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leo3375
09-19-2014, 11:16 PM
This is a huge, huge story. In the last two weeks this has really blown up. Here's a short timeline:
• Ray Rice assaulted his then-fiancée in an elevator at a casino in Atlantic City. They married a month later. In June, the NFL suspended Rice for 3 games, then reduced it to two games.
• On September 8, TMZ released the video from inside the elevator, showing Rice knocking his then-fiancée unconcious in that elevator. Public outcry results in the Ravens terminating Rice's contract and the NFL suspending him indefinitely. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he never saw the video of what happened inside the elevator.
• On September 9, the Associated Press reports that the NFL had the video of what happened in that elevator back in April. The video even corroborated what media sources claimed was on that video around the time Rice got the initial suspension. Clearly someone was lying.
• On September 12, Adrian Peterson was indicted on child abuse charges for striking one of his young sons with a switch so hard that it left lacerations and welts all over his lower body. The Minnesota Vikings deactivated him for the game on September 14 against the New England Patriots.
• On this same day, the Carolina Panthers deactivated Greg Hardy, who is facing domestic abuse charges. The pressure is on the San Francisco 49ers to bench Ray MacDonald, who is also facing domestic abuse charges.
• On September 15, the Vikings re-activate Peterson. Peterson issues a statement acknowledging what happened. Several sponsors of the Vikings begin to suspend their endorsement deals. Nike pulls all Peterson merchandise from their stores.
• On September 16, Anheuser-Busch Brewing—one of the NFL's biggest corporate sponsors—voices its disappointment in how the NFL has handled these cases. The same day, Jonathan Dwyer is charged with domestic assault after his wife's nose is broken. He allegedly threatened to kill himself if she left and took their 18-month-old child with her.
• In the wee hours of September 17, Peterson is placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Loosely translated, he cannot participate in NFL activities until his legal case is resolved. Peterson could be out for the entire 2014 season, and his Vikings career may be over. Hardy is also placed on the Exempt List.

And here we are today. Goodell held a press conference where he didn't really answer any questions. Oh, and ESPN dropped this bomb:
Sources told ESPN that the Ravens purposely misdirected the investigation, and that the NFL did very little investigating. (http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11551518/how-ray-rice-scandal-unfolded-baltimore-ravens-roger-goodell-nfl)

Highlights of this news:
• Ravens knew about the elevator assault hours after it happened.
• A security officer gave details of the video to the Ravens' security director.
• Head coach John Harbaugh wanted to cut Rice, but owner Steve Bisciotti and team president Dick Cass overruled him. Harbaugh also wanted two other players facing domestic-abuse accusations cut from the team.
• Bisciotti and Cass went to Goodell and asked for Leniency for Rice. Bisciotti apparently even offered Rice a job with the front office when his playing days were over.

(I would post this in the Sports thread, but this is a really, really big and scandalous story.)

Sarah K
09-19-2014, 11:18 PM
Jonathan Dwyer was also arrested for domestic violence this week.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/us/nfl-jonathan-dwyer-alleged-domestic-violence/

thevoid99
09-19-2014, 11:43 PM
This is just fucking disgusting. I have very little respect for the NFL and I hate how they're handling this as if it's nothing.

leo3375
09-20-2014, 12:01 AM
I think this political cartoon from the Minneapolis Star Tribune says it all:

http://media.cagle.com/139/2014/09/18/153932_600.jpg

Sarah K
09-20-2014, 12:09 AM
If this doesn't get that stupid fuck pushed out, I doubt that anything ever will.

Millionaire
09-20-2014, 07:12 AM
Boxing also doesn't seem to concerned about domestic violence issues with its boxers, but no one should be surprised at that because pro boxing is a pretty scummy institution anyway. Floyd Mayweather has been convicted 2 or 3 times for domestic violence and battery against women and people don't seem to really bring it up.

But with the NFL, you'd think they would know better, since they aren't a struggling sport and should be more concerned with PR in the internet age, not to mention the basic morality of it all.

allegro
09-20-2014, 09:50 AM
I saw a psychiatrist on TV the other day discussing an interesting correlation between sports head injuries and domestic violence.

