed it. Sports fans who don’t support these wars may still applaud our returning veterans at games, of course. Some may be able to separate their support for our troops from their opposition to specific conflicts. Others may be intimidated by those around them, pressured into playing along. Still others may end up cheering the military whether they want to or not because sporting rituals now conflate it with athletics. After all, it was hard to tell whether Fighting Irish and Crimson Tide fans were celebrating the arrival of the game ball or the paratroopers who delivered it. Likewise, when the San Diego Padres take the field on Sundays dressed in camouflage jerseys, are fans rooting for their home team or the military that inspired its outfits? This militarized pageantry seems here to stay — sports franchises benefit too much from the cheap thrills and public relations opportunities it affords. The military covers the costs of flyovers and paratroopers by logging those events as training exercises, and it hopes the theatrics will result in recruitment boosts. What comes next? Navy SEALs sneaking through the bleachers to deliver free pizzas? Beer sold in combat-boot-shaped cups? Or maybe miniature drones dropping T-shirts onto the crowds below? **outlook@washpost.com **

NFL to hold four games in London next season

The NFL continues to intensify its commitment to playing in London, announcing Friday that it will hold four games there in the 2017 season. That will be the most London games ever for the league in a season, and it represents half of what the regular season home schedule would be if the NFL ever bases a franchise there. “We continue to be incredibly excited by the passion and love for the NFL shown by our millions of UK fans,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a written statement. “London is an amazing city. We have had tremendous support from our fans, from Mayor [Sadiq] Khan and other government leaders and business partners, and we are looking forward to taking the next step in the UK by playing four games in London next season.” The NFL played three games in London this season, plus one game in Mexico City. League officials have left open the possibility of eventually placing a team in London, while acknowledging that there would be competitive matters and issues of logistics to address. Such a move would have to be ratified by the owners of the 32 teams. The league said it will announce the particulars of next season’s London games, including participating teams and venues, on Tuesday. “London is the international home of the NFL and staging the equivalent of what would be half an American football team’s home games in the city is a huge step towards my ambition of bringing a franchise to the capital,” Khan said in a written statement.

Obama: Ravens QB Flacco could eclipse Biden’s popularity in Delaware

If Vice President Biden is Delaware's most popular son, he might soon get a run for his money, President Obama quipped Wednesday. At a White House ceremony honoring the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, Obama joked to Ravens quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco that if he keeps playing so well, "you are going to challenge Biden for the most popular person from Delaware." Flacco is a University of Delaware graduate. Flanked by Ravens players and coaches, Obama praised the team's efforts. It's become tradition for champion American professional sports teams to visit the White House. The president mentioned the team's comebacks last season, and cheered the Ravens for overcoming adversity. He also lauded the team's community service outreach efforts, including donating jerseys to school sports teams. *[WSU]: Wayne State University The president also singled out star linebacker Ray Lewis, who retired after the Ravens Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers. "Ray retired on top, coming back from a tricep injury, which I believe was caused by that dance he does," Obama said, referring to Lewis's well-known pregame ritual. "No, I am not doing that dance."    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Obama, who was presented with an honorary jersey (number 44, naturally) concluded by wishing the Ravens well in the 2013-2014 season -- but with a caveat. "Best of luck next season," Obama said. "You are going to need it in Week 11 when you go to my hometown of Chicago to play the Bears."

NFL teams observe moment of silence for victims of Paris attacks

In addition to beefing up security at stadiums two days after terrorist attacks in Paris, NFL home teams Sunday will hold a moment of silence before kickoff. Commissioner Roger Goodell made the request, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tweeted. The moment of silence will be held before the national anthem, spokesman Brian McCarthy said, at each game and may delay kickoff by just a few moments.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico _[NFL increases security]_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico There are no specific threats at stadiums, the NFL said, based on information from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. “The safety of our fans, stadium personnel and teams at all NFL games is our priority, and security at our games is robust,” the league said in a statement. “Our procedures have been certified and designated by the Department of Homeland Security since 2008 as effective anti-terrorism technology. All NFL clubs use mandatory metal detector screening and multiple layers of perimeter security external to the stadium to safeguard fans and the stadium from explosive threats.” The league urged fans to skip bringing bags to games Sunday and Monday night. _[Reminder: Here’s the NFL’s bag policy]_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “If it is essential to bring a bag, it must be in compliance with the clear bag policy which requires that it be made of clear plastic, vinyl or PVC and not exceed 12″ x 6″ x 12″. It is important that all fans comply with these requirements, and we appreciate their efforts to cooperate with these security measures,” the league said in a statement. Multiple suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Stade de France during Friday’s soccer match between France and Germany. One of the terrorists reportedly tried to enter the stadium with a ticket but was turned away after he was found to be wearing an explosive vest. The terrorist then detonated his bomb.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Rams, Raiders reportedly are ready to move to L.A., but NFL says ‘not so fast’

The St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders are devoting energy and resources to moving to Los Angeles in 2015, but, so far, the process has been slowed by the NFL. The league will not approve a relocation to L.A. without the prior approval of stadium, property and development deals, CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reports.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The idea of the two teams sharing a stadium, as the Jets and Giants do in New Jersey, is an intriguing one. The San Diego Chargers would be willing to move as well, but the Rams and Raiders are farther along in the process. The Rams have one distinct advantage, according to La Canfora. Rams owner Stan Kroenke has land around Hollywood Park race track and it could become a “league site” if the Rams are willing to take on a second tenant. Getting the Chargers to align with Kroenke would be difficult because Chargers owner Dean Spanos has deep real estate ties in southern California. That leaves Mark Davis, eager to get out of Oakland’s O.co Coliseum and without financial ties to the L.A. market. All of which means, according to La Canfora:

The World Cup doesn’t bring people together. It tears them apart.

