What is also shocking is that there is much independent research to show that concussion, especially when repeated, can have another devastating effect, PTHP, yet the NFL research team completely ignored this aspect. PTHP happens when the fragile pituitary gland or its slender stalk is damaged, and the results can be impotence, infertility, chronic fatigue, depression and obesity. It may not show until years after injury, but it can be treated by replacing the compromised pituitary hormones. See http://bit.ly/1SCB2nW and http://bit.ly/213ouuh for more detail. The second link, to a systematic review, finds that PTHP happens after 16.8% of mild TBI (i.e., concussion). Quite a risk.
4
The Times articles have exposed the greed and deception of the NFL, but the "minor leagues", the pipelines for players to get to the pros, namely college and university athletic programs across the country, shouldn't be getting a free pass on this. Head trauma in football has been studied for years. When I was a student at Northwestern University in the 1960's an orthopedic surgeon at a local hospital chose a running back on each year's team to wear a specially designed helmet that registered the force of blows to the head and transmitted the data to a recorder in the stadium. The magnitude of these blows was astonishing - in one case, greater than 6000 ft/lbs. I don't know whether these data were ever published in medical literature, who has the data now, or whether there has been follow up with any of the study subjects. Recent examples clearly indicate that the cascade of concussions begins early in many of these players, and some former college players have come up with CTE. College athletic programs are driven by the same financial incentives as the pro game and can't be considered guiltless in these events.
4
Roger Goodell says CTE link to football consistent with NFL's position.
He can't help himself. The man is a serial liar.
He can't help himself. The man is a serial liar.
2
Unfortunately, this news is not surprising. To take it further is there any concussion/CTE data on former college football players who made it into the NFL and those that didn't? I suspect that may increase the numbers of those who suffered such injuries.
Reading "smoking, which kills 1,300 people a day in the United States" is shocking! Why is this terrible health hazard still legal?
And shocking to what extent the young men who play football are considered pieces of meat (or Kleenex?) to the NFL!
And shocking to what extent the young men who play football are considered pieces of meat (or Kleenex?) to the NFL!
1
I do not smoke and I do not watch football games and boxing, for a reason.
Will the journals that published the NFL's pr pieces now retract the articles? Isn't that what real science would do?
2
Light me up, big tobacco ! Great "research" and much collusion leads me to suspect it'll be OK with the NFL if I go to their games on Sunday wearing no pants. Both these factions have long been Slow Murder Incorporated.
Football is akin to the gladiators at the Roman forum. More people killed/injured = more "fun" for the fans/audience. It is entertainment with lives at risk for the players but not the watchers or the profiteers.
Outlaw it for children & change the rules to protect the players. Ban advertising it as a sport like cigarette advertising is banned. Eg. Put big billboards on the side of football stadiums akin to what most civilized nations have on the side of cigarette packages.
Sounds too harsh then sign your child up for head injury so he can be exploited by the billionaire owners. It`s all good then.
Outlaw it for children & change the rules to protect the players. Ban advertising it as a sport like cigarette advertising is banned. Eg. Put big billboards on the side of football stadiums akin to what most civilized nations have on the side of cigarette packages.
Sounds too harsh then sign your child up for head injury so he can be exploited by the billionaire owners. It`s all good then.
I don't want anyone playing this sport. I don't like the hyper competitive atmosphere for any sports really, but our obsession with football is ridiculous. Players tackle each other with enough force to kill one another, if not on the field, slowly through brain disease. The players should know their bodies best since they are the ones feeling the pain and stress. Do they even need any scientific research to confirm the risks of this extremely violent sport?
1
As I read this very thorough article, and some of the ensuing comments, several thoughts struck me. First is the manipulation of science to support financial gain or broadly a "conflict of interest." The NFL's association with Big Tobacco is very illuminating here and has parallels with Exxon/Mobil’s generation-old suppression of climate change evidence associated with consumption of fossil fuels or Big Ag's widespread practice of purchasing "science" from agricultural researchers at America's land grant research institutions, where it has become almost impossible to keep a job or get tenure without industry grants which focus on reaffirming the safety of GMO crops and the pesticides they are engineered to survive in ever-increasing doses. Second is the connection between Big Money and public policy. The legal talent mentioned in this article does not come cheaply, and it has been deployed obviously to divert the public's understanding of the connection between repetitive head injuries and brain damage. To say the players willingly accept the risk is fatuous, since those risks have been systematically distorted by those who benefit from the players' "choice" to play. There is no true choice if it's based on intentional deception. That is why fraud is a crime. What we have here is just another example of unchallenged plutocracy (Citizens United comes to mind). Third is the relationship between CTE and football helmets. Do they allow a tolerance for near concussions?
2
As a lifelong NY Giants fan, I am saddened to think of the many players who have unknowingly been grievously injured. Shame on the owners who covered this up. The fans need to vote with their feet and $ to break this monopoly. It's time to shift our interests to the international version of football, i.e. soccer.
1
Every time I think about cancelling my subscription to the NYT another article like this comes out and I see it now is tantamount to a moral imperative to support this institution, one of the last left in this country that carries on in the venerable muckraking tradition.
3
Even more disturbing are the NFL Ad Banners popping up throughout the article touting how much the NFL has done to improve player safety over the past years. To the Times Web Ad Sales staff - pretty pathetic that you'll sell out your own reporting on such a tragic subject just to make a buck.
4
Perhaps American football could learn something from Rugby (either League or Union) - no helmets. If anyone thinks that Rugby is less tough than American football, they should watch some matches. Helmets were meant to protect but when they are used as battering rams there is a major problem.
2
The NYT is on to something much bigger than the NFL here. The tobacco industry of the 1970s and 80s is turning out to be the go-to propaganda model for the pharmaceutical business as well. The rub here is that big time sports today --just like the drugs, auto, chemical, etc. industries--aren't getting nearly the media (not to mention regulatory) scrutiny because they're all in cahoots, tethered to the same revenue pipeline? Sports can't survive without advertisers any more than what's left of today's media can. If you're a broadcast outlet, for instance, how do you begin to responsibly cover a business like prescription drugs, which increasingly foots lion's share of the bill for network and cable newscasts at the very same time as its army of top tier lobbyists have tied up the executive and legislative branches? The flawed research put out by these industries is tip of much bigger iceberg. If the media want to win back the public's trust, they have to put the consumer interest ahead of their own bottom line, which is exactly what they failed to do with the tobacco industry three or more decades ago.
6
Imagine if no one showed up for a game or watched it on TV until somehow the health of players became more important than money. Full disclosure - never attended a game in my life never watched one and I'm just fine.
2
A case study of the impact a concussion can have on an individual's life perhaps gives one pause when one compares it with the violence that NFL athletes have endured over a much elongated period of time.
Our volleyball playing granddaughter about a year ago was hit on her head by an errant ball. Diagnosed with a concession she endured severe headaches that impacted her schoolwork (problems with memory; concentration; sensitivity to light) and, on top of everything else, seemed to had a bit of a personality change (reacting to different situations in a way different than before). She recovered, but not immediately, and not without the concussion also impacting her junior year grades. Recently while playing coed recreation volleyball, a spiked ball driven by a male player again smacked her head and she, again, is going through another recovery period.
Concussions (as with old age) "is not for sissies!" As the real life situation illustrates, if concussed, one needs immediate medical attention that includes a prescribed method of recovery.
As the NYT article illustrates, it appears that the NFL is well-equipped to have known off what stands for normal concussion protocol. But instead it opted to place its athletes at risk while trying to orchestrate a pr campaign that disguises the real consequences of concussions to the very public that has long supported its many billion dollar industry. Talk about ethical behavior!
Our volleyball playing granddaughter about a year ago was hit on her head by an errant ball. Diagnosed with a concession she endured severe headaches that impacted her schoolwork (problems with memory; concentration; sensitivity to light) and, on top of everything else, seemed to had a bit of a personality change (reacting to different situations in a way different than before). She recovered, but not immediately, and not without the concussion also impacting her junior year grades. Recently while playing coed recreation volleyball, a spiked ball driven by a male player again smacked her head and she, again, is going through another recovery period.
Concussions (as with old age) "is not for sissies!" As the real life situation illustrates, if concussed, one needs immediate medical attention that includes a prescribed method of recovery.
As the NYT article illustrates, it appears that the NFL is well-equipped to have known off what stands for normal concussion protocol. But instead it opted to place its athletes at risk while trying to orchestrate a pr campaign that disguises the real consequences of concussions to the very public that has long supported its many billion dollar industry. Talk about ethical behavior!
1
The information about the errors in the NFL data is asounding and significant. I applaud this excellent work. But the discussion of NFL connections to the tobacco industry are dubious and minor. Why would you try to make this doubtful connection when you have a valuable and excellent article without this dubious speculation? So they shared lawyers at some point. Who cares. A complete and useless distraction.
Why are we shocked or surprised? Big money protects big money. It's as simple as that.
Great information. No surprises.
Did you know that the events put on in the Roman Coliseum back in the day were found to adversely affect the gladiators health? Was that information what stopped people coming to the arenas?
This type of negative PR won't cost the NFL a single fan or advertising dollar. What it will do short term is aid the former gladiators (or players) to squeeze more money out of the NFL. Since the risks of playing football are now well known, in the open and acknowledged, it might prevent players in the future from having any recourse against their schools or the league since the inherent risks were known before they signed up to play. Race car drivers can't go after F1 or NASCAR for injuries sustained in crashes since they knew the risks and bore the responsibility for participation.
The people who run the business of football are not dummies.
Did you know that the events put on in the Roman Coliseum back in the day were found to adversely affect the gladiators health? Was that information what stopped people coming to the arenas?
This type of negative PR won't cost the NFL a single fan or advertising dollar. What it will do short term is aid the former gladiators (or players) to squeeze more money out of the NFL. Since the risks of playing football are now well known, in the open and acknowledged, it might prevent players in the future from having any recourse against their schools or the league since the inherent risks were known before they signed up to play. Race car drivers can't go after F1 or NASCAR for injuries sustained in crashes since they knew the risks and bore the responsibility for participation.
The people who run the business of football are not dummies.
1
I played high school football and have always thought I suffered drain bamage as a result...
Thanks to the Times for your effort on this. Players should never look at team physicians the same way again.
The linkage to the tobacco industry is also an interesting development.
The linkage to the tobacco industry is also an interesting development.
1
Football has to change or die along with the players it has condemned. I would be happy to watch my beloved Rob Gronkowski play flag football on Sundays. Who's with me?
1
The only thing the NFL says that one can believe is the mid-week injury reports. Those reports are for the bookies who set the betting lines. The NFL will never lie to the bookies because if betting on NFL games stops, the popularity of that bloated self-important quasi-religious institution plummets within weeks.
3
The siren call of wealth determines all decisions in the NFL arena.
Players enter this world having seen, starting in high school, some consequences of repeated head injury. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is considered, then set aside.
A lucrative contract with the NFL is the lure, and also the saddest part. These "gladiators" play, full well knowing that they may be sacrificing their health, just so they can support their families, or their chosen lifestyle, in the long run.
Unfortunately, along with providing for their families, later comes the need for expensive health support services and the despair suffered by player and family.
Team owners do not have a history of concern for the long term health of their players. They do have a vested concern in their fitness as long as they are useful--much like racehorses. After their career is over, so is the team owners' personal interest.
I do not know if the lure of vast sums of money and fame can be extinguished, despite scientific evidence. Boxing continues, as do other high-risk sports. People pay to see these events, and bookies make out like bandits.
It seems all that is missing is informed consent, and a form saying, "I understand the negative consequences of this sport, including death, and I agree to play, without suing my employer."
Clearly, based on the flawed concussion research papers, informed consent has not yet been offered to NFL players, and it is for this the NFL can be successfully sued.
Players enter this world having seen, starting in high school, some consequences of repeated head injury. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is considered, then set aside.
A lucrative contract with the NFL is the lure, and also the saddest part. These "gladiators" play, full well knowing that they may be sacrificing their health, just so they can support their families, or their chosen lifestyle, in the long run.
Unfortunately, along with providing for their families, later comes the need for expensive health support services and the despair suffered by player and family.
Team owners do not have a history of concern for the long term health of their players. They do have a vested concern in their fitness as long as they are useful--much like racehorses. After their career is over, so is the team owners' personal interest.
I do not know if the lure of vast sums of money and fame can be extinguished, despite scientific evidence. Boxing continues, as do other high-risk sports. People pay to see these events, and bookies make out like bandits.
It seems all that is missing is informed consent, and a form saying, "I understand the negative consequences of this sport, including death, and I agree to play, without suing my employer."
Clearly, based on the flawed concussion research papers, informed consent has not yet been offered to NFL players, and it is for this the NFL can be successfully sued.
Why the focus on football? You don't need "scientific" studies to demonstrate that boxing (and the current brutal craze of sport fighting) produce lifelong injuries. Look at Muhammad Ali. However, we go on. At least an attempt to protect players is seen in the equipment that they must wear and the penalties for roughing the passer, roughing the kicker and unsportsmanlike conduct of late hits. If offensive linemen were perfect (and none are), quarterbacks would not even get their jerseys dirty. I cringe when quarterbacks are sacked or when other players take crazy hits, - my excitement in football is when long passes are completed, interceptions made or punt returns result in touchdowns. Still the game has risks and the players voluntarily assume it for big paydays. This has been happening for more than a century. Why are we so upset now - because of a hit movie?
As I read of this latest, excellent, in-depth investigation by the New York Times, it is clear that this type of thorough fact-finding that exposes truth can be likened to the continuing excellent reporting by the New York Times that shines the Spotlight of complicity and stonewalling on the abuses of children by the prelates of the Roman Catholic Church.
The New York Times is to be commended for revealing the transgressions, intentional cover-ups, and ill-will displayed by big "anythings" whether it be a sports magnate or a religious group.
So long as the NFL makes money for some, it obviously cares little for the players who provide the income, and will go to ANY lengths, hire ANY doctors, retain ANY lawyers to hide and maliciously defend its intentions.
The same practices can be said about the Roman Catholic Church and its financial donors as it cares more about its image and sources of funding than protecting its most innocent.
Kudos to the New York Times!
The New York Times is to be commended for revealing the transgressions, intentional cover-ups, and ill-will displayed by big "anythings" whether it be a sports magnate or a religious group.
So long as the NFL makes money for some, it obviously cares little for the players who provide the income, and will go to ANY lengths, hire ANY doctors, retain ANY lawyers to hide and maliciously defend its intentions.
The same practices can be said about the Roman Catholic Church and its financial donors as it cares more about its image and sources of funding than protecting its most innocent.
Kudos to the New York Times!
The physicians involved in the studies, validation of data and reporting failed their oath of practice snd as a result contributed to the harm of other players. If any of them are still practicing their licenses should be pulled and sued for malpractice as NFL should be sued for corporate liability. These greedy companies, their owners and those who followed their direction are the tip of corporate malfeasance that has risked people lives, livelihoods and employee families, for what? Greed and power. Neither of which is a moral or ethical pursuit and incredibly destructive in the outcome.
Football is fun to watch but I would gladly give it up to stop the slaughter. We hear about the most serious injuries from repeated headbutting. What we do not know is how many players, players at whatever level, have had their lives diminished maybe just 10% or 25% because of the trauma of contact sports. It is not an on/off switch. Just like with coal dust and asbestos and marijuana and tobacco the degree of disablement varies. We do know this. That there is damage done and that should be sufficient to shutdown American football for children. Reminds me of the case of the teenage girl who wanted to play football. She put on all the protective gear. She was put in the game. She was hurt almost immediately. She then sued because they let her play claiming she didn't know she could get hurt. She claimed a disconnect between the need for protective gear and the opportunity/probability of getting hurt. My thought is that we have sufficient information to declare that a parent allowing a minor child to play contact football is contributing to child abuse. Just as breathing marijuana or tobacco or asbestos or coal dust will cause some degree of harm to the body so will football for elementary age children. In the old cowboy stories the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats. My theory is the guys that wore black hats fried their brains with the heat from the sun turning on their bad switch. So how did 'dumb jocks' become dumb? Cause and effect? Change time.
What concerns me the most is the damage the NFL has done to YOUTH. There are hundreds of thousands of young players, grade school, middle school, high school and college whose parents, the guardians of safety, were INTENTIONALLY misled and lured into letting their children participate not knowing the danger and fooling themselves into believing that a broken arm or leg was the most serious potential injury. The NFL commissioners that were responsible for this cover-up should see prison time. Accountability--- not just financial-- criminal. These people are criminals.
The N.F.L. is obviously scared to death that their Golden Empire is in danger of being ripped apart by the Truth... football is destroying the lives of those who play it. The evidence is becoming overwhelming. Mothers will soon be telling their kids that it is now time to find another sport to play...ANY sport but football. And once again we have an example of how a Mega-corporation puts profit ahead of human life. I have watched every Super Bowl since 1970; but that may soon be history, as will the N.F.L.; Shame!!
Greed rules all here - not just a rat but many rats in the kitchen. My son had an extraordinary arm and could throw a rope 50 yards. His response was "dad, I want to live a full and healthy life - forget about football" - thank God.
I love the game and played it in high school and college, but I hate the NFL and turned off the television a while ago on them; I am on the verge of feeling the same with college, but the Ivy League decision not to tackle in practice gives me hope. This report just gives me more reason not to turn the tv back on. The NFL and NCAA must look to their past, to a time when players were smaller and, ironically, less protected, to see their way forward. The solution is no secret: we knew it in high school, and Joe Montana, Steve Young, and several other quarterbacks said it out loud in an interview years ago with Bob Costas. Players have to take off their facemasks; only then will they stop using their heads as weapons.
As a scientist who regularly reads scientific journals, I find these omissions troubling especially in light of statements that the data was full and all encompassing. In fact, for the most reputable scientific journals such as Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencs, Lancet. etc. the presence such false statements in papers would be automatic grounds for retraction of the published papers, especially given the assurance that none of the authors had any financial interests in the outcome of the studies. This is a case of academic fraud of the worst magnitude and should not be allowed to stand unchallenged in the scientific literature.
Am I missing something? Did someone force these guys to play football?
I constantly marvel at corporate arrogance. Today’s story on the NFL is a case in point. All’s fair in pursuit of profit. In the same edition of the Times is a follow up story on Volkswagen. Same comment. Finally, I’m in the middle of Jane Mayer’s new book, “Dark Money”. Did you know that the Koch brothers reputedly gave $23 million to PBS last year? I find that it’s a tax dodge folks.
When will us rabble get angry enough to march on the Czar’s Palace? Hope I’m still around!
When will us rabble get angry enough to march on the Czar’s Palace? Hope I’m still around!
Excellent investigative journalism. This article is an example of why the NYT is maintaining its leadership role in informing the public of important matters that corporations try and hide or obfuscate. One disturbing aspect of this situation that the article mentions, but fails to tackle, is the complicity of doctors, scientists, and lawyers in misleading the public about safety issues. Doctors and lawyers are bound by codes of ethics and conduct and should be held to a high standard of behavior. Scientists claim high ground through their supposed "objectivity". The professional status of these groups lends credibility to positions taken by them, that are often sought, sponsored, and paid for by corporations to cover up or justify dangerous, unethical, and at times illegal behavior. I believe doctors, scientists, and lawyers should be held to account when they are complicit in this sort of behavior - either through public censure, being stripped of their professional licenses, being terminated from employment that entails reliance on their ethics and integrity, or criminal prosecution. It is time to hold the aiders and abettors accountable along with the perpetrators of lies and deceptions.
1
Watch this Frontline film to remember how the NFL owners and doctors shamefully belittled Boston University Professor Ann McKee who first revealed CTE, even making fun of her as a woman. The NFL owners are a bunch of dirty, old white men trying to beat down a woman who calls them to task for their gross lack of concern for human beings. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/league-of-denial/
If you have a child who wants to play football, watch the movie "The Concussion."
If you have a child who wants to play football, watch the movie "The Concussion."
I agree with other readers who point beyond the NFL. It may be the most egregious example of profiting from putting humans in dangerous situations, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. College, High School, Middle School and youth leagues are all playing football and the culture is the same. Additionally, football is only the tip of the iceberg. Lacrosse and hockey rules which allow - and fans and coaches and general culture encourage - heavy body checking, are statistically almost as bad as football. If you search for it, testimonials are abundant from young student-athletes who never made it to the pros but are suffering permanently from repeated minor head trauma incurred during lacrosse, hockey, soccer, field hockey... We all romanticize the glory of competing on the field and parents want their kids to have that experience, that confidence, and it blinds us to the facts. Brain injury from contact sports is the public health issue of our time - the present day smoking or drunk driving - and those parents who cling to the notion that its an important part of our culture to hit each other on the field or ice will continue to put their kids in danger. The culture needs to change and this requires drastic changes to game rules. Governing institutions aren't going to change the rules in tangible ways unless moms and dads of student-athletes pull their kids out of these contact sports and agitate for wholesale review of these sports rules immediately.
1
Wonderful reporting.
Makes it hard to watch football. Even harder to think about the paradox of college football and young men, presumably there to acquire culture and skills, whose brains will be degraded or destroyed while being watched by millions of unconcerned fans.
Makes it hard to watch football. Even harder to think about the paradox of college football and young men, presumably there to acquire culture and skills, whose brains will be degraded or destroyed while being watched by millions of unconcerned fans.
It is more than passing strange that tobacco smoking death rates are over 1,300 daily and over 430,000 annually yet no political candidate mentions these realities but focuses instead on ISIL terrorism that is truly hideous but is dwarfed by the horror of tobacco, a real killer with massive impact. The NFL also has a 'product' that maims and kills its participants but the US fan would rather not notice as most voters do not notice nor care about massive danger created by an industry that slaughters Americans far more viciously than any terrorist can. We are profoundly blind to reality and are easily misled by those in the pockets of the scions of industry who know full well we would much rather be entertained than face horror on such a massive scale. Those who fail to learn and change walk into the maw of death created by selfish men who are willing to profit from our ignorance and who lie and deceive to preserve their profits. The price of ignorance and denial is the fate of all addicts. Deadly injury awaits.
Sic' em NYTimes. Go after those who deny the obvious.
How about the NY Medical Licensing Board review Dr. Perlman's license? I don't think he was working within his area of competency.
The Mechants of Dought are busily obscuring the truth in a number of areas where profits could be put at risk if the repercussions of their reckless greed were clear to to public & especially their consumers. Oil, tobacco & football all hired the same "researchers" , lawyers, marketers, lobbyists, shills, & politicians to confuse and misleed the public into taking no corrective action in the face of overwhelming scientific facts.
1
Norm Van Brocklin died at 57 and Bob Waterfield at 62. Even back then when "hitting" might have been less severe, this is a disturbing coincidence.
Wasn't anyone looking?
Wasn't anyone looking?
Take a ride around upscale suburban communities next Oct.
As most white, middle class parents pull their children out of football, providing them with alternatives in academia, non-contact sports, and arts to provide career foundation, the sport is becoming increasingly brown, with poor minority players who lack those alternate avenues recruited to fill the slots.
Sunday afternoons now provide an opportunity to have mostly black gladiators bashing their heads and destroying their future lives for our amusement.
How wonderful!
As most white, middle class parents pull their children out of football, providing them with alternatives in academia, non-contact sports, and arts to provide career foundation, the sport is becoming increasingly brown, with poor minority players who lack those alternate avenues recruited to fill the slots.
Sunday afternoons now provide an opportunity to have mostly black gladiators bashing their heads and destroying their future lives for our amusement.
How wonderful!
1
At 14 years old in 1974 I was playing "touch" football in the street and took a knee to the head. Started throwing up, had blurred vision. At the ER I was diagnosed as having a "mild concussion." The doc said to keep me out of gym class for several weeks or there could be long term damage. In 1974. You can't tell me that the NFL truly believed the "science was still out" about the dangers of concussions 30 years later. Somehow an ER doc knew back in 1974.
It's time for the United States to abandon football as we've known it.
Turn full-contact football into minimum contact flag-football now. Nothing will be lost but the contact. Teams would still develop and implement strategy, plays, use speed and agility, score and defend. Just without the crushing injuries to bodies and minds.
This change should be a no brainer.
Turn full-contact football into minimum contact flag-football now. Nothing will be lost but the contact. Teams would still develop and implement strategy, plays, use speed and agility, score and defend. Just without the crushing injuries to bodies and minds.
This change should be a no brainer.
What exactly are the players and the fans to do with this information. Have yet to figure out if we are looking to discontinue the game. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if you keep getting hit in the head or for that matter other parts of your body something is going to give. Somewhere along the line in life the player will pay for that. Are we attempting to sissy down the game, discontinue the game or make it possible for the player to sue the organization? What exactly is this about?
1
It is ironic how the NFL cannot track and report concussion incident data as accurately as their seemingly endless types of player and team performance statistics.
Early 1950's. Two athletic brothers living in s small town with a sensible father: "You can play basketball, do track, swim, but no football." It isn't rocket science. Everyone knows and knew that football did nothing good for you physically, and if the understanding of concussions wasn't fully developed, the knee problems, the chronic injuries were clear. This game could be stopped in less than a decade if parents decided to stop signing those parental approval forms. Now.
Mothers, don't let your children play football.
There is an excellent PBS Documentary called "League of Denial" which exposes much of the same problems discussed in this article. It's worth watching! Shame on the NFL for squashing the truth, sadly it's just another billion dollar brand protecting itself by using "professional liars" (lawyers, lobbyists etc) to direct a pretty blatant cover up.
It's interesting, to say the least, that the pop up ads appearing on my phone in the midst of this article are all from the NFL, begging me to read about the great work they are doing to keep players safe!
Interesting that you mention the tobacco case. The cigarette industry took the hit for two industries that actually cause the cancer: insecticide and weed killer. Those chemicals are liberally applied to the crops and then get sent directly to the lungs.
In the case of concussions, the NFL is avoiding one of the main causes of injuries, artificial turf. The U.S. women's soccer team went after FIFA for making women's teams play on fake grass while the men played real turf. When will someone address and research injury stats on grass vs. green plastic over concrete?
In the case of concussions, the NFL is avoiding one of the main causes of injuries, artificial turf. The U.S. women's soccer team went after FIFA for making women's teams play on fake grass while the men played real turf. When will someone address and research injury stats on grass vs. green plastic over concrete?
Unfortunately this also calls into question, again, the faith in the peer review process for science journals. Wouldn't step one for a peer reviewer be to audit the data and its collection process, just as the NY Times has done? Step 2 compare the NFL's internal injury reports to those included in the study? These journals should be held to task for undermining the public trust in the scientific process.
Very creative reporting by the writers, to link the junk science in tobacco to the flawed science in the NFL.
Very creative reporting by the writers, to link the junk science in tobacco to the flawed science in the NFL.
While I have nothing but contempt for league owners and especially the commissioner, I think there is some overreach in this article. The ties to tobacco seem tenuous and circumstantial much of the time. In the portion on scientific peer review of the 2004 article some reviewers appear to worry that the article is too critical of the NFL policy, not the other way around. I surely agree with the spirit of the article, but if done too haphazardly, it will not stand up to scrutiny.
1
When you see all these potentially serious injuries discussed here, it takes most of the enjoyment out of watching the game. Knowing this gives you the feeling that you are watching the disgusting spectacle of gladiators fighting to the death in ancient Rome. It is time to tone down the physicality of the game and get back to a more sportsman like mentality. No one should support having people submit themselves to the possibility of serious injury to entertain others. More important no one should be allowed to profit from putting on such events.
Might be fun to ask the Harvard MBA faculty if they're working up a case study for student assignment on the NFL concussion controversy -- cost/benefit, outside expert sourcing (legal, medical, statistical, PR). Followup questions for the faculty: 1) How will a new case on NFL issues differ from the existing case study on Big Tobacco and cancer. 2) No case on Big Tobacco? If so why not. 3) When an industry loses broad societal support what are the key tells: media, medical, cultural, religious, bond sales, insurance premiums. Ref: coal, ?? football?? Plus ca change
Is anyone really surprised here? NFL and big tobacco what perfect bedfellows. All corporations lie, always. Greed is the name of this game.
And the reason we can trust the NFL on "deflate-gate" and even on the often strange way officials call particular games would be...??
1
Having your brains scrambled continuously and deliberately in what is termed a sport did not need medical evidence.
It is a no brainer that concussion can knock you out as in boxing and other contact 'sports'.
Common sense rules but it is the paying crowd that NFL bends to like all contact 'sports'.
People want to see blood and hear bones crack.
It is our base instincts that go back to times before the Roman Gladiators.
Blood sports mean big money. People pay to watch it and it is okay as long as they are not the ones getting brain damage.But supporting this type of sport is something one needs to think about .
The next big question is how much violence do we put up with as 'civilized' people in contests as Mixed Martial Arts..??
STAN CHUN
Wellington
New Zealand
25 March, 2016.
It is a no brainer that concussion can knock you out as in boxing and other contact 'sports'.
Common sense rules but it is the paying crowd that NFL bends to like all contact 'sports'.
People want to see blood and hear bones crack.
It is our base instincts that go back to times before the Roman Gladiators.
Blood sports mean big money. People pay to watch it and it is okay as long as they are not the ones getting brain damage.But supporting this type of sport is something one needs to think about .
The next big question is how much violence do we put up with as 'civilized' people in contests as Mixed Martial Arts..??
STAN CHUN
Wellington
New Zealand
25 March, 2016.
Most corporate research is biased, like most government research and like...much ideologically focussed research. In this article something strikes me as biased as well, that is that research concluding that tobacco damage is overplayed or even non existing is automaticcally evaluated as biased! I know tobacco research very well( researching the role of nicotine in smoking) and the research funded to herald the evilness of tobacco is truly a supreme example of bias, not profit related but 'health promotion' related. We should stop thinking that one category of research, that is contra tobacco, is the standard of truth. It is not, and never was . Most of it is so drenched with health ideological drive that its conclusions often are a sad mockery reliability.
2
Great point.
And even here, we are left with close to 7,000,000 Americans that currently suffer from dementia (each of them with the very same tau protein deposit abnormalities that have been found in the 100 or so)... that's about 2% of the American population.
The 100 or so NFL players that have been discovered to have those tau deposits post-mortem, hand-selected because they exhibited myriad symptoms of dementia prior to their passings? Do they even represent 2% of the universe of NFL Players overall.
I've read the data. So far, the "science" is that some NFL players develop dementia, with the inevitable tau protein brain deposits that accompany dementia in every case. There is ZERO proof that playing in the NFL brings about dementia, or those abnormal deposits. Much more data needs to be compiled before any of this becomes "science."
Let's not forget that 99% of the current 7,000,000 Americans that have tau deposits in their brains have NEVER taken a hit from an NFL linebacker, or been concussed.
And even here, we are left with close to 7,000,000 Americans that currently suffer from dementia (each of them with the very same tau protein deposit abnormalities that have been found in the 100 or so)... that's about 2% of the American population.
The 100 or so NFL players that have been discovered to have those tau deposits post-mortem, hand-selected because they exhibited myriad symptoms of dementia prior to their passings? Do they even represent 2% of the universe of NFL Players overall.
I've read the data. So far, the "science" is that some NFL players develop dementia, with the inevitable tau protein brain deposits that accompany dementia in every case. There is ZERO proof that playing in the NFL brings about dementia, or those abnormal deposits. Much more data needs to be compiled before any of this becomes "science."
Let's not forget that 99% of the current 7,000,000 Americans that have tau deposits in their brains have NEVER taken a hit from an NFL linebacker, or been concussed.
Exactly. Great point! Most of this 'research' is so ideological and enmeshed in reigning moral climates, that separating myth from fact can only be done by people who have no stake in the dominant fashions of opinions. And that is a very hard nut to crack.
Deeply flawed privately-funded research getting funding over and over again is a common practice also in the area of tax payer funded research. Conflicts of interest are common in every stage of awarding funding and review of scientific manuscripts. Billions of dollars are wasted on research that has no rationale basis. New York Times has done good investigative journalism in exposing flaws of NFL and Tobacco funded research. They need to now extend their investigation of public funded research and the outcomes of those large groups of consortia who continuously get large sums of money without accountability and without any consequences for shoddy research that fails to contribute to any new discovery or new knowledge of new novel vaccines or treatments.
I am a huge College and NFL fan, and an academic physician. It seems that there are sufficient data to fund a legitimate independent study, with subpoena power to assure complete and accurate information (appropriate numerators and denominators). A study that is carefully designed by the impeccable and scrutable neuroscientists and epidemiologists. This study should be neither funded nor influenced by Congress. But who would pay for such a study? And which court would issue such a subpoena? This is outstanding reporting by the NY Times to demonstrate the clear design flaws (? misconduct) in the original peer-reviewed published studies, but I'm afraid that both the power and the money generated by the NFL/NCAAF, and the clear conflict of interest of the owners are such significant barriers to complete a through study, that we will just continue to argue that these NFL funded studies were flawed. We will agree that we can't really don't know the true magnitude of the problem without more transparent and properly designed study. And changes in the game that could potentially reduce the frequency and severity of the injuries are challenged by untrustable data from poorly executed studies. And behind this thinly veiled charade of uncertainty, the games will go on...
