More Controversy Over Football Injuries

High-impact and high-profile.

It's a rough sport. Players can't underestimate the risks. That said, much more regulation will ruin the NFL. Like I said, it's a tough sport. It should stay that way.

In any case, Bill Dwyer's got his two-cents at the Los Angeles Times, "A new Thanksgiving Day tradition: football's concussion circle":

The game of football has evolved over the years with different formations. We've had the single-wing, the split-T, the wildcat.

Now, we have a new one. The concussion circle.

The only player involved in this formation is the poor guy on the ground in the middle. The others are medical personnel, who are asking questions, checking eyeballs and taking the helmet away.

There were three NFL games on Thanksgiving Day. We expected the usual amount of violent head-smacking. We weren't disappointed.

The Packers' Ryan Taylor catches a pass and gets sandwiched. There is a jolting helmet hit from the Lions' DeAndre Levy. To Levy's credit, he seems decently concerned. Often in these situations, the hitter does a celebration dance while the hittee is being asked to remember his phone number.

Taylor, looking as if he has just received a George Foreman punch combination, is escorted off by the concussion circle. He returns later. No word on his phone number recollection.

In the Raiders-Cowboys game, Oakland's Rashad Jennings is having a huge game until he is kneed in the head. For a while, he doesn't even twitch. Eventually, the concussion circle points Jennings in the direction of the sideline and escorts him on a walk he'll never remember.

This one is officially diagnosed: concussion. See you playing next week. (Let's hope not.)

Then there is Le'Veon Bell's short dash to the goal line for the Steelers in the closing moments of their loss to the Ravens. As he flies toward the end zone, he is hammered, helmet to helmet, by Jimmy Smith. Bell's now-helmet-less head slams to the turf in the sub-freezing Ravens stadium. He stays down. So does Smith.

It is ruled that, even though Bell carried the ball into the end zone, it is not a touchdown because, as replays showed, his helmet came off before the ball crossed the goal line. And the NFL rule now — one of those nice window-dressing changes meant to assure the public that everything possible is being done for the safety of the players — says the ball is dead the second the helmet comes off.

The Steelers eventually score the touchdown, but lose on a failed two-point conversion. Somebody will have to show Bell the film. When the concussion circle escorts him off, he appears uncertain what planet he is on, much less what team.

Head injuries in football, on all levels, are not new. But with all the attention they are getting these days, thanks in part to increased media coverage of the arrogance of the longtime NFL coverup, they are now foremost in the public's frontal lobe.

Continue reading.

Maybe we should transition to professional flag football. That'll make the pantywaists happy.