When you flip on World Cup games this month, you’ll probably hear more than a few feel-good buzzwords on international cooperation. Every four years, the World Cup is hailed by various journalists and promotion managers as a great global unifier. The optimism is ubiquitous. The World Cup’s official song is titled “We are one.” It’s official slogan? “All in one rhythm.” At this year’s event, FIFA—the beleaguered organization behind the World Cup—has even teamed up with the Nobel Peace Center to introduce the Handshake for Peace, a symbolic palm clasp players will do before and after every match. The goal, according to officials, is to “inspire the world to unite in peace, solidarity, and fair play.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Some analysts even posit that the World Cup could end wars. Mathew Brown predicted in the Financial Times that if Colombia won the gold in Brazil, a peace agreement ending its civil war would be signed in two weeks. A month of soccer matches, fourteen days of negotiations, and a brutal five-decade conflict extinguished! Perhaps FIFA could teach the US and G20 its ways?    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Of course, this is nonsense. International sporting competitions do not foster goodwill. They generate the very opposite, fueling age-old ethnic and national hatred among people and reinforcing division, segregation, and demonization of others. Violence is a natural outgrowth of sporting matches—particularly international ones—and is exacerbated by existing political conflict. Eric Dunning and other sociologists have shown how the centrality of reputation, solidarity, and sovereignty—the same things so fundamental to warfare—fuel the enmities found in soccer hooliganism.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday When old enemies meet on the pitch or the hardwood or the ice, it’s war without guns. When a country loses a match to a rival, people go crazy. They riot in the streets and burn flags and buildings. Their feelings—of national humiliation if they lose and nationalist superiority if they win—are whipped into furies in ways that would make the most charismatic of demagogues envious. After their 2002 World Cup loss to Japan, Russians in Moscow went on a rampage and two people were left dead. The authorities then wisely banned the screening of games on large screens outdoors. In 2006, violent clashes broke out in Germany after Poland lost to Germany in a match replete with war-time symbolism. When Ireland and England squared off in a “friendly” soccer game in 1995, the event began with fans jeering the other side’s national anthem and ended 27 minutes later with a nationalist riot instigated by a neo-Nazi group. The ‘English Disease’ of soccer hooliganism even has its own variant in France, where the media and some legislators castigated the national team in 2010 for lacking patriotism—biting racist commentary directed at a team made up of so many brown and black players.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday None of this is specific to the World Cup either. Canadians in Vancouver destroyed over a million dollars of property when their hockey team lost in the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry—perhaps the fiercest in the world—has sparked communal violence and killing in South Asia in the past. A neutral observer at a match might think he was in a simulated war zone. (The infamous 1999 match between the two actually took place in the context of a war preceded by the testing of nuclear missiles.)    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Both war and sport draw from the same well of group hatred, which is why international sporting events sometimes result in violence. Notice how quickly name-calling and stereotyping come rushing out like caged bulls at events like the World Cup. The competition, the flags, the desire to defeat and demean an imagined enemy, all of this is analogous to warfare, which is why there are heavily armed soldiers, riot police, and pain-inducing gasses of various sorts. In one sense though, the specter of it all is a reminder of just how far we have to go before we move beyond tribal hostilities. The World Cup inspires a lot of emotion, but the only sense in which it “brings people together” is by giving them another reason to yell that their country is better than yours and that your country deserves to be defeated by theirs.

Five myths about the NFL

_Steve Almond is the author of “Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto.” _ Over the past few weeks, Americans have been confronted by a slew of scandals besieging our most popular sport. Outrage over the off-the-field violence of star running backs Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson has been accompanied by the revelation that the National Football League expects almost one-third of its retired players to develop long-term cognitive problems at “notably younger ages” than the rest of the population. Amid all this scrutiny, the NFL remains enshrouded in myths. Let’s consider five of the most stubborn. **1. The NFL is on its way to resolving its concussion crisis.** This talking point, trumpeted by league officials and routinely repeated by sports reporters and fans, relies on the notion that new helmet technology and rule changes will suffice. In fact, the number of concussions was up more than 50 percent in this year’s first three preseason games compared with the same games last year. And even if the league reduces concussions, the profound risks to its players will remain in the form of sub-concussive hits, the hundreds or even thousands of lesser blows that damage the brain without registering as full-blown concussions, and that are absorbed not just during games but in every full- contact practice. The NFL doesn’t have a concussion crisis, in other words; it has a violence problem. Players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever. When they collide, their brains — soft organs — smash against the inside of their skulls. No miracle technology or rule tweaking is going to undo the basic physics and physiology of the sport. **2. The NFL’s economic model is socialist.** Pundits from Chuck Klosterman to Bill Maher have echoed this canard. It’s true that NFL teams share revenue generated by TV and merchandise deals. But this fact is a testament to the league’s canny corporate ethos. In 1961, for instance, lobbyists persuaded Congress to pass a law that allowed the NFL to circumvent antitrust rules and to sell TV rights, collectively, to the highest bidder. In effect, the NFL became a legal monopoly. A few years later, lawmakers cut a deal with the league that granted it tax-exempt status. Like most effective monopolies, the NFL has leveraged its power at the expense of taxpayers, who supply 70 percent of the funding for NFL stadiums — along with millions in infrastructure — according to Judith Long, a professor of urban planning at Harvard University. Team owners also receive lucrative “inducement payments” to keep them from moving their franchises to other cities. Billionaires shaking down cities and states for public monies? That’s not socialism. It’s crony capitalism. **3. NFL players are especially prone to be arrested for violent crimes.** It has become common practice for media outlets to run stories about the criminal tendencies of NFL players in the wake of major arrests. This is the reason that pundits such Geraldo Rivera can get away with making derogatory remarks about the “jungle ethos” of players. But while NFL players are more likely to be arrested on weapons charges than other adult men, they are less likely to be arrested on assault and drug charges. And a detailed statistical analysis by FiveThirtyEight.com revealed that the overall arrest rate for NFL players — when compared with other men in their age range — is just 13 percent of the national average. The more interesting question — one rarely posed in the crime-blotter coverage of these cases — is how NFL players are treated by the criminal justice system. What sort of legal advantages do their fame and wealth confer? **4. NFL teams are a boon to local economies.** The NFL and its boosters portray the league as the ultimate job creator. A USA Today story cited a study — commissioned by the NFL Players Association — claiming that the league “supports about 110,000 jobs in NFL cities” and that games add “about $5 billion” to local economies. Sounds impressive! But check the fine print. Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist and his colleagues have long argued that the “economic impact” studies commissioned by the NFL and its potential host cities to drum up support for new stadiums are essentially propaganda. He and 16 collaborators compared the economies of cities with new stadiums with those of cities that invested in other forms of economic development. Across the board, the economists found that the sports facilities produced “an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment.” A study by financial-services firm UBS concurred: “Independent academic research studies consistently conclude that new stadiums and arenas have no measurable effect on the level of real income or employment in the metropolitan areas in which they are located.” The reason for this has a fancy name (“the substitution effect”), but it’s pretty simple: People tend to spend consistent amounts of money on entertainment. Football doesn’t increase that net economic activity in a city; it merely channels it into football-related endeavors. The NFL offers a feast-or-famine model of economic development. Rather than supplying year-round jobs, the league creates 10 or so mega-events annually (i.e. home games) during which the city adds a large number of temporary, low-wage jobs. But even such events can have a downside. As UBS noted, “Sports fans tend to displace other visitors.” **5. The NFL is a ticket out for young men with no other options.** Millions of Americans read Michael Lewis’s bestseller “The Blind Side” or saw the hit movie that earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar. The story offered a familiar narrative: A poor African American teen is recognized for his athletic talents, winds up attending college on a scholarship and eventually makes the pros. It was perfectly calibrated to reinforce the larger idea — endlessly recycled in the sports media — that football represents a form of economic salvation. The truth is a little less inspiring. According to the NFL Players Association, only 215 of the 100,000 high school seniors who play football in a given year will make the pros. That’s one-fifth of 1 percent. What’s more, the average length of an NFL career is less than four seasons. In 2009, Sports Illustrated estimated that 78 percent of players went bankrupt, or were on the verge of doing so, within two years of retiring. Amid all the focus on players who earn multimillion-dollar salaries, fans lose sight of the larger reality: The NFL is essentially a lottery ticket. Far from providing opportunity in our most economically vulnerable communities, football deludes us into believing that every kid has a shot — so long as he weighs 280 pounds, can run 40 yards in 4.5 seconds and doesn’t mind putting his body at risk of permanent injury for our entertainment. **stevealmondjoy@gmail.com **