Ultimately, sports will bury anything in the interest of cash. Joe Paterno and his buds buried Sandusky's child sex abuse, college and pro football buried head injuries, and now we're learning the longterm damage of NHL head injuries (that the NHL knows about but doesn't care).

DigitalChaos
09-20-2014, 12:19 PM
tribalism strikes again. i really don't understand why people keep feeding money to this organization. I KNOW why (the answer is more tribalism) but i just don't understand it

october_midnight
09-20-2014, 12:45 PM
As usual, you're being overdramatic. Like anything else, it's the 2% that make the other 98% look bad. Put any collection of people together, from various walks of life, and you're going to get this. Think this shit isn't happening in baseball? Or hockey? Or in any other large group of humans? Of course I'm glad the shitbags that are doing this are finally being outed, but it's just the fact that it's 2014 with social media and TMZ and paparazzi and yada yada that it's being blown up like this. Like anything else, with the current attention span of North America being that of a small insect or rodent, the flames around the league will soon pass.

allegro
09-20-2014, 01:02 PM
Here are a few articles re head injuries:

http://kansascity.legalexaminer.com/head-brain-injuries/will-nfl-and-nflpa-admit-concussion-link-to-domestic-violence/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2014/09/18/nfl-possible-concussions-domestic-violence-link-getting-more-scrutiny/

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nfl-controversy/could-brain-injuries-be-behind-nfl-rap-sheet-n205666

Charmingly Miserable
09-20-2014, 01:06 PM
I think that the ultimate message here is that the NFL is saying that domestic violence is ok and that it obviously comes secondary to their players. My family are huge STL fans. I just don't think I can get on board with the NFL any more.

Sarah K
09-20-2014, 01:44 PM
Also, let's keep in mind that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men in the US will at some point find themselves a victim of domestic violence. It isn't an NFL problem. It is a people problem. It's a cultural problem.

That being said, the alleged cover-up is a whole different issue. I'm glad that things are coming to light, and I hope with everything that this pushes Goodell out. He has done nothing beneficial for the organization.

Swykk
09-20-2014, 02:01 PM
The cover up should be the focus of rage and maybe surprise (though I'm not). I think to the NFL and Goodell, football is all that really matters. It's what makes money. This gaping leak has shown me this kind of thing has gone on and been swept under the rug successfully previously. Even on a college level, the disgusting Penn State/Sandusky incidents showed just how willing these types of people are to keep secrets and let the victims continue to suffer in the name of what? The game?

allegro
09-20-2014, 02:18 PM
The NFL covered up the head-injury problem for decades, too.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000235494/article/nfl-explayers-agree-to-765m-settlement-in-concussions-suit


The NFL has reached a tentative $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players, agreeing to compensate victims, pay for medical exams and underwrite research.

A federal judge announced the agreement Thursday after months of court-ordered mediation. It came just days before the start of the 2013 season.

More than 4,500 former athletes -- some suffering from dementia, depression or Alzheimer's that they blamed on blows to the head -- had sued the league, accusing it of concealing the dangers of concussions and rushing injured players back onto the field while glorifying and profiting from the kind of bone-jarring hits that make for spectacular highlight-reel footage.

The NFL long has denied any wrongdoing and insisted that safety always has been a top priority. But the NFL said Thursday that Commissioner Roger Goodell told pro football's lawyers to "do the right thing for the game and the men who played it."

The plaintiffs included Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Jim McMahon and the family of Pro Bowl linebacker Junior Seau, who committed suicide last year.

Under the settlement, individual awards would be capped at $5 million for men with Alzheimer's disease; $4 million for those diagnosed after their deaths with a brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and $3 million for players with dementia, said lead plaintiffs' lawyer Christopher Seeger.

Any of the approximately 18,000 former NFL players would be eligible.

Senior U.S. District Judge Anita Brody in Philadelphia announced the proposed agreement and will consider approving it at a later date.

allegro
09-20-2014, 04:03 PM
http://m.espn.go.com/general/story?storyId=11098983&city=chicago&src=desktop


CHICAGO -- Jim McMahon would leave home and forget how to get back.

