My point was, in football, there’s a million other things that would cause alarm if you were to dig in deep and look at the facts (the obesity problems with lineman, for example, is the cause of an alarming number of deaths/health problem/surgeries for retired players), and to be honest, I didn’t think that anyone doubted the seriousness of a concussion, but more so that these things will have policy changes that are tanglible any time EVER. So, to be clearer, what I was saying was that in real life, the notion of a concussion regulation appears to be too much of a slippery slope to comprehend getting a handle on any real league wide regulation that wouldn’t get appealed.

EVERYONE knows that after a certain nnumber of serious concussions, your brain is cat food and you no longer have the ability to play football. While I never played past the HS level, I had my fair share of (I’m sure BOB is giddy with excitement to write a witty line about how this has obviously affected my ability to spell/put an argument together), so I’m familiar with the subject on a first hand level, and I know how easy it is to play through, play off concussions below the out-cold threshold.

So BOB, I implore you to possibly overlook my spelling errors (my boss is a sneaky man who doesn’t take too kindly to associates scribbling on message boards) and make a point OTHER than saying how good the book is and how fond you are of Chris (i’m sure he’s fantastic).

Oh wait, I get it. Dave is from the NFL and is trying to counter the seriousness of the injuries these players are suffering. It all becomes crystal clear now.

Nice interview with Mr. Nowinski and may I highly recommend the book to all sports fans, coaches, parents and anyone interested in finding out more about the danger of head injuries in contact sports. WWE would do well to put this intelligent man back on TV and let him speak out on this issue, what better oppurtunity than the present storyline with Randy Orton?

Harvard grad or not, football scholarship or not, Chris’ book has been critically acclaimed as an important work.

What’s interesting is that WWE seem to be pushing the whole concussion awareness angle in several of its storylines since the book started to get a lot of publicity. I wonder if Chris had a hand in that. This might not continue though, now that Vince McMahon is “dead”.

I told this story before but in Rugby over here they ban you for 6 weeks if you are concussed, so a buddy of mine who knew he was concussed, continued to play until the final whistle by just grabbing the nearest guy on his team and following him, just so he wouldn’t face a ban, and even though he could see two vertical horizons instead of one horizontal one. It’s an interesting rule, but clearly easy to get round.

With the money etc at stake, would teams even discourage their players from sitting out with such issues. Something is seriously wrong if so.

We can only hope that the likes of Toon and Chrebet go on to live a long and healthy life, because as revered as they were for the Jets, family has to be the most important thing in life.

Best of luck to Chris too for a full recovery, although I doubt he’ll get to read this.

just saying, it’s a tragic consequence of the game of football, concussion are, and it’s probably not something that’s going to change ever. I’m not trying to be pessemistic, just realisitic. Let me know when Ray Lewis stops playing because of concussions, and i’ll pay off your mortgage.

-devils advocate/bored at work