‘Concussion’ illuminates the grave issue of head injuries in the NFL

The concussion-in-football issue is rather a simple one: Bennet Omalu was able to link chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease, to repeated blows to the head that many players sustain. Naturally, the NFL, over the tenure of two commissioners, ignored or dismissed his findings because, well, when you are a    $7-billion-a-year business, nothing — including science — is going to get in the way of conducting that business. So, yes, football has a neurological trauma problem, first brought to light after Omalu examined the body of 50-year-old former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster in 2002. In the recently released “Concussion” — the movie that chronicles the doctor’s exasperating struggle against the NFL to connect the game’s violent collisions to CTE — two statements by Omalu, played by Will Smith, stand out: “God did not intend for us to play football.” “By my estimation, Mike Webster sustained more than 70,000 blows to the head.” And when you see “Concussion,” it’s hard not to walk away with two considerations: 1. You want to think twice before playing football — can one justify the joy of playing or income derived at the risk of undeniable, serious health consequences? 2\. You want to think twice before even _watching_ football — can one justify the entertainment of the game derived at the expense of these athletes’ future brain damage? “Concussion” may not be a great film, but it is a great tutorial on the grave nature of the concussion issue. (By the way — if I can put on my film critic’s hat for a moment — how the heck were we watching Omalu _dancing in a nightclub_ 30 minutes in? I’d have to say it slowed the action. But, of course, because it’s Hollywood, there had to be a romance. So they stuck a love story in “Concussion” — that’s like sticking a car chase in “Citizen Kane.”) To this day, Omalu speaks abundant common sense on the issue. Here are some recent compelling words of his from the Los Angeles Times: “I’m not anti-football. If as an adult you know, ‘If I play football, there’s a risk I’ll suffer brain damage,’ and you still make up your mind to play, I would be one of the first to stand up and defend your right and freedom to play. “But we need to protect children because they are still minors. If you start exposing yourself to blows to the head as a child, your risk of brain damage is greater. With smoking, alcohol, sex or driving, you need to reach the age of consent before we allow you to intentionally expose yourself to harm. . . . Why shouldn’t we do it for the risk of brain damage from repeated blows to the head?” The NFL, for its part, first tried to silence Omalu, then eventually went into its usual public relations/feign substantive interest/even-throw-some-money-at-the-problem routine. This includes its “concussion protocol,” in which a concussion spotter watches for blows to the head and calls down to the sideline to have a player immediately examined. Yet the Rams’ Case Keenum suffered an obvious head injury in Week 11 and never came out of the game and the Panthers’ Cam Newton absorbed a helmet-to-helmet blow in Week 13 and took three more snaps before they checked him. And so it goes. In Jeanne Marie Laskas’s “Concussion,” the book the film is based on, she writes about the NFL announcing a gift of $1 million to Boston University in December 2009 to study CTE. Shortly after, the Boston-based Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit concussion-research group, threw NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a party and presented Goodell — a notorious flat-earther when it came to concussions — with its Impact Award. They had a big cake on hand, Laskas reports, with a brain on top — made of frosting — in the shape of a football. The moral of the story? It always seems like this Goodell fella can have his cake and eat it, too. **Q.** As a Los Angeles resident, are you excited by the prospect of being able to see Jeff Fisher realize his 10-year plan to get the Rams to 8-8? (Don Frese; Hobe Sound, Fla.) **A.** Pay the man, Shirley. **Q.** So did both your ex-wives toss the challenge flag and the rabbi then overturn your marriage, ruling you were not a catch? (Walt De Bell; Troy, N.Y.) **A.** Pay the man, Shirley. **Q.** Can I apply for the Cleveland Browns’ general manager position at any one of Jimmy Haslam’s truck stops? (Jerry Milette; Annapolis) **A.** Pay the man, Shirley. **Q.** Why pay $1.25? Wouldn’t it be easier to just pay $1 — it’s got to be hard to put that quarter in an envelope and keep it from rattling around. Besides, the banks aren’t paying anything, so why should you? (Reginald Goodman; Lumberton, Tex.) **A.** You are the first person ever to suggest I lower the payment — if you can work without benefits, you can replace Shirley starting Tuesday. You, too, can enter the $1.25 Ask The Slouch Cash Giveaway. Just email asktheslouch@aol.com  and, if your question is used, you win $1.25 in cash! ****More NFL coverage:** ** Luck sustains Seahawks, hopes of third straight Super Bowl appearance Seahawks need a different game plan to stop Newton, Panthers Wilson may have saved Seattle’s season with scramble, completion Roethlisberger reportedly has separated shoulder, to have MRI Were Steelers unofficially knocked out of the playoffs Saturday night?