Sometimes, he would stay in his room and lie on his back in the dark because the pain in his head was so excruciating. At his darkest moments a few years ago, when it was just about too much to handle, the former Chicago Bears quarterback thought about killing himself.

"I am glad I don't have any weapons in my house or else I am pretty sure I wouldn't be here," McMahon said. "It got to be that bad."

McMahon opened up about his struggles with early onset dementia and depression in a gathering with a small group of reporters on Tuesday, issues he believes were brought on by the beating he absorbed playing football. He is scheduled to be honored Wednesday in Chicago by the Sports Legacy Institute, a Boston University-based group that has been studying the effects of brain trauma in athletes and others.

While his suicidal thoughts are a thing of the past thanks to treatment that drains spinal fluid from his brain, the fight with dementia continues. The "punky QB" who once helped the Bears shuffle their way to a championship is also digging in for another battle, one that could have major consequences for the NFL.

McMahon is one of several players identified by name in a federal lawsuit filed in California last month accusing teams of illegally dispensing powerful narcotics and other drugs to keep players on the field without regard for their long-term health.

He also is part of a class-action lawsuit in which the NFL agreed to a $765 million settlement without acknowledging it hid the risks of concussions from former players. A federal judge has yet to approve the settlement, expressing concern the amount is too small.

While McMahon wouldn't discuss the most recent suit, he did talk about the troubles he has faced in recent years, issues he believes took root when he was getting battered on the field.

McMahon said he had three to five diagnosed concussions and who knows how many more that went undiagnosed. That's in addition to injuries to the kidney, broken ribs, an addiction to painkillers and a broken neck that he said team doctors and trainers never told him about.

He found out about five years ago, when he went for X-rays and an MRI. Doctors told him he had broken his neck at some point, and McMahon believes it happened with the Minnesota Vikings during the 1993 season, when he got sandwiched by two Giants defenders in a playoff game at New York.

Nearly broken in two, McMahon couldn't move his legs at first. He eventually headed to the sideline after about 10 minutes. He didn't stay there long.

He said he went back in -- "like an idiot" -- and a defender trying to block a pass grazed his head. McMahon's legs went numb again and he left the game.

McMahon said the doctor asked him afterward how he felt but did not examine him. He said there's "no doubt about it," the team knew his neck was broken.

A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from the Vikings.

The dementia diagnosis came five years ago, after McMahon was having trouble remembering the most basic stuff.

He would meet someone and forget their name. For that matter, he had trouble remembering the names of people he knew for years.

That wasn't all.

He'd go out and forget the way home, so he would call his girlfriend Laurie Navon and tell her: "I don't know where I'm at. I don't know how I got on this road. I told her, 'Aliens abducted me and put me over here.' "

Navon mentioned the mood swings, seeing a man who was "mad at himself, mad at the world."

He was suffering, with excruciating pain in his head. It was so bad he would hole up in the dark in his room for weeks, only leaving if he had an appearance to make.

"I can see how some of these guys have ended their lives, because of the pain," McMahon said.

Lately, he's been getting relief from two doctors in New York. Through a machine they invented, they're able to relieve the pain in his head through a nonsurgical procedure that realigns his neck every few months.

Spinal fluid cooling in the brain brought on by a rotation in his vertebrae was causing the headaches. By realigning the neck, the fluid drains. In turn, the pain goes away for a few months, along with the short-term memory loss and moodiness.

The dementia, however, is an ongoing fight, one of several for a former quarterback going nose to nose with the league.

"The NFL continues to make billions and billions of dollars every year," McMahon said. "And some of these guys are homeless. They don't know who they are, and they were the ones who built this brand to where it's at."

