The Congressional Judiciary Committee Forum on Head Injuries and Other Sports Injuries in Youth, High School, College and Professional Football. More details on speakers and schedules in an earlier post – click HERE.
Wow! Is it just us or did January whiz right by and now we’re already heading into February and the Superbowl? Here’s a roundup of some items to close off the month.
We finally have Bernie Parrish’s testimony before the Congressional Judiciary Committee on concussions which was recently held at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit on January 4, 2010. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and his staff did an incredible job of organizing this hearing on such short notice just after the new year. You can still watch the entire 5 hr :22 min hearing in an earlier post by clicking HERE.
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) is holding the second Judiciary Committee Hearing on concussions at the Wayne State School of Medicine Conference Center in Detroit Michigan on Monday Jan. 4, 2010 at 1:00 pm EST. This hearing appears to be much more wide-ranging and the scheduled testimony includes independent doctors and even World Super Welterweight boxing champ Thomas “Hitman” Hearns is testifying, along with Rev. Al Sharpton. Bernie Parrish, Hall of Famer Lem Barney, Kyle Turley and George Martin are the retired players slated to testify this time.
Don’t let anyone fool you. Some of the toughest players in the retirees’ struggle with the NFL… are the ladies. No one needs to tell football players or their families about pride, determination, intelligence, grit and the heart it takes to engage in battle. Recently in Washington DC, it became openly clear that women are fearlessly standing up for what is right, breaking through the barriers to take care of the business of football and it’s impact on the lives of our men and our families.continue reading »
Congresswoman Linda Sanchez took 10 minutes to do a serious beat down of Commissioner Roger Goodell in the Congressional Hearings on brain injuries. You can watch her clip below but first we want to take a moment to introduce the new James Bond Dr. No: Ira Casson (we no longer want to call this idiot ‘Doctor’ as he doesn’t merit the respect of his fellow human beings) heads the NFL MTBI Committee that conducts those endless inconclusive studies on traumatic brain injuries for the NFL. This jerk shall henceforth be known as The New Dr. No. Every answer Casson gives in the following clip from Bernard Goldberg’s interview from last May’s HBO Real Sports is an arrogant, “No!” (with a sneer). And it looks like he was also a NO-show at the Congressional hearings as well, much to the Commissioner’s surprise (!).Here’s to Dr. No!<sneer> AAA
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And here are Rep. Sanchez’ questions and comments: AAA
The day’s session has concluded and is now online in its entirety for viewing. Click on the morning or afternoon clip below to go directly to C-Span site to view.
The finalized witness list for the Congressional Hearings was just released (each of the witnesses will have their testimony attached after the hearings are completed – click HERE to check on the Congressional site or click on their name when their testimony is finally posted). We did have one small question: Why are Tiki Barber and Merril Hoge listed as Retired NFL Players while Bernie Parrish is listed as a Former NFL Player?
It looks like the latest Congressional hearings into brain concussions in the NFL will be starting this Wednesday, October 28th. From all the preliminary announcements, it appears that only two people have been officially announced to testify: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. So far, no experts such as neurosurgeons and brain scientists have been announced to testify. We have to wonder who called this hearing on such short notice and why now just as the 2010 lockout is looming and brain concussions have taken center stage in the retired players’ battle for independent representation. With a hat tip to all those other Top 10 Lists out there, we’ve come up with a simple list of the Top 10 Questions that Congress should be asking of Goodell and Smith directly.
Some of you still remember those Congressional Hearings from last year into the NFL and NFLPA’s disability mess. During those hearings, Gene Upshaw had the details from private disability application hearings for 9 retired players’ cases (Dave’s case was one of them) publicly posted on the NFLPA’s website is that infamous White Paper. As soon as we discovered what they had done, we wrote about it and it was taken down very quickly (click HERE and HERE to read those earlier posts). It was just another dirty-tricks-as-usual tactic to get even with some of the players who spoke up during those hearings. You would think that would have been the end of it. But it was only recently that we happened to be reviewing the Congressional Judiciary Committee’s final report on their website that we discovered one of the Exhibits under the NFL hearings (Exhibit A) contained the same information from the NFLPA’s original White Paper, including all that personal disability data for each of those 9 retired players’ hearings! (Below is a screenshot of the earlier page with Exhibit A available.)
Here’s the Congressional press release in its entirety. You can also download the entire 145 (!) page report (clickHERE). Keep in mind this is only the beginning but it’s a good start. More questions will come out of this inquiry and hopefully even more facts along with some adult supervision at long last!
A press release through Associated press (clickHERE) quotes Rep. Conyers: “I commend the NFL and NFLPA for having taken some affirmative steps since our last hearing, but in my view they still fall short of the goal line,” Conyers said in a news release. “This report identifies major concerns about the long-term health of NFL players that demand further attention. The committee intends to hold hearings and explore possible legislation to address this matter.“
Wow! Is it just us or did January whiz right by and now we’re already heading into February and the Superbowl? Here’s a roundup of some items to close off the month.
More good news – and a little fun – to exercise your brain as the end of the year approaches.