NFL’s chief medical officer calls marijuana research ‘really important’

The NFL’s chief medical officer says it is “really important” for the league and the NFL Players Association to determine whether marijuana can be used as an effective and safe pain-management tool for players.  “I think that’s part of what we hope to accomplish together working together with the Players Association,” Sills said. “I think this is really important because I like to talk about that our approach to caring for players is really holistic. We want to talk about health and safety issues that affect the whole player experience. And certainly pain management is a big part of that.” The league sent a letter to the NFL Players Association in July offering to work together on research into the potential use of marijuana for pain management for players. The NFLPA has been conducting its own study on the issue and so far has not responded to requests for comment on the NFL’s offer. The letter is the clearest indication yet that the league might be willing to work cooperatively with the union on the issue. Marijuana use is banned under the sport’s collectively bargained drug policy and players face disciplinary measures, including suspensions, for positive tests. “These really aren’t just football issues,” Sills said. “These are society issues, right? We know right now that as a society that the treatment of both acute and chronic pain is a huge public health problem. In fact, I think I just saw some recommendations of a congressional panel coming out asking that the president declare a national state of emergency about opioid use in this country. So these are societal issues. But I think that we in professional sports are in a unique position to help inform the public and to do research and really advance our state of understanding about this issue.”   “I think this is another important contribution from the Boston University group,” Sills said. “They’ve obviously been a leader in this space and helping to define and describe the pathology of CTE. And I think it’s another important piece of this puzzle that we’re trying to put together. I think that I like to describe CTE [as] it really is a puzzle where we’re trying to assimilate pieces to better understand it, because there’s so much we don’t understand with regard to causation and incidence and who’s exactly at risk, and what are the risk factors and what things might we modify and certainly treatment. So we have a lot left to learn. But this is obviously another key piece as we move forward.”  Asked about that, Sills said: “I think it’s very clear that there are long-term health risks associated with repetitive head injuries, particularly if they’re not treated properly. That’s something that’s been established since 1928. A pathologist named Harrison Martland first described a syndrome in boxers where he talked about the effects of repetitive head blows. So I think that association is very well known. But I agree, again, with a lot of medical experts that we still have a lot of unanswered questions about cause, about incidence, prevalence and long-term effects such as CTE, particularly why some people that play football and other contact-collision sports develop this condition and the vast majority do not.” Sills said the league updated its concussion protocols for the upcoming season based on the latest accepted worldwide medical standards and practices. Beginning with Thursday night’s Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, between the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, all sideline concussion evaluations of players will be conducted in medical tents, which are being utilized by the NFL for the first time. Sills brought together all the medical personnel involved in the league’s game-day concussion evaluations for an offseason training session. He spoke to the referees, who are involved in identifying players with concussion symptoms. He has been working with Thom Mayer, the NFLPA’s medical director. He said he will continue to practice at Vanderbilt, treating athletes’ nerve and spine injuries. He spends a great deal of time, he said, at the league offices in New York, where he works in the office formerly occupied by former Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin, who left to take a front office job with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Sills said he travels regularly to visit individual NFL teams and attend medical and research meetings. He hopes to continue, to the extent that it’s possible, working Friday nights at high school games and Saturdays at college games, in addition to coaching youth sports. “The very first time I ever met with the commissioner,” Sills said of Roger Goodell, “the first words out of his mouth were, ‘Player health and safety is our number one priority. And if you take this job, we want you to help make sure that we get that right. We want to be leaders and we want to be setting the tone for sports medicine care throughout the world.’ “And I obviously was reassured to hear that, not only from him but I also heard the same message from team owners and from other executives in the league and club personnel. That was obviously an important part of my decision-making to even consider taking the job. But it’s been gratifying to see that. … Everyone has really acted in accordance with that.”

Raiders and Chargers announce proposal to build, share Los Angeles stadium

After not having had an NFL team for over 20 years, suddenly Los Angeles may be on the verge of hosting three, each of which once called the city home. While the owner of the Rams, Stan Kroenke, continues with his plans to build a stadium in L.A., the Raiders and Chargers jointly announced a proposal Thursday to construct and share their own facility just minutes away.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The Raiders and Chargers both are on year-to-year leases with the stadiums in Oakland and San Diego, respectively, in which they currently play. Both teams have professed desires to stay in their current markets, but they are frustrated at local opposition to providing public funds for new stadiums. Thursday’s proposal envisions a stadium in Carson, just south of downtown Los Angeles and southeast of Inglewood, where Kroenke is eyeing a sprawling, multi-use development. It would allow the Raiders and Chargers to pool their funds into a privately financed stadium, and the location would allow them to tap into a much larger and more wealthy market to help pay for it all. The two teams released this statement: The Raiders first moved from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1982, then back in 1995. That same year saw the Rams, who had played in the Los Angeles area since 1946 relocate to St. Louis. The Chargers’ first year of existence, in 1960, was spent in L.A. before the team moved to San Diego, where it has remained. Currently, the only two NFL teams that share a stadium are the Jets and the Giants. However, their fanbases don’t have nearly the same mutual animosity as do those of the Raiders and Chargers, and, of course, the former two teams have always shared the same metropolitan area. All three teams are committed to playing in their current markets for the 2015 season, but not necessarily beyond that. However, it is highly unlikely that the rest of the NFL’s owners would approve of all three teams moving to L.A.