In cases such as this, it is imperative to ask the question: 'Who is the client?' In other words, whose interests is the committee looking out for? The answer seems rather apparent.
1
It has become increasingly clear that the evidence has made it impossible for the NFL's charade to be mantained. Now the task is to figure out if the leagues can take care of current and former players and stiil have profits
The only surprise to come out of this article is that it took this long to debunk the science provided by the NFL.
That a billion dollar industry would attempt to persuade public opinion with pseudoscience is hardly new or unique. This has been going on in other industries for years, including tobacco, pharmaceuticals and even soft drinks. Using trumped up pseudoscience in “peer-reviewed” journals is just another tool to legitimize product and deflect criticism.
A first year public health graduate student could have identified the flaws in this study. In any experiment you attempt to minimize bias. Clearly this was maximized in this study. If indeed the authors did NOT explicitly state in the paper that the analysis was based off incomplete data, while knowing it was, constitutes scientific fraud. Furthermore, all of the authors have a responsibility to ensure the validity of the data, not just the chief author. This is required of any scientific paper. It also appears that the journal failed to ask even the most basic question of how the “n” (how people were included) was developed and the response rate to the questionnaire. In addition,the idea that different concussion diagnosis were used among the participants is troubling and should have sent up red flags to reviewers. At a minimum, the journal should do the right thing and formally redact this paper as we have done in other fraud articles such as linking vaccine to autism.
That a billion dollar industry would attempt to persuade public opinion with pseudoscience is hardly new or unique. This has been going on in other industries for years, including tobacco, pharmaceuticals and even soft drinks. Using trumped up pseudoscience in “peer-reviewed” journals is just another tool to legitimize product and deflect criticism.
A first year public health graduate student could have identified the flaws in this study. In any experiment you attempt to minimize bias. Clearly this was maximized in this study. If indeed the authors did NOT explicitly state in the paper that the analysis was based off incomplete data, while knowing it was, constitutes scientific fraud. Furthermore, all of the authors have a responsibility to ensure the validity of the data, not just the chief author. This is required of any scientific paper. It also appears that the journal failed to ask even the most basic question of how the “n” (how people were included) was developed and the response rate to the questionnaire. In addition,the idea that different concussion diagnosis were used among the participants is troubling and should have sent up red flags to reviewers. At a minimum, the journal should do the right thing and formally redact this paper as we have done in other fraud articles such as linking vaccine to autism.
1
• Extent Magnitude/Severity
An inescapable fact is that the magnitude of the extent is as great as it is because the item having the large extent was not addressed earlier when the extent was smaller . One of the key safety/ financial/ public confidence objectives after the detection of any harmful item should logically be to arrest the spread of the harmful item, its harmful causation, and its harmful outcomes.
Observation: If VW had confessed earlier the liability could have been held to single digit billions rather than double digit billions.
Observation: If Michigan authorities had listened to lead warnings and acted earlier the human damage would have been much smaller.
Observation: If public health authorities, the healthcare industry, or health insurance companies had addressed the diabetes epidemic earlier it would not be as extensive as it is.
Observation: If the professional football team owners had addressed the concussion epidemic earlier it would not be as extensive as it is.
An inescapable fact is that the magnitude of the extent is as great as it is because the item having the large extent was not addressed earlier when the extent was smaller . One of the key safety/ financial/ public confidence objectives after the detection of any harmful item should logically be to arrest the spread of the harmful item, its harmful causation, and its harmful outcomes.
Observation: If VW had confessed earlier the liability could have been held to single digit billions rather than double digit billions.
Observation: If Michigan authorities had listened to lead warnings and acted earlier the human damage would have been much smaller.
Observation: If public health authorities, the healthcare industry, or health insurance companies had addressed the diabetes epidemic earlier it would not be as extensive as it is.
Observation: If the professional football team owners had addressed the concussion epidemic earlier it would not be as extensive as it is.
1
I quit watching football a long time ago. It got to be boring.
1
These are the same hacks that fined the Pats $1,000,000, took away draft picks, and tried to suspend Tom Brady using shady science? No! No science!
You write that the NFL's omissions went unchallenged by league officials, the epidemiologist who was supposed to insure accurate data, and by the editor of the medical journal which published the studies. As a labor and employment lawyer I want to ask: where was the union which agreed to a settlement which rested on faulty data. I can't imagine having approved a settlement without first having had my own numbers crunchers scour the data on which the settlement was based.
Please immediately send ALAN SCHWARZ, WALT BOGDANICH and JACQUELINE WILLIAMS to Az. There's a rigged election story there that needs this level of investigation.
No, really. If the NYT can still manage fine reporting like this, could we please have some on the politics beat?
No, really. If the NYT can still manage fine reporting like this, could we please have some on the politics beat?
OK. Pro sports is corrupted to the very marrow of its bones, and is powerful enough and ruthless enough to squash all inquiries into its malfeasance.
Ask me if I am surprised. After all the doping, match and race fixing, point shaving and other gambling scandals and domestic violence incidents this actually is news to you?
So, take it to the next level: opt out. Don't subscribe to sports networks on cable TV if you have that option. Otherwise, don't watch it on TV. Don't buy stadium tickets. Don't buy any trademarked team merchandise. It gets no money from you, or as little as possible.
Pay it no mind. Go your own way.
The best you can do.
Ask me if I am surprised. After all the doping, match and race fixing, point shaving and other gambling scandals and domestic violence incidents this actually is news to you?
So, take it to the next level: opt out. Don't subscribe to sports networks on cable TV if you have that option. Otherwise, don't watch it on TV. Don't buy stadium tickets. Don't buy any trademarked team merchandise. It gets no money from you, or as little as possible.
Pay it no mind. Go your own way.
The best you can do.
I knew an associate at Covington, who told me that the firm had had a retreat, and at the retreat one of the older partners had given a talk to the associates on the firm's steadfast commitment to ethics -- and had failed to mention the frontpage Washington Post story that very day about how Covington partners had created the Tobacco Institute as a front. When this associate later raised this glaring blindspot to his mentor partner, his mentor said "Hmm. Good point."
The NFL - the worship of extreme violence, corruption and control by a few extremely rich men. What a perfect allegory for America today. As with Rome, so will go America
"...the league formed a committee in 1994 that would ultimately issue a succession of research papers playing down the danger of head injuries."
Did and does the Rule of Due Process of Law apply to the "league" that has been defined as a voluntary organization that is unincorporated?
IMO if the three branches of federal government so wished, they could have removed the Sherman Anti-Trust exemptions from the "league" and apply the same exemptions applicable by the National Labor Relations Board re collective bargainings with the players. Even prior to incorporation and written agreements the NFL Players Association and individual players' contracts were subject to the NLRB collective bargaining exemption.
Apply professional journalism format -- 5Ws&H -- when interviewing global US law firms. They are bound by ethics to agree with my opinion that due diligence and duty of care and responsibility may not be applicable to the "league" when conducting research re "dangers of head injuries".
Did and does the Rule of Due Process of Law apply to the "league" that has been defined as a voluntary organization that is unincorporated?
IMO if the three branches of federal government so wished, they could have removed the Sherman Anti-Trust exemptions from the "league" and apply the same exemptions applicable by the National Labor Relations Board re collective bargainings with the players. Even prior to incorporation and written agreements the NFL Players Association and individual players' contracts were subject to the NLRB collective bargaining exemption.
Apply professional journalism format -- 5Ws&H -- when interviewing global US law firms. They are bound by ethics to agree with my opinion that due diligence and duty of care and responsibility may not be applicable to the "league" when conducting research re "dangers of head injuries".
So now we have evidence that the NFL manipulated the results of the Neurosurgery papers on which it hangs its "football is not a risk for concussion" hat. Will any attorney general of any state, or the Department of Justice, take seriously the reality that this behavior is a form of fraud, with the victims being football players?
I do not hold out any hope that the American public will change its maniacal devotion to this gladiator spectacle, but I do hope that laws will be enforced.
Tobacco was eventually forced to make some changes and smoking is now less common in our society. Perhaps there is a chance that the harm football is doing, to every child who goes on the gridiron and to every man who plays it in college or the pros, can be lessened, too. Even if that improvement comes as a result of fewer people playing, fewer people watching, fewer people caring about the "sport."
Football is barbaric and dangerous. This story only reinforces that cold, hard reality.
I do not hold out any hope that the American public will change its maniacal devotion to this gladiator spectacle, but I do hope that laws will be enforced.
Tobacco was eventually forced to make some changes and smoking is now less common in our society. Perhaps there is a chance that the harm football is doing, to every child who goes on the gridiron and to every man who plays it in college or the pros, can be lessened, too. Even if that improvement comes as a result of fewer people playing, fewer people watching, fewer people caring about the "sport."
Football is barbaric and dangerous. This story only reinforces that cold, hard reality.
Your comments are interesting, but like most opinions these days are too polarized. Football, like other team sports, has many social and individual benefits. So to simply disregard those benefits because of what is now a known risk is too great a change to actualize over the short term. If, as you suggest, risk out weighs reward, we may see a decline in popularity that would eventually eliminate the game. Or, perhaps, an increase in prevention that limits or eliminates this risk. People have amazing ways of preserving things society finds to be valuable.
For me this article is more about "Ownership", as we continue to redefine that term. This example could be repeated on Wall Street, the Catholic Church, General Motors, and Toyota with great similarity. And it is becoming common knowledge that the FDA is merely a publicly owned subsidiary of the pharmaceutical industry.
Money is power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
For me this article is more about "Ownership", as we continue to redefine that term. This example could be repeated on Wall Street, the Catholic Church, General Motors, and Toyota with great similarity. And it is becoming common knowledge that the FDA is merely a publicly owned subsidiary of the pharmaceutical industry.
Money is power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Rugby and football have much in common with respect to high-energy collisions but Rugby players sustain fewer serious injuries.
How can that be?
The protective equipment worn by football players would seem to be more effective as a weapon, than protection for the opponent.
Football players should be dressed in similar fashion to rugby players. We could have a safer game with no great loss of excitement.
And, rugby teams meet at the "afterparty" where friendliness prevails. Perhaps that influences how men treat each other on the playing field. Drinking companionship is at the core of polite society, isn't it?
How can that be?
The protective equipment worn by football players would seem to be more effective as a weapon, than protection for the opponent.
Football players should be dressed in similar fashion to rugby players. We could have a safer game with no great loss of excitement.
And, rugby teams meet at the "afterparty" where friendliness prevails. Perhaps that influences how men treat each other on the playing field. Drinking companionship is at the core of polite society, isn't it?
The best science money can buy.
1
"Mamas don't let your babies grow up to" play football.
1
Even in 1964 in college at U of Ga, I had a friend in pre-med who said football was just socialism for orthopedic practitioners. Socialism was a terrible word in those days but anybody could see that the game manufactured patients. Now as an avid fan, it is just frustrating: get interested in a player, root for his success and that player is guaranteed at least a shoulder or ankle injury. That feels sad. Ok so now we have concussions which is a kill shot and CTE which is suicide on the installment plan. And you have shaky studies which have doctors saying: interesting set of medical victims but no proof, no absolute proof, that head banging leads every life to a lifetime of misery. In the meantime, keep funneling young boys-men into the game as lab rats until we absolutely have to stop waiting for a surgeon general report warning at least white children off the game. The connection between tobacco faux science and NFL faux science is just chilling. Don't forget, we now have connection between the faux tobacco scientists and the scientists for sale for climate change denials. And me, so help me I cannot stop. Go Pats, just one more super bowl and then I will walk away so I can finally stop feeling like a member of a lynch mob cheering on those beautiful bodies and excellent brains to destruction for my amusement. What once felt sad is now tragic and farcical. This cannot end well. Good research and reporting NYT. Love the NFL response.
1
Why are these teams still receiving anti-trust protection? They have abused their players and the general public by falsifying information on head injuries. Their lies not only hurt their players but also can mislead parents whose children play in Pop Warner leagues. They don't need any extra encouragement to defraud the players and the public in their pursuit of profit.
I follow the NFL for pleasure it provides me. I subscribe to the New York Times for the courage and civic leadership it provides for all of us. Go NYT!
It's about time the game stopped. Period. Ring the curtain. What's a man without his brain? This was painstaking decoding by the Times, like what the Boston Globe did with the Catholic clergy scandal. Congrats NYT. That the NFL did its own concussion research and put out a false manifesto, that Neurosurgery saw fit to publish, when ingenious scientists who must publish or perish, have their papers repeatedly rejected and sink in the morass called academia, goes to show all is not well in the sciences. Hide data about adverse events, manipulate the data to give preconceived conclusions, omit data, fudge data, in short be a thorough fraud
I wrote a story very similar to this for my Big Data Storytelling class. This story was due this past Monday, March 21st. It is astounding to see how this topic was published in the NYT, as I had just spent nearly a month comparing PBS's Frontline Concussion Watch to the NFL injury data. My article can be found at amandamhajjar.wordpress.com
The underlying message of both articles is that the NFL is losing their star players, as well as their reputation. It starts with the commissioner. People's lives are being affected tremendously. Not only their lives, but the lives of their family and friends as well. Each concussion, no matter what grade, should have a certain protocol other than just removing them from the game for evaluation. There needs to be a period of games that should be missed and several re-evaluations before the player returns. Many players return to games the following week after sustaining head injuries. Wake up, Goodell.
The underlying message of both articles is that the NFL is losing their star players, as well as their reputation. It starts with the commissioner. People's lives are being affected tremendously. Not only their lives, but the lives of their family and friends as well. Each concussion, no matter what grade, should have a certain protocol other than just removing them from the game for evaluation. There needs to be a period of games that should be missed and several re-evaluations before the player returns. Many players return to games the following week after sustaining head injuries. Wake up, Goodell.
It is difficult to persuade someone of the truth of a proposition when his income depends upon his not believing it.
In the U.S. money is sacred while human lives are disposable.
However, the NFL is a relative piker at destroying lives, and even the tobacco mass murder industry comparatively humane compared to the global warming maniac Koch brothers. Charles and David spend tens of millions reversing science and hundreds of millions to buy politicians of little ethics and less soul.
However, the NFL is a relative piker at destroying lives, and even the tobacco mass murder industry comparatively humane compared to the global warming maniac Koch brothers. Charles and David spend tens of millions reversing science and hundreds of millions to buy politicians of little ethics and less soul.
As a form of protest against the NFL's collusion to minimize the science and understanding of how their cash cow destroys the lives of many of their employees, I propose a boycott of the first exhibition game of the 2016-17 season. Even though the tickets will have already been paid for by the captive season ticket holders, let's hold public burning of the tickets and refuse to go to the already meaningless exhibition games. My apologies to the concessionaires and concession workers, but this is important.
The pattern of evasion and deception is all too familiar, and it's hardly surprising. Both tobacco and the NFL are entrenched businesses which have succeeded in making themselves part of the American culture, which means billions in revenue. To a shareholder, any liability or danger must be fought.
Tobacco has a long history of evading the truth. I recently listened to a tobacco commercial from 1952, and I marveled at the linguistic ducking and weaving that was used. The company cited a "physician's report" which "...found no adverse effects on the eyes, nose and throat," from tobacco. No mention was made of the lungs!
Is it really so surprising that the NFL would resort to the same tactics? Advertising is all about making the consumer believe what you want them to, after all.
Advertising can't stop the growing public consciousness, though. Although I watched the Super Bowl, I counted the number of strong tackles and possible concussions. Four of them really bothered me. And I turned off the TV early, sickened by the thought of the players' headaches and blurred vision that was sure to come.
Tobacco has a long history of evading the truth. I recently listened to a tobacco commercial from 1952, and I marveled at the linguistic ducking and weaving that was used. The company cited a "physician's report" which "...found no adverse effects on the eyes, nose and throat," from tobacco. No mention was made of the lungs!
Is it really so surprising that the NFL would resort to the same tactics? Advertising is all about making the consumer believe what you want them to, after all.
Advertising can't stop the growing public consciousness, though. Although I watched the Super Bowl, I counted the number of strong tackles and possible concussions. Four of them really bothered me. And I turned off the TV early, sickened by the thought of the players' headaches and blurred vision that was sure to come.
The results of the research were a foregone conclusion. However, is it realistic to think we will see the demise of football, and hockey - which also sees many concussions? Players will still want to play the game even with knowing what the risks are. And how far should the NFL and NHL go to protect the players from themselves?
Flawed data" (i.e. lies and distortions), threats to health, big business, and the NFL cartel linked together? "I'm shocked, simply shocked"...
2
Now is anyone really surprised that Big Football would be perfectly at ease consorting with Big Tobacco? Peas in a pod.
1
Roger Goddell, who not only covered up serial spousal abuse and sexual battery among "stars too big to fall" football players, but now has been shown to have knowingly and actively covered up and minimized killing and debilitating brain injury. He needs to be investigated by law enforcement for manslaughter. Why he is tolerated in his current role, as shill-in-chief of pro football?
NYT should investigate Big Tobacco's ties to the FDA and "research" that pretended to examine the health issues from e-cigarettes.
Love football,but I guess the days of watching football,as it is played today, are coming to an end.Wonder if someone will figure out a way of changing the sport,that will make it safe and still fun to watch.Otherwise,we may be forced to watch soccer,or other boring sport, or maybe someone will set up a league in another country,with less liability laws.
Great reporting by all. This writing shows the great value of investigative reporting as it delves into the details of data collection.
In my simple mind it seams that 887 concussions in five years is nearly 200 concussions per year. I think that, generally, physicians treat concussions seriously, so then that means that there is a significant probability that there are serious injuries in this sample group. This is apart from the data that was either missed or cleansed during data collection.
Thus, the first question is, is the concussion rate in the NFL significantly higher than for control groups? If so, then they have a problem. But it seems that they wanted to extend their argument to say that these concussions were not harmful. My skepticism abounds.
Enrolling tobacco industry executives is somewhat suspicious. For example, instead of Lorillard, whom Mr. Tisch consulted, Mr. Tisch could have consulted helmet manufacturers or medical research entities to look into a way to prevent or reduce concussions. Instead, marketing prevailed over science.
Foot ball is an industry of big bucks, which is another cautionary fact. They're not motivated to call attention to debilitating circumstances.
A cynical comment would be, considering the Aikman case, researchers should have asked the Eagles defensive line. Their reply might have been, "Of course he had a concussion, we made sure of that."
In my simple mind it seams that 887 concussions in five years is nearly 200 concussions per year. I think that, generally, physicians treat concussions seriously, so then that means that there is a significant probability that there are serious injuries in this sample group. This is apart from the data that was either missed or cleansed during data collection.
Thus, the first question is, is the concussion rate in the NFL significantly higher than for control groups? If so, then they have a problem. But it seems that they wanted to extend their argument to say that these concussions were not harmful. My skepticism abounds.
Enrolling tobacco industry executives is somewhat suspicious. For example, instead of Lorillard, whom Mr. Tisch consulted, Mr. Tisch could have consulted helmet manufacturers or medical research entities to look into a way to prevent or reduce concussions. Instead, marketing prevailed over science.
Foot ball is an industry of big bucks, which is another cautionary fact. They're not motivated to call attention to debilitating circumstances.
A cynical comment would be, considering the Aikman case, researchers should have asked the Eagles defensive line. Their reply might have been, "Of course he had a concussion, we made sure of that."
Presumably this is why the NFL settled for $765 million. This phony research and the tobacco connections all probably emerged during discovery and there is no way the NFL wanted this all over the media. The NFL is run by and for the team owners once you understand that you understand everything. These are multi billion dollar money businesses in which lots of other businesses like TV are heavily invested. Sport doesn't have much to do with it. Then there are the fans who basically like aggressive play and turn a blind eye to malfeasance just as they did with the doping scandals in baseball and elsewhere. It's been obvious for 30 years if not longer that concussions were a hazard of the game or did you never hear the LBJ joke about Gerald Ford. How could they not be with a quarter ton of players hitting each other at about 18 mph. The NFL and the owners are completely crooked but they're giving the public what they want. Will this cause attendance at games to fall? What do you think?
7
Excellent reporting. Thank you New York Times.
It's always a matter of grave concern for the public and players who suffer concussions that any study using faulty data could be published. The fact that so many peer reviewers tried to stop publication should be the biggest red flag of all that the NFL was engaged in a purposeful cover up.
For me the irony is that the NFL has spent so much time and money trying to defend its image but will likely face numerous lawsuits and a lot more money than if they had come clean in the beginning. In this they resemble big tobacco, which as this article makes clear, was the model they were following.
The NFL has only one purpose: to protect its image, to protect the image of the game, to allow the game to continue oversight so that so the teams in the league can make tons of money.
You have to be quite gullible or just crazy to take seriously any data or research conducted by the very entity with in it when a vested interest in the outcome.
It's always a matter of grave concern for the public and players who suffer concussions that any study using faulty data could be published. The fact that so many peer reviewers tried to stop publication should be the biggest red flag of all that the NFL was engaged in a purposeful cover up.
For me the irony is that the NFL has spent so much time and money trying to defend its image but will likely face numerous lawsuits and a lot more money than if they had come clean in the beginning. In this they resemble big tobacco, which as this article makes clear, was the model they were following.
The NFL has only one purpose: to protect its image, to protect the image of the game, to allow the game to continue oversight so that so the teams in the league can make tons of money.
You have to be quite gullible or just crazy to take seriously any data or research conducted by the very entity with in it when a vested interest in the outcome.
7
It is just like trusting climate scientists to determine which years or regions should be excluded from their graphs and trend analysis, since they get paid to identify dangerous climate change, right?
"Dr." Pellman, a Guadalajara-educated rheumatologist. They don't make bigger quacks than this guy. The NFL, Roger Goddell and "Dr." Pellman should all be tried for negligent homicide.
11
A multi-billion dollar business is caught in a web of lies, trying to protect its profits to the detriment of its employees, all the while deceiving its customers. Where have I heard this (over and over) before? Is this the standard operating procedure taught in business schools? And in the end, the punishment won't fit the crime and more businesses will learn that this is an acceptable 'cost of business'. Tune in next weekend for more exciting action!
16
Welcome to the rot modern America: integrity, honesty, down the tubes in so many areas of our lives, particularly business and politics.
3
Football will be extinct in 30 years.
3
How do you spell the Commissioner's last name?
G-R-E-E-D
G-R-E-E-D
7
Nice one!!
The NFL cannot be trusted to conduct research on ANYTHING that may reflect negatively on its brand. They have communicated their agenda to every agency they've hired that conducts such investigations,and such agencies find only what is in the NFL's best interests. Let the "investigators" be chosen by medical experts,in the field of head trauma,and let the NFL pay whatever it takes to find the scientific truth....NOT the NFL's truth.
15
As for the Cowboys: Jerry Jones is only half as rich as he is stupid. Expect to see many, many Dallas players pay, and pay very heavily for the paychecks signed by this
6
Now you see NFL fighting back and trying to distort facts with smoke and mirros. What baloney!!! This is how the tobacco industry did it too until all the dirty laundry came out!
7
Agree completely. Some important facts that comprise a real news story ruined by unsubstantiated innuendo overkill. Very sad.
I'm no fan of the NFL, but this article is poor journalism. Innuendo, implied guilt by association, no analysis of missing data on their relative importance. It's a hit piece, but what isn't these days.
4
Would you encourage your children to play football?
11
I just read a book called Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes. It demonstrates how the tobacco industry hired scientists to create doubt about the validity of studies showing the dangers of smoking, and that these same scientists, the exact same people, were also hired to cast doubt, not with scientific studies, just to cast doubt, on the scientific validity of climate change. Now I read about the tobacco industry is sharing lobbyists and lawyers and consultants with the NFL, again casting doubt, this time on the connection between concussions and brain damage to football players. I hardly know what to say: I find this despicable. How do we stop this?
17
Any mention of tobacco in a discussion of NFL concussions is completely and totally irrelevant and amounts to a piece of cheap shot journalism.
4
Why is that? Seems to me to very apt comparison of corporate greed over scientific facts.
1
As a father of a daughter and a son, I'll encourage my children to play tennis, golf, volleyball, chess, soccer, basketball, baseball. The point of sports is to encourage exercise and friendly competition. What we've seen for years from the NFL gives me grief in terms of those who've suffered so many aches and pains for our global enjoyment. Is it really worth it?
6
The NFL is too big to fail.
5
The NFL might even receive a government bailout.
At least playing football doesn't cause lung cancer. On the other hand,cigarettes don't cause concussions.
5
Clearly the NFL d.b. owners and Exponent are anti-science or at least willing to check everyone's brains at the door in the name of greed. Second -hand smoking doesn't cause cancer, concussions don't cause CTE, and weather has no impact on a football's PSI. Yeah, seems legit.
3
This has impact, too, on college football and the protocols there. And, sadly, what is learned with respect to football might have applicability to other sports like hockey among others. The linkages between football and tobacco have one commonality: they both are money-makers. And, both occupy the "entertainment" space. And both are being exported to foreign nations in various ways. Good business does not mean bad studies and what happened here is, in a word, inexcusable. Seriously inexcusable.
3
Concussions are nothing to worry about, and smoking doesn't cause cancer, but Tom Brady deserves to be tarred and feathered for being "generally aware" of deflated footballs. Your NFL, folks.
14
Can't the NFL just not allow:
Hits to the head.
Blocks below the waist.
Require smaller shoulder pads.
Tackle Flags for "tackling" the Quarterback ?
Hits to the head.
Blocks below the waist.
Require smaller shoulder pads.
Tackle Flags for "tackling" the Quarterback ?
3
Concussions vs. deflated footballs.... Umm. No one does the sleight of hand better than the NFL. They've been very adept at getting the public and media to fall for smokescreen issues and avoid real issues such as concussions and brain trauma. The credibility of the sport's governing body has been seriously questioned by these investigative reporters. Time for change.
8
Deflated footballs is irrelevant. Every sport has rules and protocols that are pushed and bent. This matter of downplaying or concealing the lethality of concussions, on the other hand, is criminal.
1
This is the same kind of denial that a society held during the 50's and 60's of the effects of tobacco. It just takes common sense to ask if inhaling a foreign substance into your lungs is bad for one's health. Ask yourself the same question in regards to the aggressive play of football. Is it bad for one's health to get knocked around countless times, sometimes incredibly severely, in the head? We as a society seem to be losing our common sense in lieu of instant gratification.
4
Duh? The Teams are "for profit" corporations. Not "for honesty". Labor exploitation is as old as humanity ( see slavery, indentured servitude,etc.) Even communists, royalists and fascist participate. Greed almost always trumps morality. This is just another page out of the Tobacco Institute's book. Also being used by the climate change deniers .
2
Thanks for this great article.
Note the Harvard lawyer's wish that research not apply to "college or youth football".
"Dr. Waeckerle praised her for bringing a nonmedical voice that made members consider the risks, benefits and “what are the intended and nonintended consequences of whatever we were discussing.” He said, for example, that she wanted to ensure that the committee’s work applied only to the N.F.L., not to college or youth football.
Ms. Mitchell said in an interview that she left the N.F.L. after six years for personal reasons, unrelated to her work, and that she did not recall much about the committee’s work.
“I don’t think I saw any reports,” she said. “It was in the early stages.”
Ms. Mitchell added that, as the league’s assistant secretary, she had broad responsibilities beyond health and safety issues."
Note the Harvard lawyer's wish that research not apply to "college or youth football".
"Dr. Waeckerle praised her for bringing a nonmedical voice that made members consider the risks, benefits and “what are the intended and nonintended consequences of whatever we were discussing.” He said, for example, that she wanted to ensure that the committee’s work applied only to the N.F.L., not to college or youth football.
Ms. Mitchell said in an interview that she left the N.F.L. after six years for personal reasons, unrelated to her work, and that she did not recall much about the committee’s work.
“I don’t think I saw any reports,” she said. “It was in the early stages.”
Ms. Mitchell added that, as the league’s assistant secretary, she had broad responsibilities beyond health and safety issues."
1
Thank goodness for investigative journalism. Who else is going to give credence to those who have been claiming that football concussions are devastating, especially over the course of a long career. The N.F.L. needs to pay its taxes and pay the health care of every person who has suffered these traumatic injuries.
6
In general I am not a big sports fan, football is the one sport I enjoy watching on TV. However, I am really struggling with the moral/ethical implications of supporting a sport that does so much harm to its players. I am at a loss at the careless disregard the NFL has shown its players. I never liked boxing, too brutal, too violent. I am left feeling the same way about football. I am finding myself gravitating towards soccer. No doubt every sport has its risks, soccer is not without them given the propensity to "head" the ball. However, soccer authorities do not appear to be complicit in hiding this danger in the pursuit of revenue.
4
Good to know I'm not the only one feeling that way about football,it's just...a very weird feeling.
This article easily displays might over right and how a great institution can bend science through bought votes. Shame on the nfl for putting on a marketing hat sll the time
2
Sometimes I can't help the feeling that I'm
Living a life of illusion
And oh, why can't we let it be
And see through the hole in this wall of confusion
I just can't help the feeling I'm
Living a life of illusion
~ TU 2 Joe Walsh
Living a life of illusion
And oh, why can't we let it be
And see through the hole in this wall of confusion
I just can't help the feeling I'm
Living a life of illusion
~ TU 2 Joe Walsh
The NFL is a large player in our capitalist culture. Capitalism is about profits, first and foremost. And the NFL is not going to compromise its profits. Repeat; the NFL is about profits. Period!
"...the missing cases were not part of an attempt to alter or suppress the rate of concussions.” Really?
4
Considering the fact that the NFL was founded on gambling, it's not too shocking to hear all this wishy-washy happenings between the NFL and tobacco corporations. It's clear that the history of concussions within the NFL and how they have been dealing with it is a much bigger issue than what we originally thought it was. Otherwise, there would be far less discrepancies with the research.
Why is it that the players are so blinded by the big bucks this sport draws in that they think a head injury, an injury dealing with a part of the human body that is still being understood, is not serious? The players aren't looking long-term, of course. One concussion? Not a big deal. Two? What's the problem? Three? It's just a concussion. That's the problem. It is most definitely not just a concussion. Furthermore, the nation and its citizens practically live off of football. It's at the core of America. It's a no brainer when it comes to the question of letting down his fans or toughing out an injury.
One thing is certain. There needs to be some extreme changes to the NFL or this sport will continue to move farther away from a simple game enjoyed on Sundays.
Why is it that the players are so blinded by the big bucks this sport draws in that they think a head injury, an injury dealing with a part of the human body that is still being understood, is not serious? The players aren't looking long-term, of course. One concussion? Not a big deal. Two? What's the problem? Three? It's just a concussion. That's the problem. It is most definitely not just a concussion. Furthermore, the nation and its citizens practically live off of football. It's at the core of America. It's a no brainer when it comes to the question of letting down his fans or toughing out an injury.
One thing is certain. There needs to be some extreme changes to the NFL or this sport will continue to move farther away from a simple game enjoyed on Sundays.
1
Great article. I've kept up with the NFL's so called "research" on head injuries, and it's bias and poor design have been transparent for some time. Thank you for bringing attention to it.
4
The problem is that football is an "ultra hazardous" activity. That means that no matter how much notice and how much protection, people are still going to get concussed. The solution is straightforward and expensive - anyone who ever plays for the NFL gets lifetime medical for football related injuries. Whether the injury came from Peewee ball, high school ball or college ball. No matter. Either you go to a clinic/doctor approved by the NFL and the NFLPA, in which case you get 100% coverage, or you go to your own, where you get less coverage. Everyone gets covered, regardless of when you played.
1
Yes, good idea. But I can't help but ask--who pays the insurance premiums? Parents? Schools? ......Should not be the government...
2
FOOTBALL BEGAN IN THE U. S. IN THE 19th CENTURY . . .
... and now has become a money making sport which has replaced the more pastoral sport of baseball as the national pastime and obsession using network national broadcasts. Commissioner Pete Roselle was quite adept in accomplishing this. Most networks now have as the majority of their schedules composed of football ... some weekends ... 20 or so hours.
From a game played by amateurs and college players ... it grew to a giant money making machine: the NFL/Corp.
So now as any company that gets huge revenues from broadcast, cable, and the sale of season and individual tickets to games ... the money gained has become the most prominent goal ... so, of course ... the NFL/Corp. is the most biased group to do research.
They just follow the money and don't care about the serious implications which can occur to the players: dementia, suicide and death at a young age.
They just follow the greedy behaviors now alive and well in our nation.
... and now has become a money making sport which has replaced the more pastoral sport of baseball as the national pastime and obsession using network national broadcasts. Commissioner Pete Roselle was quite adept in accomplishing this. Most networks now have as the majority of their schedules composed of football ... some weekends ... 20 or so hours.
From a game played by amateurs and college players ... it grew to a giant money making machine: the NFL/Corp.
So now as any company that gets huge revenues from broadcast, cable, and the sale of season and individual tickets to games ... the money gained has become the most prominent goal ... so, of course ... the NFL/Corp. is the most biased group to do research.
They just follow the money and don't care about the serious implications which can occur to the players: dementia, suicide and death at a young age.
They just follow the greedy behaviors now alive and well in our nation.
2
Dr. Pellman and Dr. Joseph Waeckerle should lose their medical licenses and suffer severe malpractice penalties if they made any medical evaluations of these "patients." The photo of Dr. Waeckerle clearly shows a doctor-patient relationship.