Sarah K
09-20-2014, 05:14 PM
I met Jim McMahon a few years back. Sad fucking deal.

allegro
09-20-2014, 06:28 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/sports/football/nfl-makes-open-ended-commitment-to-retirees-in-concussion-suit.html


N.F.L. Makes Open-Ended Commitment to Retirees in Concussion Suit

The N.F.L. has made an open-ended commitment to pay cash awards to retired players who have dementia and other conditions linked to repeated head hits, according to documents filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

The guarantee is part of a revised settlement in a contentious lawsuit filed by about 5,000 retirees who accused the league of hiding the dangers of concussions from them.

In August, the league agreed to pay $765 million to settle the suit with the retired players, with $675 million of that amount set aside for cash awards. But Judge Anita B. Brody rejected the proposal in January because she said she doubted whether there would be enough money to cover all the claims over the 65-year life of the settlement.

Lawyers for the league and the plaintiffs spent the past six months revising the settlement. If the judge approves the new version in the coming weeks, it will be sent to all 18,000 retired players and their beneficiaries, who can then approve the settlement, object or opt out of it. The results of that vote are unlikely to be known for at least several months, and no players will be paid until all appeals are exhausted.

Lawyers for the retirees, many of whom have worked on a contingency basis, have also been eager to settle the case so they can be paid. They have argued against opting out of the settlement because suing the league again would be a daunting and expensive task.

In a statement, the plaintiffs’ lead lawyers, Christopher Seeger and Sol Weiss, said, “This settlement guarantees that these benefits will be there if needed and does so without years of litigation that may have left many retired players without any recourse.”

Seeger added in an interview that “there was a perception out there that there wasn’t enough money” in the settlement, so “there was no better way to assure them” than removing the cap on awards.

The requirements to qualify for cash awards, which are based on the number of years a player was in the N.F.L. and his age at the time he developed dementia or another neurological disorder, will not change. In general, younger retired players who develop a condition will be eligible for more than older retirees, and players who played for five or more years will receive more than those with less time.

The league, however, insisted on measures to prevent retired players from filing false claims. The standards for the doctors who will be eligible to diagnose conditions have been tightened in the new proposal, and a network of approved doctors will be created.

The N.F.L. will also be able to appeal an unlimited number of claims, as opposed to 10 a year in the previous agreement.

Skeptics contend that the eligibility requirements are so narrow that the league’s offer to remove the cap on cash awards is irrelevant. Those suspicions will lead some players to scrutinize the proposal further.

“The question is how many hoops you have to jump through,” said Joe DeLamielleure, who played for 13 years with the Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns.

“Basically, if you have C.T.E., the only way you’ll ever get any relief for your family is you have to die,” DeLamielleure added, referring to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.

Removing the cap is “obviously a big change,” said Ted Frank, the president of the Center for Class Action Fairness. “The real question,” he added, “is whether it is just one set of changes or whether there is a second set of changes where the N.F.L. gives with one hand and makes the restrictions tougher and takes away with the other hand.”

Legal experts said that the new N.F.L. settlement could provide a blueprint for other concussion cases, including those brought by former players against the N.H.L.

The experts said they expected more former N.F.L. players to drop their objections to the proposed settlement if only because the likelihood of winning a larger award was diminished.

“There is going to be folks who want to opt out, but once the judge approves it, the threshold for getting it reversed is so high that contesting it further doesn’t really make sense,” said Michael LeRoy, who teaches law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “The bottom line is, you can’t get everything you want.”

As in the original agreement, the league will set aside $75 million for base-line testing of retirees and $10 million for concussion education. But a provision in the original agreement that would have prevented players who received cash payouts from suing the N.C.A.A. “or any other collegiate, amateur or youth football organization” has been removed from the new proposed settlement.

The revised plan took about six months to complete partly because all 32 team owners of the N.F.L. had to consider the merits and risks of making an open-ended commitment to fund cash awards. The league wanted to ensure that a revised settlement would be approved by the retirees and stand up under scrutiny if the settlement was appealed.

The league has been eager to complete a deal. Since the original agreement was announced, the league has been dogged by suspicions that the owners could have paid much more to settle the case. In that agreement, the owners had to pay half of the settlement in the first three years and the rest during the following 17 years, or a few million dollars per team per year.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the N.F.L. hired actuaries and medical experts, who determined that $765 million was adequate. But they refused to share any of their data with the public, which fueled speculation further.