The NFL and the New York Times are engaging in a war of words over concussion story

On Thursday morning, the New York Times published a lengthy investigative piece on what the NFL knew about the link between football and degenerative brain disease and when the NFL knew it. In the piece, headlined “In NFL, Deeply Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to Big Tobacco,” the Times questioned the league’s reporting of concussions from 1996 until 2001 and sought to connect the dots to Big Tobacco. The Times noted that the number of concussions, including those to Steve Young and Troy Aikman, was downplayed by the league.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “If somebody made a human error or somebody assumed the data was absolutely correct and didn’t question it, well, we screwed up,” Dr. Joseph Waeckerle, a member of the NFL’s concussion committee, told the Times. “If we found it wasn’t accurate and still used it, that’s not a screw-up; that’s a lie.” The NFL, which usually responds with a brief statement to such stories, fired back this time, issued a strong rebuttal: That was not, though, the end of the story. The Times fired back at the NFL, oddly enough, in a series of tweets. It was a somewhat unorthodox means of rebutting a rebuttal, but it left one thing clear: This isn’t over.

With daughter’s help, Josh McCown laughs at his much-traveled NFL career

For Josh McCown’s daughter, jersey day at her school recently provided a perfect opportunity to rep her quarterback dad, but it also presented a dilemma: Which jersey to wear? McCown, you see, truly puts the “journey” in “journeyman,” having played for seven NFL teams during his 14-year career. And so it was that McCown tweeted out a photo Friday showing the ingenious method his daughter devised to pay proper tribute to him. Presumably, that’s McCown’s daughter in the lower left, given that she’s wearing a jersey for the Browns, his squad for the past two seasons. McCown started Cleveland’s second game this year, following a shoulder injury to Robert Griffin III, but he suffered his own shoulder injury and is out for several weeks. In the caption, McCown notes that two jerseys are missing from the photo, which would be for the Cardinals, with whom he broke into the NFL and played from 2002 to 2005, and the Panthers (2008-09). The Dolphins jersey in the photo reflects the fact that Miami signed him in 2008, but then traded him to Carolina before the regular season began. McCown’s other teams shown in the photo are, from left, the Buccaneers (2014), Raiders (2007), Lions (2006) and Bears (2011-2013), the latter worn by two girls. He could have added that a third pro team’s jersey was missing, that of the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League, for whom he played in 2010. In addition, McCown was signed by the 49ers in August 2011 but was released before the regular season started, eventually winding up in Chicago. Great job by McCown’s daughter to show a lot of pride in her dad while helping him have a laugh at his much-traveled NFL career. Just one more question: Couldn’t he have taken a more tactful route, instead of telling the world that “she doesn’t have enough friends” to wear all of his jerseys?

NFL doctor tells NFL Network that CTE is ‘over-exaggerated’

The NFL isn’t taking the debate about its long-term future prospects lightly. It is fighting back by reminding people that the game has never been safer. In fact, it send a neurosurgeon who is a member of its Head, Neck and Spine Committee onto its company-run network to say that long-term neurological damage from hits to the head is “over-exaggerated.” In fact, Dr. Joseph Maroon, who is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ neurosurgeon and a board-certified clinical professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said that riding bicycles and scooters are more dangerous to youngsters than playing football and spoke of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. “We came up with 63 total cases of CTE [and] in the last two years a few more,” he told Dan Hellie on “Total Access.” “But there have been 30-40 million kids who have played football during that period of time. It’s a rare phenomena. We have no idea the incidence. There are … more injuries to kids falling off bikes, scooters, falling in playgrounds than there are in youth football. I think again, it’s never been safer. Can we improve? Yes. We have to do better all the time to make it safer.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico [ _Is Borland retirement beginning of end for NFL?_ | _Football future under scrutiny_ ]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The subject has come up in the wake of the stunning retirement of Chris Borland after one season in the NFL. Borland, 24, is the fourth player under 30 to quit in the last week and Borland cited the potential for long-term brain damage from repeated hits as his reason for stepping away. Maroon’s comments probably aren’t going to change the minds of a growing number of parents (some of whom are former NFL players) who say they would not let their children play football, but he reiteritates the league’s official stance that the game has never been safer. “The rule changes, the safer tackling techniques, the medical management of concussions is so much better than it ever has been in the history of the sport,” Maroon said. One of the most harrowing tales about the spiraling deterioration and debilitation that former players have suffered is that of Mike Webster, the former Steelers player who died in 2002. He suffered such trauma that his son had to taser him to allow him to fall asleep. “Mike was one of the hardest players in the history of the sport, and he obviously had many traumatic episodes through his head,” Maroon said, adding that Webster’s case was unique and that the game has changed. Certainly, it has. Players are removed from games and evaluated for concussion symptoms under NFL protocol, but there too are often exceptions. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and tight end Heath Miller both returned too quickly for an adequate examination during a playoff game in January. Maroon was asked what his message to concerned parents would be and it was rather alarming.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “I think the problem of CTE, although real, is it’s being over-exaggerated and being extrapolated to youth football and to high school football,” Maroon said. Maroon thought that Borland made the right decision to retire after only one NFL season. “When an athlete is fearful of any injury, it’s time to get out. You can’t play with apprehension in any sport and be as good as you can be. He obviously came to that conclusion himself. … However, I really believe it’s never been safer in terms of the sport. The rule changes, the safer tackling techniques, the medical management of concussions is so much better than it ever has been in the history of this sport.”