The editors of the journals should lose their jobs if there is not an immediate retraction of the published papers.
The New York State Department of Health and the other states with NFL teams should start an investigation with an immediate suspension of the licenses of these unethical physicians.
The hospitals where these physicians work should suspend their privileges until full investigations are completed.
When in practice, I was the school physician for various school districts and kept our students out of practice and games for less severe injuries than displayed here.
Money has spoken (from the NFL and I'm sure the NCAA as well) and money should speak again (from the courts, from the departments of health, and from the "peer reviewed" journals).
John L. Ghertner, MD
The editors of the journals should lose their jobs if there is not an immediate retraction of the published papers.
The New York State Department of Health and the other states with NFL teams should start an investigation with an immediate suspension of the licenses of these unethical physicians.
The hospitals where these physicians work should suspend their privileges until full investigations are completed.
When in practice, I was the school physician for various school districts and kept our students out of practice and games for less severe injuries than displayed here.
Money has spoken (from the NFL and I'm sure the NCAA as well) and money should speak again (from the courts, from the departments of health, and from the "peer reviewed" journals).
John L. Ghertner, MD
9
I feel sick to my stomach about being a passive fan enjoying the NFL for the past 55 years and for probably at least the past 5 years ignoring the evidence coming forth that our heroes are suffering and dying as a result of entertaining us. My son played the past two years at a New England prep school (he played Pop Warner for 3 years, then took 3 years off and didn't play in high school until he transferred to the boarding school - I hope to god he and his teammates will turn out ok. He's done with football, and lacrosse too.) I recently asked the headmaster if anything was being done to minimize the health and safety hazards of the game. He pretty much blew me away by saying confidentially within 5 years they won't have the football program at the school anymore. Now I'm thinking, why wait.
7
Great, tenacious investigation and reporting by the NYTimes. This is why we need strong, independent media - because our government officials, business leaders, fat cat lawyers and other bastions of power and decision-making are in bed together and have a you-scratch-my-back, I'll-scratch-yours modus operandi. The NFL should be sued, and the billionaire owners should be compelled to pay through the nose for every concussion that has occurred on the field (even in practice) that they have continuously denied were dangerous to players.
I'm an unabashed and enthusiastic NFL football aficionado, but this is disgraceful, shameful and disgusting behaviour motivated solely by the owners' greed. I'd rather shut the business down and not have NFL to entertain me on Thursdays, weekends and Monday nights (sigh!) than continue to mislead players of all ages (most of all young kids) about the severe long term repercussions and mental damage caused by playing football.
I'm an unabashed and enthusiastic NFL football aficionado, but this is disgraceful, shameful and disgusting behaviour motivated solely by the owners' greed. I'd rather shut the business down and not have NFL to entertain me on Thursdays, weekends and Monday nights (sigh!) than continue to mislead players of all ages (most of all young kids) about the severe long term repercussions and mental damage caused by playing football.
8
Please don't lump Joe Waeckerle in with the concussion deniers. As a sports writer, I interviewed him in 1996 and he matter-of-factly explained the dangers and most effective treatments of concussions that few few in the NFL seemed to grasp for years and years. While CTE had not yet been diagnosed, Joe linked football brain trauma to pugilistica dementia, or punchdrunkenness commonly associated with boxers. Interestingly, he presented this not as cutting edge information, but as the conventional research in his field. The fact that he's not disassociating himself from the NFL subcommittee, which would be perfectly understandable, tells you what a standup guy he is. Why the subcommittee failed to listen to people like Dr. Waeckerle is an enduring mystery to me.
4
Any parent who recognizes the lifetime value of a healthy brain should not let their child play football.
12
tennis
swimming
basketball
baseball
even hockey
th only sport more prone to brain injury than footy is boxing
and th force of collision in footy is far greater than even a mike Tyson punch
there are enough sports for your kids to play other than footy
swimming
basketball
baseball
even hockey
th only sport more prone to brain injury than footy is boxing
and th force of collision in footy is far greater than even a mike Tyson punch
there are enough sports for your kids to play other than footy
5
Good journalism, thanks for the work. This is not surprising but nevertheless illuminating to learn about the extent. Tobacco, NFL are not the only industries who engage in manufactured 'science' to avoid costly changes or regulation. Check out 'Doubt Is Their Product' by David Michaels.
3
"Good journalism, thanks for the work."....Good journalism would let the concussion data stand for itself. When you deliberately bring tobacco into the discussion the only intention of the author is to hype his article and slime by association. No way can that be called good journalism.
2
No mention of Dr. Omalu? How is that possible?
6
The skewed, "incomplete" studies exposed in this article are reminiscent of the ways auto companies traditionally have minimized evidence of deadly defects in their vehicles. Low counting, arbitrary omission of key cases and data, concocted definitions of harm categories - it's an old game, played routinely by corporations whose dangerous products or behaviors are doing immense, hidden harm to populations such as car occupants, football players (and not only at the professional level), industrial workers, etc. Critics say, over and over again, it's a matter of putting profits before people. A hackneyed yet all-too-true summation.
1
What does tobacco have to do with football injuries? Absolutely nothing at all. This is just a smear, an attempt to conjure an image of the NFL as a giant business uncaringly spreading disease and tragedy. But no one plays NFL football because it's addictive. They do it because they are highly paid and love to play football. No sport -- indeed no activity -- is risk free, but pro football has few serious risks. Every year, about 50 people are killed while skiing or snowboarding (and hundreds suffer serious injuries, including head injuries), yet the Times is not crusading against skiing. It's pretty obvious that Times editors and writers are the sort of people who, in high school and college, looked down their noses at football players and fans.
2
The N.F.L. needed a specific outcome from the early studies, they paid the bills and supplied the statistics, and they got the results they wanted! What about this is hard to grasp? It's like Congress and our military, if the team owners had their sons out there getting their brains scrambled and lives shortened you can be sure the study would have been conducted honestly.
2
The super slimy and deceptive NFL is the destination for "student athletes" who are trapped in indentured collegiate servitude once they sign away their future health for a degree.
The NFL reminds me of nothing as much as it does boxing. Getting brained for someone else's TV entertainment.
The NFL reminds me of nothing as much as it does boxing. Getting brained for someone else's TV entertainment.
3
Goodell gets $34 million. Clearly, a jobs creator who deserves tax breaks.
2
I have sustained concussions that are nowhere close to what football players endure on a violent, repeated basis. All it took were 2 severe hits to the crown of the head, 7 years apart. Since then, post-concussions symptoms appear after the slightest tap on my head. The doctors I saw at the time refused to even acknowledge that I could have sustained a concussion because I did not lose consciousness. After being almost unable to commute and work (my vision being affected as well, and bus rides shook the brain) for over a year and a half, I finally found myself a neurologist at the same hospital where Dr. Cantu (cited in this article) works, who recognized my symptoms and provided relief with medications (but my brain will always remain highly susceptible to the slightest shock)
This is the state of medical care and knowledge with respect to concussions for a non-athlete; if, on top of this, there are parties with an active interest and motivation in denying either the existence of concussions or their effects, then what chance did these athletes have ?
This is the state of medical care and knowledge with respect to concussions for a non-athlete; if, on top of this, there are parties with an active interest and motivation in denying either the existence of concussions or their effects, then what chance did these athletes have ?
3
Money, money, money. Hey, how about college football.
2
What, and deprive those college football coaches of their million dollar salary?
Questionable science? How about hijacked data? leave science out of it.
5
We need to be perfectly clear:
We are barbarians...not much different from the crowds in the Roman coliseum watching others being brutalized and killed by both animalS and other men.
The NFL and football are just one of the ways we get our thrills watching men destroy other men.
The truly sad aspect is that we subject our youth (AS YOUNG AS 6 YEARS OLD) to such barbarity.
And now we are about to legalize cage fighting in New York.
We are but a few small steps away from watching men (and women) kill each other in the name of sport.
We are barbarians...not much different from the crowds in the Roman coliseum watching others being brutalized and killed by both animalS and other men.
The NFL and football are just one of the ways we get our thrills watching men destroy other men.
The truly sad aspect is that we subject our youth (AS YOUNG AS 6 YEARS OLD) to such barbarity.
And now we are about to legalize cage fighting in New York.
We are but a few small steps away from watching men (and women) kill each other in the name of sport.
13
If you're watching this on TV or buying tickets to games, or buying NFL-branded merchandise, you are part of the problem. You are helping to cause the problem.
Yes, you are.
Yes, you are.
21
For as long as I can remember, I have said this a dangerous sport, and we have to do something about. I can remember about five high school and college players who either lost their lives, or pro football players who retire and wind up spending the rest of their lives in a vegetative state. Congress must do something about banning th support post haste.
2
Why is this a surprise? Very few statistics are not biased. That is the fun about statistics. There are always ways to manipulate them into giving you the result that you want. How many people have actually read research reported in medical journals? It is actually scary how poorly much of it is done. I once found an article that unknowingly reported a statistically significant difference between the groups being compared, which then indicates that they are not from the same population and therefore cannot be compared. We have too many people moderately trained in statistics doing the research and their lack of knowledge actually makes it dangerous. Think about the lives that are affected by this. Think about the money that is poured into all fields of study based on potentially faulty results. This is not a surprise, and while I do think the NFL has reason to hide the truth, I do believe that this is just an example of people doing statistics without fully understanding them.
One of my favorite and most despised things about statistics is that you can take a data set and manipulate it to give you the results that you want. I love them because I can always find a way to support my hypothesis, but I also despise them because I know others are able to do the same!
One of my favorite and most despised things about statistics is that you can take a data set and manipulate it to give you the results that you want. I love them because I can always find a way to support my hypothesis, but I also despise them because I know others are able to do the same!
2
Though your points are valid, this is not a case of cherry picking stats - it is the outright fraudulent use of intentionally inaccurate data. There is no statistical calculation that could ever find information - never mind truth - when starting from falsified and/or significantly incomplete data.
We have outlawed duels and bear baiting; is it time to outlaw football the way it is presently played?
3
I shouldn't be, but I am shocked. This seems to be a clear case of outright falsification. The omission of data is serious enough, but when compounded by explicit statements to the effect that the data was complete and from all teams, negligence morphs into recklessness which morphs into criminal conduct. This is outrageous and the existing settlement should be re-opened and the evidence in this piece suggests that the settlement was part of a continuing conspiracy which should toll the statute of limitations. Speaking figuratively, the heads of those responsible should roll.
1
I used to catch 4-6 games a week, so I think I would have qualified as a fan. But as the brain damage data piled up, it became increasingly harder to draw pleasure from watching a spectacle that was, in effect, destroying the people who played it. I know people will say, "but that's their choice—and they're well paid for it," but that's a poor justification. For a number of reasons: All the people on the field made that choice at an age when hardly any of us are considering the long-term consequences of our decisions, and even non-athletes think themselves immortal. The average NFL career lasts less than four seasons, and those big money contracts are not guaranteed. And placing all the responsibility for the injuries on those who are being injured is just a way for fans to convince themselves that they are merely passive onlookers.
But they're not.
Their participation is what keeps the NFL going, and gives it the power to create its own, very profitable, reality.
It makes no difference that I no longer watch; it would make all the difference if millions of others tuned out. But until that happens, it's going to be business as usual.
Oh, and BTW. As long as we're discussing studies, I wonder how many owners are encouraging their kids and grandkids to take up the game? Knowing what they know, I'd guess not many.
But they're not.
Their participation is what keeps the NFL going, and gives it the power to create its own, very profitable, reality.
It makes no difference that I no longer watch; it would make all the difference if millions of others tuned out. But until that happens, it's going to be business as usual.
Oh, and BTW. As long as we're discussing studies, I wonder how many owners are encouraging their kids and grandkids to take up the game? Knowing what they know, I'd guess not many.
5
As a scientist, I have two reactions:
1. The authors of the papers and/or the journal editors should retract the papers.
2. We're I, or any other scientists for that matter, to have ever published results as fraudulent as alleged here, my career would have been instantaneously over.
1. The authors of the papers and/or the journal editors should retract the papers.
2. We're I, or any other scientists for that matter, to have ever published results as fraudulent as alleged here, my career would have been instantaneously over.
14
And 3. What complicity does this journal--Neurosurgery-have in this?
1
As someone who has been occasionally involved in medical research, I am no longer amazed that such shoddy studies and conflict of interest based research slips through into the literature. (See this study, Lancet article by Wakefield on MMR vaccinations, multiple retractions by NEJM). The current truth is that we can't rely on publications because the corporate interest have bought the souls of many "researchers" and the publications. Used to be that I though only Big Pharma could do this. Guess it's the NFL as well.
I've know a few team docs for the pros. They don't tend to be the best and the brightest...just the best self promoters.
No surprise here, but nice going NYT for bringing out what we all suspected.
I've know a few team docs for the pros. They don't tend to be the best and the brightest...just the best self promoters.
No surprise here, but nice going NYT for bringing out what we all suspected.
1
Smoking is an addiction which prevents many people from quitting when they know they should. What is the excuse of fans who support the NFL? Are they so addicted that they can't give up supporting a "game" which causes brain damage? The fans know all the reasons football is a danger to the players, they know the NFL, like the tobacco companies, has been lying about the dangers, so why are they continuing to support the football industry. Quit cold turkey and the NFL will have to change to get back its customers. It's the moral thing to do.
52
"Nicotine addiction" is a lie. It was created by the anti-smokers as a defamation, to further their agenda of persecuting smokers, and their media co-conspirators. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116468/
Concussions, like guns, supported by the NFL and the NRA respectively, damage and kill.
Of course the N.F.L. would promote flawed concussion research … would the NFL do anything other than promote professional football with lots of drama, glitz and glamor and make obscene revenues in the process ???
The only way to eliminate concussions and CTE that damages and kills too many players in football, from high school through to the NFL, is to have everyone play touch-football. But then the NFL would have nothing to do with this.
Of course the N.F.L. would promote flawed concussion research … would the NFL do anything other than promote professional football with lots of drama, glitz and glamor and make obscene revenues in the process ???
The only way to eliminate concussions and CTE that damages and kills too many players in football, from high school through to the NFL, is to have everyone play touch-football. But then the NFL would have nothing to do with this.
3
The players' lawsuit is about CTE, not concussions. The more CTE cases, the more the players should get in compensation. The NFL did not underreport CTE cases. So, by underreporting concussions, it looks like FEWER concussions are needed to cause CTE. So the NFL, in a way, is shooting itself in the foot here and, if anything, is making football seem MORE dangerous.
The research was not flawed. The flaw was what they did with it,,,,,,,,, ignore it and deny it!
If you derive entertainment from football by going to games or watching games, then when people get hurt you are complicit.
If you derive entertainment from football by going to games or watching games, then when people get hurt you are complicit.
1
If the researchers knowingly and deliberately excluded relevant data, the research was flawed, to say the least.
1
Well--they ignored flawed research then! The article actually does show the research described here was flawed, not the least because the samples are markedly incomplete. But it also asserts that some of the conclusions made in the research articles were disputed by reviewers prior to publication...
Yes, I noted that. I don't know how often that happens (relative to the billions of bland papers that get reviewed, and some of them published). I have certainly seen reviewers attempt to sloe down their rivals' publications by obfuscating during peer review. I've never heard of anyone using their position as a reviewer to protesting the publication. But if that did happen: where did these protesting reviewers go after they lost that battle? Did they submit challenges via the journal? (I'm not challenging you or assuming you know. I'm just trying to understand this whole issue.)
Excellent article. It puts the final nail in the coffin of my interest in the NFL.
My biggest problem with the NFL is not the violence, per se, though that is certainly troubling. Rather, it's been the utter greed of the NFL owners and their ongoing efforts to distort research and public relations in order to minimize knowledge about the harm to players. The article, including but not limited to how the NFL is emulating the tobacco industry, just makes those egregious efforts that much clearer.
Furthermore, those efforts continue. Recent reporting by ESPN's Outside the Lines and affiliated publications demonstrate that the Leagues is still trying to sway the research agenda.
My biggest problem with the NFL is not the violence, per se, though that is certainly troubling. Rather, it's been the utter greed of the NFL owners and their ongoing efforts to distort research and public relations in order to minimize knowledge about the harm to players. The article, including but not limited to how the NFL is emulating the tobacco industry, just makes those egregious efforts that much clearer.
Furthermore, those efforts continue. Recent reporting by ESPN's Outside the Lines and affiliated publications demonstrate that the Leagues is still trying to sway the research agenda.
3
I seldom react as negatively to a news story as i did to this one. There is nothing here except innuendo and speculation -- guilt by association -- and the Times should be ashamed of itself for giving it prominent play.
The story itself says "the Times has found is no direct evidence that the league took its strategy from Big Tobacco", but then goes on to use innuendo to imply that it did, noting that "the two businesses shared lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants." Considering that the former Commissioner's law firm -- which the league used as far back in the 1960s, when there was no evidence of, or speculation about, a CTE-football link -- also represented the Tobacco Institute, it's no surprise that the two businesses shared outside advisors. (By the way, since the former Commissioner's firm also represents Apple on lobbying matters, does the Times think that if, 50 years from now, a link between excessive iPhone use and cervical spine degeneration is discovered, use of the same law firm and lobbyists can also be the basis of a story implying that Apple was using suspect tactics to hide risks?)
Come on -- the "paper of record" should hold itself to a higher standard than this article reflects. Dig into the faulty data-gathering; find out why the Cowboys underreported concussions and how they got away with it; find out why the League put an orthopedist in charge of a neurological project -- all fair game and all stories worth writing. But this story? Not so much.
The story itself says "the Times has found is no direct evidence that the league took its strategy from Big Tobacco", but then goes on to use innuendo to imply that it did, noting that "the two businesses shared lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants." Considering that the former Commissioner's law firm -- which the league used as far back in the 1960s, when there was no evidence of, or speculation about, a CTE-football link -- also represented the Tobacco Institute, it's no surprise that the two businesses shared outside advisors. (By the way, since the former Commissioner's firm also represents Apple on lobbying matters, does the Times think that if, 50 years from now, a link between excessive iPhone use and cervical spine degeneration is discovered, use of the same law firm and lobbyists can also be the basis of a story implying that Apple was using suspect tactics to hide risks?)
Come on -- the "paper of record" should hold itself to a higher standard than this article reflects. Dig into the faulty data-gathering; find out why the Cowboys underreported concussions and how they got away with it; find out why the League put an orthopedist in charge of a neurological project -- all fair game and all stories worth writing. But this story? Not so much.
2
The information on the inadequacy of the research sample and analyses is interesting. But I had the same reaction as you to the links to tobacco. It seems like the NYT authors thought they had found some preliminary evidence of such or had a hypothesis of such, did not find it definitively, so had to do it mostly by implication. The same NYT that criticized the methodology and conclusions of the studies engaged in questionable journalistic methodology and conclusions of its own.
1
you're right. by the way, your comment prompted me to reread the story. it's almost as though they had a good solid story on the research and a separate speculative sidebar on the seeming tobacco link, and just popped the second story into the first in two big chunks in order to get a better headline. take those two chunks out and you have a really well-written story focused on whether the research really was neutral, and whether it was done correctly. leave them in, and my cynical side means that i have to wonder whether the rest of the story is better-supported in reality than the tobacco speculation.
At 14 in my last year of football I suffered two concussions, one knocked me out and the other caused amnesia. Most pro players have experienced that every year for often 20 years (college players 8 yrs, HS players 4 yrs), sacrificing themselves for our entertainment. The rules of football are not sacred. Change them!
8
Me too Jorge. Two years of HS football, two concussions. Scared me to quit a game I loved playing, but not at that price! Doctors, coaches, family, friends, not one person advised me to quit. My 16 year old sense said -enough!
1
The owners, the lawyers and the commissioners office are exactly the people they appear to be. I hope the players' union sues them for $2T and bankrupts them all.
It's too much to hope that any of them would be convicted for fraud and serve time. Jail is not allowed for the rich and powerful in our country, only those who can't afford Harvard Law graduates either as counsel or as judges.
It's too much to hope that any of them would be convicted for fraud and serve time. Jail is not allowed for the rich and powerful in our country, only those who can't afford Harvard Law graduates either as counsel or as judges.
1
Such absolutely great reporting -- thank you. Yes, sabatia 7, this is absolutely sickening. I can't watch football anymore. So much damage.
6
I am disgusted, but not surprised.
4
Journal articles are rarely, if ever, published in the sciences over the strenuous objection of peer-reviewers. If the reviewers did not recommend or at least condone publication, then the journal blundered, severely. If the reviewers did condone publication, then this Times article is seriously misleading.
2
Jon, where does your data that "journal articles are rarely if ever published in the sciences over the objection of peer-reviewers." I'm not saying you are wrong. I have a professional interest in the peer-review process. This much is accepted: peer-review is not able to detect fraud. It can question the interpretation of the data presented, but reviewers do not have the resources to investigate whether, say, 10% of the data were concealed.
whenever a business/sport hits it's zenith as the NFL has done, then beware
the fall. behind the Shield, the League works tirelessly and with unlimited resources to get what they want. that kind of power always corrupts.
the League has been willing for decades to sacrifice player's health and
now that unseemly truth is shining in the light.
do not look for a 75th Super Bowl...
the fall. behind the Shield, the League works tirelessly and with unlimited resources to get what they want. that kind of power always corrupts.
the League has been willing for decades to sacrifice player's health and
now that unseemly truth is shining in the light.
do not look for a 75th Super Bowl...
2
I remember the last night that tobacco ads aired on network TV before the ban went into effect. Someday, I may end up witnessing the broadcast of the last televised pro football game.
Among other things, this saga may influence how counties and municipalities resist the con games of team owners who seek to have stadiums built with public funds. Can those owners guarantee that there will be still games to watch by the time the debt is even halfway retired?
In terms of the survival of the sport, what science, legal decisions, and the marketplace may not help decide, legislation will. Tax and surcharge those NFL stadium seats like they were cartons of Winstons.
Among other things, this saga may influence how counties and municipalities resist the con games of team owners who seek to have stadiums built with public funds. Can those owners guarantee that there will be still games to watch by the time the debt is even halfway retired?
In terms of the survival of the sport, what science, legal decisions, and the marketplace may not help decide, legislation will. Tax and surcharge those NFL stadium seats like they were cartons of Winstons.
3
In a statement, the NFL said the Times exposé is “contradicted by clear facts that refute both the thesis of the story and each of its allegations.”
Nobody in prison is ever guilty. Just ask them. The NFL commissioner should feel right at home there.
Nobody in prison is ever guilty. Just ask them. The NFL commissioner should feel right at home there.
3
What the Times doesn't mention, and might not be obvious to those who do not follow carefully, is that the lead author of these studies, the Jets' team doctor, Elliott M. Pellman is an orthopedic surgeon, and doesn't have advanced certification in neurology or neurosurgery, the specialties one might expect, or even require, to draw valid conclusions on the effects of concussions on the brain.
11
Dr. Pellman is a rheumatologist.
1
Actually, not. I've been in his office in New Hyde Park after my daughter tore ligaments in her knee. She was seen by one of his partners. It is an orthopedic practice, full stop. Oh, and a prominently displayed Wayne Chrebet #3 Hofstra jersey autographed to Dr. Pellman (something like keep doing what you do) is front and center. So is an autographed Chad Pennington photo.
1
During my scientific career if I, or anyone in the department, had done anything similar the best position in science we could get after being kicked out of the lab would be cleaning rat cages. I guess we were in the wrong branch of "science".
3
With no more big tobacco that leaves the NRA or rat cages and you get to sleep at night
Wouldn't it be something if, just once, the NFL would admit wrongdoing? Instead, millions of dollars will be spent defending themselves from the obvious, just like the cigarette companies.
When will the consuming public pay attention??
When will the consuming public pay attention??
9
The NFL, like Donald Trump, should dispense with sugarcoating its aims and equip its players with broadswords and maces.
3
The NFL sees injured players as commodities. Big Tobacco sees sickened addicts as "consumers." Both lack humanity.
9
This is the same NFL that hired Exponent, a science consultant that was paid by the tobacco industry to find that second hand smoke was not harmful, to do the since discredited Deflategate science.
6
1. The settlement should be unwound on grounds of the NFL's bad faith.
2. The players should re-file and seek both compensatory and punitive damages.
3. The Justice Department should initiate a criminal investigation into the League.
4. The League should stripped of it's truly ludicrous status as a "non-profit" entity.
2. The players should re-file and seek both compensatory and punitive damages.
3. The Justice Department should initiate a criminal investigation into the League.
4. The League should stripped of it's truly ludicrous status as a "non-profit" entity.
13
The NFL dropped its tax-exempt status almost a year ago. While that is indeed "ludicrous," the League will no longer be required to make its books public. By the way, Commissioner Roger Goodall made over $40,000,000/yr. according to reports of their last filing.
2
" ... officials acknowledged that 'the clubs were not required to submit their data and not every club did.'"
Sounds like the COP21 agreement on climate. Countries are not required to meet their stated emissions goals, there are no enforcement mechanisms.
In other words, a 5,000? year-old relationship-value code, monetary code, dominates legal, moral, math, religious and language codes once again.
FYI, the efficacy of world culture's archaic and dominant information processing mechanism for generating functional relationship hierarchies in and across networks -- humans using monetary code -- that's been overrun by complexity just like the sky, the oceans, the animals, the forests and the skulls of football players.
Football? Raised on it, played it, loved it. What's more fun than being a kid running as fast as you can across a field, chased by other kids, dodging 'em, tumbling into them.
But as we know, it's a new playing field with unprecedented physics of speed and power wielded by elites athletes who train year round.
And the sky, it's going to continue to bring worldwide blunt force trauma with ever-greater severity and frequency.
We can't handle the new truths generated by exponential accelerating complexity.
Sounds like the COP21 agreement on climate. Countries are not required to meet their stated emissions goals, there are no enforcement mechanisms.
In other words, a 5,000? year-old relationship-value code, monetary code, dominates legal, moral, math, religious and language codes once again.
FYI, the efficacy of world culture's archaic and dominant information processing mechanism for generating functional relationship hierarchies in and across networks -- humans using monetary code -- that's been overrun by complexity just like the sky, the oceans, the animals, the forests and the skulls of football players.
Football? Raised on it, played it, loved it. What's more fun than being a kid running as fast as you can across a field, chased by other kids, dodging 'em, tumbling into them.
But as we know, it's a new playing field with unprecedented physics of speed and power wielded by elites athletes who train year round.
And the sky, it's going to continue to bring worldwide blunt force trauma with ever-greater severity and frequency.
We can't handle the new truths generated by exponential accelerating complexity.
3
I think it should be clear to most people at this point and to the players themselves that this is a modern day gladiator sport. At present there are college players and NFL players that have either not started or left the game early because of the risk of brain damage. The knowledge is out there.
Players risk an early death due to CTE from head injuries and the NFL has little to no interest in changing the game to mitigate said injuries because they fear the loss on their bottom line. Even if the NFL actually did have the player's best interests at heart there isn't going to be any complete removal of head injury in the game unless they switch to flag football or two hand touch.
Anyone that believes the NFL, the corporation with a history of putting their bottom line ahead of the players, when they say that football is safe is fooling themselves. Just accept that it's not safe, let the players negotiate for what they feel is an adequate amount of compensation for permanent brain damage and let the chips fall where they may from now on.
As for the players that were lied to over the years and were unaware of the direct dangers present they should be working to get more compensation out of the NFL than the piddling settlement they received.
Players risk an early death due to CTE from head injuries and the NFL has little to no interest in changing the game to mitigate said injuries because they fear the loss on their bottom line. Even if the NFL actually did have the player's best interests at heart there isn't going to be any complete removal of head injury in the game unless they switch to flag football or two hand touch.
Anyone that believes the NFL, the corporation with a history of putting their bottom line ahead of the players, when they say that football is safe is fooling themselves. Just accept that it's not safe, let the players negotiate for what they feel is an adequate amount of compensation for permanent brain damage and let the chips fall where they may from now on.
As for the players that were lied to over the years and were unaware of the direct dangers present they should be working to get more compensation out of the NFL than the piddling settlement they received.
As a kid, I played hockey. I never wondered what would happen if I got hit with a puck or checked- I knew, because it's a contact sport. that fact that we even need quantifiable proof that violent sports-related injuries cause cumulative brain damage doesn't say much for our common sense as a country.
1
Roger Goodell has been making $30-40 million a year and rather than displaying vision, exhibits the greatest pettiness in his mission to gain control over a cohort full of psychos. From the satirical novel "Fantasy Fourteen"
SL "Waiting for Goodell". A play in one long act. All the players have advanced CTE and blunder around the stage snapping off one-liners that come from dark, concussed regions of their brains. They barely communicate with one another, but when they do, it’s to shout out in frustration. None have been paid any settlement money, but hope that it may show up one day.
BM Opening on a stage in Canton.
Later in the book:
SL Looks like Adrian Peterson is done for the season. "Waiting for Goodell 2". One-man act. Peterson is forty years old with severe CTE, lamenting his poor relationships with his harem of baby mammas and scattered children, contemplating suicide by shotgun blast to the chest. He’s been instructed by doctors that biomarkers in his brain should remain intact for posterity’s sake. He speaks directly to Goodell who is not on stage and does not answer him, though Peterson holds out the slimmest hope that he might be rescued by a miracle cure initiated by the Commissioner.
SL "Waiting for Goodell". A play in one long act. All the players have advanced CTE and blunder around the stage snapping off one-liners that come from dark, concussed regions of their brains. They barely communicate with one another, but when they do, it’s to shout out in frustration. None have been paid any settlement money, but hope that it may show up one day.
BM Opening on a stage in Canton.
Later in the book:
SL Looks like Adrian Peterson is done for the season. "Waiting for Goodell 2". One-man act. Peterson is forty years old with severe CTE, lamenting his poor relationships with his harem of baby mammas and scattered children, contemplating suicide by shotgun blast to the chest. He’s been instructed by doctors that biomarkers in his brain should remain intact for posterity’s sake. He speaks directly to Goodell who is not on stage and does not answer him, though Peterson holds out the slimmest hope that he might be rescued by a miracle cure initiated by the Commissioner.
2
Let the exodus of young, smart, mentally-intact players continue. Knowledge is power and players who are smart enough to realize that a career in the NFL is not worth the long-term effects of CTE are now making alternate career choices. Sooner or later, change will come to the NFL or the NFL will cease to exist. Hopefully, mothers of young kids are already yanking their kids off the football field. I love football, but I am convinced that the NFL will cease to exist in it's current form a decade from now.
1
Concussions are just the beginning of the damage that "our national sport" does to so many people. Weighing over 300 pounds is not healthy for anyone, but look any professional offensive line - not to mention any college player that hopes to get into the NFL someday - 300 pounds is light now.
I have long felt that there should be a weight limit for football players to protect their health and to level the playing field, so to speak, of competition. Lighter players would also reduce the severity of injuries that players suffer.
Lastly, I have heard many times about professional linemen that died in their 50s. Players pay with decades of their lives in order to participate.
I have long felt that there should be a weight limit for football players to protect their health and to level the playing field, so to speak, of competition. Lighter players would also reduce the severity of injuries that players suffer.
Lastly, I have heard many times about professional linemen that died in their 50s. Players pay with decades of their lives in order to participate.
1
By casting doubt on the reliability of scientific research, the tobacco, oil, and football industries have paved the way for climate change deniers to do the same thing for a truly existential threat. I ask the industry executives, lobbying firms, and ad agencies participating in this effort undermining the value of science and truth this question: Is the money you are making for yourselves and your shareholders worth the suffering you will inflict on your own grandchildren and great grandchildren?
2
This story brings to mind a number of thoughts. The first is the fact that the NFL turned to Big Tobacco and its advocates for help in managing the concussion crisis tells me all that I need to know about the NFL's motives. By 1992 the effects of the use of tobacco on human health were well-known and it was also widely known that the tobacco industry had expended enormous sums of money suppressing and manipulating the scientific evidence of such harm. Second, as a retired lawyer, I will say this to Ms. Mitchell: I accuse you of no legal or ethical misdeeds, but I do wonder if you believed at the time that you were participating in an effort to conceal information from people that was vital to their health and safety? Because if you did believe that, it is something that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. Third, this story is why the decline of traditional newspapers worries me: We are not going to get this information other than through investigative reporting (or the occasional lawsuit) and the resources applied to such reporting are declining precipitously. Finally, as players, parents, or fans we all will make our own decisions on football, but those decisions must be based on accurate information, and it doesn't look like we can trust the NFL to provide it.
75
A bunch of billionaire CEOs lied to protect their financial interests and gave no regard to the health and safety of their employees. This is no different than what goes on in Corporate America every day, except the business is more visible and the employees better paid.
6
The game will change ultimately because it will become too expensive for insurance companies to cover.
5
modern day gladiators. . .they entertain the crowd, wow the lowly masses and make their owners wealthy and powerful. They just die a long slow death after life in the arena.
2
There seems to be alot of hypocritical outrage that the NFL may have omitted concussion cases in their data or may have used "experts" from the tobacco industry to help them craft a favorable position.
Does it really matter to football fans that the NFL lied or misled the public on concussion studies? The data seems to point to the fact that football fans do NOT care enough to stop watching. Football has never been more popular or profitable. It is the most watched TV event in the nation.
