I'm not sure where I stand with all this. I'm not writing this to make a point one way or the other. It's long been obvious there is a greater need to protect the players health both in the short and long term. I also can understand the NFL wanting to keep the narrative less critical, its human nature. Yet if the trend continues then seeing a lot of former players I loved in wheel chairs at 45 or 50 but affect my love for the game.This report is pretty damning.
Bombshell Report: NFL Attempted To Influence NIH Study On Brain Disease
"They wanted to look like the good guy, like they were giving money for this research," Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) told ESPN’s Outside The Lines, which first obtained the report. Pallone is the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee. "But as soon as they found out that it might be somebody who they don’t like who’s doing the research, they were reneging on their commitment, essentially," Pallone continued.
The NFL flatly denies any attempt to sway the NIH. Regarding the pulled funding for the BU study, league spokesman Brian McCarthy told The New York Times the NFL has no "veto power" over how the $30 million grant is used and that "the NIH makes all funding decisions."
Here's a few more details that really makes the NFL look shady:
Congressional report finds NFL improperly intervened in brain research, cost taxpayers $16 million
- The NFL was warned that taxpayers would have to bear the cost of the $16 million study and that the NIH would be "unable to fund other meritorious research for several years" if the league backed out. The NFL offered a last-minute $2 million payment after an intermediary suggested a partial contribution would "help dampen criticism." The NIH turned down the offer.
- Even after an NIH review panel upheld the award to Stern, the NFL sought to funnel the $16 million to another project that would involve members of the league's brain injury committee. The plan would have allowed the NFL researchers to avoid the NIH's rigorous peer-review process. NIH Director Francis Collins rejected the idea.
There are even more details if you click through. So how many more times can Goodell screw the pooch and still keep his job? Dude gets paid what...$30M a year to do an ass of a job? Maybe this will be the final straw. I can say for certain something needs to change in the NFL attitude towards player safety.
Let's not forget that even the obvious cheap shots gets condoned by the NFL (ref: OBJ v J-No) essentially. The supposed rules they put in place to prevent that type of on the field situation wouldn't have resulted in a penalty on OBJ as it turns out. So now the NFL is trying to influence CTE research? Why should we be shocked?
In the end I think players truly know the risks at this point and therefore we might see more players retire early. So I think we all have out eyes open at this point. Yet how many incapacitated former players can we each bear to see before we start to question whether it is all worth it?