Doug Baldwin says some NFL owners squelch national anthem protests

When it comes to protesting the national anthem, some NFL players are being forbidden from taking a stand, according to one NFL player. Doug Baldwin, the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver who led the team’s quest to find a unified way to protest police brutality against minorities, claimed that some owners “have taken a stand and told players to do certain things, which I think is egregious” in an interview with HBO’s Bill Simmons. NFL ownership is overwhelmingly white; more than half the players in the league are black. Increasingly over the last few years, players have sought to express themselves, especially after police shootings of unarmed black men. The national-anthem protests, though, take place during the highly visible pregame ceremonies. “There’s been owners that have told their players to do specific things or to not do specific things … regarding the national anthem and the protests,” Baldwin told Simmons on “Any Given Wednesday.” “The one quote that I was informed of was, ‘You’re going to stand on the line with your hand on your heart and you’re going to sing the national anthem because this is my stage.’ ”  Baldin didn’t offer any suggestions about which owners might have put the kibosh on the protests, which began when people began noticing that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was remaining seated during the playing of the anthem at preseason games. Kaepernick has since modified his protest by taking a knee. The protests have spread across the WNBA, women’s soccer and the NBA, where players have linked arms during the anthem in the first week of preseason games. Players like Baldwin embraced Kaepernick’s protest, but, like Kaepernick, Baldwin sought to make clear that the protest was focused at the racial implications of police actions and not at the military people who so often are part of the pregame ceremonies at NFL games. Baldwin, whose father was a policeman and has family members in the military, and the Seahawks came up with the idea of linking arms before the Sept. 11 season opener. The message they’re sought to send has been one of unity.

NFL officials have been criticized for ignoring brain injuries. But they’re not the only guilty ones.

This time last year, linebacker Chris Borland fulfilled a lifelong dream: getting drafted into the NFL. Borland went on to lead the San Francisco 49ers in tackles during his rookie campaign and emerged as a star in the making. But when the 2015 NFL Draft kicks off Thursday, he’ll be on the sidelines. Borland, 24, made headlines last month when he announced his early retirement. He cited concern for his long-term mental and emotional health as a result of football’s well-documented link to traumatic brain injury.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Borland’s action was both novel and compelling. Many injured players retire from the NFL every year, but what makes Borland’s announcement unusual is that he was responding to _risk_. He was being proactive, not reactive. That suggests a growing awareness and acceptance of the link between football and brain disease. As both a health policy researcher and the mother of two athletes, I hope Borland’s bold move will be a watershed moment for football, leading to better prevention and treatment of brain injuries. But watershed or not, the greater attention to brain trauma will be of little use if we consider it only an NFL problem.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Young athletes, for instance, experience head injuries at an alarming rate. A child goes to the emergency room for a sports-related concussion once every three minutes, according to the Youth Sports Safety Alliance. And that rate isn’t driven only by young football players. Studies have found frequent concussions in soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse, as well. My son plays high school ice hockey and I worry about him getting hit. If he gets a concussion, he’ll be at greater risk for many health problems, including depression and early-onset dementia. I have to worry about my daughter, as well, who plays recreational soccer. Data shows that female athletes suffer even more concussions than boys do (although it’s unclear if girls are more susceptible or if boys are less likely to report).    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Research I’ve conducted with my colleagues at RAND shows that brain injury is a serious problem among the nation’s veterans, too. The Defense Department has reported that more than 320,000 service members have experienced a traumatic brain injury since 2000, including many who were injured during training or in noncombat settings. Our own studies found that nearly 1 in 5 veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan reports having experienced a possible traumatic brain injury during deployment. So identifying and treating brain injuries are critical issues for the Department of Veterans Affairs.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico About 1.5 million people in the United States experience traumatic brain injuries every year, and more than 5.3 million are living with disabilities caused by those injuries. Despite the prevalence of brain trauma, we know surprisingly little about what causes it, how it affects us and how we can prevent it. The most critical key to answering those questions is data. And we need a lot of it.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico First, we must collect more information about who experiences these injuries in various contexts — from youth football fields to men and women in combat zones — and with what consequences. Too often, the schools, leagues and agencies that manage the settings in which these injuries occur don’t consider this type of research a priority, and there isn’t enough funding to enable proper studies. But it’s important for the health of our children, professional athletes and veterans that these institutions collaborate with researchers to track when and how brain trauma happens and to whom, so we can better understand what puts people at risk. That will allow us to engineer equipment and develop game rules that mitigate those risks. For instance, we don’t know if it’s safer for athletes in certain sports to play with helmets or without them. More data on how brain injuries are sustained in lacrosse and hockey would help us answer that question.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico We also need more data on what trauma does to the brain. The NFL has devoted millions of dollars to improving the diagnosis and imaging of brain injuries. But the information that comes from that research needs to get to the hospitals, sports doctors, veterans agencies and others who are the first line of defense against concussions and their long-term effects. Concussions are notoriously difficult for doctors to diagnose and far too many coaches fail to either recognize brain injuries or take them seriously. Delayed treatment causes longer recovery times and potentially increases the risk of long-term cognitive effects. While better imaging in the lab is a good start, we need better screening tools out in the field, too.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Finally, we need many more studies on the effectiveness of different treatments. Some of this research is underway now: The departments of defense and veterans affairs have developed a national action plan for brain trauma that details ways to reduce the number of veterans and military members affected by brain injuries and mental health issues. But we need a plan to ensure that health systems are providing the best possible care to athletes and others, as well. We don’t yet know what therapies work the best — cognitive remediation, pain medication, or simply rest. And even though organizations keep promoting these treatments, we don’t have the systematic evidence that they actually work. Health professionals need better, proven tools to ensure that they provide treatment that offers the most promise of full recovery. **** In addition to its focus on veterans, the federal government should establish partnerships with other entities that have the most at stake – namely the NFL, NHL and other major sports leagues – to create grants that back the critical research of brain-injury treatment.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico During his announcement, Borland expressed concerns about our lack of knowledge about the risk, effects and treatment of brain trauma, saying, “It’s like jumping into the water and you can’t see how deep it is.” Many won’t stop taking the plunge: Today’s NFL draft, my son’s next hockey game, and the continued combat deployments of the nation’s military men and women are evidence of that. But with greater investment in research, we might get a lifeguard.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **More from PostEverything:**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Girls suffer sports concussions at a higher rate than boys. Why is that overlooked?    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Chris Borland’s retirement will not change the NFL    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Football has proven its moral vacancy. It’s time for fans to quit.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico For battered NFL wives, a message from the cops and the league: Keep quiet    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Can you spot Marshawn Lynch in this photograph?

