Various thoughts about the week that was:
1. The Freep was officially wrong.
The NCAA agreed with Michigan's appeal of the charge of "Failure to maintain an atmosphere of compliance," lowering the charge to "Failure to monitor." This was the big one as far as Rich Rodriguez is concerned. Speaking of atmosphere, the one around the program suddenly "did a 180." Finally, after all of the negativity involving the program, they got positive news from the NCAA.
Of course, the Freep didn't see it that way, but pretty much everyone else in the media did. That constitutes a major victory, not only for the school, but for RR. Many hold his job security in question, but I don't, and I think the decision handed down this week "iced" it for RR being able to stay and finish what he has started at Michigan.
More on RR later, but the best part of the whole thing was when Dave Brandon spoke of the need for an apology from the Freep. He may not have named them, but it was obvious who he was talking about. Brandon knows that the Freep fabricated much of their "evidence," and that Rosenpuke's hatchet job was just that: a hatchet job.
2. A Big Win at the Big House.
If there was ever a time for Michigan to pull off a big win, it was this week. Fresh off of the good news from the NCAA, the team won a wild one against Illinois in a game that had a higher score than each of the last three basketball games between the two schools. This game had everything that ESPN Classic likes: lots of points, lead changes, big plays, and a thrilling OT finish. We may see this game on ESPN-C for a long time if we are lucky (and Illinois isn't).
This was a game of vindication. The team proved that it wasn't going to have the same record as last year. Tate Forcier came off the bench to lead his team to victory against a team that trounced him last year. Most of all, the defense came up with a big stop when it really, really needed one. And it "only" allowed 14 points to Illinois in the last half of regulation: seven of them resulting from a Tate Forcier turnover deep in his own territory.
If the school gave game balls to everyone who deserved one, the Freep would probably call it a major NCAA violation.
3. RR does the right thing: again.
Last year against Iowa, RR pulled quarterback Tate Forcier in the fourth quarter. There was no information available during the game, but RR was roundly criticized for it after the game. It turned out that Forcier had sustained a concussion, but some so-called "fans" still ragged about it for the rest of the year.
Fast forward to yesterday: RR pulled quarterback Denard Robinson from the game in the fourth quarter. There was no information available during the game. Unlike last year, Michigan pulled this game out, and RR won't be criticized for it. But the reason was the same: Robinson was exhibiting concussion symptoms, and RR held him out for his own safety.
RR has been a lightning rod for criticism since he arrived in Ann Arbor. One of the most common criticisms both the media and the fanbase like to level at him is that he is a "win at all costs coach." For them, I have one question:
Is there any other coach in America who would have made the same decision in crucial games where his job status could be on the line not once, but twice?
AFAIC, most coaches would have found a way to get the star QB back into the game with some bogus question to "prove" that he was OK.
Other coaches talk about family atmosphere, and how the health and safety of their players is paramount, but RR walks the talk. RR wants to win as much as anyone on the planet, but he won't compromise the well-being of his players to do so. I can only hope that the same "fans" and media that have trashed him for almost three years will finally give him credit for being the kind of man and coach that he is.
4. About that job status...
I think it can be safely said that the "RR hot seat" rumors can officially be put to rest. Michigan has shown improvement this year despite the woeful lack of age and experience on defense. He has built the offense into a potential video game, and has rebuilt the team in his own image, laying the foundation for Michigan to truly arrive in the currrent millenium.
Hopefully, the so-called "fans" who have been bitching and whining about RR ever since it became evident that he couldn't snap his fingers and turn Threet or Sheridan into bona fide D-1 QB's in 2008 will finally give it a rest and stop their chronic complaining. RR is here to stay, and the school will be much better off for it, possibly as early as next season.
5. What: me defense?
Defense is a question that will be answered during the off-season. GERG's days at Michigan may be numbered, or he may get a pass for having to play so many new players this year. At any rate, they played a lot better when they were allowed to be more aggressive yesterday. The play that saved the game was the old "jailbreak" (at least that's what they call it at MSU) blitz. Almost everyone rushed the QB, and someone got to him before he could hit a wide-open reciever in the end zone.
