Post by Otis B. Driftwood on Aug 10, 2017 7:04:02 GMT -5
I tend to side with Cowlishaw on this. Don't see why it's anyone else's business.
Patriots' Tom Brady is entitled to his concussions - and owes you no more honesty than that guy on Tinder does
Patriots' Tom Brady is entitled to his concussions - and owes you no more honesty than that guy on Tinder does
If Tom Brady had been forthcoming, completely transparent, spilled the beans on how he and the Patriots have covered up his concussions through the years, he would have been elevated to some higher level of heroic status.
He also wouldn't have been Tom Brady.
And I'm sorry to ESPN's Bob Ley, who took Brady to task, responding to Brady's contention that his injuries are nobody else's business, saying, "The hell it isn't, Tom.' But it really -- for the most part -- isn't.
When I said something along these lines the other day, I saw the look of shock on the face of Around the Horn host Tony Reali. This surprised me, primarily because he rarely listens while I'm talking. But I began to wonder if I had said something outrageous regarding concussions and how they are handled in today's NFL.
As part of a complicated subject that still isn't really understood, this aspect of it is fairly simple for me. There are two elements in play.
One is the NFL hiding information from players and discrediting doctors when discoveries of CTE and the dangers of head injuries are being made. And that's criminal. And the league still hasn't paid an appropriate penalty for what was happening near the end of Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's tenure. That's why it's a joke that he is a finalist as a "contributor" for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But the second part -- the one where I suppose I run into disagreement with others in the media -- is what players do with that information. Once they have a real understanding of the dangers of the game, it's a matter of individual choice.
If they choose to walk away from the game at a young age like Ravens guard John Urschel just did, that's fine. Of course, not every player has the option to pursue a Ph.D in mathematics at MIT. But others in recent years (mostly linebackers) have also chosen early retirement over the risks of early-onset dementia and the other side effects some players have suffered apparently as a result of repeated football concussions.
Most, however, choose to keep playing. This should surprise no one. People choose all sorts of dangerous careers in pursuit of money. No one seems overly worried about CTE or other ill effects suffered by stunt men in Hollywood, do they?
Heck, you can forget people taking risks for money. Just walk into any major gym and you will see people lifting weights that raise a few suspicions about possible steroids use. And they don't have NFL careers; they may be doing it for purely cosmetic reasons. Maybe they believe it gives them a better look on Tinder. I wouldn't know about such things.
Regardless, people have always taken risks for money. How old are we -- maybe 10 or 12? -- when we start playing, "For a million dollars, would you...?" That's the most American question a kid can ask.
So turn back to Brady, an athlete near the end of a career in which he will be the most decorated quarterback of all time. Yes, it would be great if he expressed a concern for his fellow players or those that will come after him. But that's not Tom Brady, and that has never been Tom Brady.
This is a player with the ultimate chip on his shoulder -- originally placed there when he was selected in the sixth round, enhanced when experts ranked Peyton Manning ahead of him even while Brady routinely won those early matchups and then permanently stapled there by the league with last year's four-game suspension from Deflategate. This is a man who cares about the Patriots and his family and little else.
So when he was asked the other day about the concussion that his wife had mentioned on a national morning TV show, Brady had no choice but to answer the way he did.
If he says he never had one, he's calling his wife a liar.
If he says he did have one, he's calling out the Patriots for a significant violation of league rules. In other words, he's siding with Roger Goodell over Bill Belichick.
That's never going to happen.
But mostly I think it's his business and it's every player's business and if they choose to hide a concussion because they think it might cost them their job (not a worry for Brady, a genuine concern for others), hey, it's probably not smart but it's their call.
Players don't "owe" us anything on this front. Not in the manner in which the NFL owed the players honesty that it failed to deliver when the real danger of concussions was being discovered in a Pittsburgh morgue.
Tim Cowlishaw - Dallas Morning News
He also wouldn't have been Tom Brady.
And I'm sorry to ESPN's Bob Ley, who took Brady to task, responding to Brady's contention that his injuries are nobody else's business, saying, "The hell it isn't, Tom.' But it really -- for the most part -- isn't.
When I said something along these lines the other day, I saw the look of shock on the face of Around the Horn host Tony Reali. This surprised me, primarily because he rarely listens while I'm talking. But I began to wonder if I had said something outrageous regarding concussions and how they are handled in today's NFL.
As part of a complicated subject that still isn't really understood, this aspect of it is fairly simple for me. There are two elements in play.
One is the NFL hiding information from players and discrediting doctors when discoveries of CTE and the dangers of head injuries are being made. And that's criminal. And the league still hasn't paid an appropriate penalty for what was happening near the end of Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's tenure. That's why it's a joke that he is a finalist as a "contributor" for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But the second part -- the one where I suppose I run into disagreement with others in the media -- is what players do with that information. Once they have a real understanding of the dangers of the game, it's a matter of individual choice.
If they choose to walk away from the game at a young age like Ravens guard John Urschel just did, that's fine. Of course, not every player has the option to pursue a Ph.D in mathematics at MIT. But others in recent years (mostly linebackers) have also chosen early retirement over the risks of early-onset dementia and the other side effects some players have suffered apparently as a result of repeated football concussions.
Most, however, choose to keep playing. This should surprise no one. People choose all sorts of dangerous careers in pursuit of money. No one seems overly worried about CTE or other ill effects suffered by stunt men in Hollywood, do they?
Heck, you can forget people taking risks for money. Just walk into any major gym and you will see people lifting weights that raise a few suspicions about possible steroids use. And they don't have NFL careers; they may be doing it for purely cosmetic reasons. Maybe they believe it gives them a better look on Tinder. I wouldn't know about such things.
Regardless, people have always taken risks for money. How old are we -- maybe 10 or 12? -- when we start playing, "For a million dollars, would you...?" That's the most American question a kid can ask.
So turn back to Brady, an athlete near the end of a career in which he will be the most decorated quarterback of all time. Yes, it would be great if he expressed a concern for his fellow players or those that will come after him. But that's not Tom Brady, and that has never been Tom Brady.
This is a player with the ultimate chip on his shoulder -- originally placed there when he was selected in the sixth round, enhanced when experts ranked Peyton Manning ahead of him even while Brady routinely won those early matchups and then permanently stapled there by the league with last year's four-game suspension from Deflategate. This is a man who cares about the Patriots and his family and little else.
So when he was asked the other day about the concussion that his wife had mentioned on a national morning TV show, Brady had no choice but to answer the way he did.
If he says he never had one, he's calling his wife a liar.
If he says he did have one, he's calling out the Patriots for a significant violation of league rules. In other words, he's siding with Roger Goodell over Bill Belichick.
That's never going to happen.
But mostly I think it's his business and it's every player's business and if they choose to hide a concussion because they think it might cost them their job (not a worry for Brady, a genuine concern for others), hey, it's probably not smart but it's their call.
Players don't "owe" us anything on this front. Not in the manner in which the NFL owed the players honesty that it failed to deliver when the real danger of concussions was being discovered in a Pittsburgh morgue.
Tim Cowlishaw - Dallas Morning News