So a group of NFL players are in Turkey to participate in an international camp called American Football Without Barriers, among them Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch. And as that ol’ saying goes, you can take Lynch out of the country, but you can’t take the Beast Mode out of Lynch.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The group arrived in Istanbul last week, and it was invited to the home of the U.S. Consul General, Charles Hunter. We don’t know what was specifically suggested about attire for the event, but it appears that most of the NFL players went with versions of the “business casual” look. Well, most of the players did, but not quite all. Can you spot the sartorial standout? Nobody, but _nobody_ , keeps it real like Lynch. And it appears that the running back is all about that bass.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico That bass, in this case, would be Ron Bass, in whose garments Lynch is swaddled from head to, well, ankle, at least. And you can have that look, for just $275! That’s how much the hat, the hoodie and the pants, combined, retail for on the Ron Bass Web site.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Just sayin’, you never know when you’ll need to throw an ensemble together for your next visit to the residence of a high-ranking foreign official. This is proving to be quite the newsmaking trip for Beast Mode, who provided a Turkish interviewer with a conspiracy theory about why he didn’t get the ball on the Seahawks’ ill-fated final offensive play of the Super Bowl. Oh, and Lynch is also helping women from that part of the world challenge the status quo by doing the same football drills as the men are doing, which is pretty cool.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico (H/T SB Nation)    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Tom Brady dodges concussion questions because it’s not ‘anyone’s business’

Amid growing concern over the prevalence of concussions in the NFL, Tom Brady has chosen to keep mostly quiet on the matter — especially when it comes to his own experience. “I really don’t think that’s anyone’s business,” he said at New England Patriots training camp Friday when asked about his wife Gisele Bündchen’s assertion earlier this year that Brady suffered a concussion last season. “What happened last year — I’m focused on this year, and improvement, and working on things I need to get better at. That’s how I approach everything. I mean, I’m not sitting here worried about last year, or five years ago.”   “I mean, we go to bed in the same bed every night, so I think she knows when I’m sore, she knows when I’m tired, she knows when I get hit,” he continued. “We drive home together. But, she also knows how well I take care of myself. She’s a very concerned wife and very loving.”  That Brady remains so tight-lipped about his own injuries comes in the face of other players becoming more vocal about head injuries, which more studies have connected to the degenerative and sometimes deadly brain condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy.  “You see the effects of it from past players, players who have taken their lives, the CTE, all that stuff and, you know, I’m thinking about my family and long term,” he said. “I love this game and I love my brothers that I play football with, and I would encourage any player who has an issue with their brain to just report it properly. … We are blessed to play this game but we also have a life to live.” Since Roethlisberger made his remarks, even more evidence linking CTE to football has emerged. Late last month, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the VA Boston Healthcare System examined 111 brains of now-deceased NFL players and found 110 had CTE.   “…[I]t’s a contact sport,” Brady added. “I think we all understand that. … Obviously, it’s great that there’s more awareness. I try to be proactive and take care of my body the best I can.”  “I just love doing this,” Brady said (via USA Today). “I’ve never thought about not playing. At least till my mid-40s, I’ve said, so that’s a pretty good goal in it of itself. And then we’ll see when I get there. But it has been so fun. Football has been such a rewarding part of my life. I fell in love with the game when I was young and I’m still in love with it today.”

