The NFL & Concussions: Adding Insult to Injury

According to a story in the New York Times former NFL players "found with a severe brain injury after they turned 45, or who played in the N.F.L. for five years or less, would probably receive smaller payouts" from the league's recent $765,000,000 settlement of a lawsuit brought by 4,500 retired players.

The problem of course is that encephalopathy is a gradual, neurodegenerative disease that, while there have been high profile cases of players exhibiting symptoms before age 45, may take years to manifest itself.

Further, the survivors of players who died before 2006 (e.g. Mike Webster, Terry Long and Andre Waters) would be ineligible to receive any payment.  What does that mean for those survivors?  According to the article, "the families of players who committed suicide [prior to 2006] and were found to have C.T.E. may receive up to $4 million."

Given the level of suffering that some players have suffered it seems small-minded, if not cruel, to exclude cases of football related encephalopathy, and the attended depressive issues, that have been confirmed by postmortem examinations simply because the victims died more than seven years ago.

Draft wrap-up, looking back to look forward

Not sure how we managed to miss this in the run-up to the draft but the New York Times has a very cool, interactive tool that allows for looking at past 18 drafts (i.e. 1995-2012) to determine when the most productive players were chosen.

Oddly enough, using the criteria for productivity established by the Times, the most productive players go in the earliest picks.  But the 1999 draft features two of the best value picks from that period: Joey Porter (pick #73) and (one of our all time favorites) Aaron Smith (pick #109).

Judy Battista calls out the officials

One of the writers whose work I enjoy tremendously is Judy Battista of the New York Times, so it is a happy confluence of events that the Steelers won a game against the New York Giants and Ms. Battista hammers the officiating crew.  Enjoy, won't you?

Here's what could kill the Steelers

It is tremendous to see the Steelers playing in yet another AFC Championship game; and their chances of winning are very good. However, their loss earlier in the season to the Jets (at Heinz Field) can be tied to one, immutable fact: Steelers special teams units are dreadful.

The New York Times has come up with a spiffy series of charts to show just how good the Jets special teams have been this season; and if the Steelers don't step up their game it could be a long evening at Heinz Field on Sunday.

The spiritual Troy

Karen Crouse of the New York Times offers up a terrific article this morning on Troy Polamalu, and the spirituality that is so at odds with the violence of his profession; and I love this quote from James Harrison: At times when we need a little guidance, he’s the guy we go to . . . Troy’s a lot deeper than a lot of people who actually preach the word."

A nice article from one of my favorites

Judy Battista is one of my very favorite NFL writers (no Ed Bouchette, but who is?), and she has a good article regarding James Harrison and the aftermath of the fine that was levied against him.

Ben's "problems" a long time coming?

Their is a theory, nascent in its development, that perhaps the concussions that Ben Roethlisberger has suffered since arriving in Pittsburgh (off the field, and on) may have contributed in some way to his alleged behavior in Georgia and Lake Tahoe.

But in a one of the most revealing articles I have read regarding Mr. Roethlisberger's upbringing and personal life, Thayer Evans of the New York Times speaks to friends and acquaintances about the Steelers' troubled quarterback.

A quote early in the article is pretty shocking:

To Roethlisberger’s many fans, the revelations of his conduct have come as a shock. But to many who knew him growing up in Findlay, Ohio, or played with him in college, or saw his personality change in Pittsburgh, the seeds of his problems were sown long ago.

“It took awhile,” Ryan Hawk, a backup to Roethlisberger at Miami, said in a telephone interview, “but it’s all coming out now.”