An analysis by The New York Times suggested that the skeptics had a point. Given how many of the 13,500 currently retired players could develop severe neurological disorders over the next 65 years, the cost could be closer to $1 billion, if not more.

While prominent retired players have been voicing their skepticism about the settlement and the intentions of N.F.L. owners, the league has tried to change the tenor of the debate over concussions in football by donating tens of millions of dollars to hospitals and research and education programs.

By removing the biggest objection to the initial settlement, the N.F.L. may be able to shift the focus away from the litigation over its past behavior.

“They can’t undo past harm, but they are agreeing to an uncapped fund that will compensate anyone with a neurocognitive disorder,” LeRoy, of the University of Illinois, said. “The N.F.L. for many years has been portrayed as walking away from retired players. Now they may be viewed as walking side by side with them.”

Even with the league’s new open-ended commitment, some players may continue to question the settlement, which does not require the league to admit any fault and does not require players to prove that their illnesses are a direct result of concussions received during their time in the N.F.L.

Some retired players may grumble that the lead plaintiffs’ lawyers continue to request $112 million in legal fees. Seeger said the plaintiffs’ lawyers would not apply for those fees until retired players could be paid.

allegro
09-20-2014, 06:38 PM
http://kansascity.legalexaminer.com/head-brain-injuries/will-nfl-and-nflpa-admit-concussion-link-to-domestic-violence/


Will NFL & NFLPA Admit Concussion Link to Domestic Violence?

By now, most of America has seen (or at least heard about) the horrific video show NFL running back Ray Rice knocking out his fiancee in an elevator and then dragging her out into a casino hotel. You’ve also heard about problems with NFL running back Adrian Peterson or defensive end Greg Hardy or defensive end Ray McDonald. Most of America has also heard about the issue of concussions plaguing current and former NFL players. Most – if not all – of the media have been treating these issues as separate “crises” for the NFL and NFLPA. But science and medicine suggest we should be looking at these issues as symptoms of the same problem.

Medical science has told us for years that brain injury is linked to violent acts. In 2013, the Toronto Sun reported that athletes who experienced repeated head injuries have an increased risk of becoming angry and violent. 73% of the young men studied were described as “explosive”; 64% were described as “out of control”; and 68% were described as physically violent.

An 8-year study published by the University of Michigan School of Public Health in the journal Pediatrics “does support some of the sports research that’s been going on with concussions.” Researchers noted that long-term effects of head trauma can include changes in cognition, language, emotion, irritability, impulsiveness, and violence.


“Head injuries range along a continuum from athletic concussions to traumatic brain injury suffered in war or a result of an accident. This study looks at head injuries from a broad perspective and confirms previous findings about the connection between violence and head injuries.”

- Lead author, Sarah Stoddard, Ph.D, via PsychCentral

The study found that violent effects could be seen quickly following a head injury.


Researchers studied the timing between a head injury and violent behavior and found that an injury reported in year seven of the study predicted violent behavior in year eight.

“We found that the link between a head injury and later violence was stronger when a head injury was more recent, even after controlling for other factors including previous violent behavior,” Stoddard said.

- Rick Nauert, Ph. D. at PsychCentral


According to the group, synapse, people suffering head trauma may develop behaviors leading to domestic violence.

We all tend to let our hair down with family, as opposed to strangers or acquaintances. Of course, after a brain injury a person’s interpretation of letting hair down may be well beyond what most would consider acceptable, particularly if their self-awareness has been affected. They may justify their violence by saying that others provoked them, not realizing that the brain injury has increased their sensitivity to stress and decreased their ability to handle it.


The frontal lobe is often damaged in brain injury. This area of the brain is involved in reasoning, problem solving and controlling our more basic instincts such as anger. An individual who has sustained a brain injury has often lost these skills and therefore may have trouble controlling anger and violent outbursts. In many cases brain injured individuals often lose some of the social judgment capabilities and are not effectively able to reason out the appropriateness of either their own behavior or the behavior they expect from others.