Football has been and remains very violent. Concussions are just one result of this violence. Every week players are seriously injured. The team that usually wins the Super Bowl is the team that survives 16 weeks of football with the least injuries.
This information is no way surprising to me - it seems well within the behavior of the NFL. Football players have been maiming themselves for decades and no one really seems to care. There is always replacements waiting to take the next snap.
If the public really cared about the players health stop it would stop watching football. If the public was tired of the NFL and its practices it would stop watching football. If you think that football is violent do not let your boys play this game. None of this is happening.
Does it really matter to football fans that the NFL lied or misled the public on concussion studies? The data seems to point to the fact that football fans do NOT care enough to stop watching. Football has never been more popular or profitable. It is the most watched TV event in the nation.
Football has been and remains very violent. Concussions are just one result of this violence. Every week players are seriously injured. The team that usually wins the Super Bowl is the team that survives 16 weeks of football with the least injuries.
This information is no way surprising to me - it seems well within the behavior of the NFL. Football players have been maiming themselves for decades and no one really seems to care. There is always replacements waiting to take the next snap.
If the public really cared about the players health stop it would stop watching football. If the public was tired of the NFL and its practices it would stop watching football. If you think that football is violent do not let your boys play this game. None of this is happening.
3
The outrage of this article is not so much about the NFL behaving badly in its self interest, it is the fact that a group of supposedly independent doctors, researchers and journals behaved badly to support the NFL.
2
It matters to this (former) fan. After decades of watching football, I have decided to stop. One drop in the ocean, I know, but if others do the same, who knows?
1
Another egregious cover up, and this one will eventually cost the NFL just as the previous one cost the tobacco industry, or at least, I hope so.
3
To anyone who was not raised in this country and not brainwashed from childhood on the glamor of football, injuries to the head are self evident by simply watching a few games.
1
I'm guessing soccer is popular wherever you grew up? If so I hope it was also obvious how extremely dangerous that is:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/01/football-heading-br...
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/01/football-heading-br...
This is the least shocking news to come out today. It is to the benefit of the NFL to stall, misdirect, lie and deny while they rake in billions of dollars. Big tobacco would be proud of these snake oil salesmen
3
I heartily recommend the PBS documentary "League of Denial" about this topic. It was part of their Frontline series, and it documents the challenges faced in trying to take the NFL on about concussions and CTE.
6
The should have a Senate hearing and put this folks under oath. Of course they will all plead the fifth, but it should make quite a show.
2
Football players are the modern day equivalent of gladiators. The only difference is we've "evolved" and now pay players to beat themselves and their opponents senseless instead of enslave them to do it. But that much money might as well be the same thing. There's no way they can not take the money and the risk.
This likely won't get acknowledged and rectified soon. There is too much money to throw around and all the owners have Republican politicians in their pockets and pools.
There is a way however. All this money is from one place and one place only: the fans. The fans go away, so does the money. The money goes away, so does the sport. If you continue to watch the game, you might as well admit that you don't care that you are watching people die, much like the barbaric Romans guaranteed to see a gladiator die. It's that simple. Your move.
This likely won't get acknowledged and rectified soon. There is too much money to throw around and all the owners have Republican politicians in their pockets and pools.
There is a way however. All this money is from one place and one place only: the fans. The fans go away, so does the money. The money goes away, so does the sport. If you continue to watch the game, you might as well admit that you don't care that you are watching people die, much like the barbaric Romans guaranteed to see a gladiator die. It's that simple. Your move.
1
For many years I enjoyed college and, to a lesser extent, professional football. However, with the advent of the knowledge of the true extent of the permanent physical injuries suffered by the players, which knowledge has increased dramatically over the last few years, I simply no longer enjoy the sport. I still watch college and NFL games from time to time, but find myself feeling almost guilty for doing so. The reality is becoming more and more apparent and that is that there is no way to change the game to reduce or prevent the terrible injuries without changing the game into something unrecognizable. Nor does there seem to be any technological remedy available (i.e. a "magic helmet") to solve the problem and save the game. It's time to find enjoyment in a more benign sport.
3
Never could figure out why full contact is a necessity for professional football. Basketball doesn't have it, baseball doesn't have it and they are all doing well in drawing folks. Why not go to touch football?
2
The question here is whether the NFL lied and committed fraud or was just sloppy. In the final settlement, omitting 10% of concussions saved the League about $75 million. For the NFL, that is not a significant amount. So we are being asked to believe that they acted like the tobacco companies pretty much just because they are evil. That is possible, but when a huge company saves a small amount of money, any fraud is counterproductive, irrational, and just stupid. NFL haters will believe that they wouldl cut off their noise to spite their face. I doubt it.
2
With the increasing rate of suicides, it is imperative to provide help and assistance to players. Juniior Seau's case is still fresh to our memories and hopefully, research on his donated brain will result in some progress into defining the parameters leading to well deserved benefits.
As for the equipment, comparative studies should be made with rugby players who play an even more barbarian game with no or very limited head protection.
The helmets are better but have become weapons. They remind me of cars of the 50's with their huge bumpers, where the driver would absorb most the the impact.
As for the equipment, comparative studies should be made with rugby players who play an even more barbarian game with no or very limited head protection.
The helmets are better but have become weapons. They remind me of cars of the 50's with their huge bumpers, where the driver would absorb most the the impact.
2
Appalling but not surprising. The similarity of Big Tobacco and the NFL vis a vis liabilities due to use of the product has already been noted by others. There's one sure way to way to hold the NFL accountable. Don't watch anymore games. How many will take that pledge? Because of you stop watching, they will come clean in a hurry. Ratings, and profits, are all that matter.
Whether the parallels in attempting to manufacture scientific consensus to protect a medically destructive side effect of an extremely popular product were intentional or not, is irrelevant. Both industries knowingly downplayed the danger of their products in order to protect their profits. I can only hope that we will see similar parallels in big football as we saw with big tobacco, an increasing percentage of the populace refusing to do business with an amoral industry.
Remember, the NFL didn't only mislead players, it mislead everyone who participates in football, college students, high school students, all the way down to the little kids being actively encouraged to smash into each other as hard as possible, because the NFL said it's safe. No better than marketing cigarettes to kids.
Remember, the NFL didn't only mislead players, it mislead everyone who participates in football, college students, high school students, all the way down to the little kids being actively encouraged to smash into each other as hard as possible, because the NFL said it's safe. No better than marketing cigarettes to kids.
1
Are you really suprised NYT readers? Corporations do anything to preserve the status quo, with the NFL doing just that. Its the same as the presidential election, the NYT (corporation) has a complete bias on the politics. Personally if any of us had power like a CEO, the potential to do the same thing and protect personal finances and political agenda would be awefully tempting. Unfortunately, power (monetarily) is in the hands of a few leaving us with only their lies and greedy ultermotives projected through THEIR media outlets. The american public is too easily persuaded, and that is just how corporations like it.
None of this is surprising. All of it is criminal. But that is the way it works.
1
Really all you need to do is read "North Dallas Forty" and "The Franchise" both by Peter Gent to learn all you need to know about the game and the business of professional football. I don't watch the regular season or the playoffs anymore or read about it in the papers. I do confess to watching the Super Bowl for the day after sport of rating the commercials and whatever weirdness might transpire at half time so I'm not 100% clean. I cannot really enjoy a game anymore and that was BEFORE the concussion research. I don't really expect anything much to change, though - too much money, guns and lawyers as Warren Zevon's song links them. If you don't think guns, I think you don't know so much about the dark side of the game and the off hours activities.
When will we simply, say, add 3/4" of flexible gel padding to the outside of helmets? I don't care how well the inside is padded, hard hat to hard hat rings a bell that all of us who have played football know only too well.
Hey, football is a business. Players are employees, receiving sometimes huge salaries. There is a reason for this. Wake up.
2
The issue will not be when they clamp down on professional football. Like you just pointed out these are grown men making a lot of money.
Wait until local school districts are forced to pay millions of dollars for having school based well known violent activites where the science has more and more shown lasting brain damage among other seriois injuries for underage youth.
Right there when those cases start to come down its the beginning of the end for the NFL.
The only thing football can do is convince folks they have developed a safer much safer sport. I don't know if they can. And if they can I don't know if they have the time.
The clock is ticking
Wait until local school districts are forced to pay millions of dollars for having school based well known violent activites where the science has more and more shown lasting brain damage among other seriois injuries for underage youth.
Right there when those cases start to come down its the beginning of the end for the NFL.
The only thing football can do is convince folks they have developed a safer much safer sport. I don't know if they can. And if they can I don't know if they have the time.
The clock is ticking
Another impressive job of investigating and reporting. Go NYT! So nice to see such criminal coverups exposed and the supporting facts itemized. I hope that this scandal affects the bottom line of the NFL, which will, in turn, affect policy.
1
Thanks for the great investigative reporting, New York Times. But why did it take the press so long to find this stuff out? Next up, college football. This sport needs to be outlawed.
1
Come on! Outlawed? Players surely have a responsibility to inform themselves but to permit the government to ban something because there is a risk of injury is absurd. Let's outlaw driving two days to Orlando because there's a risk of a fatal accident. I mean when you look at it, the danger isn't worth it just to see Mickey.
1
Excellent work by the Times! Why do none of the doctors--such as Pellman-- who who violated "first, do no harm"--and indeed lied, resulting in severe harm to players, face losing their licenses? When every fan knows about injuries to stars, but the doctor omits them from the report, that is fraud.
2
Adults should be free to make choices; NFL players know the risks and some contact sports, football, rugby, especially boxing----you cannot make safe; I'm not sure helmets work at all; they don't work for boxing, and the NFL should check the stats out for Rugby, but it's freedom of choice, i.e., no one is forcing anyone to play except big $$$$$. So I say let the games go on and quit worrying as life itself is risky. I love boxing despite the risks!
1
Why would anyone be surprised by this? Just another example of corporate America looking out for number one. And, just like the tobacco industry, people got hurt for the sake of someone's greed.
If you told the players that there was a risk and made them sign a waiver, most would have still played. The game is about money. Most of the players have NO other way to make money because they can barely read or speak the English language. This all may be true but I really doubt this "knowledge" would have changed any decision to play the game. People acting shocked about this are the typical "I am shocked/ offended" by everything crowd. Have you ever watched an NFL or College game?
3
The NFL and big Tobacco, kinda interesting but the big question is was the NFL in Brussels a few days ago?
2
I wish I were more surprised by this news. Heartless companies, two of so many.
The liberals will not be satisfied until football is abolished or so watered down that it just won't be the same. Football needs to stand up for its all about, separating the men from the boys. Football is one of the last few things that does that in a world that's becoming increasingly androgynous. Not to mention effete; yes, effete, the world is becoming effete. The liberals may like a world like that, but some of us don't. Stand up for football like Teddy Roosevelt, the most manly president, did in 1905. He did so because the game separated the men from the boys; it selected the leaders for the future. Where's TR when we need him? There will never be another like him. Bully!
5
While we are losing our minds over the shameful behavior of the NFL, one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. is MMA, which by the way was just made legal in New York. Two human beings in a cage beating each other into bloody pulps or until one submits before serious damage is done. On the one hand we are decrying the evils of football and on the other we are making MMA the next great American spectacle. This doesn't seem to make sense but then again Repbulicans are about to nominate Donald Trump to be their presidential nominee.
The medical professionals might point out that the multitude of sub-concussive blows may be every bit as damaging as the less frequent but more violent blows that take a player off the field - either briefly or for a sustained recovery period.
But this excellent and important reporting is less about science than it is about trust. "The Shield" is not just tarnished; it is revealed to be a fraud, masking (shielding) dishonesty above all else. In every aspect of the operation and competition, the NFL has abandoned integrity and forfeited our trust.
An addicted population will watch and sustain the NFL for awhile, but the long term prognosis is decidedly unhealthy - too many devastating collisions with the truth.
But this excellent and important reporting is less about science than it is about trust. "The Shield" is not just tarnished; it is revealed to be a fraud, masking (shielding) dishonesty above all else. In every aspect of the operation and competition, the NFL has abandoned integrity and forfeited our trust.
An addicted population will watch and sustain the NFL for awhile, but the long term prognosis is decidedly unhealthy - too many devastating collisions with the truth.
1
And still we allow and encourage children to play football. We might as well hand out free packs of cigarettes.
1
Or give them the keys to a Harrier jump jet.
Anytime anyone connected with the NFL opens their mouth to speak about this issue, they are lying through their teeth. It is high time that the NFL be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Really, the NFL and the tobacco industry shared lawyers, lobbyists and consultants, so the product the NFL sells is equable to that which the tobacco industry peddles?
This isn't investigative reporting. It's a hatchet job, and a disingenuous one at that. The NFL is in the entertainment business. Consumers of its products don't get concussions; the suppliers of its products sometimes get concussions. The tobacco industry sells a product that is dangerous to those who consume it. Big, big difference.
Notice how there are almost no current NFL players--you know, the ones currently at risk for suffering concussions due to playing in the NFL-- up in arms about the concussion problem? Might it be because they're grown men who understand, and have understood from the beginning, that playing the game carries some risk, and that they decided the money and fame and accolades the game brought them was worth the risk? Nobody plays pro football who doesn't really, really want to play pro football. And everybody who plays pro football knows full well that injury, including concussion, and even death, is a risk that is assumed by playing.
The real issue here is that the NFL and the NFLPA need to take better care of former players. Present players and the league should recognize that the sport takes a mean toll on the body and be willing to put aside money to pay the toll for today's players for when they retire and for those who came before them. That's all.
This isn't investigative reporting. It's a hatchet job, and a disingenuous one at that. The NFL is in the entertainment business. Consumers of its products don't get concussions; the suppliers of its products sometimes get concussions. The tobacco industry sells a product that is dangerous to those who consume it. Big, big difference.
Notice how there are almost no current NFL players--you know, the ones currently at risk for suffering concussions due to playing in the NFL-- up in arms about the concussion problem? Might it be because they're grown men who understand, and have understood from the beginning, that playing the game carries some risk, and that they decided the money and fame and accolades the game brought them was worth the risk? Nobody plays pro football who doesn't really, really want to play pro football. And everybody who plays pro football knows full well that injury, including concussion, and even death, is a risk that is assumed by playing.
The real issue here is that the NFL and the NFLPA need to take better care of former players. Present players and the league should recognize that the sport takes a mean toll on the body and be willing to put aside money to pay the toll for today's players for when they retire and for those who came before them. That's all.
1
Since this disgusting chapter is all about money...money to be made by big football and big tobacco....the only way to fight it is to use the same tactic.
Start at the beginning in grade school and high school with insurance companies absolutely REFUSING to cover ANY injuries suffered during organized football. Either during a game or during practice.
If irresponsible parents aren't wise enough to look out for the medical welfare and possible long term psychological welfare of their children, and the schools can't see their way to discontinue football, then, for once, the insurance companies can take the high road (even though bottom line motivated) and refuse to pay for broken arms, fractured necks and concussions suffered while these kids "knowingly" pursue a dangerous undertaking i.e. organized team football.
Start at the beginning in grade school and high school with insurance companies absolutely REFUSING to cover ANY injuries suffered during organized football. Either during a game or during practice.
If irresponsible parents aren't wise enough to look out for the medical welfare and possible long term psychological welfare of their children, and the schools can't see their way to discontinue football, then, for once, the insurance companies can take the high road (even though bottom line motivated) and refuse to pay for broken arms, fractured necks and concussions suffered while these kids "knowingly" pursue a dangerous undertaking i.e. organized team football.
2
Parents should sue school boards and others responsible for allowing/promoting the sport. D&O insurers will quickly exclude that peril from its coverage. Kids, far too young to offer meaningful consent, will be saved as administrators will protect themselves by ending kids' football.
This will leave football like Boxing. Adults, with full knowledge of the risks, will be the only ones left to play.
This will leave football like Boxing. Adults, with full knowledge of the risks, will be the only ones left to play.
This is an excellent report, but do the findings really surprise anyone? Perhaps it may result in additional civil lawsuits and financial awards to players, but the people who suppressed the data should really brought up on criminal charges. As long as that option is off the table, we should expect more lies from the NFL and other corporate interests that rank profits over people.
The excuse we constantly hear from prosecutors is that it's hard to prove criminal liability in such cases. That's the repeated excuse of any corrupt state that is owned by powerful, private interests.
Under most legal statutes criminal negligence is defined as "as any type of conduct that grossly deviates from normal, reasonable standards of an ordinary person. It generally involves an indifference or disregard for human life or for the safety of people." I fail to see how the NFL's actions do not fall squarely under that definition. If an individual can face criminal charges for drunk driving (as they should) why should corporate executives escape prosecution for committing far worse crimes that put greater numbers of people at risk on a regular basis?
The looming threat of criminal prosecution before a jury would likely impede such cynical behavior. The absence of it makes horrible actions like this more likely to occur.
The excuse we constantly hear from prosecutors is that it's hard to prove criminal liability in such cases. That's the repeated excuse of any corrupt state that is owned by powerful, private interests.
Under most legal statutes criminal negligence is defined as "as any type of conduct that grossly deviates from normal, reasonable standards of an ordinary person. It generally involves an indifference or disregard for human life or for the safety of people." I fail to see how the NFL's actions do not fall squarely under that definition. If an individual can face criminal charges for drunk driving (as they should) why should corporate executives escape prosecution for committing far worse crimes that put greater numbers of people at risk on a regular basis?
The looming threat of criminal prosecution before a jury would likely impede such cynical behavior. The absence of it makes horrible actions like this more likely to occur.
A class in economics can explain everything. Obviously, the NFL and the team owners are fighting to keep the game as profitable as possible. Admitting the truth about the adverse effects long-term playing can have on the brain-health of its' players makes the sport unattractive, especially with the parents of school children, many of whom will keep their kids out of football. But the NFL's cover up has failed. Lawyers and law suits are sure to follow, driving up insurance rates and making it cost prohibitive for some schools to continue funding football programs. Good players who don't want to end up with CET will leave the game. Talent base shrinkage will reduce football's popularity, but other sports will benefit from this trend, especially soccer, the most popular sport on the planet outside of this country, and becoming more popular each year in this one. It will take a while, but I predict that soccer will ultimately replace football as our nation's number one sport.
1
This is one more example of how corrupt our major institutions have become. Everywhere, officials are ready to suppress the truth or make false statements to defend business as usual, no matter how harmful that business is to their customers, employees, players, or general public. If CEOs are successful in their campaign of lies, they are rewarded with a large bonus. So we are talking about corrupt acts done for financial gain. Leaders of fossil fuel companies are even willing to sacrifice the planet for another decade of financial gain.
The public accepts this behavior because it has become part of our culture. To our nation's founders, voting meant casting a vote that was best for the republic. Voting for one's narrow interests was called the vice of "factionalism." Today it is considered perfectly normal to cast a vote that defends your own personal economic interests.
Teaching school children more about ethics and good citizenship is the best prescription for long-term change.
The public accepts this behavior because it has become part of our culture. To our nation's founders, voting meant casting a vote that was best for the republic. Voting for one's narrow interests was called the vice of "factionalism." Today it is considered perfectly normal to cast a vote that defends your own personal economic interests.
Teaching school children more about ethics and good citizenship is the best prescription for long-term change.
This is very disturbing to read. Makes one wonder about other research results. Like social studies research showing that social studies are effective in diagnosing and treating information about medical diseases like schizophrenia, depression and related neurological diseases.
Despite latest scientific research findings we are still too often given social reasons for these human brain diseases.
This muddying of waters has likely discouraged sufficient scientific brain research where the cure could found.
How sad.
Despite latest scientific research findings we are still too often given social reasons for these human brain diseases.
This muddying of waters has likely discouraged sufficient scientific brain research where the cure could found.
How sad.
Who can say the player's brains weren't injured before they started playing football?
Can't wait for this line of logic from the NFL and its cadre of Yes-Men.
Can't wait for this line of logic from the NFL and its cadre of Yes-Men.
For those who are sickened by these findings, convert your words to action: Stop supporting the game. You continued support is paying for those lobbyists...
"Deeply Flawed," "relied on faulty analysis," Integrity of The League -- oh, I thought that was about the Deflate Gate Report? PSI vs Concussions -- the NFL has its priorities screwed-up. Where is Superman when we need him? After all, Superman stood for Truth, Justice, and the American Way" The NFL could learn a great deal from Superman. As Superman is a fictions Super-Hero, so is NFL Integrity.
I wrote a story very similar to this for my Big Data Storytelling class. This story was due this past Monday, March 21st. It is astounding to see how this topic was published in the NYT, as I had just spent nearly a month comparing PBS's Frontline Concussion Watch to the NFL injury data. My article can be found at amandamhajjar.wordpress.com
The underlying message of both articles is that the NFL is losing their star players, as well as their reputation. It starts with the commissioner. People's lives are being affected tremendously. Not only their lives, but the lives of their family and friends as well. Each concussion, no matter what grade, should have a certain protocol other than just removing them from the game for evaluation. There needs to be a period of games that should be missed and several re-evaluations before the player returns. Many players return to games the following week after sustaining head injuries. Wake up, Goodell.
The underlying message of both articles is that the NFL is losing their star players, as well as their reputation. It starts with the commissioner. People's lives are being affected tremendously. Not only their lives, but the lives of their family and friends as well. Each concussion, no matter what grade, should have a certain protocol other than just removing them from the game for evaluation. There needs to be a period of games that should be missed and several re-evaluations before the player returns. Many players return to games the following week after sustaining head injuries. Wake up, Goodell.
2
Great investigative journalism... Will the NY Times should drop its coverage of the NFL's games? Professional football is dangerous and can cause physical harm to the players. Continuing game coverage makes you part of that problem.
Tobacco ads? Nope.
Professional boxing coverage? yep
Professional football coverage? yep
Tobacco ads? Nope.
Professional boxing coverage? yep
Professional football coverage? yep
To me the story is the participation of the medical profession. These doctors and peer review journals bear great responsibility. Sure hope they are collectively proud of themselves -- what won't this group do for a buck? You know what action is going to be taken against them by their self-policing organizations? That's right -- absolutely none.
Excellent piece of journalism. Unfortunately I can't say it's too surprising when you have a league run by a select few of billionaires who care only and I mean only about profits. Hopefully articles like this will trigger the outrage in the general public that is needed to effect change
1
It's understandable that the NFL couldn't devote its full attention to such a minor issue as concussions. After all, it has been fully engaged for the last 18 months in the much more important matter of determining how many ounces of pressure are in the average game ball in December. Surely, we can't expect the NFL to focus on everything at once!
Besides, the folks who died from post-concussion complications would have died anyway, eventually, from something else, if not that. No one lives forever, you know. But a few ounces of air in a football- now THAT goes to the "integrity" of the game.
Besides, the folks who died from post-concussion complications would have died anyway, eventually, from something else, if not that. No one lives forever, you know. But a few ounces of air in a football- now THAT goes to the "integrity" of the game.
3
Bravo to the NYT for the hard investigative work that delivers actual newsworthy news to Americans. The light has gone out at so many dailies and it is a very worrisome situation. Thank god for the Times.
2
Pulitzer Prize caliber reporting! This is what investigative journalism is all about. A truly sickening situation at the core of the NFL, systematically exposed by the Times. Bravo!
3
And now NYS is about to legalize the even more barbaric "sport" called mixed martial arts. Pathetic display of blood lust in America.
You make a good point. It is one thing to decide how we as a society contend with the emerging knowledge of the risks of a hugely popular sport that now has deep roots in our society (I have been a fan of pro football for almost 60 years) and it is quite another to decide whether to encourage the growth of a much newer sport with a more direct focus on violent contact. I will say this: At least in MMA we are not (yet) introducing the sport to 5 and 6 year olds.
Refer your skeptical friends and relatives to the New York Times article by Ken Belson, "Dementia Care, Tailored to N.F.L. Retirees," published online on March 22nd, 2016, and still readable online today.
Great reporting because it is driven by (inconvenient) facts. Would be so nice if the NYT could pursue objective truth outside the sports realm too.
When grown men, after being presented with the fact decide to play football I'm concerned but not alarmed.
I am alarmed when I see young high school boys playing football. This is particularly disturbing at public schools where tax payer money is used to finance the sport. America should treat it young better.
I am alarmed when I see young high school boys playing football. This is particularly disturbing at public schools where tax payer money is used to finance the sport. America should treat it young better.
The tobacco companies had a great system based on their own in house scientists, a gullible public that hoped beyond hope the doctors and other public health folks were wrong, and a large fortune spent to buy the best lobbyists and pols that money could buy.
And in the short to near run that works really really well.
Anyone could learn from big tobacco and the NRA on how to do things.
As far as americans and football its Janurary 11 1964
But what we don't know. Will football develop a version of the much safer cigarette in the years to come?
And will the american public support that safer cig if it was developed or will they fight it like the health agencies in the USA such as ALA, ACS AHA, fight anything to do with a safer cig?
There are folks out there who hate smoking so much they would not support a tobacco cig deemed to be 99% safe.
Many no doubt feel the same way about football
Time will tell
And in the short to near run that works really really well.
Anyone could learn from big tobacco and the NRA on how to do things.
As far as americans and football its Janurary 11 1964
But what we don't know. Will football develop a version of the much safer cigarette in the years to come?
And will the american public support that safer cig if it was developed or will they fight it like the health agencies in the USA such as ALA, ACS AHA, fight anything to do with a safer cig?
There are folks out there who hate smoking so much they would not support a tobacco cig deemed to be 99% safe.
Many no doubt feel the same way about football
Time will tell
TCE is far more dangerous to kids as well as pro football players. There have already been reports of children having seizures and brain injuries as a result of TCE. Some have died. I don't know of any cases where tobacco use severely incapacitated kids and ended the lives of any of them when they were in grade, junior high or high school. I do wonder what the ethos of pro football teams are when they knowingly pile on to fellow players, intending full well that the extreme forces they use will injure their team buddies. Recently I heard on the radio a need to change how football is played. One of the guests on the program was talking about how parents are beginning to refuse to let their kids play football at any age. It's only a matter of time that college football will be out of business unless it changes the rules of the game to protect the brains of the players. These changes are occurring much more quickly than I would have thought possible. I feel relieved that people are advocating for the safety of their children.
2
In the movie "North Dallas Forty," Nick Nolte's character, injured and disillusioned, makes the statement that "they (management and the owners) are the team, we (the players) are just the equipment." Sounds about right.
5
Criminal. But that is the NFL - their 'science' is completely politically and economically motivated, doing everything that they can do, regardless of ethics, to 'protect the shield' aka protect television revenues and their legal monopoly. It is far past time that the DOJ used anti-trust to bring these criminals to their knees and open up this sport to competition and not coincidentally to put a couple of their executives (Roger) in the defendant's stand.
I wonder how many people voicing (correctly) their disdain for the NFL (either newfound or reamplified) will actually be boycotting their friend's Super Bowl party next year.
1
This, as well as the NFL's love of fantasy sports betting show their contempt for their players and fans. The almighty dollar rules. State and local governments need to get out of the business of building, financing, and/or promoting giant stadiums for these crooks to do business in. End the tax breaks and make them support themselves. They obviously have the means to do it.
3
Lies, lies, and more lies. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thank God for the investigation the NY Times did on this. How could so many people in such high places lie so blatantly? Easy. They live in a bubble, and they get away with murder on a regular basis.
There needs to be more punishment for these kinds of actions. Time and time again we get an article like this and these demons just keep on keepin' on.
Not to make too much of a leap, but this is why we need someone like Bernie Sanders. The system is corrupt. Period end. Everything about it is corrupt.
People have been talking about the downfall of the male patriarchy for decades. Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later, and hopefully in ways that do not require an out and out revolution.
If you watch a lot of TV, you probably have become anesthetized to what is going on with advertising. The pharmaceutical companies are programming you on a daily basis with images of beautiful people having fun on the beach while a voice over tells you that you could die if you take this medication. I'm being forced to watch a beautiful woman in the tropics talk about why i need viagra! God, it's unbelievable.
There needs to be more punishment for these kinds of actions. Time and time again we get an article like this and these demons just keep on keepin' on.
Not to make too much of a leap, but this is why we need someone like Bernie Sanders. The system is corrupt. Period end. Everything about it is corrupt.
People have been talking about the downfall of the male patriarchy for decades. Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later, and hopefully in ways that do not require an out and out revolution.
If you watch a lot of TV, you probably have become anesthetized to what is going on with advertising. The pharmaceutical companies are programming you on a daily basis with images of beautiful people having fun on the beach while a voice over tells you that you could die if you take this medication. I'm being forced to watch a beautiful woman in the tropics talk about why i need viagra! God, it's unbelievable.
2
The billionaire owners only care about profits. They run the NFL like a Circus Maximus, with the players as gladiators to be disposed of and replaced. And there are enough fans who will pay outrageous ticket prices and cable prices to allow them to do it with no financial risk to their income. And they do this with impunity because our politicians are for sale.
3
Anyone that watches the NFL knows that football is a brutal game with high risk of injury to the players. If you don't want to get hurt you shouldn't play. But the players are paid enough to accept the risks as they see them.
College football players don't get paid. Players that risk getting their brains bashed and bones broken as a means to receiving an education or an eventual NFL paycheck are probably not seeing the risks or assessing them clearly to begin with.
If our government wants to intercede then they should be obligated to find another way for people to afford a college education.
Why wouldn't we tax such a highly profitable but high risk pursuit where the riches flow to the already rich but the risks are borne by the less well off and less well informed.
2
A long time ago, as a kid in Brooklyn, a greedy owner stole my (our) Dodgers away and took them to LA. You quickly learn about the lack of integrity in professional sports. One plays the games because one loves them - swimming, cycling, tennis, running, hoops, ... But one learns to avoid the professional stuff. What he NFLis doing goes even beyond the pale. It sickens one. It also reminds you of the inequality in the country - how the powerful alwayd win at any cost - financial crisis, Greeat Recession, ...
2
I wonder if the truth about concussion risk were very apparent, like a big warning label printed on every helmet, visible on TV during games, would make a difference?
1
I am shocked, shocked to discover that there is collusion and deception going on in that establishment.
3
The parental consent process that allows children to play football should include a requirement parents suit up in front of a panel of 300 pound linebackers who don't ask, don't tell but who tackle the parents a few times.
3
If anyone doesn't know by now that playing football is a risk to one's health; they should be declared legally incompetent. Now, get on with it. Enough already.
2
I'm with the member quoted as saying "If we found [the data] wasn't accurate and still used it, that's not a screw-up; that's a lie."
The Enron convictions can be characterized as judging the execs to the standard of "if you didn't know, you should have known". It is almost impossible to believe that the doctors and researchers writing these multiple studies did not know they were using the commonest trick to fudge research, using selective data. So they performed no statistical analysis comparing injury rates across teams and across years? That would immediately flag teams with no data. They performed no analysis of why rates varied substantially across teams? That would flag for more questions, including if data was complete, or if different reporting measures were used by different teams.
Isn't the medical oath to do no harm? This caused harm. What punishment for those who authored these multiple fundamentally flawed articles?
The Enron convictions can be characterized as judging the execs to the standard of "if you didn't know, you should have known". It is almost impossible to believe that the doctors and researchers writing these multiple studies did not know they were using the commonest trick to fudge research, using selective data. So they performed no statistical analysis comparing injury rates across teams and across years? That would immediately flag teams with no data. They performed no analysis of why rates varied substantially across teams? That would flag for more questions, including if data was complete, or if different reporting measures were used by different teams.
Isn't the medical oath to do no harm? This caused harm. What punishment for those who authored these multiple fundamentally flawed articles?
9
An area of investigation which appears to be ignored is the many college players that sustain multiple head injuries. What behaviors do they manifest during their post college years that do not conform to the norm.
3
Wonderful investigative journalism. Thank you, NYT, for using the NFL's own data to reveal these inconvenient truths.
16
It's important to point out that the public is a major - perhaps the largest - financial backer of football. Excluding the massive college football industry, and just looking just at the NFL, it was a tax-exempt organization until last year. This is an organization that paid its commissioner $44 million in 2012. Add to that, the billions of tax dollars devoted to build stadiums, and the infrastructure and personnel to support them at the time of construction and decades into the future. Stadium deals also lock-in terrible terms for taxpayers, such as super low-cost rents for use of public land and very low tax rates for revenues.
The public has paid - and continues to pay - for NFL football. As we uncover the true price to people's lives, the NFL should be held accountable.
The public has paid - and continues to pay - for NFL football. As we uncover the true price to people's lives, the NFL should be held accountable.
18
Upton Sinclair said 100 years ago: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
31
The NFL is a corporation. Most NFL teams owners are corporate. The players are labor. What more needs to be said?
12
I have a doctorate in Public Health.Two things came to mind when I read the article: the first is the unholy union of tobacco industry attorneys and the committee formed to specifically look at the problem of concussions in the League, using an attorney steeped in the ways of Big Tobacco defending itself through a web of lies and deceit. I shouldn’t be surprised at this: Big Sports was just trying to protect itself in the same way that Big Tobacco did, but to have team physicians declare that their obvious conflicts of interest didn’t affect their writing the journal articles and then have the Times uncover what the facts really are is, frankly, despicable.
