If you live in Illinois/Chicago area and are a sports nut there may be a very good chance you have or constantly tune into 670 The Score. One of the more outspoken show hosts, also extremely well-rounded, is Dan Bernstein who provided a good column about concussions and the NFL;
Then, as is usually the case, the coverage focused only on the most severe impacts and extreme cases, ignoring the less spectacular times and places where the real damage is being done.
And once again, the real conversation never happens.
Colt McCoy getting blasted into next week by James Harrison makes for exciting video. The ensuing soap-opera aftermath drove discussion, as does the story of the Chargers’ Kris Dielman taking a shot to the head, going back into the game, and suffering a seizure on the flight home.
Bernstein uses his platform on the radio to discuss this topic quite often. I appreciate what he does, frankly he is one of very few that devote so much time and show to concussions. If you have time and live in this area tune into Boers and Bernstein Show in the afternoons. There you will receive very good and funny information about sports, but more you will get Bernstein’s take on concussions, a good perspective;
Goodell and the league are protected by concussion talk to the extent that the media (and, in turn, the public) ignore the fact that good ol’ football is destroying brains on its own – at every level, and all the time.
Pressure is mounting from former players to push the NFL to acknowledge that they knew all this stuff was bad for their brains. So watch for the league to exploit this disconnect, now, to create an opportune shield. Goodell can relent on the tightly-defined link between concussion and brain damage, while never exposing the business by recognizing the reality.
As long as this is seen as the league’s “Concussion Problem,” they never have to face up to the truth of what it is:
A Football Problem.
===========
Later this week we will run the final concussion numbers from training camp through the Super Bowl…
The Concussion Blog 