- synapse, Domestic Violence and Brain Injury (http://synapse.org.au/get-the-facts/domestic-violence-and-brain-injury-fact-sheet.aspx)

A 2005 study noted that aggressive behavior after a concussion or other traumatic brain injury includes explosive behavior that can be set off by minimal provocation and occur without warning. A number of studies have found frontal and prefrontal injuries or other abnormalities in people prone to impulsive aggression and violence. The frontal lobe and prefrontal network generally control impulse and behavioral reactions to provocation. Uninjured people are able to control negative feelings voluntarily and can process restraint-producing cues from their environment, including facial and vocal signs of anger or fear. However, when frontal and prefrontal areas of the brain are injured, victims are less able to control their emotions and impulses. They are also more prone anger, aggression, and violence.

Why have we not seen any discussion of the link between concussions and other head trauma and domestic violence in the NFL? Just last Friday, the NFL dumped piles of data showing the severe risk its players at at for traumatic brain injury. According to the NFL data, nearly 30% of players will suffer brain injury significant enough to result in moderate-to-severe dementia. Twice the rate of the regular population at age 71.

http://kansascity.legalexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/73/2014/09/Chart-Risk-of-Dementia.jpg

Greg Hardy – found guilty of domestic violence in July 2014 (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11524432/carolina-panthers-change-stance-deactivate-greg-hardy) – suffered a concussion during the 2010 NFL season. The other players in the news have not had a concussion documented on an injury report, but each of them is likely to have suffered numerous head traumas in their grinding NFL careers. Ray Rice even bragged that new NFL rules prohibiting running backs from using the crown of their helmet to contact defenders outside the tackle box would not change his running style.


“I don’t like it,” Rice told the Ravens’ official web site. “I’m just telling you right now, there’s not going to be a guy that’s going to be able to get a free lick on me and think it’s all right. I will defend my case, and I will defend myself as a runner.”

***

Rice and others contend that it’s impossible for a back to protect himself without dipping his head and making contact.

“If I’m in the open field and you’re coming at me and I’m coming at you, and I lower my shoulder and I get flagged, I’ll appeal it,” Rice said. You’re going to protect yourself as a runner. Not one running back, you ask anyone in the league, not one is going to change their game.”

- Kareem Copeland, NFL.com

It just makes sense that when the NFL generates a higher-than-normal level of brain injury, it generates a higher-than-normal level of domestic violence.

http://kansascity.legalexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/73/2014/09/NFL-Relative-Arrest-Rates.png

Since 2000, there have been 83 domestic violence arrests of NFL players, making this by far the NFL’s worst category with a relative arrest rate of 55.4%. As Benjamin Morris at FiveThirtyEight, points out, this is “extremely high relative to expectations (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/).”


That 55.4 percent is more than four times worse than the league’s arrest rate for all offenses (13 percent), and domestic violence accounts for 48 percent of arrests for violent crimes among NFL players, compared to our estimated 21 percent nationally.

Moreover, relative to the income level (top 1 percent) and poverty rate (0 percent) of NFL players, the domestic violence arrest rate is downright extraordinary.

- Benjamin Morris at FiveThirtyEight

No one is defending the actions of these players off the field. I’m certainly not doing that here. A brain injury can never be an excuse for domestic violence (http://synapse.org.au/get-the-facts/domestic-violence-and-brain-injury-fact-sheet.aspx). But why hasn’t the league and why hasn’t the Players Association made the link between the level of brain injury and the level of domestic violence when the science is so strong and so straightforward.

The NFL and the NFLPA has a concussion and brain injury problem. The league and the Players Association have a domestic violence problem. But the science suggests they are not separate problems at all.

When the NFL has already acknowledged significant brain injury resulting in dementia in almost 30% of its players, why isn’t the league and – more importantly – why isn’t the NFLPA doing something more to protect these players and their families?

