Anyone not dating Manti Te’o knows the NFL, and football at large, has used recent years to try and eradicate concussions. The increased awareness about what concussions can do to the brains of athletes helps everyone understand what changes need to be made in professional sports. In order to make players safer, Roger Goodell and the NFL have embarked on expansive measures, fining helmet-to-helmet contact and sponsoring research projects at prestigious hospitals like NIH.
Yesterday, NIH doctors investigated the brain of former linebacker Junior Seau, who shot himself last year after a decorated career for the Chargers, Dolphins, and Patriots. At the time, Dibbles and Bits immediately blamed repeated blows to the head for his sudden erratic behavior. As the NIH investigators found, Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition football fans will undoubtedly hear more about in the coming years that results from repeated blows to the head.
On the same day, Seau’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the NFL, joining more than 3800 players who have sued the NFL over head injuries. In every case, the plaintiffs argue the NFL knew about the connection between concussions and CTE and hid that danger from players. In addition, helmet manufacturers also knew, according to the suing players, and did not put in adequate protections in their helmets. Seau’s family specifically named Riddell for being negligent in their helmet design.
The effects of CTE can be truly damaging. Former players suffer from depression, amnesia, insomnia, emotional detachment, and irrationality. Interviews with plaintiffs like Jamal Lewis and Jim McMahon show them forgetting questions and being unable to remember details when put on the spot by a journalist. Overall, these players do suffer. Of that there can be no doubt.
And yet, for whatever reason, the filing of Seau’s suit provided the final straw for me. After reading the stories, watching the interviews, and hearing the soundclips of the concussion question, I have always felt sorry for these former players, abandoned by the NFL to deal with their own mental and physical issues alone. Watching Jamal Lewis struggle to remember a question always pulled at my heartstrings, breaking forth when he finally had to ask the reporter to repeat the question slowly or in multiple parts.
But another emotion has always permeated my thoughts on this…confusion. Confusion that these players, having made millions of dollars playing a violent sport, are now suing their former employer. Confusion that as kids these players must have known the dangers of football, accepted them, and played at the highest level, being battered along the way. And, finally, confusion that so many of them, who boast that they can take or give big hits, would turn right around and change their image from the macho style of football to a long-suppressed hatred of the game they played for a long time.
Being a Washington fan, I watched in horror as Robert Griffin reinjured his knee three weeks ago. He refused to come out of the game, promising Mike Shanahan he was good to go, struggling on the field until his knee caved beneath him. But we also saw Rob Gronkowski two years ago dodge the question of whether he blacked out on the field. When pushed why he wouldn’t say, Gronk responded that he would hide concussion symptoms just to play. Or how about Kris Dielman, the Chargers offensive lineman, who stumbled his way between plays in a game two seasons ago after clearly suffering a head injury. None of these three examples, when faced with possible injuries that could have lifelong effects, chose not to play the game. Their desire to play trumped any concern for their health at the time…and they were totally cool with that.
Those might be present day examples, but some of the plaintiffs are no different. Junior Seau told NFL Films in 1993 that after a big hit “If I feel a little dizziness, I know the other guy feels double that.” I don’t read any remorse in that, no care for either Seau’s health or the other guy. And Jim McMahon, the former Bears quarterback and most recognizable plaintiff, has difficulty convincing anyone he didn’t accept the dangers of a violent sport. Not only did McMahon project a brash image when he played the game, but he has his own quotes. My favorite might be “I don’t like the rules about you can’t hit the quarterback.” He loved to take hits as a player and always felt trash talking was in order afterwards. That’s quite the shift from arrogant macho man to one more concerned about long-term safety in the game.
Unfortunately, it’s not just the competitive nature of players that keeps them playing despite injuries. The fan market also tells them to do so. Remember the Twitter beating Jay Cutler took for sitting out of the NFC Championship with an undisclosed injury? His competitive spirit and general toughness received a thorough tongue-lashing from fans disappointed and unimpressed, even if Cutler’s long-term health benefited from the decision. Fans don’t care about the future lives of these players…they want to win. So many fans and players discuss not wanting to see guys get hurt, but for fans that takes a backseat to winning. Otherwise, why would Cutler receive that kind of abuse? The franchise quarterback had to sit out in consideration for his safety, and fans revolted. For players, they care about the welfare of other competitors on the field, with many of them praying over injured players during games. And yet, everyone keeps playing, knowing they might be next.