Secondly, it appears as though medical journal editors didn’t pay attention to the unambiguous comments regarding problems that peer reviewers had about the manuscripts submitted for publication. An underpinning of the medical publishing process is that peer review acts as a definitive check on the validity of an article. I have been a peer reviewer, and journal editors always take expressions of concern or error into consideration. Why this was not done here, one can only speculate, but it certainly doesn’t look good.
Numerous principals have chosen not to respond to reporters’ questions. It seems to me that there’s still a great deal to answer for on the part of the NFL and the committee. The affected players and the public are waiting.
Secondly, it appears as though medical journal editors didn’t pay attention to the unambiguous comments regarding problems that peer reviewers had about the manuscripts submitted for publication. An underpinning of the medical publishing process is that peer review acts as a definitive check on the validity of an article. I have been a peer reviewer, and journal editors always take expressions of concern or error into consideration. Why this was not done here, one can only speculate, but it certainly doesn’t look good.
Numerous principals have chosen not to respond to reporters’ questions. It seems to me that there’s still a great deal to answer for on the part of the NFL and the committee. The affected players and the public are waiting.
122
The book, League of Denial, goes into some of this and provides some evidence pointing to personal relationships between the Neurosurgery Journal editor, Michael Apuzzo, and high-ups in the NFL. Some reviewers did express concerns, perhaps not loudly enough, but they fell on deaf ears. Most of the evidence suggests Apuzzo had something to gain by promoting these NFL concussion studies.
3
I am a clinical research scientist and completely agree with you, sfojeff. I would go one step further and say that it is incumbent upon the journal Neurology to take a serious look at those 16 papers and consider redacting some or all of them. That the journal has not yet done so is discouraging in light of all the information now available. Not surprisingly, 8 of the 9 publications Elliot Pellman currently lists in his online profile for Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are from that very series.
2
Robert A. Gross is now Editor-in-Chief at Neurosurgery. It is therefore possible it's a new, "clean" day at the journal and these 16 articles can be properly assessed for possible redaction. The journal can only help itself, and medicine, by going through this legitimate process.
1
It's amazing to me how far some people will go to defend corporate crookedness in this country, especially those without a dog in the fight.
The comments about how NFL players "knew what they were getting into" are sickening. The teams and the business as a whole were putting out false information about the risks involved; so no, the players didn't accurately know the level of risk, because it is impossible to when the employers are cherry -picking what data go into their studies.
There is something really sick about the level of violence people think is okay for entertainment purposes, although, I'm not sure why that surprises me. It's been going on since Greek and Roman times.
it's nice to know we really don't evolve much.
The comments about how NFL players "knew what they were getting into" are sickening. The teams and the business as a whole were putting out false information about the risks involved; so no, the players didn't accurately know the level of risk, because it is impossible to when the employers are cherry -picking what data go into their studies.
There is something really sick about the level of violence people think is okay for entertainment purposes, although, I'm not sure why that surprises me. It's been going on since Greek and Roman times.
it's nice to know we really don't evolve much.
For years I thought if OSHA got involved in NFL injuries they would stop play immediately for good reason, the safety and well being of NFL employees.
The NFL also has deeply flawed research on ideal gas laws
The NFL also has deeply flawed research on ideal gas laws
Not only was the research apparently seriously flawed and seemingly self-servingly fraudulent, the researchers violated the HHS Common Rule for human subject research by failing to protect the privacy of the players.
The NYT article states: "The N.F.L.’s concussion committee began publishing its findings in 2003 in the medical journal Neurosurgery. Although the database used in the studies contained numerical codes for teams and players, The Times decoded it by cross-referencing team schedules and public injury reports."
Human subject protections under the Common Rule for research studies are very clear about privacy and protection of the participants. If the NYTimes was able to link individual players to the study in such a way, the researchers have another issue to be questioned about and the IRB who approved the research protocol(s) should be made aware of this serious violation of research protocol and ethics. The players should have something to say about this violation as well.
The NYT article states: "The N.F.L.’s concussion committee began publishing its findings in 2003 in the medical journal Neurosurgery. Although the database used in the studies contained numerical codes for teams and players, The Times decoded it by cross-referencing team schedules and public injury reports."
Human subject protections under the Common Rule for research studies are very clear about privacy and protection of the participants. If the NYTimes was able to link individual players to the study in such a way, the researchers have another issue to be questioned about and the IRB who approved the research protocol(s) should be made aware of this serious violation of research protocol and ethics. The players should have something to say about this violation as well.
3
The news here is the NYT study, not the behavior of the NFL or the very nature of football. Anyone surprised with the findings has been kidding themselves for decades.
1
I love watching football, but as a parent, hate seeing young players injured. With common sense for rules and modern technology we should be able to reduce 90% of the injuries. Football can be spectacular with its long passes, end zone-to-end zone runs without violent tackles.
I would like to see the commissioner being tackled few times so that he has the first hand experience of the concussions and injuries. Him and all responsible people including team doctors and managers should be replaced for allowing the league wide issue to linger.
I would like to see the commissioner being tackled few times so that he has the first hand experience of the concussions and injuries. Him and all responsible people including team doctors and managers should be replaced for allowing the league wide issue to linger.
I really don't see anything in this article that wasn't covered in the PBS Frontline broadcast "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis" which was broadcast October 8, 2013.
3
I am a long time football fan but have become more and more disgusted with the NFL and am backing off in my interest in the sport. The owners have been getting sweetheart deals from the public for years with their demands for new stadiums and now they are screwing over their own players. I do not see why we the public should subsidize the uber-wealthy owners and I do not see why we, the fans, should let the NFL put their players at such risk to their health. Enough!
1
..and we should add that these SAME repulsive lobbyists for tobacco were hired to launch an all-out denial of climate change, usung hired guns from the energy consortia and phony data foisted on the public as fact.
These filth belong behind bars.
These filth belong behind bars.
6
What is the difference between the NFL and FIFA? There is no independent verification by neutral third parties anywhere. Studies, commissions, committees, reports.....all self appointed activities with a veneer of independent mindedness.
2
One of the great learning experiences of this election was looking for a real conservative who was eligible and smart enough to be President of the USA. My quest ended with the discovery of Boris Johnson the mayor of London who is a natural born American citizen and understands how great civilizations disappear.
Johnson appears in 90 minute debate available on youtube taking the side of Greece in a debate on whether Greece or Rome was the better civilization.
Johnson hits the ball out of the park when he states that where Greece involves itself in philosophy poetry and drama Rome spends its Sunday afternoons watching 100s of thousands being slaughtered at the Colosseum.
Johnson appears in 90 minute debate available on youtube taking the side of Greece in a debate on whether Greece or Rome was the better civilization.
Johnson hits the ball out of the park when he states that where Greece involves itself in philosophy poetry and drama Rome spends its Sunday afternoons watching 100s of thousands being slaughtered at the Colosseum.
3
A country that has something as moronic and harmful as football as its national pastime is a mistake. We need a clean slate.
1
correction: national pastime-baseball, not football.
It's unfortunate that Goodell and his owners did not invest as much time, money and genuine commitment in addressing the tragic and growing consequences of game violence-induced concussions as they have in the faux scandal of "Deflategate." Players are disposable commodities, with the average career lasting 3.3 years--typically varying based on the number of times a player hits or gets hit. Running backs, receivers and interior linemen are particularly vulnerable. Each year's draft produces hundreds of new candidates for concussions and other significant injuries. This is the real scandal.
5
I no longer watch American football, preferring the elegance (and brevity due to the lack of commercials) of European football, or soccer as we call it. And just as American football has issues with CTE, soccer may as well due to headers. However, after having watched professional soccer for several years, the violence of American football in comparison is utterly shocking.
2
Be aware that once the do-gooders bring a halt to American football they'll likely set their sights on your favored game.
It's fourth and 1 on the 1 yard line with seven seconds left in the championship game.
The defense brings in their "Wall of Silence" lineup to run out the clock, with the "Bad Liars" defensive backs looking like they're going to blitz...
The defense brings in their "Wall of Silence" lineup to run out the clock, with the "Bad Liars" defensive backs looking like they're going to blitz...
CA Congresswoman Linda Sanches was one of the first in Congress to pointedly ask about concussions and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). Here she is in Oct 28, 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE00phT_Nqw
1
When you signed up for the NFL, what did you think was going to happen? There was never any ruse about it. The only possible ruse was your stupidity believing otherwise. Nobody locked the factory doors so you couldn't get out in the event of a fire or ignored warnings and regulations at the coal mine to protect quotas and profits. I'm usually a liberal and even I know that.
If there is any entity that has expertise in denying culpability, it is the tobacco industry. Not at all surprising that a NFL-tobacco connection exists.
1
Any connection between Tobacco and the NFL is in the mind of a journalist who is trying to hype his work. The need to hype your work rather than letting the merits speak for themselves is just another example of a business trying to enhance its own interests.
If it can be proved - and it seems it can be - that specific people in NFL DELIBERATELY withheld data/information to mislead, should it not be a CRIME???
If it's a crime, shouldn't such people be held accountable for the tragedies they caused and pay for it?
Isn't is also that such "payments" must not be restricted to monetary amounts? Should they not be jailed?
If it's a crime, shouldn't such people be held accountable for the tragedies they caused and pay for it?
Isn't is also that such "payments" must not be restricted to monetary amounts? Should they not be jailed?
the real question is, how much longer will contact football be allowed in schools and for youth sports? With the brain injury risk so great and incremental over time, will anyone want to risk the health of youth or potentially expose themselves to litigation?
The link between tobacco and the NFL is pure supposition that is as flawed as the leagues documentation of concussions and it deflects from the real issue-the underreporting of concussions undermines any notion of science being employed properly by the NFL. Every paper that relied on that data is suspect.
I'm so done with the greed and ego fest that is all of pro sports, including football's minor leauge, the NCAA.
Please more scoring in soccer, and keep ESPN and the networks greedy little fingers off it.
Please more scoring in soccer, and keep ESPN and the networks greedy little fingers off it.
Amazing work by the NYTimes. Thank you for exposing this disgrace
Everything about the NFL is unhealthy, dangerous, and profitable, and that is exactly why it is so popular.
2
If only this were more surprising news. Two heartless industries.
This is really two different articles: One about faulty and misleading concussion studies, which apparently omitted data and was written in language that dissembled precisely how the data was assembled and analyzed, resulting in suspicious findings. And another about the NFL's tenuous ties to Big Tobacco.
The Times editor should have required the writer to focus on the former, or the editor should have run two different articles.
In any case, as to the concussion studies and The Times's reporting, bravo. But why did it take so long? I'm surprised that several adventurous graduate students didn't put the at-issue studies through the peer-reviewed, best-practices ringer years ago. Every Ph.D. student and doctoral graduate knows that he or she has to carefully explain his or her research methods and threats to validity, etc. Thus, at least some blame has to placed on the press and the research community for taking nearly 13 years to properly vet the NFL's data, methodology, and conclusions.
The Times editor should have required the writer to focus on the former, or the editor should have run two different articles.
In any case, as to the concussion studies and The Times's reporting, bravo. But why did it take so long? I'm surprised that several adventurous graduate students didn't put the at-issue studies through the peer-reviewed, best-practices ringer years ago. Every Ph.D. student and doctoral graduate knows that he or she has to carefully explain his or her research methods and threats to validity, etc. Thus, at least some blame has to placed on the press and the research community for taking nearly 13 years to properly vet the NFL's data, methodology, and conclusions.
1
It's all about fame and money. Neither the NFL teams nor individual players can resist it. No one forces young men to play this game, and yet all of the teams' rosters are full, and thousands wish they could make it to the pros. In the past players didn't know the long-term risks of concussions. Now everyone knows. Football fans love the game. Well, guess what? It comes with some really bad side effects.
We can all weep and moan about this and condemn the Church of the Holy NFL.
However, the research shows that violent impacts "rattle" the brain inside the skull. The impacts don't have to cause concussions or even include the head--a solid impact to the body will "rattle" the recipient's "brains"--and these kinds of impacts aren't limited only to football. Any activity that includes consistent impacts at or beyond a certain G-force level will carry with it the high risk of CTE.
We can dance around this any way we want, but the only way to stop it is to prohibit high-impact in sports, i.e. to prohibit from junior league, high school, college, and pro football the violence that's the game's main audience attraction. Soccer, boxing, cage fighting, and a few other sports would also have to be dramatically altered from what they are today.
Frankly, I'm all for it. Peddling organized, socially acceptable violence to roaring, beer-soaked mobs seems wrong for several reasons. However, I'm not sure society as a whole will pay many billions of dollars a year for "two-hand-touch" or flag football.
However, the research shows that violent impacts "rattle" the brain inside the skull. The impacts don't have to cause concussions or even include the head--a solid impact to the body will "rattle" the recipient's "brains"--and these kinds of impacts aren't limited only to football. Any activity that includes consistent impacts at or beyond a certain G-force level will carry with it the high risk of CTE.
We can dance around this any way we want, but the only way to stop it is to prohibit high-impact in sports, i.e. to prohibit from junior league, high school, college, and pro football the violence that's the game's main audience attraction. Soccer, boxing, cage fighting, and a few other sports would also have to be dramatically altered from what they are today.
Frankly, I'm all for it. Peddling organized, socially acceptable violence to roaring, beer-soaked mobs seems wrong for several reasons. However, I'm not sure society as a whole will pay many billions of dollars a year for "two-hand-touch" or flag football.
3
As a family doc with a lot of neuro work--"Just shut it down."
As we ended up doing with boxing. And let's start TEACHING academics again. You know how we can afford state colleges for everyone? Get rid of the inane hugely expensive sports programs where the head coach is the highest paid employee in EVERY state. And that included every program that does NOT make money which are most of them. Get rid of the multi-million dollar stadia in all levels--paid for by taxpayers. Get rid of the exclusive training tables, the spas, the physical therapists and work out facilities that are closed to every other student..but paid for with student fees.
Get rid of the scholarship programs which INCLUDE full rides for cheerleaders.
Just stop it all. We morbidly obese Americans need to get off our couches, go hike, and play outdoors...instead of consuming tens of thousands of calories in beer, fake cheese nachos, etc each weekend...while watching mostly black young men destroy their brains and bodies.
I stopped watching ALL sports three years ago and have missed NOTHING after spending a massive amount of time and brain power memorizing stats, understanding formations and plays, etc.
Football should be Futbal and no more "headers."
It's not "JUST" brain injury. It's the Tommy John surgeries being done ROUTINELY on fifteen year olds trying to live vicariously through parents who were failed athletes.
Enough! Time for a sea change.
As we ended up doing with boxing. And let's start TEACHING academics again. You know how we can afford state colleges for everyone? Get rid of the inane hugely expensive sports programs where the head coach is the highest paid employee in EVERY state. And that included every program that does NOT make money which are most of them. Get rid of the multi-million dollar stadia in all levels--paid for by taxpayers. Get rid of the exclusive training tables, the spas, the physical therapists and work out facilities that are closed to every other student..but paid for with student fees.
Get rid of the scholarship programs which INCLUDE full rides for cheerleaders.
Just stop it all. We morbidly obese Americans need to get off our couches, go hike, and play outdoors...instead of consuming tens of thousands of calories in beer, fake cheese nachos, etc each weekend...while watching mostly black young men destroy their brains and bodies.
I stopped watching ALL sports three years ago and have missed NOTHING after spending a massive amount of time and brain power memorizing stats, understanding formations and plays, etc.
Football should be Futbal and no more "headers."
It's not "JUST" brain injury. It's the Tommy John surgeries being done ROUTINELY on fifteen year olds trying to live vicariously through parents who were failed athletes.
Enough! Time for a sea change.
9
It is similar to being a global warming denier. Proof beyond a shadow of a doubt. All contact sports, with sudden acceleration/deceleration motions, and impacts have the ability to cause trauma and long term injury. Hypothetically, the NFL with $25 billion in annual revenue would be worth $121 billion in market cap, is following legal council advice to take this position, and cherry pick research results. There is alway, many more questions than answers. Research is always ongoing, and never ending. This is just Attorneys doing there job, minimizing future damages, and protecting the Status Quo. Most athletes, of any contact sport, knowingly participate, knowing the results long term. Most of us have "rolled the dice". I think most players are all well compensated, this legal battle is about future compensation. Players and parents of young children, need to take all of this consideration, and we are now seeing some players, cutting their career short, as these risks are now being understood.
This may be neuroscience, but it is not rocket science. It is simple. When profit rises to a certain level, people sell out. People lie. Lobbyists start schmoozing. And yes, there are strong parallels with the tobacco industry crimes. In these cases, what is most egregious is that people sell out for personal gain at the expense of others who die or suffer life-changing disabilities.
As a physician, what angers me most is the group of my colleagues who abandon their professional, moral, and ethical responsibilities for the fame and fortune that come with these elite team positions, and then compound their culpability by participating and signing off on what they undoubtedly know is deliberately skewed "research."
As a physician, what angers me most is the group of my colleagues who abandon their professional, moral, and ethical responsibilities for the fame and fortune that come with these elite team positions, and then compound their culpability by participating and signing off on what they undoubtedly know is deliberately skewed "research."
5
Really? You need "science" to tell you its not a good idea for grown men to bash each other's heads in? Really? Wow.
3
No, perhaps you do not need science to tell you it's not a good idea, but you do need science to tell you how bad an idea it is. If that science is then perverted with the end being to hide the true risk from those that need be informed, well that is criminal, and a price will be paid.
1
What concerns me as deeply as the all legal obfuscation and the NFL's diversionary tactics, is that The Journal of Neurosurgery, one the world's most prestigious and trusted medical journals, published such sloppy results even over the objections of its own peer-reviewers.
A friend of mine on the editorial review board of a well-respected peer-reviewed medical journal says that once a paper's supporting data is questioned the common practice to go back to the data source for clarification. Why didn't that happen here?
Was the science bought? If so, how? And by who?
A friend of mine on the editorial review board of a well-respected peer-reviewed medical journal says that once a paper's supporting data is questioned the common practice to go back to the data source for clarification. Why didn't that happen here?
Was the science bought? If so, how? And by who?
The League should absolutely be held accountable for fudging the science here, and the tobacco industry link comparison deserves to be exposed. But if readers really want to change things they need to stop supporting the sport. The easiest thing to do is to simply quit watching football on TV, college and pro. If you really want to be serious then write to and boycott advertisers (though this may mean your pickup truck, fast food and beer options are severely limited). But if you want to go all the way and REALLY affect change, don't let your kids play the sport and encourage other parents to do the same. Only when the talent pool dries up will football be relegated to the back pages and back alleys of the sporting world, where it belongs.
It is funny how many people are quick to believe that the NFL willfully acted to manipulate science to create the impression that head injuries were not a problem but scoff at the notion that the NFL acted the same way in order to railroad the patriots by manipulating the "scientific" findings in the Well's report. There is no outcry about the fact that the NFL refuses to share its findings with respect to the measurement of PSI this year. I suspect that it is because the results would not justify the result that the NFL wants or that those who are jealous of the Patriots' success would be satisfied with.
1
It will be interesting to see if this piece of investigative reporting has a larger impact than the PBS Frontline 2 part special, "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis," and the subsequent publication of Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru's book "League of Denial,"Jenne Laskas's book "Concussion" and the subsequent movie "Concussion. " It seems that no amount of data and no amount of publicity can overcome the tremendous power of mega-industry in obscuring a problem. This data has long-term implications for the sports futures of the youth of our nation. Unless we are willing to face up to hard data, despite powerful economic forces aligned against forces for good, our nation will continue to face crisis after crisis.
1
Those who are considered cynical when it comes to excess profit from almost any endeavor, but especially those which rake in money through vicarious violence, have always turned a critical eye to the long practiced ignorance of team owners who know their fanatical audience' lust for blood whether on the field or in the ring far too often brings misery to the participants.
That politicians who purport to represent all of us find the amount of butter owners are willing to spread on the bread of those who turn away from or simply deny the factual basis of injuries is only exceeded by the jam they heap on top for the support of citizen supported arenas.
We, the taxpayer, certainly must accept part of the blame, but most of this seemingly perpetual crime is commited by those among us whose greed knows no bounds.
"Free enterprise" is not in anyway free; some one and in this case our heroes on the field whether in sport or actual battle pay the price and we, the ignorant, deluded, overtaxed, citizens and those who field our iognorant dreams, mourn the blood which is not ours. An easy call until we get cut.
May be that we will wake up, but I don't think we will; the couch is sooooo comfortable.
That politicians who purport to represent all of us find the amount of butter owners are willing to spread on the bread of those who turn away from or simply deny the factual basis of injuries is only exceeded by the jam they heap on top for the support of citizen supported arenas.
We, the taxpayer, certainly must accept part of the blame, but most of this seemingly perpetual crime is commited by those among us whose greed knows no bounds.
"Free enterprise" is not in anyway free; some one and in this case our heroes on the field whether in sport or actual battle pay the price and we, the ignorant, deluded, overtaxed, citizens and those who field our iognorant dreams, mourn the blood which is not ours. An easy call until we get cut.
May be that we will wake up, but I don't think we will; the couch is sooooo comfortable.
1
I'd say unbelievable. But, well it's not. It's absolutely straight out of the NFL playbook. The NFL is entertainment tobacco. An addictive product that is inarguably dangerous to those who participate in it. I think the real issue is that if I am a mother (I am not) and I see that this is how the NFL treats players and player safety, there is no conscionable way I could let my child play. The vast majority of players will never snap a down of meaningful ball after high school. So is it worth it? You can learn teamwork and camaraderie playing baseball, basketball or soccer - all of which have concussions but not as a central part of the game playing experience.
1
Remember the movie on this topic?. It was released one week after the Superbowl. coincidence or deliberate timing ?
This is a classic example of the morals of the billionaires who control professional football. They will do, say, conceal, deny and lie about anything that might cost them some money...and never be concerned about the human price being paid by their replaceable and faceless drones and their families. Their money is not criminal, but their morals are.
1
No surprise here. The NFL is a big money making corporation. Bottom line is profit at any cost to players. Fact is fans love the big hits and knockouts to opposing players. Don't expect anything to change. Of course they learned from Big Tobacco Philip Morris, "an honorable company'! Nothing new here.
1
Actually, the NFL was a tax-exempt not-for-profit until just a year ago (which makes it even more outrageous).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/04/28/the-nfl-is-dr...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/04/28/the-nfl-is-dr...
3
I am posting this abbreviated comment for my father-in-law, Dr. John D. Baldwin. On February 22 he mailed his complete observations to NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell, and to Mike Riley, coach of the Nebraska Huskers. No response to date. – SM
________
This is a reflection on how we may lessen both the short and long-term damage from athletic traumatic brain injuries. My observation arises for an essentially unique experience. I’m a retired, 85-year-old neuropsychiatrist who sees similarities between athletic concussions and Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT). The post-event courses are practically identical.
My experience extends over 50 years: almost 40 years in private practice, followed by 10 years in community mental health. I’ve done over 15,000 ECT over a 40-year span, and I have seen hundreds of concussed or brain damaged patients.
Without question, supplemental oxygen lessened the length of time of confusion and made it possible for people to have many treatments.
Because of my experience with ECT and observing so many brain injuries, and then seeing their recoveries, I became convinced that oxygen in these cases was sort of a miracle drug.
Therefore, I recommend that whenever a player receives a head injury and is not immediately responsive or shows alteration in awareness or confusion, that he or she be immediately be given 1-3 minutes of oxygen by hyperventilation.
Dr. John D. Baldwin
Lincoln, Nebraska
________
This is a reflection on how we may lessen both the short and long-term damage from athletic traumatic brain injuries. My observation arises for an essentially unique experience. I’m a retired, 85-year-old neuropsychiatrist who sees similarities between athletic concussions and Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT). The post-event courses are practically identical.
My experience extends over 50 years: almost 40 years in private practice, followed by 10 years in community mental health. I’ve done over 15,000 ECT over a 40-year span, and I have seen hundreds of concussed or brain damaged patients.
Without question, supplemental oxygen lessened the length of time of confusion and made it possible for people to have many treatments.
Because of my experience with ECT and observing so many brain injuries, and then seeing their recoveries, I became convinced that oxygen in these cases was sort of a miracle drug.
Therefore, I recommend that whenever a player receives a head injury and is not immediately responsive or shows alteration in awareness or confusion, that he or she be immediately be given 1-3 minutes of oxygen by hyperventilation.
Dr. John D. Baldwin
Lincoln, Nebraska
Clinical observations worthy of further research. However, I would like to know if other medical specialists agree or if there exists any research to document the benefits of oxygen in preventing brain damage. It would make sense since much brain damage is due to oxygen deprivation.
So a big dollar industry investigating itself, manipulated the reports to benefit profits, regardless of the damage to human life. Like this has not happened before.
I see change occurring when parents understand the damage starts with that first head injury regardless of age. And they decide not to let their child take the risk and play football.
If I had minor children today, after what I have read on this subject, I would not let them play.
I see change occurring when parents understand the damage starts with that first head injury regardless of age. And they decide not to let their child take the risk and play football.
If I had minor children today, after what I have read on this subject, I would not let them play.
How does the country come to grips with a sport that brings out some of the best athletes anywhere and uses them to bolster the wallets of a bunch of knuckle-dragging troglodytes presiding over an overly-managed spectacle that insults human values at every turn? The majority of owners are greedy throwbacks who would have you believe the world is still flat and, infall likelihood, that slavery is still good for business.
1
Despicable behavior on the part of the NFL and the teams that have lied or not reported properly. Apparently money is more important to the thieves who own the teams. Message to the pols who like to give them cushy deals on new stadiums..............end that practice now. No more tax payer money to build new stadiums. The owners and the NFL as a whole are wealthy enough to pay for it themselves. Unless we as taxpayers get a break on getting in to these places the current system must end now.
2
I guess we know why Jerry Jones stated there was no evidence to connect CTE to football because the Dallas Cowboys reported their players did not suffer any concussions. How disingenuous can you be? Do you remember Troy Aikman?
3
Money, money, money that's all the NFL is interested in. The league should be shut down until this is sorted out. An independent person should be in charge of reporting all concussions, someone not on the payroll of the team or league. Players should go on strike until something is done about this problem. Discusting behavior and role modeling. I was told by high school player in Ca that the coach told them there was no problem with concussions on their team and they should not worry about it.
11
As someone who works in clinical research and reviews research data, I can tell you that this is not a problem unique to football research. I've seen many studies with data collection practices that were shockingly poor. Excluding data that should have been included and including data that should have been excluded. Policy and medical decisions are made based on these published papers. The research protocol looks good, the paper looks good but the data the paper is based on is totally unreliable. The reasons are many: sloppiness, honest mistakes, unconscious bias, conscious bias....
8
News Flash.Big business acts in it's own greedy interest while half of the American public gives them the keys to the family car. Thank-you St Reagan.
7
Tell me again why the NFL is a non profit?
31
The Commissioners office is the one that has had a non profit status. They derive their income from the individual clubs who are not non profit.
listened to sports radio this morning in NYC and they slammed the report by the NYTimes. one commentator, a former NFL QB, and the other was a sports show host, noted players make a choice about playing football and know the risks. moreover, players should not feel victimized by the NFL as they make money. the former NFL QB said he made millions playing a dangerous sport and owned his choice. I think what was missed is the NFL's negligence stopped the sport from utilizing new technologies and protocols which could have prolonged NFL careers and lessened the concussions in the league. Sadly protecting the shield meant being dishonest with players and the nation that loves the sport.
8
Football will always be a dangerous sport with long term health risks. Why can't the league just admit this and be straight with players and fans? Yes, you will likely suffer chronic injuries, brain damage, and lifelong symptoms from multiple concussions. But you also have a chance of being compensated well for playing a sport with these risks.
I disagree with those who say the NFL is inhumane and should be banned from pro sports. I am sure some players are aware of the risks and are OK with it. People have different levels of risk tolerance. That's why some end up as accountants and others are race car drivers.
It is a brutal and dangerous sport. I wish the NFL would just admit it and put the emphasis on educating players/parents/coaches of the risks.
I disagree with those who say the NFL is inhumane and should be banned from pro sports. I am sure some players are aware of the risks and are OK with it. People have different levels of risk tolerance. That's why some end up as accountants and others are race car drivers.
It is a brutal and dangerous sport. I wish the NFL would just admit it and put the emphasis on educating players/parents/coaches of the risks.
47
"some players are aware of the risks" - perhaps so. The adult ones. What about damage to children? They're not entitled at ages 6-17 to decide to subject themselves to repeated brain trauma. They're minors. There are other sports they can play with less near-certainty of serious injury to the brain.
I agree with you. In fact, allow people to make their own decisions and be responsible for their own actions and problems that result from those actions. However, at issue here is a dishonest NFL. Bottom line, have some integrity. Isn't that what the commissioner enforces in his policies and subsequent penalties?
nonsense.. the players are captured by the illusion of glamour and are far too young to comprehend getting old with injuries or illnesses because of playing football. These youngsters do not understand the risk reward ratio and there are only a few who will make the big dollars and successfully save it for their older years. It's horror that we allow our young men to pla this sport.
1
As the wife of former NFL Player Jeff Winans who passed away Dec. 21st,2012, we had discussed this in detail as he had had several concussions that were never reported and or put in his medical records.
I love the game of football, and there have a lot of positive changes in the league for future players and their families, but the Pre-93 NFL players, didn't make those big salaries and bonuses, nor had medical after they left, and the families were left, like myself to pick up and support our men and give them dignity, honor and integrity when they walk out the front door, when behind closed doors the family is lost in transition.
Great article. Thank you NY Times again.
I love the game of football, and there have a lot of positive changes in the league for future players and their families, but the Pre-93 NFL players, didn't make those big salaries and bonuses, nor had medical after they left, and the families were left, like myself to pick up and support our men and give them dignity, honor and integrity when they walk out the front door, when behind closed doors the family is lost in transition.
Great article. Thank you NY Times again.
39
Thank you, Ms. Winans. I hope that the NYT moves your comment to the top of the list.
Like replicants in Blade Runner, we grant football players (and those in many other sports) a very bright flame in return for a shortened, cruelly ended life. That's not a fair trade.
6
This is a clear example of why industry can't self-regulate. Outside watchdogs are always essential. Without them, there's a familiar pattern: cover ups, obfuscation, denial, and finally, unnecessary death and suffering.
20
Story needs more work. "using incomplete data, making them appear less frequent than they actually were." How do you know this? The story mentions only three players that suffered concussions and were not included in the report. We need more than that to form a conclusion.
Not doubting a serious problem. However, at Superbowl 50, all previous Superbowl MVPs appeared, in person or via video, except one who had died of cancer.
Still, watching games makes me angry: so much obvious malicious violence--leading with head, targeting the head. Change the rules!
Still, watching games makes me angry: so much obvious malicious violence--leading with head, targeting the head. Change the rules!
3
what's your point? the MVP weren't dying from CTE? most are QBs who suffer less concussions than linemen and other position players
Amen. Change the rules. Save the game.
1
The Merchants of Doubt are up to their dirty tricks again! Their successes with tobacco, guns, alcohol, climate change and now football discredit sound science to the detriment of society. Wake up people!
5
The inherent risks of this game are self-evident. If we really want to stop the head injuries then the game should be changed to tag football or just outlawed altogether. The fact that such a disproportionate percentage of the players (and therefore victims) are African-American is pretty sad in this day and age. The racism of tolerating horrific injuries to these predominantly black men must stop.I think it is well time to phase out this barbaric game altogether.
2
Tobacco
Football concussions
Coke/Pepsi
MacDonalds/Burger King
Climate change
Unsafe air and drinking water
School Lunches
If there's money to be make killing Americans, we aren't going to stop doing it. There was a time when good investigative reporting really meant something, and it would cause change, but now, everyone knows that big business, including the NFL, owns the government and that nothing is going to change.
Football concussions
Coke/Pepsi
MacDonalds/Burger King
Climate change
Unsafe air and drinking water
School Lunches
If there's money to be make killing Americans, we aren't going to stop doing it. There was a time when good investigative reporting really meant something, and it would cause change, but now, everyone knows that big business, including the NFL, owns the government and that nothing is going to change.
11
Americans have been taught to love violent sports, and their gladiators.. in football,rugby,boxing,mixed martial arts,nascar....... where both winners and losers have possibilities of being concussed,maimed or killed.........they've also been taught to drink coke-pepsi,eat mcdonalds,burger king, and twinkies.......the cynical Roman politicians determined that by providing the masses with "bread and circus"there would be little opposition to any of their self enriching schemes...........worship of the violent sports is but a small step from worship of war and warriors..........check out paintball fights and the latest electronic war games,kill with push of a button......check out drones...............extrajudicial assassination is ok.............the people deserve the government they accept !
I don't get the anger directed to the NFL. Football players are among the wealthiest men in the country. They can afford doctors if they are concerned. They know they will be banging heads against 300 pound men. They know its a deeply physical sport.
They assumed the risk. Why is it the NFL's fault? They had the choice between slinging fries at Burger King (most players are abysmally dumb) and making a fortune in a violent sport. They made their bed, they should sleep it in.
It's not that these cases aren't sad, its that they assumed the risk. NASCAR isn't responsible for therisks of its drivers, and pro football is no less dangerous.
