The tobacco industry set the paradigm and strategy, didn't they? Ask climate scientists about the tobacco paradigm. Wherever there is a Wall Street product on the line there is a paradigm to defeat the truth tellers.
Where the NFL will lose their argument is how deeply they were involved with establishing false outcomes in a study. The ball inflation issue was done well, I thought. If that was the NFL's relationship with past reliance on medical studies then it has no conspirator involvement.
The issue with all these studies is the efficacy of them. The responsibility lies with the profession of medicine or areas of science. That is where malpractice lies. If the NFL sought out corrupt doctors and there was an understanding the studies would go on for awhile and be a significant income to their scientific study then the innocence of the NFL is in question.
Was the money that may have been paid to doctors to uphold the lack of proof of concussion enough of a head nod by the NFL? There is that. But, what enters into this is the ability of the CEO and Board of Directors capability to understand the sincere content of those studies. Basically, could the NFL understand the studies were pandering to money.
The other idea in understanding the NFL's head nod is the question did they seek several opinions or did they chronically seek the same information from the same people because they were satisfied with the information?
The concussion issue has been decades in the making and touches the evolution of the NFL, CEOs, Board of Trustees and the neurological science and advances. The legitimate questions will revolve around the awareness of the NFL regarding concussions that caused their players early problems with cognition and even death. Such repeated issues, considering the value of the men, should have been a warning flag that something was happening, regardless of the scientific basis of expertise at the time.
As the men were falling by the wayside, there should have been at least one Trustee that became upset. It is simple statistics that at least one Trustee over all those years would be disgusted with the problems their former players were experiencing.
What is definitely surprising about this concussion issue that men were being recruited with fist fulls of money for a short career that would end tragically. The NFL kept it's luster a long time while these problems were occurring. It is difficult to believe at some point even draft picks should have known about the aged players now sitting on the sidelines.
It is a grievously upsetting issue. It would suit the NFL well if they could make it clear there were minutes to meetings that reflected concern about the players as far back as possible, but, the concern was never upheld by the science. There has to have been some compassion somewhere. If there isn't any, it proves the NFL is only a money machine and nothing more.
That reality will effect fans deeply, even today.
Looking the other way can be criminal.
March 24, 2016
By Alan Schwarz, Walter Bogdanich and Jacqueline Williams
The National Football League was on the clock. (click here)
With several of its marquee players retiring early after a cascade of frightening concussions, the league formed a committee in 1994 that would ultimately issue a succession of research papers playing down the danger of head injuries. Amid criticism of the committee’s work, physicians brought in later to continue the research said the papers had relied on faulty analysis.
Now, an investigation by The New York Times has found that the N.F.L.’s concussion research was far more flawed than previously known.
For the last 13 years, the N.F.L. has stood by the research, which, the papers stated, was based on a full accounting of all concussions diagnosed by team physicians from 1996 through 2001. But confidential data obtained by The Times shows that more than 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from the studies — including some severe injuries to stars like quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman. The committee then calculated the rates of concussions using the incomplete data, making them appear less frequent than they actually were....
Where the NFL will lose their argument is how deeply they were involved with establishing false outcomes in a study. The ball inflation issue was done well, I thought. If that was the NFL's relationship with past reliance on medical studies then it has no conspirator involvement.
The issue with all these studies is the efficacy of them. The responsibility lies with the profession of medicine or areas of science. That is where malpractice lies. If the NFL sought out corrupt doctors and there was an understanding the studies would go on for awhile and be a significant income to their scientific study then the innocence of the NFL is in question.
Was the money that may have been paid to doctors to uphold the lack of proof of concussion enough of a head nod by the NFL? There is that. But, what enters into this is the ability of the CEO and Board of Directors capability to understand the sincere content of those studies. Basically, could the NFL understand the studies were pandering to money.
The other idea in understanding the NFL's head nod is the question did they seek several opinions or did they chronically seek the same information from the same people because they were satisfied with the information?
The concussion issue has been decades in the making and touches the evolution of the NFL, CEOs, Board of Trustees and the neurological science and advances. The legitimate questions will revolve around the awareness of the NFL regarding concussions that caused their players early problems with cognition and even death. Such repeated issues, considering the value of the men, should have been a warning flag that something was happening, regardless of the scientific basis of expertise at the time.
As the men were falling by the wayside, there should have been at least one Trustee that became upset. It is simple statistics that at least one Trustee over all those years would be disgusted with the problems their former players were experiencing.
What is definitely surprising about this concussion issue that men were being recruited with fist fulls of money for a short career that would end tragically. The NFL kept it's luster a long time while these problems were occurring. It is difficult to believe at some point even draft picks should have known about the aged players now sitting on the sidelines.
It is a grievously upsetting issue. It would suit the NFL well if they could make it clear there were minutes to meetings that reflected concern about the players as far back as possible, but, the concern was never upheld by the science. There has to have been some compassion somewhere. If there isn't any, it proves the NFL is only a money machine and nothing more.
That reality will effect fans deeply, even today.
Looking the other way can be criminal.
By Alan Schwarz, Walter Bogdanich and Jacqueline Williams
The National Football League was on the clock. (click here)
With several of its marquee players retiring early after a cascade of frightening concussions, the league formed a committee in 1994 that would ultimately issue a succession of research papers playing down the danger of head injuries. Amid criticism of the committee’s work, physicians brought in later to continue the research said the papers had relied on faulty analysis.
Now, an investigation by The New York Times has found that the N.F.L.’s concussion research was far more flawed than previously known.
For the last 13 years, the N.F.L. has stood by the research, which, the papers stated, was based on a full accounting of all concussions diagnosed by team physicians from 1996 through 2001. But confidential data obtained by The Times shows that more than 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from the studies — including some severe injuries to stars like quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman. The committee then calculated the rates of concussions using the incomplete data, making them appear less frequent than they actually were....