Given that attitude, I find it hard to justify paying large sums of money to these plaintiffs. That does not mean I don’t pity them…I can’t imagine what early-onset dementia might feel like and the pain it might cause one’s family. But if we separate the nature of the injury for one moment, the principle of paying damages seems ridiculous. Let’s say, for example, a player must be in a wheelchair after age 50 due to repeated leg injuries. Should he be able to sue the NFL saying he didn’t know about that danger when he first suited up? Your answer will decide how you feel about concussions. Of course, the knowledge has evolved on CTE and head injuries, but a head injury and a wheelchair are direct consequences of the football profession, which everyone accepted when they signed multi-million dollar contracts to play this sport. No one put a proverbial (or literal) gun to their head with “you will sleep with fishes” threats when Seau and McMahon began their careers. McMahon might wish he had played baseball, but he didn’t.
In a week where the sports world quickly judged Manti Te’o and Lance Armstrong for their respective choices, the lack of judgment for these concussion plaintiffs strikes me as a double standard. Psychologically, of course, society hates to see anyone suffer. That Lance and Manti rose above their competition while making poor choices means we want them to accept the consequences. And yet, when folks like Seau and McMahon make a poor choice and suffer because of it, they are able to demand money from their former employer without anyone seeming to notice.
In a post a few weeks ago, I refused to blame the environment in the NFL, reiterating that the essential human nature of athletes means they make poor choices just like the rest of us. It’s time we as a whole started realizing this fact and treating them accordingly. I feel sorry for these players, as their lives must be fraught with difficulty right now. But not everyone with a tough life deserves money from the biggest business in the world. That might be heartless, and it might be tough, but the world remains that way, whether we like it or not.
Bit #1: Rule Change Needed for Tennis?
An interesting thing happened at the Aussie Open yesterday. World number one Victoria Azarenka took a 10 minute medical timeout late in the second set of her match against Sloane Stephens. Stephens was about to serve and had been coming on strong before the timeout. Once Azarenka returned to play, she won the next two games to take the semifinal match and advance to the final.
When asked after the match about the timeout, however, Azarenka said, “Well I almost did the choke of the year right now. At 5-3 having so many chances, couldn’t close it out. I’m glad I could just turn it around. I just felt a little bit overwhelmed realizing that I’m one step from the final and nerves got into me for sure.”
I’m sorry, nerves? If Azarenka had started projectile vomiting because of her nerves, that’s one thing (I’d like to see it just once in tennis), but to worry about choking the match away? If that’s a medical timeout in the real world, no one would have any sick days left over. Some might say it’s gamesmanship, but medical timeouts, by definition, are meant to deal with medical problems. In tennis, that usually is respiratory or orthopedic problems. Apparently for Azarenka, nothing bothered her except losing the match.
Might be time for a rule change or at least a strongly worded note from the WTA.
Bit #2: Capitals Look Terrible
Watching the first two Caps games this year, I’m worried. For one, the team can’t score. Worse, the defense gives up too many turnovers. Third, Braden Holtby can’t control his rebounds, giving up tons of second chances. And, worst, the Caps have allowed five power play goals in ten penalty kills. Eek.
If you watched the pitiful display against Winnipeg, the defense worries me the most. John Carlson has likely never played such a poor game, so I’d support a shearing of defensive hairs. Both Mike Green and Carlson sport large heads of hair this year…and they can’t find the puck in that mess. It could be a really long season in what was supposed to be a race to the finish.
Bit #3: Best Bet I Made Before the Season
In the Lakers locker room, things aren’t going well. New reports out of LA point to a potential feud between Kobe and Dwight Howard, eerily reminiscent of Kobe’s prior problems with Shaq in the early 2000s. The Lakers look to contend for the 8th and final playoff spot, a far cry from their preseason prognostications.
And props to my housemate Jacob, who bet me $20 before the season that the Lakers would finish ahead of the Thunder in the regular season standings, saying “They just can’t compete with LA.” The records stand as such:
OKC: 33-10
LAL: 17-25
Cha-ching.
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