Sarah K
09-20-2014, 06:57 PM
An NFL player's lifespan is also about 20 years shorter than the average person. People who are in like... the top 1% of fitness in the world, are living shorter lives:

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2013/01/29/nfl-players-union-and-harvard-team-landmark-study-football-injuries-and-illness/aCGnf96h7ptWX2Lnp5MIiP/story.html

Also of note is the suicide rate of former players. And the fact that some of them are shooting themselves through the chest instead of their head, so that their brains are preserved to study... I discuss these topics with people all the time, and nobody outside of huge fans even knows that these things are happening with regularity.

onthewall2983
09-20-2014, 07:07 PM
I wouldn't say "nobody" but then again I'm not as in the trenches with fans as you are Sarah, since I'm not one myself. I did see the Frontline piece on the NFL which speaks to a lot of what has been discussed lately. It's becoming a great big sticky mess which it ought to, but it's hard to say whether or not any of these sweeping changes people are hoping for happens.

allegro
09-20-2014, 07:25 PM
It's happening in the NHL, too.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-faces-another-lawsuit-over-head-injuries-1.2611527


NHL faces another lawsuit over head injuries

http://i.cbc.ca/1.2611531.1397602251!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/reed-larson.jpg
Reed Larson is among another group of former NHL players suing the league over head injuries. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Another group of former NHL players has joined the fight for compensation for head injuries they say they incurred while playing, while at the same time targeting the violence of the game that they believe brought about those injuries.

Retired players Dave Christian, Reed Larson and William Bennett filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday alleging that the league has promoted fighting and downplayed the risk of head injuries that come from it.

"I think the glorified violence is really the Achilles heel for the NHL," said Charles "Bucky" Zimmerman, an attorney at Zimmerman Reed that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the players. "If anything comes of this, the focus on the glorified violence and perhaps the change to that will be a good thing."

The lawsuit, which is similar to one brought by former football players against the NFL, joins others filed by hockey players in Washington and New York and seeks monetary damages and increased medical monitoring.

"As we have indicated earlier, another lawsuit of this type is not unexpected," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in an email to The Associated Press. "It's the nature of these types of cases that once one is filed, a number of similarly styled cases follow. Nothing changes our belief that all of these cases are without merit and they will be defended accordingly."

The NHLPA declined to comment.

Zimmerman also worked on the football litigation, which resulted in the NFL agreeing to pay a $765 million settlement to thousands of former players. That settlement is still awaiting a judge's approval, but the headlines it generated have been partially responsible for hockey players mounting their own case against the NHL.

"We've seen it in football. It's now here in hockey. It's of the same genesis," Zimmerman said. "There's knowledge, we believe, that these type of concussive injuries were known and protections were not put in place appropriately enough and fast enough and rules changes were not implemented even today in fighting.

"Players continue to be at risk and suffer as a result of those risks that they take on behalf of the sport. We think those are unreasonable and they should be changed and the players should be compensated."

Concussion risks

The lawsuit alleges "the NHL hid or minimized concussion risks from its players, thereby putting them at a substantially higher risk for developing memory loss, depression, cognitive difficulties, and even brain related diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease."

One argument that tries to separate the NFL litigation from the NHL case is that by engaging in fighting, players willfully take on the health risks that could come from that.

"You could make that argument only to a point," Zimmerman said. "And the point is that the fighting arena would not exist and would be outlawed as it is in every other level of the game had the NHL not condoned it and sold tickets based upon it and promoted the sport in that way. It's not the players that promote the sport in that way because the players don't implement the rules. It's the league that implements the rules. If they would outlaw fighting, there wouldn't be people who would fight."

Zimmerman said he thinks more players will join the litigation much in the same way the group of plaintiffs in the NFL case exponentially grew as it progressed.

"The light went on for them as the football players' story was becoming more told," Zimmerman said. "I think the hockey players started to see that their story was going to be heard and told. It's not that we haven't known about football players or hockey players getting hurt. It's now become more important that we talk about it and do something about it rather than just benignly let it continue into the future."

tony.parente
09-20-2014, 11:19 PM
Some MSNBC female panel member getting butthurt when this guy points out the double standard in female domestic violence:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1RLXDMNRY#t=115
(1 minute 55 seconds in)

Sarah K
09-21-2014, 11:36 AM
I think she and you BOTH missed the point that he was trying to make.