They assumed the risk. Why is it the NFL's fault? They had the choice between slinging fries at Burger King (most players are abysmally dumb) and making a fortune in a violent sport. They made their bed, they should sleep it in.
It's not that these cases aren't sad, its that they assumed the risk. NASCAR isn't responsible for therisks of its drivers, and pro football is no less dangerous.
1
Did you, by any chance, read the article? The NFL hid the risks-that's why it's their fault.
2
The NFL, through its owners, make the rules for the game. They have the ability to limit head banging through rules changes. There have been some rule changes in the last couple of years, but head contact is still allowed in many situations. To me, the crux of the matter is less about concussion protocols and medical care, it is about preventing concussions in the first place. Sorry fans, big hits in football games will soon be a thing of the past.
You're wrong. Among this generation many of them don't really understand the risks, and not because they're "abysmally dumb". Lots of current NFL players are young men from terribly poor backgrounds who demonstrated abilities that caught the attention of coaches and scouts who brought them along through the high school and college game in order to enrich themselves. NFL careers are very short and while players make a lot of money NFL culture requires them to spend a lot, too - not a lot of Hyundais or Kias in the player lot at the stadium. The result is that most are broke within just a few years of "retiring" after a 3-year "career" - less time than it takes to graduate from college. Not only that, they're brokEN, with injuries that will haunt them for years and greatly diminish the duration and quality of their lives.
2
No matter how little or how much you get paid as a worker. You are still a worker. Your life is cheap. The millionaire workers of the NFL are, in the final analysis, just expendable workers.
3
The saddest part about this story is the light it sheds on the shoddiness of "peer reviewed research", the tarnished gold standard for countless destructive laws and public policies. "Experts" and "studies" cited every day ad nauseam in the media routinely turn out to be corrupted by industry and other vested interests. We are all living on a giant plantation -- we're the slaves and the media are the overseers.
1
I am shocked, shocked I tell you...
The usual suspects, yet again? The same motives and integrity?
The usual suspects, yet again? The same motives and integrity?
2
This article gets very close to the "Heartland Institute" vis-a-vis lobbying on behalf of the tobacco industry. Is there a shoe waiting to fall?
1
This is a great article. It clearly reflects the biased, self-serving, unethical conduct of several NFL team managements, their doctors, and the League doctors. All done for money and against the players' best interests. Clear, concise statement by statement comparisons prove the League's intentionally orchestrated contradictions and out right lies. Its disgraceful conduct for which the league should be subjected to contempt proceedings in the federal civil case. The League's evidentiary submissions are all utter and complete fraud, of which the League sought to hide from everyone for many many years. Why do we even watch football when the League is operated and managed by such unethical and deceptive people?
1
It would be interesting to compare the number of and severity of concussions in the NFL with International Rugby, a similar sport, with just about as much violence, but with out the armor. Are helmets, which are used as weapons, the cause of concussions?
1
End the tax breaks for football. The billionaire owners used money that should have been taxed to perpetuate the status quo through lies and deception.
Why do the voters put up with it? It's time for the owners to pay.
Why do the voters put up with it? It's time for the owners to pay.
19
Here's what Harvard physicians had to say about concussions suffered by its players - 110 years ago, in 1906: "Head injuries, nineteen. Cases of concussion were frequent, both during practice and games, in fact, but two games were played during the entire season in which a case of concussion of the brain did not occur."
10
I find it interesting that the research of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE is not mentioned, or did I just overlook the reference?
8
Tobacco, NFL, Asbestos, Fossil Fuels. Same tactics of denial and deception, by the same lawyers, lobbyists and PR people. For the love of money.
9
Who cares? These people go to a field to get beaten and get paid millions of dollars to do this. I mean how can it not be obvious that hitting your head repeatedly against a hard object will eventually hurt you? Like the gladiators in Roman times, there are inherent risks to the job. This is not a health crisis, but a call to eliminate a risky activity. If Spain can grow out of bullfighting (where the bull is not a willing participant), then we can grow out of football (where the 'bulls' are willing participants. By the way when will we talk about the risks of boxing? or Ice Hockey? this is absolutely ridiculous. It's an example of just another first world problem.
1
You ignore the impacts on youth and college players who are not making millions of dollars a year. Only a small fraction of college players make it to the NFL but these amateur players take all the risks so massive profits can be made by coaches, the NCAA etc, the colleges are losing money on football and raising tuitioin to pay for it and for an amateur training league for the NFL and to entertain the wealthy. Want an egregious example of football being perpetrated on and paid for - losing many millions each year - by a university where the students, faculty, staff, alumni etc does not want it or need it and now a new half billion $$ ootball stadium - look at Colorado State University.
3
Good for the NYT for doing this piece! This filthy and criminal disreguard for players health and well being should be prosceuted. It's no surprise these slezoids went to the tobacco lawyers to help them stonewall this issue. I was once an NFL fan but no more, not untill they clean up the game and make it the beautiful game of finess, athletic ability and strategy it could be
7
Are you trying to tell us that corporations often fumble ethics in their quest to maximize profits at all costs? Well Golly Gee Whiz.
Next you'll be telling us that Citizens United isn't good for democracy.
Next you'll be telling us that Citizens United isn't good for democracy.
5
Does this really surprise anyone? - especially the behavior of the zillion dollar companies involved. As for those affected, whether it's the internal rebellion of smoking or playing/watching a sport that involves violently tackling someone to the ground, many people like the thrill of something dangerous - safe is boring and that's why there is an underlying market for both as well as for other things like motorcycles and base jumping. This is as it has always been...Romans didn't flock to games at the Forum for nothin'.
1
Football is America's pastime. But more importantly, it is a multi-billion dollar business. No business gives up a product of that value, no matter how destructive it might be, unless they are forced to.
The only thing that can save football is the players. Players need to demand that every NFL player have a long term care insurance policy, including special treatment for C.T.E. paid for by the owners. If they, the players continue to take the risks, which most seem determined to do, then the owners should pay for it. In time the cost of these policies will cause everyone to reconsider a sport that in its present form cannot be made safer.
The only thing that can save football is the players. Players need to demand that every NFL player have a long term care insurance policy, including special treatment for C.T.E. paid for by the owners. If they, the players continue to take the risks, which most seem determined to do, then the owners should pay for it. In time the cost of these policies will cause everyone to reconsider a sport that in its present form cannot be made safer.
2
"By excluding so many concussions, Mr. Barr said, 'You’re not doing science here; you are putting forth some idea that you already have.'” One could also argue that by excluding many of the PSI readings taken at the Colts-Pats game and those gathered the following year, you are putting forth some idea you already have. A better description of the Wells report could not exist. Wells knew what the NFL wanted so he selectively found facts to justify it. But enough said about that dead horse. Is anybody really surprised by the fact that an organization that is dedicated to making rich people richer will do anything to preserve the status quo? Move your team from one part of the country to another, leaving loyal fans upset? Want to knock out your girlfriend in an elevator, beat your child with a switch, or threaten your girl friend with guns? No problem as long as it does not affect the bottom line. But once it does, watch out because we will move the goal posts to satisfy public opinion. What's a few brain injuries compared to billions of dollars? The only way to stop such injuries is to radically change the game to ban all head to head contact, but that will never happen so long as the cost of paying for the damages caused by such contact is greater than the income generated from leaving it in. Just like smoking, everyone who has any sense does not need a scientific study to tell them what common sense tells them, blows to head, like smoking, cause serious health problems.
2
The Times has to dig deeper here. Data collection in epidemiologic studies almost always has missing data and 10% under-reporting will not change the outcomes or conclusions if the omissions are unbiased (random). But the tone of the article suggests something far worse, outright fraud. Now that the story is out, this allegation should be evaluated. If scientific fraud is confirmed the first step is for the journals to retract the fraudulent papers, with an editorial explaining in technical terms exactly what was amiss. This will not only set the scientific record straight, it will provide much needed data for the lawsuits that will surely follow.
2
Pro sports; big money, giant egos, massive corruption. Just can't watch them anymore. Last NBA game I watched Mr. LB James traveled on most plays and doesn't get called. Last NFL game I watched holding occurred on every play. The NFL cheats at everything.
2
Money trumps people's lives every time, besides who in their right mind would ever believe any studies funded by an industry that is trying to prove that it's practices are safe. The NFL is attempting to condemn it's most valuable employees and their families and friends to a lifetime of pain and suffering in exchange for money and their fans are aiding and abetting them.
6
The saddest part of this story, which follows the narrative of other news of our day, is the repeated concept of greed conquering decency and fairness. We see it in business, politics, sports, etc. It is a sad commentary on human nature of the powerful.
7
it's kind of like a thermodynamic corollary: as more profitable revenue flows into a box, like the NFL or tobacco corporate headquarters, less information gets out. if really huge profits flow into a box, really no information gets out.
all that's required for marketing to succeed is for people to do nothing with their common sense.
all that's required for marketing to succeed is for people to do nothing with their common sense.
3
Just to take this discussion beyond CTE (and I'm not downplaying that), a few years ago in a Super Bowl pre-game interview done by Jim Grey on the radio-cast, Joe Montana talked about his health. Joe said he went to an eye doctor for an exam, his thinking being that he would need laser surgery. The doctor told Joe he could not correct his vision problem with laser surgery as the problem wasn't due to a retina or other issue. It was something brain-related, caused by concussion. Montana didn't elaborate beyond saying that if that's what's happened to him, what has happened to those offensive linemen who protected him and suffered repeated blows to the head? Joe wanted this taken up by the players and owners in the then up-coming contract negotiations. And yes, there is an irony with Montana on the collective bargaining agreement, Montana having crossed the 49er's picket line during his playing days.
I played football in high school, and had at least one concussion (knocked out, cold). I loved the game. But it's time to stop. Not stopping this says what about this society? That we don't care about the human toll of our entertainment?
I played football in high school, and had at least one concussion (knocked out, cold). I loved the game. But it's time to stop. Not stopping this says what about this society? That we don't care about the human toll of our entertainment?
189
"But it's time to stop. Not stopping this says what about this society? That we don't care about the human toll of our entertainment?"
I would disagree with this statement. If all the facts are straightened out, it is up to the player if they want to play. The player, knowing the likelihood of getting CTE, should be able to make his own decision. The knowledge should also allow the player to negotiate a contract that serves him.
Else, boxing, MMA and any other sport with a chance at permanent damage would have to stop. Where does that end?
I agree, the NFL is in the middle of a cover up. But that does not mean the sport should be banned. The facts need to be revealed to all. Let the players decide if they want to continue playing and the fans decide if they want to keep watching.
I would disagree with this statement. If all the facts are straightened out, it is up to the player if they want to play. The player, knowing the likelihood of getting CTE, should be able to make his own decision. The knowledge should also allow the player to negotiate a contract that serves him.
Else, boxing, MMA and any other sport with a chance at permanent damage would have to stop. Where does that end?
I agree, the NFL is in the middle of a cover up. But that does not mean the sport should be banned. The facts need to be revealed to all. Let the players decide if they want to continue playing and the fans decide if they want to keep watching.
1
No. It simply says our society values the freedom for people to make their own decisions, which it does and should.
We aren't forcing slaves to fight lions in a coliseum and it isn't some secret that football is violent. We're talking about consenting adults choosing to knock other consenting adults' heads off.
Maybe you can make an argument that children shouldn't be playing football, but to that I say kids have done (and will continue to do) far dumber things and we've made it this far...
We aren't forcing slaves to fight lions in a coliseum and it isn't some secret that football is violent. We're talking about consenting adults choosing to knock other consenting adults' heads off.
Maybe you can make an argument that children shouldn't be playing football, but to that I say kids have done (and will continue to do) far dumber things and we've made it this far...
1
The government either must be that dreaded nanny state that protects people when the law of the commons would force them into terrible compromises, or it must impose on the free market the true and complete costs of any activity and let players in that market decide if it is still monetarily worth doing. This half capitalism, half socialism is worse than either. It is hardly worth calling it a society, more like a wolf pack.
And we still think it is ok to start 4th and 5th graders playing this game. So glad my kid prefers running.
10
Exploitation, blood sport. So gross. I don't understand the appeal of American football.
6
Susie - Have you ever played football? How about hockey or even soccer? Men participate in contact sports because for them it's fun. Now I learned long ago that I don't understand women no matter how much I may admire them. It is time for you to realize that you don't understand men.
2
Yet another piece misplaced under "Pro Football." This ought to be under "Health."
Infuriating.
Infuriating.
1
This is the Republican's fault. No, seriously, here me out. The lack of trust in the basic institutions of society, as rampant as it has become, is aided and abetted by those who eschew all oversight as intrusive, ineffective, and unnecessary because relying on market forces will magically enable the most rational of outcomes. Those who keep parroting that regulation and oversight does not prevent problems, but indeed IS the problem inspire a cynical overall atmosphere in which management (of everything) is rewarded for taking short cuts and not rocking the boat. Being regarded as a responsible human being has become a serious liability for the B school culture. Amorality is institutionally entrenched. Think about it, wouldn't Chris Christie be the perfect CEO for the NFL? At least from their perspective? The other day, the Times had a piece considering the possible dysfunction of empathy for a political leader. My immediate thought was that the article was going to go viral among the current crop of GOP leadership.
2
I appreciate this thorough reporting, which uncovers poor data collection (at best), and apparent downplaying of concussion risks (at worst). We as scientists must be held to account: the fact that three of the study authors were not willing to discuss the results is telling, as is the lack of any statement on the Neurosurgery journal website. Also, good science -- in this case risk assessment of NFL concussions -- is not based on potential consequences that may follow, but on careful data collection and interpretation.
4
I am not a doctor, but whatever CTE is, it will eventually be seen as a spectrum disorder. In other words, it is not a question of either you have it or you don't. It is a question of the degree of seriousness. (I speak as a concussion victim from an auto accident.)
And you can guess that most professional football players, depending on position and years played (from Pop Warner onwards), will display some evidence of it in later years. Think of it as a pyramid, with the worst cases at the top, but with a numerically a lot greater number below with milder symptoms. It is a sad and tragic situation, and of epidemic proportions, when you look at it as a spectrum disorder.
Years ago I would trek to Shea Stadium to watch Joe Namath and the Jets, but would not anymore even if they still played in Shea.
And you can guess that most professional football players, depending on position and years played (from Pop Warner onwards), will display some evidence of it in later years. Think of it as a pyramid, with the worst cases at the top, but with a numerically a lot greater number below with milder symptoms. It is a sad and tragic situation, and of epidemic proportions, when you look at it as a spectrum disorder.
Years ago I would trek to Shea Stadium to watch Joe Namath and the Jets, but would not anymore even if they still played in Shea.
2
"It is also unclear why the omissions went unchallenged by league officials, by the epidemiologist whose job it was to ensure accurate data collection and by the editor of the medical journal that published the studies."
one word, MONEY.
one word, MONEY.
10
What is even more frightening is the ill prepared youth sports (club and school districts) that do not have the knowledge or desire to curb this brutal sport. Yet they are being held accountable for academic success and not this. Lawsuits are already in the college level and a few at the high school level. As a past school board director of a large Washington State district I could not get my board colleagues or superintendent to even address this Indepth. The superintendent is an assistant coach for his elementary school son's club tackle football team which makes it less likely to be seriously studied. Only when the public becomes outraged and /or lawsuits at the state and local levels will there be serious discussions. Right now there is deafening silence.
7
I've got a great idea. Turn off your television on Sunday's. Go outside and take a walk. Let the "not for profit" NFL die a slow painful death.
10
This is one answer. Stop watching and advertisers will dry up and networks will stop paying the NFL and before you know it, poof, no more professional football. And with no more professional football, colleges can stop serving as breeding grounds for future NFL players. Of course my preference would be defeat from the ground up -- no more little kids playing football, no more high school football, no more college football, and bingo, no more NFL.
1
Oh for heaven's sake can any of this come as a surprise? The NFL owners are, by and large, the same self-obsessed fat cats who are funding climate change denial "research," creationist "research," and "research" to undermine the overwhelming evidence for anything else that stands in the way of their getting or retaining the power to profit from American democracy without paying a dime for the privilege. And the people who swallow whatever nonsense the NFL throws their way if it means they get to enjoy one more Super Bowl party are the same people who mindlessly enable the oligarchs in so many other ways. Will we ever manage to wake up to what these people are up to before they actually get away with it? Very discouraging.
6
This is stellar investigative journalism and illustrates clearly why we need newspapers like the NY Times.
18
Between the $45,000 per "personal seat licenses" that the Atlanta Falcons are foisting upon their fans, to the obscene amounts of public money used to build the (not needed) new stadium here, and now this, it really makes you wonder why the NFL hates its fans and players so much.
6
I'm a public health scientist and studied sports concussion policies and protocols for youth athletes here in Georgia for 2 years.
Does it matter if this is surprising or not? It's an outrage regardless; it demands our attention and response. The NCAA applied similar cover up over 100 years ago when football players died. Then, people defended football for teaching boys to become men, development of moral character, and entertainment. American society accepted this violence. The parallels to war and the Coliseum are eerie. Players are described as gladiators, warriors, as in the trenches. Football is organized violence: with hits and contact designed to happen on every play. If you're willing to accept this, then that is your choice. However, as excellent reporting like this comes to light, let us question our choices and choose anew. We do not have to accept this league and the sport as it's currently played and demand change with not just our pocketbooks but advocacy too.
Players risk their health to make money from this league because, as this story illuminates, the league could care less about their long-term health. This creates a vicious cycle where players will play through injury for a contract, hoping they make enough in their likely short career to make it worth it. It takes people realizing it's all not worth it to break this cycle. Even if the story isn't surprising, we should still be outraged and work to change this culture and society's support of the NFL.
Does it matter if this is surprising or not? It's an outrage regardless; it demands our attention and response. The NCAA applied similar cover up over 100 years ago when football players died. Then, people defended football for teaching boys to become men, development of moral character, and entertainment. American society accepted this violence. The parallels to war and the Coliseum are eerie. Players are described as gladiators, warriors, as in the trenches. Football is organized violence: with hits and contact designed to happen on every play. If you're willing to accept this, then that is your choice. However, as excellent reporting like this comes to light, let us question our choices and choose anew. We do not have to accept this league and the sport as it's currently played and demand change with not just our pocketbooks but advocacy too.
Players risk their health to make money from this league because, as this story illuminates, the league could care less about their long-term health. This creates a vicious cycle where players will play through injury for a contract, hoping they make enough in their likely short career to make it worth it. It takes people realizing it's all not worth it to break this cycle. Even if the story isn't surprising, we should still be outraged and work to change this culture and society's support of the NFL.
216
"the league could care less"
Actually, it's the league couldn't* care less
Actually, it's the league couldn't* care less
I'd only add the chilling study that that a majority of parents thought it was "cool" when their kid got knocked out
Going to no helmets isn't the answer, as 18 deaths in college football in 1905 (when there were no helmets) proves. Neither are huge old 1950s type helmets with no padding inside just a weird configuration of straps; they were called concussion helmets. Maybe weight limits for each position, along with tossing out of the game, or out for the season, any player violating the spearing or head battering rules. Physicists should be able to give us data on collision injuries for various weights. Maybe something acceptable can be found, where there is still exciting action with lower injury rate. Maybe not. Maybe football is boxing...
I remember way back in the early 1950s, the top boxer at the U of Wisconsin (in one of the lighter weights) was killed in a bout (with no illegal punch), and the U ended their boxing program. The whole state stopped high school boxing. And the boxers then wore helmets. So probably forget the lighter weight thing for football.
I remember way back in the early 1950s, the top boxer at the U of Wisconsin (in one of the lighter weights) was killed in a bout (with no illegal punch), and the U ended their boxing program. The whole state stopped high school boxing. And the boxers then wore helmets. So probably forget the lighter weight thing for football.
1
The bigger issue in my mind is what we do going forward. How damaged are the brains of NFL players before they make the pro's? How many college and high school players are affected? It seems the focus on the NFL glosses over the fact that children, with large heads and weak necks, are especially susceptible to certain brain injuries, and the NFL has addressed this with the Heads Up program. Is there a shred of evidence, or any reason to believe, that hitting with the top of the head is worse than hitting with the facemask? Someone needs to ask to see the research showing "proper technique" results in less brain trauma. The focus on fault-finding is OK for ongoing litigation purposes. The bigger question is, "Will we continue allowing kids to play football?"
156
I will go out on a limb and predict that the next expose' will show how the Heads Up program is not built upon evidence but PR. The league is desperate to keep kids playing, to keep the pipeline full. They will spend whatever it takes to convince parents that it's safe for their kids to play. And, clearly, they are more than willing to make up the facts as they go along.
2
Is there a shred of evidence, or any reason to believe, that hitting with the top of the head is worse than hitting with the facemask? Someone needs to ask to see the research showing "proper technique"
You're mixing up problems. The Heads Up Program has nothing to do with concussions. It is directed at preventing spinal cord injuries.
You're mixing up problems. The Heads Up Program has nothing to do with concussions. It is directed at preventing spinal cord injuries.
Missing 10% of concussions in the study hardly seems like a a cover-up. I doubt that completing the study with only 90% of the reported concussions would undermine the results to any significant degree.
Would knowing that you had an 11 in 100,000 change of being in a fatal car crash, instead of a reported 10 in 100,000, would that change your mind about the risk / benefit of driving a car? Hardly seems news worthy, little lone damning evidence against the NFL. .
Would knowing that you had an 11 in 100,000 change of being in a fatal car crash, instead of a reported 10 in 100,000, would that change your mind about the risk / benefit of driving a car? Hardly seems news worthy, little lone damning evidence against the NFL. .
1
That's good enough for me! I'll take the opinion of a random guy from Detroit over hundreds of years of the scientific method any day.
3
10% refers to unreported and diagnosed cases. That does not included the suppressed cases. The evidence is damning.
2
If I am entertained by football and if people are seriously injured while engaged in this proven barbarity then I am somewhat culpable in the harm which results.
As such, I will have nothing to do with this activity.
As such, I will have nothing to do with this activity.
4
It would seem that the NFL is more concerned with the air pressure in footballs than the lives of their players (meal tickets). It's hard to know when the NFL brass is telling the truth. If the money they have spent on deflategate was dedicated to better and more accurate analysis/prevention of concussions, I might begin to have some respect for them.
I truly hope the players increase their pressure (no pun intended) on the chieftains of the NFL. Their lives are at stake.
As a closing note, I loved Junior Seau! He shouldn't have died so young and not this way.
I truly hope the players increase their pressure (no pun intended) on the chieftains of the NFL. Their lives are at stake.
As a closing note, I loved Junior Seau! He shouldn't have died so young and not this way.
2
While I played football, I can barely watch it any more. For the NFL, the overt commercialization and desensitization of violence are too much for me to stomach.
8
I'm as certain there is no connection between the NFL and Big Tobacco as I am certain there is no connection between the NRA and politicians. When your product is linked to causing death, you're going to seek the counsel of those who've defended themselves before you.
Excellent reporting.
Excellent reporting.
2
The NFL cares next to nothing about their players particularly when they retire. And if a star gets bashed it probably is torn. Probably there are secret studies about what is more lucrative. The giddy pleasure/horror fans experience in the star's injury or the added revenue he can bring in by being available to play. Now playing with an injury. That is probably by far the best. What courage. What guts.
As for the other players. They are basically interchangeable. Mostly nameless people who are easily forgotten in no time at all.
As for the other players. They are basically interchangeable. Mostly nameless people who are easily forgotten in no time at all.
3
Was it really necessary to do research at all? If I take a baseball bat to the head of the NFL commissioner's head, he is going to run the risk of long term brain injury. Why doesn't he think that is true of his players?
1
“One of the rules of science is that you need to have impeccable data collection procedures,” said Bill Barr, a neuropsychologist who once worked for the Jets and who has in the past criticized the committee’s work.
By excluding so many concussions, Mr. Barr said, “You’re not doing science here; you are putting forth some idea that you already have.”
***********************************************************
Sound familiar??? That is exactly how the NFL rolls...make a decision and then "make" the science to back it up. Just ask the Patriots. The whole thing is disgusting.
By excluding so many concussions, Mr. Barr said, “You’re not doing science here; you are putting forth some idea that you already have.”
***********************************************************
Sound familiar??? That is exactly how the NFL rolls...make a decision and then "make" the science to back it up. Just ask the Patriots. The whole thing is disgusting.
3
Oh sure, that NFL research is flawed. Cigarette makers knew that cancer research was flawed. Those cage match promoters just found that their knockouts are so swift that the damage is miniscule. Pretty soon boxing promoters may find that punch drunk boxers had a genetic predisposition towards imbalance and bad coordination. Anywhere there a buck to be made, or one not to be paid out, someone is willing to sell out someone else's health or life.
It's sort of like voting for war when you know that you and you kids are not going to be doing the fighting.
It's sort of like voting for war when you know that you and you kids are not going to be doing the fighting.
4
Cheating, cheating and more cheating. Welcome to the world of professional sport. I gave up on all professional sport when the NHL put two refs on the ice to curb the cheating.
3
Has the Times done a cross analysis of Australian Rules/Rugby vs. NFL. The lack of helmet has some people thinking that the head vulnerability stops the worst collisions. The pads, helmet etc. creates a sense of safety? They prevent you from dying instantly,sure...
I love a great catch like the next guy, but maybe it's time to shelf the sport or radically change it. Can the sport survive on it's own merits of athletics or is it a spectacle like boxing where violence is the only attractant. Kids should NOT play it. High School should ban it (unless flag football).
I love a great catch like the next guy, but maybe it's time to shelf the sport or radically change it. Can the sport survive on it's own merits of athletics or is it a spectacle like boxing where violence is the only attractant. Kids should NOT play it. High School should ban it (unless flag football).
This report is the first, but definitely not the last of a smoking football in the NFL's approach to the problem of concussions in football.
1
Blah blah blah
Sounds just like vaccine "research and oversight"
The science is in, football is safe
Never mind that we have a vested interest in saying so. Puff puff
That cloud of smoke won't hurt you either
Sounds just like vaccine "research and oversight"
The science is in, football is safe
Never mind that we have a vested interest in saying so. Puff puff
That cloud of smoke won't hurt you either
1
This one of the many examples in our country where making money is a higher priority than people's health.
3
What a Farce. As a Varsity Fullback and PhD I can unambiguously attest that the multitude head to head collisions of Football has led to significant medical consequence for myself. I have severe memory loss (particularly digits, dates and names) I am very lucky to receive on going specialist medical care for severe Depressive episodes, Suicidal thoughts, and anxiety so severe that electrical shocks, tremors and vomiting occur without medication. At all points of my training I was taught to destroy defensive players with my helmet. I was so proficient with this skill that it payed for my College but cost me a marriage. This is Big Tobacco, and make no mistake there is no safe way to let your family play this game (that I loved).
8
The editors of the journal Neurosurgery should be kicking themselves (not in the head, hopefully). The motivations of those sponsoring any research should always be a red flag - vastly increasing the chance that the data has been cooked. The NFL may have taken a page from Big Pharma as well as Big Tobacco.
2
You get what you deserve. If you want to throw lawsuits at corporate because they didn't lay down the law for you, let's use a little bit of common sense. You're colliding with someone that is running at the exact opposite vector to you. This isn't just negligible pounds of force put on your skull; you should be able to feel this within the first blow of it you had.
Then, after years of your negligence, they wrote you a contract. You spend years colliding at full force with other dudes, shaking off all weird results of it. You didn't use common sense, or exhaust your options...and so well, 21st-century-post-modernist-you now wants to be proactive and punish them? What a crock.
Please, use your permanent brain damage as evidence to help a younger generation. Rather than seek out more financial compensation far beyond what you began, aim that money at educators and performers who could do as good as you with far less of the face crushing. Isn't that a good cause?
But no, no. Let's remember that your ability to throw a piece of pig skin is what matters. It's our society, after all, to sue and sue. A sham of gilded flowers.
Then, after years of your negligence, they wrote you a contract. You spend years colliding at full force with other dudes, shaking off all weird results of it. You didn't use common sense, or exhaust your options...and so well, 21st-century-post-modernist-you now wants to be proactive and punish them? What a crock.
Please, use your permanent brain damage as evidence to help a younger generation. Rather than seek out more financial compensation far beyond what you began, aim that money at educators and performers who could do as good as you with far less of the face crushing. Isn't that a good cause?
But no, no. Let's remember that your ability to throw a piece of pig skin is what matters. It's our society, after all, to sue and sue. A sham of gilded flowers.
I can hear the NFL's lawyer cross-examining a player:
"But you must have known that accepting the job of football player would mean getting hit on the head, correct?"
"Yes"
"And the requirement of a sturdy helmet didn't concern you?"
"No"
"So you knew of and accepted the risks that came with the job and pay, just like a boxer, right?"
"But you must have known that accepting the job of football player would mean getting hit on the head, correct?"
"Yes"
"And the requirement of a sturdy helmet didn't concern you?"
"No"
"So you knew of and accepted the risks that came with the job and pay, just like a boxer, right?"
It's time , in light of all of this to remove the status as a 501(c)(6) charitable organization from the NFL. Tax payers are complicit in the harm by the tune of the 100 Million dollar plus subsidies. How many of you can even afford to attend a football game, and yet we give the NFL poobahs a free pass!
2
This seems like a much more serious matter than air pressure in a football. Seems like much more ink has been used concerning Deflategate. "www.maxformal.com Wholesale Lines and Discount Dickie Work Clothes" since 1953
1
The medical errors in the NFL investigation are so egregious, and the conflicts of interest are so blatant, that many would probably welcome an independent judicial review by states attorneys- general to investigate the real possibility of outright fraud.
**** A Connecticut physician
**** A Connecticut physician
2
What is even more frightening is the ill prepared youth sports (club and school districts) that do not have the knowledge or desire to curb this brutal sport. Yet they are being held accountable for academic success and not this. Lawsuits are already in the college level and a few high school. But as a past school board director I could not get my board colleagues or superintendent to even address this issue. In fact the superintendent is a coach for his elentary school son club tackle football team. No wonder there is this deafening silence.
1
As usual, it's Money that talks. And in this case, players with CTE and premature dementia try to walk. Meanwhile the owners and executives run, skip and jump to the bank with their personal fortunes.
Corporations spend a lot of money portraying themselves as caring about their employees and customers, but 95% is a lie. (They care 5% of time, when it is convenient and consistent with corporate profits.)
What the NFL is doing to its players (or allowing/facilitating them doing to each other) isn't really that different from the coal companies that use up peoples' lives in Appalachia and then simply move out and move on when the mines are depleted and the mountain tops are destroyed.
It's no different than the over-50's being disproportionately cut - oh, excuse me, it was their "positions" that were cut - out of work in the GWBush Great Recession, most of whom never regained similar paying jobs.
This all sounds, sadly, like Business As Usual in the good old USA. Big corporations act like legalized crime syndicates. And they've got us all in their grip, because we've been taught by advertising since birth that we really "need" the trinkets and junk food and mindless entertainment they're selling us.
A pox on all their houses!
Corporations spend a lot of money portraying themselves as caring about their employees and customers, but 95% is a lie. (They care 5% of time, when it is convenient and consistent with corporate profits.)
What the NFL is doing to its players (or allowing/facilitating them doing to each other) isn't really that different from the coal companies that use up peoples' lives in Appalachia and then simply move out and move on when the mines are depleted and the mountain tops are destroyed.
It's no different than the over-50's being disproportionately cut - oh, excuse me, it was their "positions" that were cut - out of work in the GWBush Great Recession, most of whom never regained similar paying jobs.
This all sounds, sadly, like Business As Usual in the good old USA. Big corporations act like legalized crime syndicates. And they've got us all in their grip, because we've been taught by advertising since birth that we really "need" the trinkets and junk food and mindless entertainment they're selling us.
A pox on all their houses!
4
The tactics of denial and deception described in this article are also consistent with the efforts of the oil, gas and fracking industry to deny climate change. How could it be that the tobacco, the NFL, extractive industries and tax policy machines all use similar techniques to manipulate the facts and public perception? Simple, they are following the playbook created by the Koch brothers to infiltrate research groups and nonprofit organizations to shape public policy and perception. Don't believe me, read "Dark Money" by Jane Mayer.
2
Parallels Ted Cruz and global warming
When you bring up tobacco and say that the NFL and the tobacco industry shared lawyers you run the risk of losing credibility. If there is a case to be made with regard to the NFL and concussions the facts and evidence should speak for themselves. What is the purpose of even mentioning tobacco if it is not to an attempt to slander by association. The mention of tobacco is an example journalism at its very worst.
1
This article is an excellent intervention in the ongoing conversation about football at all levels.
When bad science is published, at the very least the journal in which the studies appeared can withdraw publication. The effect is make all the conclusions un-citable. Every paper that has cited those conclusions over the years is compromised. It's roughly like taking away a medal from an athlete who is later discovered to have used performance-enhancing drugs. The wins and records are taken off the books.
The doctors and scientists who authored the studies can subject to allegations of academic fraud. This is not a criminal charge, but a charge made by peers. If the individuals are discovered to have committed academic fraud, every piece of research they were involved in will carry their stink. The player's union should attempt to discredit and even humiliate the authors if they are have lied in print.