DeflateGate: ‘More probable than not’ Patriots violated rules, Tom Brady aware

An investigation commissioned by the National Football League concluded that the New England Patriots most likely circumvented league rules regarding the air pressure in game balls on their way to their fourth Super Bowl championship — and their celebrated quarterback, Tom Brady, probably knew all about it. Citing the actions and text messages of two team employees, the report by attorney Ted Wells concluded that it is “more probable than not” that the Patriots deliberately used under-inflated footballs during their AFC championship game victory over the Indianapolis Colts.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico [ _Kilgore: Tom Brady lied; only consequences open to debate_]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The report is the culmination of a highly unusual situation in which the NFL, for the second time in less than nine years, investigated whether one of its most successful and highest-profile teams circumvented rules to gain a competitive advantage. In 2007, the league found the Patriots had improperly videotaped opposing coaching signals. These most recent accusations dominated discussion in the two weeks leading up to February’s Super Bowl, raising scrutiny of Brady and the Patriots’ competitive integrity even as they were pursuing their fourth title. It remains unclear what — if any — punishment awaits. The report’s most compelling evidence are colorful and frequently profane text messages between John Jastremski, a Patriots equipment assistant, and Jim McNally, the offcials’ locker room attendant at Gillette Stadium. McNally, in a text message to Jastresmski in May 2014, referred to himself as “the deflator,” according to the report.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico “Based on the evidence developed in connection with the investigation and summarized in this Report, we have concluded that it is more probable than not that New England Patriots personnel participated in violations of the NFL Playing Rules and were involved in a deliberate attempt to circumvent those rules,” Wells wrote. “In particular, we conclude that it is more probable than not that Jim McNally and John Jastremski participated in a deliberate plan to circumvent the rules by releasing air from Patriots game balls after the examination of the footballs by NFL game officials at the AFC Championship Game.” Wells wrote that investigators also concluded “it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls.” Investigators do not believe there was wrongdoing on the part of Coach Bill Belichick, any of his assistant coaches or the team’s ownership, Wells wrote. [ _Read the full report_]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Still, the investigation’s conclusions about Brady threaten to taint his legacy as one of the sport’s greatest quarterbacks. While lacking concrete evidence that Brady orchestrated or ordered the balls’ deflation, the report is starkly critical of his honesty in cooperating with investigators.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Brady insisted he had no involvement in any efforts to deflate game balls and that he did not know McNally nor his role, but the report states, “We found these claims not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.” McNally, the report added, also divulged to NFL Security that Brady had told him personally of the quarterback’s preferences regarding air pressure. In a written statement released by the league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said: “As with other recent matters involving violations of competitive rules, Troy Vincent [the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations] and his team will consider what steps to take in light of the report, both with respect to possible disciplinary action and to any changes in protocols that are necessary to avoid future incidents of this type.” Patriots owner Robert Kraft called the investigation and its findings “incomprehensible.” Kraft said in a written statement he was “convinced” that Wells’s investigation “would find the same factual evidence supported by both scientific formula and independent research as we did and would ultimately exonerate the Patriots.” Kraft said that to “say we are disappointed in its findings, which do not include any incontrovertible or hard evidence of deliberate deflation of footballs at the AFC Championship Game, would be a gross understatement.” [ _Early Lead: Hilarious texts between Patriots equipment handlers_ ]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Kraft also said the Patriots would accept the findings of the report and any discipline dispensed by the league, but he went on to opine that “the time, effort and resources expended to reach this conclusion are incomprehensible to me.” Possible penalties against the Patriots could include a fine and the loss of one or more draft picks. Goodell fined Belichick and the Patriots a total of $750,000 in 2007 and stripped the team of a first-round draft choice in the “Spygate” scandal in which the Patriots were found to have improperly videotaped opposing coaching signals. One person familiar with the league’s inner workings said decisions regarding potential discipline are “coming soon.” Possible discipline of Brady, as well as a fine and prospective loss of a draft choice, are “all under consideration,” according to that person, who requested anonymity because no official announcements had been made. In a 2008 memo to the league’s competition committee, Goodell vowed tougher penalties for future violations of the sport’s competitive rules. “Too often, competitive violations have gone unpunished because conclusive proof of the violation was lacking,” Goodell wrote in that memo. “I believe we should reconsider the standard of proof to be applied in such cases, and make it easier for a competitive violation to be established. And where a violation is shown, I intend to impose more stringent penalties on both the club and the responsible individual(s).” This year, the league fined the Atlanta Falcons $350,000 and stripped them of a fifth-round draft selection in 2016 for piping fake crowd noise into the Georgia Dome during home games. The NFL then suspended Falcons President Rich McKay from the league’s competition committee, even after concluding that McKay was not aware of the transgression. The league also fined the Cleveland Browns $250,000 and suspended their general manager, Ray Farmer, for the first four games of the 2015 season for improper in-game texting. The Patriots’ latest scandal intensified the public debate as to whether the team’s accomplishments have been tarnished. Detractors have called them cheaters. Supporters of the team counter that such feelings result from jealousy over the franchise’s unmatched success. “We want the truth,” Goodell said two days before the Super Bowl. “That’s what I think our fans want. That’s what our clubs want. And so what we want to do is make sure that we find that truth. If there are violations of the rules, we take them seriously, particularly when they deal with the integrity of the game and the rules.” **DeflateGate backstory**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Five questions answered on DeflateGate    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Kilgore: Tired of DeflateGate? Blame the NFL.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Brady on DeflateGate: ‘I didn’t alter ball in any way’    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico President Obama zings Patriots over DeflateGate    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

When it comes to protesting the national anthem, some NFL players are being forbidden from taking a stand, according to one NFL player. Doug Baldwin, the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver who led the team’s quest to find a unified way to protest police brutality against minorities, claimed that some owners “have taken a stand and told players to do certain things, which I think is egregious” in an interview with HBO’s Bill Simmons. NFL ownership is overwhelmingly white; more than half the players in the league are black. Increasingly over the last few years, players have sought to express themselves, especially after police shootings of unarmed black men. The national-anthem protests, though, take place during the highly visible pregame ceremonies. “There’s been owners that have told their players to do specific things or to not do specific things … regarding the national anthem and the protests,” Baldwin told Simmons on “Any Given Wednesday.” “The one quote that I was informed of was, ‘You’re going to stand on the line with your hand on your heart and you’re going to sing the national anthem because this is my stage.’ ”  Baldin didn’t offer any suggestions about which owners might have put the kibosh on the protests, which began when people began noticing that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was remaining seated during the playing of the anthem at preseason games. Kaepernick has since modified his protest by taking a knee. The protests have spread across the WNBA, women’s soccer and the NBA, where players have linked arms during the anthem in the first week of preseason games. Players like Baldwin embraced Kaepernick’s protest, but, like Kaepernick, Baldwin sought to make clear that the protest was focused at the racial implications of police actions and not at the military people who so often are part of the pregame ceremonies at NFL games. Baldwin, whose father was a policeman and has family members in the military, and the Seahawks came up with the idea of linking arms before the Sept. 11 season opener. The message they’ve sought to send has been one of unity.

NFL expands plans for international games, will consider sites beyond London

NEW YORK — The NFL extended its commitment Wednesday to play international games and announced that some of those overseas games will take place at sites other than London. The new resolution, ratified and announced during a one-day owners’ meeting here, extends the NFL’s ability to schedule international regular season games through 2025. The previous resolution had allowed for games in the United Kingdom through the 2016 season. “This marks an important step in our long-term international growth,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a written statement.  “Fans in the UK have responded incredibly well to the regular-season games we have played in London since 2007. They have demanded more NFL games, and we have worked to accommodate them. We think it’s time to expand our International Series to other countries and respond to the growing interest in our game not only in the UK, but elsewhere around the world.” The NFL’s announcement said that other countries are being considered to host games next season in addition to the games in the United Kingdom. The NFL did not specifically identify Germany and Mexico but they have been mentioned as leading contenders to host games. The league is playing three games this season at Wembley Stadium in London. The New York Jets defeated the Miami Dolphins there last Sunday. The Buffalo Bills play the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 25 and the Detroit Lions face the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 1.