CBS Sports: NFL, NFLPA announce largest youth helmet replacement program ever - ProFootball Weekly: NFLPA names DePaso general counsel - NBC Sports: Ricky Williams doesn’t believe there’s a link between concussions and brain damage - We've posted the entire 896-page NIOHS NFL Players Study - just CLICK HERE to read. - FOX sports: Former Giants WR Robinson dies at 50 - IT'S OFFICIAL: George Martin resigns from NFL Alumni - FOXsports: Junior Seau, 43, found dead in apparent suicide - Washington Post: Ray Easterling, former NFL player who sued league over concussion treatment, dies at 62

After several serious hits viewed by millions during many games last week, the League is now preparing to make an announcement about suspensions for illegal hits (but of course, they also continue to allude to an 18-game season out of the other side of their mouths). The issue of concussions does not appear to be going away any time soon. That said, the only thing mentioned so far for the older retired players is that the League is now discussing expansion of its Plan 88 coverage with the Union. While it may be a good gesture, we want to point out that Plan 88 is primarily focused on the needs of those players who have already progressed into more advanced – and more obvious stages – of dementia or related brain damage. In other words, you and your families will have to suffer through denials of disability benefits and the devastating costs on your own until you’re finally in a position to “prove” that you’ve been damaged over the years from football.

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Wow! You’d think that it was the NFL that’s suffering from one too many concussions with as many hits as they’ve been taking on the issue of concussions lately. This past week, another series of news stories have been hitting the wires, covering everything from brain injuries in general to football concussions in particular. This recent run started off with Evan Weiner‘s piece from the New Jersey Newsroom on how football players are discarded in retirement (click HERE to read that earlier post) as well as Alan Schwarz‘s continuing series on the NFL’s history of dodgy mishandling of concussions over the years (click HERE for the last round of recent coverage).

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Aside from all the historical stuff associated with July 4th, it’s also now becoming internationally known as the Annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island, New York. Since 2001, Japanese “Power Eater” Takeru Kobayashi has walked away with first prize 6 times for the most hot dogs eaten. He first won top prize in 2001 for devouring 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes! What’s amazing about Kobayashi is that he stands at 5′-7″ tall and weighs a mere 132 pounds.

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Dave Zirin from the The Nation has written a powerful piece which really summarizes the Catch-22 that the NFL faces with regard to brain concussions. We’ve been discussing Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference around the office cooler for a while now.

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