When bad science is published, at the very least the journal in which the studies appeared can withdraw publication. The effect is make all the conclusions un-citable. Every paper that has cited those conclusions over the years is compromised. It's roughly like taking away a medal from an athlete who is later discovered to have used performance-enhancing drugs. The wins and records are taken off the books.
The doctors and scientists who authored the studies can subject to allegations of academic fraud. This is not a criminal charge, but a charge made by peers. If the individuals are discovered to have committed academic fraud, every piece of research they were involved in will carry their stink. The player's union should attempt to discredit and even humiliate the authors if they are have lied in print.
1
did this one appear?
Watching the football has become a soul-sucking activity.
Sorry NFL, I don't have the heart to watch your players destroy themselves for my entertainment.
Sorry NFL, I don't have the heart to watch your players destroy themselves for my entertainment.
2
Sad-all for the sake of $$$.....
1
Jerry Jones assures us there is no link between football and CTE. That should be good enough for everybody: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25527187/jerry-jones-its-ab...
What motivation would Jerry (or other NFL owners) possibly have to lie or obfuscate? Let's trust our Overlords more! The Plutocrats are our friends! Have a smoke and buy some asbestos, too.
What motivation would Jerry (or other NFL owners) possibly have to lie or obfuscate? Let's trust our Overlords more! The Plutocrats are our friends! Have a smoke and buy some asbestos, too.
1
Can we have a country for those of us who want to take care of each other, and another for capitalists? This is getting just horrible.
1
And here comes another example of our culture's loss of "truthiness," and trust that has only diminished corporate and personal accountability for our species, our environment and even our governments. Al because of an insatiable greed.
1
And the band plays on .
1
Money, Power. Greed. Smoke and Mirrors. But now so called KNOW what is happening and still watch, support and pay to keep this monstrous game going. And the effect on our children is obscene. Stop this violent destructive game. Our brains are not shielded and the purpose of the game is not competition but symbolic destruction of others and overpowering them. It is warfare on the field we are symbolizing. This is not the ideals and purpose of sports. This is our destructive urges let loose and fused with something that looks like sport but is NOT.
Return to true competition, faster, higher, reach your potential, true sport. Not this horrid thing we call football.
Return to true competition, faster, higher, reach your potential, true sport. Not this horrid thing we call football.
Wow. The findings of this report probably would have gotten a C in high school and an F in college based on the use of incomplete data to draw conclusions. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house...
Thanks to the NYT for doing some (pretty basic, i.e. "fact checking", but apparently advanced for the NFL) detective work on this important topic!
Thanks to the NYT for doing some (pretty basic, i.e. "fact checking", but apparently advanced for the NFL) detective work on this important topic!
2
This is good reporting and further illustrates that the NFL is more corrupt than even FIFA. At least the FIFA officials were just taking bribes and not endangering the lives of their players. In contrast, the NFL totally disregarded the lives and health of its players in order to keep the TV money and other revenue sources flowing for their financial benefit.
47
Again, see it from the players eyes. Your mother is this close to living out of a trunk of a car.
Would you not take the money?
Would you not take the money?
Awarding the world cup to Qatar definitely doesn't point to them caring about player safety
1
The NFL, like all corporate entities, will do literally anything to maintain their status and wealth. Want more proof? Well....
The NFL did exactly the same thing with over-all injury reporting in order to sell an 18 game season to its owners. Bill Barnwell did an excellent statistical analysis of this for Football Outsiders back in 2009. I don't think the moderators like links posted to this kinda thing, but I'm sure it'll be easy to find. (Thanks for the reminder on Twitter, Bill)
The greed and narcissism of the corporate ethos has penetrated every aspect of our society. It has become our ethics not only in business, but in our civic/ political life, and interpersonal relations. And why not? "Authorities" lie and get away with it, because "might makes right" is what we all have been coerced into believing. Think about that the next time you see an institution fall into disrepute. Then were never right, just violent and threatening.
The NFL did exactly the same thing with over-all injury reporting in order to sell an 18 game season to its owners. Bill Barnwell did an excellent statistical analysis of this for Football Outsiders back in 2009. I don't think the moderators like links posted to this kinda thing, but I'm sure it'll be easy to find. (Thanks for the reminder on Twitter, Bill)
The greed and narcissism of the corporate ethos has penetrated every aspect of our society. It has become our ethics not only in business, but in our civic/ political life, and interpersonal relations. And why not? "Authorities" lie and get away with it, because "might makes right" is what we all have been coerced into believing. Think about that the next time you see an institution fall into disrepute. Then were never right, just violent and threatening.
17
I make my living as an epidemiologist, a researcher who studies patterns and associations of disease prevalence. I was also the director of a trauma service at Johns Hopkins in the '90s. I certainly don't mean to downplay the seriousness of concussions, nor do I refute the assertion that the NFL had and has a vested interest in minimizing their impact and frequency. But solely with regard to the importance of the findings reported in this article: no one, including the NYT, will ever know how many concussions really occurred 20 years ago in the NFL, as surveillance systems were inadequate. But the charge that under-reporting was an estimated 10%, produced by a voluntary reporting system, does not amount to a hill of beans. It is very unlikely that this figure, which is a very modest rate of under-ascertainment, exceeds the variation in the concussion rate from year to year. That is, being off by 10%, if in fact that figure is accurate, is noise. It would not be expected to change anyone's conclusions about the seriousness of the problem. And it is not clear, at least from this article, that the under-reporting was the result of any deliberate effort. And finally, the fact which this article chooses to highlight, that concussions of famous stars were omitted from the account, is of course irrelevant to the science.
10
Hard to even read this comment when the science is clear. Not only are professional players' brains impacted but youth sports' players at times when their brains are fragile
2
1. I am not an epidemiologist but 10% would be statistically significant in any study, yes? Most studies have a p value of .05 or less.
2. It is unclear if it was a deliberate exclusion but at best, it was seriously bad science.
3. Famous stars' concussions are irrelevant to the cold hard data, but we both know that science is frequently political and when the science is concerning a brand whose star representatives are worth millions to them, it is relevant that those stars' concussions were excluded.
2. It is unclear if it was a deliberate exclusion but at best, it was seriously bad science.
3. Famous stars' concussions are irrelevant to the cold hard data, but we both know that science is frequently political and when the science is concerning a brand whose star representatives are worth millions to them, it is relevant that those stars' concussions were excluded.
2
The calculation of rates rests on numerators and denominators. When the numerator (concussions whether Troy Aikman or Steve Young or a special teamer, are OMITTED, as apparently the 49er and Cowboys data was), but the denominator includes the four or six years of 49er and Cowboy games, the data is cooked. Period. The normal distribution and standard deviations and ALL standard statistical calculations are fatally flawed. This certainly DOES amount to a significant hill of beans. I seriously question your stated position as epidemiologist. It appears you may be a plant from the NFL or tobacco industries or the journals who published the 13 pieces of statistical dreck as "research studies".
2
The Times' research is commendable, but they are not the first to dig in to this topic. Frontline's 2013 exposé, League of Denial, brought much of this information to light. And without Dr. Omalu, no one would be talking about this issue at all. A sentence could have been included to provide a sliver of well-deserved credit as well as historical context of this investigation's development.
9
Surely any surprise the NFL manipulated and concealed data it acquired about concussions from playing one of the most physically violent and damaging "sports" in the past 150 years is as suspect as the NFL's patronizing and self-protective statements of concern about the players who fuel its multi-million dollar industry. The NFL to quote "Concussion", the recent movie about its lack of truth and transparency "owns a day of the week" among other business assets...so why would the NFL, its lying commissioner, its greedy owners, and even some conflicted players be honest about anything that would cut into its profits and longevity...
The judge who presided over the lawsuit should immediately use this new information to rescend the settlement and put the screws to the NFL and the owners--fines for concealing germane information should be quick and very painful...and a reconsideration of the condition of settlement undertaken.
These people are guilty of "depraved indifference" in the deaths of football players and should be prosecuted as criminals...
The judge who presided over the lawsuit should immediately use this new information to rescend the settlement and put the screws to the NFL and the owners--fines for concealing germane information should be quick and very painful...and a reconsideration of the condition of settlement undertaken.
These people are guilty of "depraved indifference" in the deaths of football players and should be prosecuted as criminals...
8
Did the Times read the original research reports? Was there any claim that all NFL concussions had been reported to the league and included in these reports? If not, what's the beef?
This is dark and ugly, however, dark and ugly realities never stopped corporations from creating an image of All-American, wholesome, and even patriotic "sporting" events. Professional football is no longer a sport. It is a money machine eating up the players by ignoring their health and safety, blackmailing cities to build stadiums while these cities basic infrastructures and schools fall to pieces, and making the dollar sign the true symbol and mascot of their quest. This needs to end.
42
The DoD pays for patriotic displays during such sporting events. So there more complicity.
1
If they did not have 10% of the concussion cases, because teams did not report, did they also not use 10% of the population of the NFL as a denominator? This is the key piece of the story that is not identified. If they did a medical study on a slice of the NFL population that does not make the science less valid. If three of the teams did not participate, but 29 others did, the results should statistically be the same.
Why is that not part of the reporting?
Why is that not part of the reporting?
2
"Several other teams have no concussions listed for years at a time. Yet the committee’s calculations did include hundreds of those teams’ games played during that period, which produced a lower overall concussion rate."
I read it as specific concussions were researched that were found not to be included, and this number (100) represented 10% of the reported numbers. It looks like this is not an estimate of the total number of un-reported concussions, of which there could be many more. Am I understanding the article correctly?
The article stated that the entire population WAS used.
And why would any of this SURPRISE you ?
11
It seems that the NFL has borrowed the play-book of the tobacco industry.
Some of us remember that defense and this seems to be the same strategy.
Some of us remember that defense and this seems to be the same strategy.
6
When you read this article and if you watched last week's congressional roundtable (not official hearing) on concussion, you hear the same- we need to study more and then decide statements. Solid,evidence based research is necessary, but sometimes you just have to go with if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck.... must be a duck- mind set. YOu cannot expect not to have some resulting injury if you repeatedly get your head banged - against a wall or against another head. If you're in an IED explosion and loose your legs, but had no penetrating brain injury do you think youhad a TBI or concussion like injury? you bet your butt you did. As another commenter said satirically- it is a no-brainer. But when the league officials who have NO zero nada scientific background or clout, use the need for peer reviewed research as the excuse why nothing's been or being done, it's a joke.
6
If any of us really cared, we'd stop watching. I did (3 years ago). It's not easy. But it turns out there are plenty of other things to do on Sunday.
35
I used to be an avid viewer and followed my team but, like you, I quit cold turkey two years ago and am in much better health now that the NFL is out of my system.
3
Gladiators should play no more. Time to pump up baseball, basketball and track.
Ballet, even.
Ballet, even.
8
They would be much better off going back 75 years and playing this game with NO HELMET! The Helmet allows the player to be a battering ram that enables the player to thinking 'he can not be injured' - this is far from the truth.
Why anyone would allow their Child to play this game is beyond me - I didn't let my Sons play 25 years ago...it's simply a violent game.
Why anyone would allow their Child to play this game is beyond me - I didn't let my Sons play 25 years ago...it's simply a violent game.
4
Except that at the beginning of the 20th century when few players wore helmets or pads and those that were worn were made of canvas or leather there were so many fatalities in football that it came close to being banned. Many even pointed out that boxing was safer than football.
1
This article does a terrific job in exposing all the corruption and deceit. Unfortunately, unless the owners are stripped of their teams, they will continue to pay Goodell exorbitant money to protect, deflect, lie, obstruct, deceive, and whatever else he must do to keep a shamefully corrupt enterprise afloat.
14
The League of Denial and Equivocacy has spoken again. Imagine that someday we could actually see former senator Ted Cruz as the new commissioner of the NFL, a perfect snake oil spokesman for all corporate leagues of denial. Cruz's cruel and childish retaliation against truth-seekers will be swift, and former Cincinatti Bengal Vontaze Burfict will be his poster boy spokesman, plucked straight out of the ghettos of cancerous corporate bureaucracies that exploit the working poor. But do not despair, have another Big Gulp that will make you feel better. Have another hit. So, once again, we have the NFL and people like Ted Cruz who believe in the "freedom to abuse" others, whether in retaliation with a Big Gulp or a late helmet hit by Vontaze Burfict, always, always, ignoring the unnecessary roughness. Yes, more torture is what we need in the world.
4
A few years ago while I was out jogging through a local park, I could hear a football coach at practice screaming at his players to hit each other harder. "I want to hear those pads popping!!!"
As I got closer I was shocked to see that his players couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old and few of them were even as tall as my waist.
Parents should think long and hard about whether their kids should play this kind of sport where coaches mindlessly scream for teeth-rattling collisions and the folks running the sport are so unconcerned about players' well-being.
As I got closer I was shocked to see that his players couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old and few of them were even as tall as my waist.
Parents should think long and hard about whether their kids should play this kind of sport where coaches mindlessly scream for teeth-rattling collisions and the folks running the sport are so unconcerned about players' well-being.
30
"Most of the dozen committee members were associated with N.F.L. teams, as a physician, neurosurgeon or athletic trainer, which meant they made decisions about player care and then studied whether those decisions were proper. Still, the researchers stated unambiguously — in each of their first seven peer-reviewed papers — that their financial or business relationships had not compromised their work."
Of course not! Why would someone whose livelihood depends on diagnosing and rehabilitating athletes worth millions of dollars think to cover up and downplay traumatic brain injuries? It's not like they would lose their comfortable jobs and lifestyle if it was discovered that these people were lying to the world about how prevalent and dangerous head injuries actually are.
I don't think anyone who has followed the NFL for long enough would believe that there was no conflict of interests in how this 'study' was conducted. The league comes to a conclusion based on the demands of ownership, and then takes action to see that conclusion played out in a public setting. There is no true or false, right or wrong to this league of extraordinary felons, there is only profit and MORE profit.
I as a fan and fantasy football enthusiast feel partially culpable for creating the demand that leads to horrible situations like this, but it was the NFL that ultimately decided to obscure the truth from public view, as it has gotten so good at. (FREE BRADY)
Of course not! Why would someone whose livelihood depends on diagnosing and rehabilitating athletes worth millions of dollars think to cover up and downplay traumatic brain injuries? It's not like they would lose their comfortable jobs and lifestyle if it was discovered that these people were lying to the world about how prevalent and dangerous head injuries actually are.
I don't think anyone who has followed the NFL for long enough would believe that there was no conflict of interests in how this 'study' was conducted. The league comes to a conclusion based on the demands of ownership, and then takes action to see that conclusion played out in a public setting. There is no true or false, right or wrong to this league of extraordinary felons, there is only profit and MORE profit.
I as a fan and fantasy football enthusiast feel partially culpable for creating the demand that leads to horrible situations like this, but it was the NFL that ultimately decided to obscure the truth from public view, as it has gotten so good at. (FREE BRADY)
3
The data in the latest studies, as well as the older ones, were biased by the method of test administration. Cognitive tests were administered by people with skin in the game. At least at the high school and college level, computerized tests that are bias-free with respect to administration and scoring (e.g. CANS-MCI) can now be given free at the beginning of each season and re-administered and evaluated for low cost after a suspected concussion.
Hmm,continuously hitting people will hurt them...who would have thought? This seems like the kind of thing that is so obvious that it must be studied before we can say it for sure!
In the end, the blame goes on to us, who watched the game and put up with this blatant battery for so long. Asking for more regulations is just another way for people to take the responsibility out of their own hands.
In the end, the blame goes on to us, who watched the game and put up with this blatant battery for so long. Asking for more regulations is just another way for people to take the responsibility out of their own hands.
4
All this discussion and supposed concern about concussions (CTE) in the NFL, Soccer, etc., and now Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is going to be approved. What is happening to this country? You are becoming so fearful and insecure that you are letting fantasy (virtual/augmented/artificial reality) actually BECOME your "reality". This is ANOTHER example of what happens when greed and incompetence takes over which is what happens when there is no leadership - and it keeps getting worse. You are letting the "money people", and the politicians destroy you, and therefore this country. You need to get seriously involved with the governance of your country. You are LOSING this country. REAL leaders in leadership positions are needed, and it is up to all of you to make it happen.
5
What bothers me is that parents who don't know about CTE continue to offer up their children to this sport.
I am not a football fan but I can understand the sport's attractiveness. Is it ridiculous of me to ask Americans to consider altering the structure of football to something more like no-tackle tag football?
I am not a football fan but I can understand the sport's attractiveness. Is it ridiculous of me to ask Americans to consider altering the structure of football to something more like no-tackle tag football?
2
Things like this are precisely why I won't let my children play football.
1
My spouse played fb in high school in the 1960's. When I asked, he said it was good and bad but there seemed to be fewer injuries, perhaps--he thought--because there were very, very few huge, terribly fast kids.
I have heard this also, that high school atheletes were generally thinner back then.
The game is designed to keep the people dumb: the players are practically brain dead after their career and the rest of the America is drinking beer, eating endlessly and watching/cheering for the people banging their heads. Welcome to 21st century!
4
Garbage in, garbage out. The truly sad part is the millions of grade- and high-school boys and college kids encouraged to play this brutal game by self-absorbed, machismo-obsessed parents whose vest interest is their egos. Just as damming as the greedy corporations....
4
There's an easy solution to modifying the league's behavior: turn off the league's oxygen through passive economic support. Change the TV channel, find another sport to follow there's lots of them (many without the commercial time baggage required of their viewers); better yet, find and participate in another activity on game day; and when presented with options on personal purchases ask yourself if the manufacturer advertises the league's games (clever or not, what does a preoccupation for Super Bowl TV ads suggest about your own priorities). It's not a boycott, just a personal decision not to passively support an abhorrent activity. And next time your municipality floats development bonds to build a new stadium (interest guaranteed by your taxes), vote it down.
10
" The league also hired a company — for a matter unrelated to player safety — that had performed a study for the tobacco industry that played down the danger of secondhand smoke."
Which non-player safety issue was that? I am betting it has been in the press the last year or so...
Which non-player safety issue was that? I am betting it has been in the press the last year or so...
2
This is a superbly reported article, and let me add that as someone with direct tobacco lobbying experience, I can state with a high level of confidence that there is another layer of NFL activity to maintain the fiction that football does not cause concussions. That layer is League-sponsored promotion and marketing material shared with college and high school coaches. The message in this propaganda is that the link between football and concussions has not been proven scientifically. The intent behind this message is that coaches will reassure players (and parents) that football, played well doesn't pose a concussion danger.
When I was working in Big Tobacco, we spent most of our days sharing similar messaging with local City Councils, county governments and state legislators that no one had successfully linked smoking with cancer, lung disease, etc. This was a highly successful strategy in that it prevented non-smoking legislation for years, resulting in who knows how many additional deaths and illnesses from smoking.
We should watch carefully to see whether football coaches and athletic administrators will blithely continue on, asserting that no one can prove that football collisions cause concussions.
When I was working in Big Tobacco, we spent most of our days sharing similar messaging with local City Councils, county governments and state legislators that no one had successfully linked smoking with cancer, lung disease, etc. This was a highly successful strategy in that it prevented non-smoking legislation for years, resulting in who knows how many additional deaths and illnesses from smoking.
We should watch carefully to see whether football coaches and athletic administrators will blithely continue on, asserting that no one can prove that football collisions cause concussions.
19
I love football and I've always admired the grit and strength displayed by skillful players. And I know very well that the modern gladiators need to please the crowd demanding blood, sweat and tears from its favorite football players. In spite of the above, fathers still send their sons into the game knowing very well the health risk their kids are exposed to every minute of the game. Football is not a sport for the weak and is a bit like smoking ; your risk to get hurt increase with frequency. Therefore, I never needed a doctor to educate me on the potential health risks related to playing football. As a matter of fact, there were already plenty of young men around me who had been already maimed or severely handicapped by football during our college years at the University of California. Therefore, I later told my sons to avoid contact sports and taught them how to become a good runner.
I also want to say that some doctors can be easily bought if you display enough money before their greedy eyes. This piece shows it.
I also want to say that some doctors can be easily bought if you display enough money before their greedy eyes. This piece shows it.
2
American football, Australian football, Rugby and Soccer (International football) all share a common ancestry. American football broke with the others when it opted for protective head and body-gear during the early part of the 20th century.
I love the NFL, love the athleticism, the otherworldly body control on display each week during the season, by so many of the professional players (college minor leagues included) as they practice their craft on a very large and growing national, and global stage.
I am equally saddened to know, now without a doubt, that these professionals are essentially gladiators, who are all permanently injuring themselves, both physically and mentally, for our viewing pleasure.
What can be done? If we wish this beloved institution to continue forward on its course of exponential growth and popularity, what steps must be taken in order to cease and desist the devouring of many of our best athletes in the maw of American football (from practice fields to the game day fields)?
Can we take another look at the need for protective body armor? Would/could the game be as entertaining if the players had to adjust to play without helmets and pads? Would we find the spectacle as compelling? Most importantly, would serious injuries decline as ruled “legal hits” were altered?
The challenge is a great one, but that does not preclude all concerned having a serious open discussion of where we go from here. Many lives hang in the balance.
I love the NFL, love the athleticism, the otherworldly body control on display each week during the season, by so many of the professional players (college minor leagues included) as they practice their craft on a very large and growing national, and global stage.
I am equally saddened to know, now without a doubt, that these professionals are essentially gladiators, who are all permanently injuring themselves, both physically and mentally, for our viewing pleasure.
What can be done? If we wish this beloved institution to continue forward on its course of exponential growth and popularity, what steps must be taken in order to cease and desist the devouring of many of our best athletes in the maw of American football (from practice fields to the game day fields)?
Can we take another look at the need for protective body armor? Would/could the game be as entertaining if the players had to adjust to play without helmets and pads? Would we find the spectacle as compelling? Most importantly, would serious injuries decline as ruled “legal hits” were altered?
The challenge is a great one, but that does not preclude all concerned having a serious open discussion of where we go from here. Many lives hang in the balance.
1
Is it fair to say the NFL "deflated" scientific data involving the lives of players?
Makes the over-deflation of balls by training staff when every QB in the league, including the saintly Pedestal Manning adjusts air pressure to their preference. These professional QBs do not hunker down during the kickoff and let air out of the team's game balls.
If these studies were used in the litigation, known to not meet scientific parameters... they lied.
To not have to pay, is going to, or should, be re-litigated and substantially increased.
Any commissioner serving during the introduction of false studies should be included in the lawsuit and subject to damages assessment. Did they throw their phones away?
Makes the over-deflation of balls by training staff when every QB in the league, including the saintly Pedestal Manning adjusts air pressure to their preference. These professional QBs do not hunker down during the kickoff and let air out of the team's game balls.
If these studies were used in the litigation, known to not meet scientific parameters... they lied.
To not have to pay, is going to, or should, be re-litigated and substantially increased.
Any commissioner serving during the introduction of false studies should be included in the lawsuit and subject to damages assessment. Did they throw their phones away?
2
Wow! There is clear evidence of investigative reporting in this piece! So there really are still journalists being paid to sift through information in search of objective truth? Has anyone considered assigning people like this to political reporting so they could help to educate the public rather than simply reporting poll numbers and twitter burns?
84
Stop making sense.
there is clear evidence of investigative reporting in the analysis of the data. there is also clear evidence of straining through innuendo for a damning headline, and drawing unsupported conclusions from things that would seem innocuous after only a little bit of additional research (how often is a big-firm lawyer less than 5 years out of school a strategist or master manipulator, as opposed to a flunky?), in the "tobacco links" part of the story. see my separate comment. so -- although it's clear that these reporters both could do the work, and temperamentally wouldn't feel constrained to play the "both sides' arguments have strong and weak points" game that we see in so much political reporting -- i'm not sure that i'd trust their political reporting.
that being said, this article was fortunate in that it reminded me that reporters are subject to groupthink just like voters.
btw -- i am NOT a fan of the NFL, either the game or the current League administration. I just don't like to see even a bad organization like that one unfairly maligned or victimized by "guilt by association" -- especially when there are so many legitimate attacks that could be made.
that being said, this article was fortunate in that it reminded me that reporters are subject to groupthink just like voters.
btw -- i am NOT a fan of the NFL, either the game or the current League administration. I just don't like to see even a bad organization like that one unfairly maligned or victimized by "guilt by association" -- especially when there are so many legitimate attacks that could be made.
Flawed data is not data at all, it's an opinion supported by lies. The editor of Neurosurgery should be fired for allowing the NFL to subvert the scientific method in a "peer-reviewed" journal.
And I hope the players who are still suing win big enough to force change. How dare they risk people's lives like that.
And I hope the players who are still suing win big enough to force change. How dare they risk people's lives like that.
4
Trying to link the NFL with Big Tobacco seems a stretch. Just because they had a lawyer in common means nothing. Without a smoking gun, so to speak, this story should have been spiked. It raises all sorts of innuendo without delivering the goods. The salient point, from the article, is this:
"Why an influential tobacco lawyer would recommend legal cases to the N.F.L. is not known."
Exactly. So NYT should not be nudge-nudge-wink-wink suggesting otherwise. Also worth noting, as the article does, that Tagliabue had been a partner at one of the firms that represented the tobacco industry. The firm most certainly had clients other than Big Tobacco. Possible that the commissioner went with that firm because he knew it well and trusted its work? Entirely possible, if not likely.
That this tidbit that is apropos of nothing was tacked onto what seems a wholly unrelated story about deficiencies in a league-sponsored study on concussions seals the deal. The NYT has ceased practicinge journalism when it comes to football/head injuries and is now engaged in a crusade, truth be damned. There is important work to be done, not the least of which is contacting every former player (they shouldn't be that tough to find, and the number is manageable for an organization like NYT) and surveying them comprehensively to determine whether they have brain damage. That's what is important now. But neither the paper nor anyone else seems eager to do this. You have to wonder why.
"Why an influential tobacco lawyer would recommend legal cases to the N.F.L. is not known."
Exactly. So NYT should not be nudge-nudge-wink-wink suggesting otherwise. Also worth noting, as the article does, that Tagliabue had been a partner at one of the firms that represented the tobacco industry. The firm most certainly had clients other than Big Tobacco. Possible that the commissioner went with that firm because he knew it well and trusted its work? Entirely possible, if not likely.
That this tidbit that is apropos of nothing was tacked onto what seems a wholly unrelated story about deficiencies in a league-sponsored study on concussions seals the deal. The NYT has ceased practicinge journalism when it comes to football/head injuries and is now engaged in a crusade, truth be damned. There is important work to be done, not the least of which is contacting every former player (they shouldn't be that tough to find, and the number is manageable for an organization like NYT) and surveying them comprehensively to determine whether they have brain damage. That's what is important now. But neither the paper nor anyone else seems eager to do this. You have to wonder why.
1
Borrowing obfuscatory tactics from Big Tobacco and being coached by those closely aligned with Big Tobacco provide the smoking gun's trail. There's no need to wonder why; that constitutes introducing innuendo in and of itself.
Obfuscation is a legal art/strategy that goes far beyond Big Tobacco. This proves nothing. Even the Times has to publish a disclaimer, saying that they've proven nothing. Also, the study in question occurred more than two decades ago. Other commenters have said, if the study captured 90 percent of the concussions that occurred, it still has worth. That makes sense to me. A pollster who surveys less than 10 percent of prospective voters comes up with valid results. It seems clear that NYT has an agenda here, considering what else it has published.
Again, the paper, and the public, would be better served if resources were devoted to figuring out the prevalence of brain damage in retired players rather than playing "gotcha" with the NFL. The paper has glossed over the irrefutable fact that no one knows whether 2 percent or 80 percent of players will suffer permanent brain damage. That is a hugely important question. Parents need to know the answer to that question before deciding whether to allow their kids to play. Players need to know the answer to that question before deciding whether to continue playing. The paper could go a long way toward answering that question if it, perhaps in conjunction with some other institution, performed a comprehensive survey of former players to determine how common symptoms are instead of waiting for players to die and drawing conclusions based on a self-selected sample. We simply can't say now whether football is too risky.
Again, the paper, and the public, would be better served if resources were devoted to figuring out the prevalence of brain damage in retired players rather than playing "gotcha" with the NFL. The paper has glossed over the irrefutable fact that no one knows whether 2 percent or 80 percent of players will suffer permanent brain damage. That is a hugely important question. Parents need to know the answer to that question before deciding whether to allow their kids to play. Players need to know the answer to that question before deciding whether to continue playing. The paper could go a long way toward answering that question if it, perhaps in conjunction with some other institution, performed a comprehensive survey of former players to determine how common symptoms are instead of waiting for players to die and drawing conclusions based on a self-selected sample. We simply can't say now whether football is too risky.
See Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes. And add the mega-corporations of the processed food industry to the list of bad actors who put corporate profits ahead of human welfare.
1
What is most irksome to me is the indifference with which those writing in comments are viewing this article. Does this not make you want to boycott the NFL, demand an answer from the league, pull your kids out of football? The issue isn't so much the fact that the NFL covered things up, the issue is that apparently everyone knew it, or suspected it. And NOTHING was done. Shame on the league, yes, but shame on me, too. I've not been very involved in this fight, but after reading the comments to this article, I will. If not for the players affected by CTE and the players' families, but for the people in my family that are retired football players or future ones.
Thank you NYT for writing this article, I hope you come out with some more that detail the advocacy efforts of people who are actually trying to do something about it instead of letting another large corporation getting away with their version of the truth.
Thank you NYT for writing this article, I hope you come out with some more that detail the advocacy efforts of people who are actually trying to do something about it instead of letting another large corporation getting away with their version of the truth.
6
Kudos to the Times and Schwarz, Bogdanich and Williams for excellent journalism and full disclosure. Funny that the NFL currently has ties to big tobacco when it was big tobacco that - for decades -- refused to put warnings on the packaging of cigarettes and claimed that, in fact, they had no connection to lung cancer or cancer of any kind. And football -- a sport that anyone can see is a massively brutal "game" where "players" are subject to unrelenting brute force. The business of football is astronomical as is the business of cancer-causing tobacco. No wonder they are in step. Thanks to the Times for running this report. @johannaclear
2
At the start of the 20th century NFL players would have been known as coal miners. Same dangerous job with the same denial of accountability by the coal mining companies as with today's NFL teams.
Look into "Out of Their League" by Dave Meggyesy and "Meat on the Hoof" by Gary Shaw to see that college and pro football players have been disposable products for decades.
Keep exposing the light on this dark side of football.
Look into "Out of Their League" by Dave Meggyesy and "Meat on the Hoof" by Gary Shaw to see that college and pro football players have been disposable products for decades.
Keep exposing the light on this dark side of football.
3
It's just a matter of time. There will be a huge fight between the TV folks, their sponsors and the addicts who frequent the games on the one hand, and decency and humanity on the other. The game has descended to the level of the bouts in the ancient Roman Coliseum. With all the beautify of the athleticism involved, the game owes its huge popularity to the incredible brutality and violence, included blows directed at the head, or delivered by the head, supposedly covered by a protective device that is actually a weapon. It is just a matter of time before the game as it exists will be outlawed.
The deception by the league revealed in this article adds to the imperative. End the violence.
The deception by the league revealed in this article adds to the imperative. End the violence.
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Probably not the most substantive reply: But that was really well written.
the nfs's monday night football slogan is, or used to be, "are you ready for some football!" and it was punctuated by an animated image of two football helmets butting each other.
There will be a huge fight. I'm betting on the NFL. Their fans are like the Trump voters: "Don't trouble me with the facts."
Right out of the Big Tobacco playbook.
For readers interested in how the architecture of Big Tobacco's defense––so-called institutes; councils; advertising campaigns; bought-and-paid-for experts; fraudulent data; lies told to Congressional committees––has been used to manipulate the public's perceptions about chemical pollution and global climate change, let me recommend a doc whose title is "Merchants of Doubt."
For readers interested in how the architecture of Big Tobacco's defense––so-called institutes; councils; advertising campaigns; bought-and-paid-for experts; fraudulent data; lies told to Congressional committees––has been used to manipulate the public's perceptions about chemical pollution and global climate change, let me recommend a doc whose title is "Merchants of Doubt."
The NFL also hired a firm of "experts" with tobacco industry connections to produce the scientific evidence supporting penalties against Tom Brady and others in Deflategate. That report has since been debunked by scientists at dozens of universities, see especially the You Tujbe video from MIT Prof. John Leonard.
3
I have take medical care of Traumatic Brain Injuries for over 15 years and I am a devoted follower of both college football and the NFL go Saints and LSU, but I have been increasingly disturbed by the denials of the seriousness of injuries and even the existence of CTE. Watching NFL football has become more difficult over the years as the 'hitting' has become harder and the punishment these men's bodies take seems worse every season. To suggest that a concussion can resolve in days is patently disingenuous, it can take weeks or months if ever, and repeated injury to an already damaged brain compounds the damage of each subsequent injury. We know this. Heading a ball in soccer can be injurious to young brains, repeated slamming into massive men surely must be.
How long are we going to deny reality for the financial institution of football and for the pleasure of watching gladiators battle it out in the field. Perhaps we are no better than the Romans, although they at least did not pretend that death was certain for some of the participants.
