http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...gue-of-denial/
Anyone watch Frontline last night? An hour and a half on the NFL's blatant whitewashing of evidence given to them over 20 years ago and every year since then, with Goodell speaking before Congress with the identical behavior that the Tobacco companies showed before Congress with their early denials of cigarette smoking and it's link to cancer.
76 of 79 Deceased NFL Players Found to Have Brain Disease
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...brain-disease/
The findings represent a more than twofold increase in the number of cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, that have been reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ brain repository in Bedford, Mass. Researchers there have now examined the brain tissue of 128 football players who, before their deaths, played the game professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school. Of that sample, 101 players, or just under 80 percent, tested positive for CTE.
And, it's not the concussions, the nation's leading expert, Dr. Ann McKee explains, but the constant non-concussion collisions that occur regularly on any play that lead to CTE (the same physical traits that advanced Alzheimer's patients have). Players who have never been diagnosed with a concussion also had CTE.
The bottom line is that if the lips are moving from a Doctor who works for an NFL team (generally), and definitely for the NFL itself, that Doctor is lying to the nth degree about whatever he says. Ask Cleveland's players and the lies they were told about the sicknesses that were going on at their facilities, as an example of how Doctors who work for the NFL teams lie when it comes to players' injuries.
When Dr. McKee was asked, "If you had children who were 8 and 10 and 12, would they play football?"
Eight, 10, 12? No, they would not.
Why?
Because the way football is being played currently, that I've seen, it's dangerous. (She's a huge football fan and from a big football family. Her brothers and father played collegiately, and she also played football. She loves the Packers.) It's dangerous, and it could impact their long-term mental health. You only get one brain. The thing you want your kids to do most of all is succeed in life and be everything they can be. And if there's anything that may infringe on that, that may limit that, I don't want my kids doing it.
High school OK?
You know, I just don't feel like I'm in a position to say anything is OK right now. I'm not going to -- I'm not even sure about high school football, even well-managed high school football. We see this in some high schoolers. Let's figure out what this is and how to prevent it, and then I'll say we should all be playing football.
College?
I have a lot of college football players in my Brain Bank with CTE.
The cover-up in the Ray Rice incident fits the NFL's profile perfectly.
The only reason that the NFL settled out of court in the lawsuit with those suing over brain trauma caused by the NFL's negligence to inform the player's of the issues was because the NFL did not want the details of their cover-up brought to light. Everyone involved would have had to testify about their actions and inactions. That would do more damage than the $750M they agreed to in arbitration. A Federal Judge found that the $750M was not enough and removed the cap on the settlement.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...on-settlement/
''The revised settlement is a great deal - for the NFL and class counsel,'' who would get $112.5 million in attorneys' fees, the players' motion said. ''It is a lousy deal for the retired players, whose rights have been bargained away without adequate or independent representation.''
Others have challenged the settlement’s award structure for CTE specifically, claiming it only allows for such payments if a player was diagnosed with the disease before the day that the agreement won preliminary approval in July. This detail, they say, would shut out any player who may be diagnosed in the future.