If you listen to what he is saying before and after, he is very clearly talking about how people in the limelight are treated different than those who are not. He gave an example of someone on a practice squad being released immediately. Greg Hardy, who is an above average player, but not yet a superstar, got removed from the active roster quickly. The Cardinals coach says Dwyer won't be reactivated unless he is cleared of all charges.

Meanwhile, it would appear that a superstar - Ray Rice, had not only his team covering up for him, but perhaps even people within the NFL offices.

Hope Solo is basically the Ray Rice of women's soccer. People are a lot quicker to provide excuses, and even cover things up. BUT, at the end of the day, soccer, and especially women's soccer, don't have a fraction of the audience that the NFL does. She should obviously be banned as well. But when there aren't as many people watching, there isn't going to be much of an outcry. What the man in the video is saying is that there should be equal standards across the board. It doesn't appear that he was making it into a male/female issue.

leo3375
09-22-2014, 02:39 PM
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is holding a press conference at 4:00PM Eastern today. Get your popcorn!

http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/colbert-popcorn.gif
https://warosu.org/data/jp/img/0123/07/1406679092062.gif

Kid Charlemagne
09-22-2014, 03:58 PM
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is holding a press conference at 4:00PM Eastern today. Get your popcorn!

http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/colbert-popcorn.gif
https://warosu.org/data/jp/img/0123/07/1406679092062.gif

This was a goddamn nightmare. Bisciotti managed to look worse than Roger Goodell last Friday. The Ravens organization continues to throw each other under the bus.

Sarah K
09-22-2014, 03:58 PM
Haha... What were the cliffnotes?

Kid Charlemagne
09-22-2014, 04:17 PM
Main thing to get out of it was that watching the footage never crossed Bisciotti's mind. He basically doesn't think and said if he's forced to sell the team, he will.

Jinsai
09-22-2014, 04:34 PM
The NFL is playing damage control for public opinion. They could give a sandy fuck if their players do horrible shit, as long as people don't find out about it.

... or even if people find out about it, as long as the scandal washes over it's cool with them. Michael Vick can get a slap on the wrist for the horrible stuff he was doing, and he's right back in the league and people are fanboys again. People don't even know the extent of what he was doing. He was even using his injured dogs that couldn't fight anymore as punching bags, but whatever, SPORTS WOO HOOO!!!!

So if there's an alarming viral video of a football player knocking a woman unconscious, the public outcry ensues. Meanwhile, in other news, Ben Roethlisberger can repeatedly rape women, and somehow he's still a hero.

allegro
09-22-2014, 05:11 PM
I'm still trying to get past that icky Michael Vick, yuck. I'd like to personally torture that guy and waterboard him for several hours, like go medieval on his ass.

Baphomette
09-23-2014, 01:50 AM
It's happening in the NHL, too.

Have you seen Head Games (http://headgamesthefilm.com/)? It's a great documentary on the subject. Think it's still on Netflix, too.

allegro
09-23-2014, 08:17 AM
Have you seen Head Games (http://headgamesthefilm.com/)? It's a great documentary on the subject. Think it's still on Netflix, too.
No, I haven't; I'll check it out, thanks!

allegro
09-23-2014, 11:41 AM
Ben Roethlisberger can rape women, and somehow he's still a hero.
(Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant)

Sarah K
09-23-2014, 11:46 AM
Also, Ben was just accused. He never got arrested or charged with any crime.

Baphomette
09-23-2014, 01:55 PM
(Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant)


Yes, I am one of those disbelievers. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IExei3pH70#t=25) Kobe did no wrong.

Baphomette
09-23-2014, 01:56 PM
(Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IExei3pH70#t=25

Yes, I am one of those disbelievers. Kobe did no wrong.

allegro
09-23-2014, 02:09 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IExei3pH70#t=25

Yes, I am one of those disbelievers. Kobe did no wrong.
I ain't buying it. Yes he did. But this ain't the place to discuss it.