How long are we going to deny reality for the financial institution of football and for the pleasure of watching gladiators battle it out in the field. Perhaps we are no better than the Romans, although they at least did not pretend that death was certain for some of the participants.
2
If the game is so dangerous then simply shut the game down and we can all go watch something else in the fall. The problem sounds like a OHSA problem and that is who should deal with the problem.
1
Interesting, isn't it, how even though the NFL lies about injuries, concussions, steroids, pensions, profits, stadium financing, cheerleader pay & treatment, and pretty much everything else they talk about, we as a society are still willing to assume that the games themselves are fair & honest. Why anyone would bet on this mug's game baffles me.
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How about the fact that players have to deal with criminals in order to obtain all those illegal PEDS? It's curious how neither The Times nor other media seem to wonder how this might affect the outcome of sports and not only football.
The bigger question is why we idolize it.
unless you bet on the Pats cause everyone knows they are cheating!
This would be shameful, except that shame seems to be dead.
3
How about an Exposé on boxing. It's gotten more violent over the years.
The Times has some chutzpah accusing someone else of a flawed investigation in this whole issue.
It willingly accepted the word of a pathologist that he could determine the cause of suicide in someone he never met simply by looking at his brain on autopsy.
I doubt you could find one expert on suicide who would accept the validity of this yet The Times did.
And in a report on a college player who committed suicide, it chose only to talk to his parents and not to any of his classmates or friends as to what may have been going in his life. I wonder how many people believe that the parents of a college student are the ones who would be most aware of what was going on with their child.
And it has completely refused to ever consider the possible role in brain pathology that all those PEDS many players used to grow to massive sizes while still retaining speed and strength may have played.
Like the NFL, The Times refused to consider anything contrary to what it wanted to believe.
It willingly accepted the word of a pathologist that he could determine the cause of suicide in someone he never met simply by looking at his brain on autopsy.
I doubt you could find one expert on suicide who would accept the validity of this yet The Times did.
And in a report on a college player who committed suicide, it chose only to talk to his parents and not to any of his classmates or friends as to what may have been going in his life. I wonder how many people believe that the parents of a college student are the ones who would be most aware of what was going on with their child.
And it has completely refused to ever consider the possible role in brain pathology that all those PEDS many players used to grow to massive sizes while still retaining speed and strength may have played.
Like the NFL, The Times refused to consider anything contrary to what it wanted to believe.
Well, gee, now we know why the NFL did their sudden 180 on players' concussions a week or so back. They must've known the NYTimes was about to deliver this blockbuster and wanted to get ahead of it.
3
The truth about brain damage has been played down for decades, if not for all time. Guys and gals even admit a 'risk', but believe, falsely, that they would cope. A vanity thing. The money and the fame make brain injuries a worthwhile risk to many people. Sad but true that most spectators don;t really care.
1
If you benefit financially in any way from the NFL, or can possibly do so in the future, any research you do related to the NFL is suspect. This is why there are financial disclosure statements in scientific papers. The thing is though, even if they had been fully above board in their research, they could not have ruled out the longer-term damage (e.g. CTE) that can occur with concussions anyway. The damage that such venal "scientists" do to the public perception of science is criminal.
1
As sad and infuriating as this is, it cannot be considered a surprise. After all, the game of football, which has been claiming the crown of "America's pastime" over baseball for decades now, proves itself all the time as the true American sport. Its lesson can be summarized as follows: "If you see something you want, smash the other guy in the mouth and take it."
1
The Moms of America will eventually destroy the NFL they are beginning to understand that their kids will get concussions playing this game in school. I think there will be no NFL within forty years time, maybe sooner.
3
“The clubs were not required to submit their data and not every club did.”
Well that's an obvious way to fix the results of the testing.
What club with negative data (lots of concussions) would submit their data if submitting data is optional?
You'll have a strong confirmation bias towards less concussions because the teams with positive data (low concussion rates) would be more likely to submit.
Well that's an obvious way to fix the results of the testing.
What club with negative data (lots of concussions) would submit their data if submitting data is optional?
You'll have a strong confirmation bias towards less concussions because the teams with positive data (low concussion rates) would be more likely to submit.
1
I would guess that absolutely no one is surprised to hear that these studies were rigged to get the outcomes they wanted. Do they think we're idiots? This stuff is becoming depressingly predictable.
1
What else would you expect, these guys can't even do the math on Deflategate.
2
Please, please let there be as much noise about this Times investigation as there was around Deflategate. One player allegedly cheating is one thing -- many, if not most professional football players being cheated of their health and safety is another.
2
Unfortunately this is entirely an off-season discussion. Once the players hit the field, Americans will predictably start funneling their money into the NFL. It's nauseating.
It is time to boycott football.
Nothing will cut through all of the corporate double speak like attacking their money train. All of it; from Pee wee thru Big 10, to the so called Super Bowl!
Stop the wearing of the colors, the jerseys, hats, and fan paraphernalia.
And perhaps then, we will have the attention of NFL Incorporated which pays the tobacco lawyers to conceal the facts about the mutilation and maiming of men. And we will have the attention of the college fundraisers.
Not so much the warm and fuzzy story of the band of brothers who found fellowship, direction and discipline through the sport of football.
It is really simple: Just Boycott It!
Nothing will cut through all of the corporate double speak like attacking their money train. All of it; from Pee wee thru Big 10, to the so called Super Bowl!
Stop the wearing of the colors, the jerseys, hats, and fan paraphernalia.
And perhaps then, we will have the attention of NFL Incorporated which pays the tobacco lawyers to conceal the facts about the mutilation and maiming of men. And we will have the attention of the college fundraisers.
Not so much the warm and fuzzy story of the band of brothers who found fellowship, direction and discipline through the sport of football.
It is really simple: Just Boycott It!
1
The nfl is big business-big business lies.
1
it's too bad most of today's good things that many enjoy as fans or participants is tied at some place with the $$, whether sports, politics or entertainment. Sad about it all, and for those that suffer because of it.
Hard to miss Jerry Jones recent denial of a CTE NFL concussion link. Couple his denial with years of missing concussion data from Cowboys and no data on Troy Aikman's concussions. Mr. Jones needs to be interviewed in light of the new evidence. He needs to explain.
2
Memo to Roger Goodell:
I stopped watching your product on the television or reading about it in the newspaper years ago. Turns out there was nothing to miss. Football is irrelevant to anything. That said, if there is any justice, someday I will encounter you and a punchy Jerry Jones selling apples on the sidewalk. It is a sad truth of our times, but certainly not surprising, that so many newsworthy stories involve some shameful conduct on the part of capital. When is the American people going to start to connect the dots?
I stopped watching your product on the television or reading about it in the newspaper years ago. Turns out there was nothing to miss. Football is irrelevant to anything. That said, if there is any justice, someday I will encounter you and a punchy Jerry Jones selling apples on the sidewalk. It is a sad truth of our times, but certainly not surprising, that so many newsworthy stories involve some shameful conduct on the part of capital. When is the American people going to start to connect the dots?
1
This story touches on the NFL's deceitful history with regard to repetitive head trauma, and then tries to make something out of nothing by bringing big tobacco into it. Big law firms like Covington have many big clients, and each of their lawyers works on behalf of multiple clients. This lawyer may also have worked on behalf of a car company that is a client. So the NFL and the car company are connected? Come on, NYT -- this is a smoke screen (no pun intended). The real story here is about the league's concerted, long-term efforts to hide the truth, even going so far as creating a panel of unqualified doctors (Pellman for example is not a neurologist, but a rheumatologist) to continually publish sham research papers to discredit the work of legitimate researchers -- and even to destroy their careers. This has all been told already -- read the 2013 book "League of Denial" if you want that story. You will be shocked. Sorry, but in this story you are way behind the times (no pun intended).
Like the entertainment industry of which it is part, the NFL is a multi-billion dollar business. It represents the interest of team owners. It negotiates on behalf of owners with the players' union. In this structure, the players are entertainers. As in much of entertainment, confrontation and violence are key audience attractions. Images of players, especially quarterbacks and pass receivers, being violently slammed to the ground and groggily getting up (or not), are repeated endlessly on stadium and TV screens. It's what makes football the embodiment of America's faith in violence to win every confrontation.
If NFL and the players' union really wanted an objective, independent study of concussions, they would have hired an objective, independent neurologist specializing in concussion to organize her own research team. At the same time, NFL and the union would have required every team and player to disclose all records, including medical records, of player injuries. That did not happen. It wasn't in the interest of NFL, the teams or the players.
If NFL and the players' union really wanted an objective, independent study of concussions, they would have hired an objective, independent neurologist specializing in concussion to organize her own research team. At the same time, NFL and the union would have required every team and player to disclose all records, including medical records, of player injuries. That did not happen. It wasn't in the interest of NFL, the teams or the players.
2
Amazing! Not a mention of Bennett Omalu, the Nigerian pathologist who first discovered this problem! He was tarred and feathered by the NFL. Hope some Law Firm will set this right.
5
Writing a satirical novel about the NFL, I started following the league, reading ESPN each day. The novel just seemed to write itself as there was something to comment on nearly every day. One character jokingly made the connection between the NFL and the tobacco industry concerning the CTE issue. The book is entitled "Fantasy Fourteen" and can be found on Kindle.
1
...but the real tragedy in the NFL is that a ball-boy in Foxboro let some air out of the football, right Commissioner? Why is the NFL spending millions pursuing "deflate-gate?"
Perhaps to divert attention from the fact their their "League" results in permanent brain damage to young men in their prime?
Perhaps to divert attention from the fact their their "League" results in permanent brain damage to young men in their prime?
4
Where is Teddy Roosevelt when we need him? He threatened to ban professional football in the early 20th Century if it didn't clean up its act...
I - like many others - was put on to this sad story about two years ago when Frontline, the documentary news organization, produced "League of Denial" and ran it on PBS. Dr. Benet Omalu identified and publicized CTE and was ridiculed by the NFL and even asked to retract his professional article showing the existence of this condition. Mike Webster was the first identified victim of CTE but no doubt countless others preceded and will succeed him with CTE.
4
I was wondering why it took so long for the NFL to go down Tobacco road.
The first clue to the NFL's bias was decades ago when their doctors/consultants took the position that there is no connection between a players first concussion and their next concussion. Anyone who has played the game saw over and over again that whenever a player got their first concussion the next one was soon to follow. It would be interesting to see how much money the NFL spent on concussion research five years ago, then ten years ago, then fifteen years ago compared to how much money was spent on lawyers defending concussions. My hunch is the NFL spent more on attorneys defending the NFL from concussions rather than objectively studying concussions. Fraudulent medical studies can be a crime especially if the biased data causes further harm.
1
I have to wonder if any of the people involved in this NFL concussion "study" later went on to work for VW.
2
The Sports Industrial Complex is exploitative from its professional ranks and this attitude has, over the years, leaked down into the colleges, high schools and junior leagues. The only hope is that the Educational Industrial Complex divorce itself from the sports and start protecting our young again.
2
Oh enough already for years now. All your doing is enabling feeble research and marginal science an audience and payday. Last year over half of the starting running backs playing in the NFL missed major time due to injury. Putting a head in a helmet and then getting it knocked around inside is worse than if there was no helmet at all, for major injuries like concussions. When playing football, we have no problem leading with our heads to hit our opponents knees, BECAUSE we wear a helmet. To summarize, everyone knows it is the the helmets themselves that are the problem, they cause many more injuries they prevent supposed to prevent. But nobody wants to give up the crashing sounds and the prominent logo (and dead guy sticker) carrier. Just look at rugby, which endures a fraction of the injuries in a game just as brutal. No, you just keep going to "the doctors" when really all you need to do is remove the problem. How so typical.
2
Beyond the missing diagnosed cases there were likely many undiagnosed cases as "getting your bell rung" was considered part of the game and not a reason to be off the field.
1
Thank you New York Times, for the careful and informative review of this data--As a retired MD I spent my working life required to assess scientific data that was always complex in order to treat patients properly. You very properly exposed this study as largely a sham in terms of data collection--we won't talk about the money that changed hands to make the results come out in a way that provides "reassurance" to the big "players", the NFL, helmet designers, team owners, etc.
3
Doctor Hurst, Doesn't that make you sad that in about three decades, an infallible and prestigious organization has become so corrupted (not talking about the NFL but medicine).
There's a term called 'dry labbing" which is a truly invidious practice where people tasked with conducting studies or tests simply make up or omit results. It has been exposed in crime labs and pathology labs alike, and even false resorts with no actual research done like the one issued by a disgraced researcher about Autism that has lead to the anti-vax movement.
This appears like a dry lab experiment by the NFL and their questionable medical staff to alter results to make something seem less harmful than it is.
Because the NFL commissioned the study to begin with it should not be viewed as objective, but my guess is that this is only the beginning of a story of much greater grift and the cooperation of sworn medical professionals to achieve whatever goals the NFL has at all costs.
NFL medical staff has never heard that schticky line "If it hurts when you do that, don't do that".
If the league wants to pay me much less for a study, I'm not even an MD and can say that if it hurts when the 300lb. guy hits you with his head covered in hard plastic with 4mm of padding at high velocity, stop doing that.
There's a term called 'dry labbing" which is a truly invidious practice where people tasked with conducting studies or tests simply make up or omit results. It has been exposed in crime labs and pathology labs alike, and even false resorts with no actual research done like the one issued by a disgraced researcher about Autism that has lead to the anti-vax movement.
This appears like a dry lab experiment by the NFL and their questionable medical staff to alter results to make something seem less harmful than it is.
Because the NFL commissioned the study to begin with it should not be viewed as objective, but my guess is that this is only the beginning of a story of much greater grift and the cooperation of sworn medical professionals to achieve whatever goals the NFL has at all costs.
NFL medical staff has never heard that schticky line "If it hurts when you do that, don't do that".
If the league wants to pay me much less for a study, I'm not even an MD and can say that if it hurts when the 300lb. guy hits you with his head covered in hard plastic with 4mm of padding at high velocity, stop doing that.
Mind-blowing reporting here. Thank you for bringing this to light. As a football fan, it is difficult to stomach but at the same time not-at-all surprising.
Something to keep in mind is that the league is owned and controlled by the team owners, not by the players and certainly not by an independent party. When the league conducts its business this way, it is the "billionaires club" members that need to be held responsible. It is not enough to fire a commissioner or a medical director at the league. Fans and players need to hold their teams and team owners responsible. They have made billions from the fans while they have allowed this sport to kill players that are our heroes.
Something to keep in mind is that the league is owned and controlled by the team owners, not by the players and certainly not by an independent party. When the league conducts its business this way, it is the "billionaires club" members that need to be held responsible. It is not enough to fire a commissioner or a medical director at the league. Fans and players need to hold their teams and team owners responsible. They have made billions from the fans while they have allowed this sport to kill players that are our heroes.
384
Let me second your comment here that this is really fine reporting...pulitzer level. That the New York Times maintains investigative reporting cadre, sorely lacking in what newsprint establishments are left across the country, remains an unreported scandal involving the diminuation of our fourth estate -- the profit driven entities lacking a solid, investigative ethos.
It can seem lije only the NYTimes "catches" much these days....
It can seem lije only the NYTimes "catches" much these days....
1
Sounds a whole lot like the NFL plantation owners not caring all that much about the fodder they send out onto the field to make them money so the plantation owners don't have to do any real labor themselves.
1
Heroes? Football players are not heroes but they are human beings and employees that are entitled not to have their health compromised and lied to by their employer. Hopefully the recent settlement contained representations by the NFL entitling the settlement to be thrown out based upon the NFL's fraud. Corporate America acting badly once again
Is this a news article? What's happening to editorials standards at the Times, the putative "paper of record" for our country. The "connection to tobacco" reasoning is so spurious it's Trump-like. You can't simply conjure up flimsy "evidence" because you, the reporters, think one thing is like another. And then, like a tabloid, the e-hook trumpets the "link" to tobacco. Shame on you. Pathetic. The story was better without the metaphor.
I think contact football is going away one day because it's too dangerous for our children. Soccer will prevail. I think Roger Goodell should be fired by the league and shamed by America for being an odious toad. I think tobacco should simply be outlawed. Those four sentences are called opinions. I shouldn't be allowed to publish them on p1 and call them news.
What's wrong with you guys? The Times needs to investigate itself. You are just like everyone else now. Maybe HuffPo can be our digital paper of record henceforth. You certainly don't act like it.
I think contact football is going away one day because it's too dangerous for our children. Soccer will prevail. I think Roger Goodell should be fired by the league and shamed by America for being an odious toad. I think tobacco should simply be outlawed. Those four sentences are called opinions. I shouldn't be allowed to publish them on p1 and call them news.
What's wrong with you guys? The Times needs to investigate itself. You are just like everyone else now. Maybe HuffPo can be our digital paper of record henceforth. You certainly don't act like it.
I think you misread something. The article talks about the NFL's strategy to downplay the effects of concussions, the same way the tobacco industry downplayed the effects of smoking. What, exactly, is questionable about this comparison?
2
Well, at least death was swift in the Coliseum in the good old days of Caesar as the fans tweaked their thumbs up or down.
These poor helmeted merceneraries today linger for another 20 or 30 more years or so wondering who they are and why....
Force equals mass times acceleration. They are twice as big and 1.5 time as fast. Their cranium is no thicker or better cushioned. You do the math.
These poor helmeted merceneraries today linger for another 20 or 30 more years or so wondering who they are and why....
Force equals mass times acceleration. They are twice as big and 1.5 time as fast. Their cranium is no thicker or better cushioned. You do the math.
4
Hate to us the term, but this is a no-brainer. It's like the Romans discovering that the gladiatorial games were dangerous to the participants. Willful ignorance.
4
You have no excuse now to allow your child to play football.
None.
Its bad now and will get worse when the full truth comes out.
It's appalling to see millions wasted on high school stadiums whose net result is brain damaged children.
There will shortly be court cases awarding custody of children based on the parental neglect of allowing the child to have played tackle football.
The first school system successfully sued over CTE will cause this house of cards to collapse.
I expect to see class action suit commercials before the year is out.
None.
Its bad now and will get worse when the full truth comes out.
It's appalling to see millions wasted on high school stadiums whose net result is brain damaged children.
There will shortly be court cases awarding custody of children based on the parental neglect of allowing the child to have played tackle football.
The first school system successfully sued over CTE will cause this house of cards to collapse.
I expect to see class action suit commercials before the year is out.
3
The article reports that a significant number of concussions were omitted from the NFL’s earlier findings that refuted the claim of a causal link between NFL football and concussions. The broader point of the article is that the tobacco industry covered up a causal lank between tobacco and cancer, that there were intersections between the NFL and that industry, ergo, that it was the same cover-up strategies of tobacco with regard to cancer that were put in place by the NFL with regard to concussions.
The report of the omissions is factually sound. The Times has made a splash, however, with the “Ties to Big Tobacco” part of the article. On that, there seem to be aspects of throw in the kitchen sink that are far less than convincing on the ergo conclusion of the article. Memo to the Times: If you were hoping Pulitzer with what you think is an expose of the NFL/Tobacco connection, don’t buy the champagne just yet.
The report of the omissions is factually sound. The Times has made a splash, however, with the “Ties to Big Tobacco” part of the article. On that, there seem to be aspects of throw in the kitchen sink that are far less than convincing on the ergo conclusion of the article. Memo to the Times: If you were hoping Pulitzer with what you think is an expose of the NFL/Tobacco connection, don’t buy the champagne just yet.
It takes neither a neurosurgeon nor a rocket scientist to determine that men who in essence pound their heads against brick walls week after week are going to suffer brain damage.
254
Actually the data and analysis matter. Objective truth requires them.
No, it does not. It is a great demonstration of denial and cognitive dissonance.
1
Players assume the risk of injury...play a violent game expect violent results. Smokers assume health risks from smoking. NFL and Tobacco industry not responsible for peoples choices. The original CTE findings outside of the NFL are as flawed if not more so than NFL's finidings. This is not "mind-blowing" reporting--no pun intended...
A tenuous link at best to the tobacco industry. The headline suggests more. Skip the sensationalism.
1
I watched my parents and grandparents get devastated by tobacco. Lung Cancer, lip cancer, and emphysema killed three of the six. I watched as the silent conspiracy not to admit the danger killed many others.
Now I watch the same evil, as greed takes lives. Here in Eugene Oregon I have long advocated for the padlocking of Autzen Stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks, to save the lives and brains of young students.
The evilest men to walk the earth are the tobacco barons, and now it looks like the men who lead the NCAA, and the NFL, are to be classed as such.
I mourn for the destroyed lives of so many NFL pros.
Padlock all college football stadiums. High School football is child abuse.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene
Now I watch the same evil, as greed takes lives. Here in Eugene Oregon I have long advocated for the padlocking of Autzen Stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks, to save the lives and brains of young students.
The evilest men to walk the earth are the tobacco barons, and now it looks like the men who lead the NCAA, and the NFL, are to be classed as such.
I mourn for the destroyed lives of so many NFL pros.
Padlock all college football stadiums. High School football is child abuse.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene
5
Unsurprising, yet still news. Decades of awareness and cover up. Thank you for reporting this!
3
Due Process decrees that "no man shall be a judge in his own case." That describes everything that is wrong with "medical research" by Big Tobacco and the NFL.
4
'I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!' ' your winnings sir' 'oh, thank you very much!'
3
Of course they can't say it publicly, but I've got to imagine that at some level the league's position is basically a "consenting adults" argument, especially given the astronomical pay.
1
Are you serious? Astronomical pay? Get real.
If in fact the NFL's claims only contained research and reporting from doctors and lawyers on their payroll, working on their rules, it should not have taken 13 years and over a half dozen reports to expose and retract or deny the findings based on bias. The mere fact that all studies were authored by the same parties and those doctors may have had conflicts of interest and omitted publicly available data goes to show how laughable it is making large corporations police themselves.
Time and time again we see organizations go to much greater effort to obfuscate, lie and deny, then it would take to do the right thing.
The NFL is a perfect example of the lost opportunity cost associated with inaction, but it serves the rich guys at the top who have never played the game and only risk head injury if one of their trophy (wives) falls on them.
Time and time again we see organizations go to much greater effort to obfuscate, lie and deny, then it would take to do the right thing.
The NFL is a perfect example of the lost opportunity cost associated with inaction, but it serves the rich guys at the top who have never played the game and only risk head injury if one of their trophy (wives) falls on them.
2
It seems that the NFL was diligent in providing accurate injury reports to the public (read: gamblers) but not that concerned about the data provided to the concussion committee. I suppose that goes without saying when the head of your brain research is a rheumatologist.
1
What a conundrum, football has become a money making machine at both the professional and collegiate levels. It is fun to watch (I enjoy watching the skills of the players and the strategies of the coaches) and to play. Fun to play at least until it starts causing life altering injuries. That is the rub, there is just too much invested by the owners (and a desire for more profits) and too much promise of financial security to the players. Because of the financial potential for everyone involved I doubt the game will go away. So that means all interested parties must work at making the game safer and not be hiding data that they think will hurt their pocket books. The tobacco industry, while hiding data is probably not the complete corollary for illustrating footballs problem. Illness from cigarettes can be avoided by not smoking, while injuries from football can at least be minimized by better equipment, better rules, better coaching and better officiating. Concussions can be minimized by working in all of these areas (equipment, rules, coaching and officiating), but I suspect that better helmets will have the least affect due to the nature of our brains somewhat “floating” inside our craniums. So, NFL do not try to hide your problems, try to fix them by all means disposable to you.
2
When I see Roger Goodell's lips moving and hear his lame whining sounding voice, he comes off as a man that doesn't have a clue. Time and time again, Roger Goodell never answers direct questions or answers them with a lot of hot air that doesn't man anything relevant to what the question that was asked.
Goodell is more interested in growing the NFL to more games, games in China and Europe.....great for him or the owners, sucky for the players and fans, watering down the product will kill the golden goose.
I've been an NFL fan for over 50 years, and have found myself becoming more disinterested in NFL due to the rule changes, nonsense of trying to screw the Patriots over and over without any justification, and when they start playing regular season games in Europe, China, Mexico or try to start a franchise in those places, as far as I'm concerned the NFL will cease to exist.....they will lose me as a fan.
Goodell and the owners, especially Jerry Jones should spend more time worrying and helping ex-players who are suffering with the ravages of the game, in which the owners are able to reap these huge financial rewards.
I'm just sick of hearing Roger Goodell's voice drone on and on, he looks like the bone-head in the Burger King press conference commercial.
Goodell is more interested in growing the NFL to more games, games in China and Europe.....great for him or the owners, sucky for the players and fans, watering down the product will kill the golden goose.
I've been an NFL fan for over 50 years, and have found myself becoming more disinterested in NFL due to the rule changes, nonsense of trying to screw the Patriots over and over without any justification, and when they start playing regular season games in Europe, China, Mexico or try to start a franchise in those places, as far as I'm concerned the NFL will cease to exist.....they will lose me as a fan.
Goodell and the owners, especially Jerry Jones should spend more time worrying and helping ex-players who are suffering with the ravages of the game, in which the owners are able to reap these huge financial rewards.
I'm just sick of hearing Roger Goodell's voice drone on and on, he looks like the bone-head in the Burger King press conference commercial.
1
Nothing good can come from any kind of advice from the tobacco industry.
2
Looks like the NFL's offer to settle for $765 million is chump change if the concussion studies were deliberately skewed to minimize the risk/effect of concussions.
The doctors involved should lose their licenses.
Ms. Mitchell and the other lawyers involved in guiding omission of concussion data to produce the flawed conclusions of the studies, and tactics in the subsequent litigation, should face disbarment and/or criminal prosecution if they were involved in subornation of perjury in coaching witnesses to mischaracterize the completeness and/or conclusions of the studies.
As we saw with the tobacco industry litigation, some scientists and lawyers are figuratively willing to sell their souls to the devil for the sake of financial gain knowing full well that their actions or inactions are literally causing misery and death.
The doctors involved should lose their licenses.
Ms. Mitchell and the other lawyers involved in guiding omission of concussion data to produce the flawed conclusions of the studies, and tactics in the subsequent litigation, should face disbarment and/or criminal prosecution if they were involved in subornation of perjury in coaching witnesses to mischaracterize the completeness and/or conclusions of the studies.
As we saw with the tobacco industry litigation, some scientists and lawyers are figuratively willing to sell their souls to the devil for the sake of financial gain knowing full well that their actions or inactions are literally causing misery and death.
4
Just when you think the NFL is coming clean you have this stuff coming out. Jerry Jones comes out and says football does not cause CTE. I am sure that he was the one that stopped any reporting of concussions to the database. Hey, no concussions so they can't be the cause of CTE
2
Thank you for a great journalism! Articles like this shed light on deeply troublesome institutions – NFL, tobacco industry, chemical industry and many others… I am astounded by the greed of top executives and managers, choosing money over people’s health and well-being. Shame on you and let karma pay your back for all your cover ups.
The only way to continue is not having business as usual. I do hope that stories like that would advance to it.
The only way to continue is not having business as usual. I do hope that stories like that would advance to it.
3
Similar parallels to the Catholic sex abuse scandal as depicted in the movie Spotlight. Another, in the long list of examples, that letting the fox guard the hen house is never a good idea.
4
So the NFL engaged in unethical research to protect its interest?
Say it's not so Dorothy.
Say it's not so Dorothy.
4
This type of reporting is what I expect from the Times and it is excellent. It is obvious that a great deal of work went into this. The ties to the tobacco industry are very interesting and the strategy of minimizing risks and postponing solutions are shared. I wonder if there is a long term solution. Football seems inherently dangerous. It is too bad that it is such an appealing game.
3
I think the right conclusion is Football is a business, players get hurt, through no fault of anyone, it's simply part of the process, the game, the occupation.
You work in a steel mill, you are standing 10 feet from liquid metal, heat, pain and death, a second away, and you die if you make a mistake. How many work related injuries occur daily? Thousands I think.
Kids do not work in the mills, at least not any more, too dangerous....Football is dangerous......but it goes back to the business, the $$$$$$$$$$$, this is what is currently more important, at least to the league, players will always get hurt, profits not so much. My son played up till 12 grade, 9 yrs of Football, tore ACL in High School, hopefully it healed 100%, but it will always be there, reminding him of Football, when he is 65, I hope he can still walk...
So, that is the decision, change the game, protect the profits and allow younger players to survive
You work in a steel mill, you are standing 10 feet from liquid metal, heat, pain and death, a second away, and you die if you make a mistake. How many work related injuries occur daily? Thousands I think.
Kids do not work in the mills, at least not any more, too dangerous....Football is dangerous......but it goes back to the business, the $$$$$$$$$$$, this is what is currently more important, at least to the league, players will always get hurt, profits not so much. My son played up till 12 grade, 9 yrs of Football, tore ACL in High School, hopefully it healed 100%, but it will always be there, reminding him of Football, when he is 65, I hope he can still walk...
So, that is the decision, change the game, protect the profits and allow younger players to survive
1
The NFL and Disney World are all too similar, each carefully controlling a fabricated reality to lure an addicted and/or unknowing international fan base. Stadiums ... Theme parks ... dyfunctional capitalism.
2
I'm no scientist, but I don't think I've ever seen a team go 6 games in a row without a concussion, let alone 6 years
1
Anyone who misses the parallels between tobacco and football lawsuits hasn't been paying attention. You can even see it in the posters put up in locker rooms, warning players of concussion risk. These have the clear intent of shielding the NFL from future lawsuits, much as the way the tobacco industry used the Surgeon General's warnings to say, "See? You knew already. Not our fault".
3
I am a smoker and assume the risk of harm to my health, voluntarily. This kind of article is why I subscribe to the Times. Shows us the fallacy of omitting relevant information from so-called "peer-reviewed" studies when all parties involved are peas from the same pod. Thank you for this expose.
7
Excellent work. Wish you'd do the same with the "sport" of boxing!
2
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who hasn't a self-serving bone in his entire body, said earlier this week that there is no connection between head trauma and NFL football. If someone as influential in the NFL hierarchy as Jones is in denial, it should come as no surprise that the League has not, cannot and will not own up to the extent of the problem.
3
Nice work.
Requests to share:
1. Link to the scientific articles published.
2. If the NFL reported rate of concussion is inaccurate what is the correct rate?
Requests to share:
1. Link to the scientific articles published.
2. If the NFL reported rate of concussion is inaccurate what is the correct rate?
3
And just think, this doesn't include any concussions players may have gotten playing football in High School and College, the time when brains should be enriched with knowledge, not bashed into pudding.
With all this new information emerging I also wonder about the wisdom of allowing something as brutal as Mixed-Martial Arts/Ultimate Fights, At least there they don't try the ruse of calling it a "game."
With all this new information emerging I also wonder about the wisdom of allowing something as brutal as Mixed-Martial Arts/Ultimate Fights, At least there they don't try the ruse of calling it a "game."
4
Deeply flawed is right. One cannot say "all" if data is missing. And if a team didn't participate in the research (like the Dallas Cowboys), then their numbers should not have been included. This is basic statistics. It's hard to believe the persons doing this research did this accidently.
1
So is anyone surprised that a huge money-making enterprise as popular as football used whatever means possible to hide the dangers of its product from the public? Trying to equate it with the cigarette industry is expected from the NY Times - many media companies would do the same - though I'd guess that any successful corporation would look to others' examples of operation for guidance. Morality and honesty can't compete with collective greed and success. Does anyone really expect anything different?
As for the outrage about this and other medical and risk reports: all you have to do is watch football to realize it's terribly dangerous. The public, including myself, don't care, because we like to watch the game. If we are so willing to overlook the risks, why would the industry not do the same? Are we so stupid to think that players getting their heads snapped back and hit at an unusual angle doesn't have dire consequences? Spare me the self-righteousness, even if the football industry is trying to save their butts at all costs.
As for the outrage about this and other medical and risk reports: all you have to do is watch football to realize it's terribly dangerous. The public, including myself, don't care, because we like to watch the game. If we are so willing to overlook the risks, why would the industry not do the same? Are we so stupid to think that players getting their heads snapped back and hit at an unusual angle doesn't have dire consequences? Spare me the self-righteousness, even if the football industry is trying to save their butts at all costs.
4
Nelson M. Oyesiku, MD, PhD
Editor, Neurosurgery
Dear Dr. Oyesiku,
As you are aware, there is enormous controversy about repetitive head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in NFL football players.
A book, League of Denial, details an NFL program to promote publication of peer reviewed papers minimizing the hazard of concussion and risk of the traumatic encephalopathy in NFL players. Most of these papers were published in Neurosurgery.
A number of serious allegations are made, among them:
1. Cherry picking data.
2. Ghost authorship.
3. Non-disclosed commercial sponsorship.
4. Misleading or false data analysis.
5. Corrupted editorial management of peer review and of decisions to publish works by the section editor.
I attach a spreadsheet of some of these articles, searching only for those by Elliot Pellman who by his admission fraudulently misrepresented his training and background.
Can you tell me if Neurosurgery has completed or plans to complete a review of these works to consider placing the National Library of Medicine status of retracted publication on these papers?
If a review of these papers is underway, I would appreciate knowing when it will be completed.
Needless to say, this matter is of importance to public health let alone the stature of Neurosurgery.
Sincerely,
Steven H. Miles, MD
Professor of Medicine and Bioethics