While most fans, even the most loyal and learned, seem to think that GERG's dismissal is a fait accompli, I am not so sure yet. The defense does have four games left to improve enough to justify keeping him. "Only" allowing Illinois fourteen points in the second half and making the key stop in OT indicate some improvement to me. We will see how it plays out.
6. David Brandon is THE MAN.
During the season, and especially this week, David Brandon has shown the strong leadership skills that got him the AD job at Michigan. He has come out with strong statements regarding RR, the NCAA investigation, and the Freep this week. I have no idea what he is going to do in the offseason, but I do trust that he will make the right decision. It seems like the athletic department is finally in good hands again.
It is about time.
Showing posts with label concussions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concussions. Show all posts
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Joe Pa is right, or at least halfway there
Joe Pa wants to remove facemasks from helmets to reduce concussions and other injuries? I have a better idea: ban helmets, cleats, and shoulder pads altogether. Helmets and pads are supposed to be protective, but end up being used as potent weapons. Cleats provide leverage for hits that injure both the hitter and the "hittee."
Those who run football are between the proverbial rock and hard place right now. Studies are showing that their sport causes an inordinate amount of concussions, and that those concussions aversely affect the quality of life of participants, years after the damage has already been irrevocably done.
They know something needs to be done, but they won't want to detract from the "tough" nature of the sport. Telling players not to hit when they have been trained to do so their entire careers, as the NFL is attempting to do, is a losing proposition. It will bring nothing but controversy, and enforcement will go back to current levels after awhile, much like hockey did after a year or two of trying to call Stanley Cup Playoff games tighter.
It works for awhile, but the game always tends to go back to its inherent nature. With this much protective equipment, the inherent nature on defense in football is to use yourself as a weapon with which to destroy ball-carriers and recievers. The gains made in conditioning and technology were supposed to prevent injury, but have just made players more likely to injure both themselves and others within the natural flow of the game.
Football is an aggressive sport, and equipment enables players to be more aggressive. So, the only way to change the culture is to change the nature of the game. And the best way to do that without sacrificing any of the toughness, integrity, or effort players put in is to simply ban protective equipment. Knee pads and cups are appropriate because neither gives a player any leverage that can be used to hurt themselves or an opponent. Shoulder pads and helmets only help players get hurt.
Besides, players of this era would like it because we would be able to see their faces while they play. It would be easier for players to "brand" themselves, even before they are allowed to take any money. And they would have more brain cells left when it is time to hang up their shoes, relax, and spend some of the money they earned.
Those who run football are between the proverbial rock and hard place right now. Studies are showing that their sport causes an inordinate amount of concussions, and that those concussions aversely affect the quality of life of participants, years after the damage has already been irrevocably done.
They know something needs to be done, but they won't want to detract from the "tough" nature of the sport. Telling players not to hit when they have been trained to do so their entire careers, as the NFL is attempting to do, is a losing proposition. It will bring nothing but controversy, and enforcement will go back to current levels after awhile, much like hockey did after a year or two of trying to call Stanley Cup Playoff games tighter.
It works for awhile, but the game always tends to go back to its inherent nature. With this much protective equipment, the inherent nature on defense in football is to use yourself as a weapon with which to destroy ball-carriers and recievers. The gains made in conditioning and technology were supposed to prevent injury, but have just made players more likely to injure both themselves and others within the natural flow of the game.
Football is an aggressive sport, and equipment enables players to be more aggressive. So, the only way to change the culture is to change the nature of the game. And the best way to do that without sacrificing any of the toughness, integrity, or effort players put in is to simply ban protective equipment. Knee pads and cups are appropriate because neither gives a player any leverage that can be used to hurt themselves or an opponent. Shoulder pads and helmets only help players get hurt.
Besides, players of this era would like it because we would be able to see their faces while they play. It would be easier for players to "brand" themselves, even before they are allowed to take any money. And they would have more brain cells left when it is time to hang up their shoes, relax, and spend some of the money they earned.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Bob Probert- did this have to happen?
Sadly, we are finding out that the rumor is true: Bob Probert is dead at 45. As a hockey fan, I always appreciated his rough-and-tumble playing style. He asked no quarter, gave no quarter, and always left it all on the ice. As an "enforcer," his job was to deliver hard checks and fight the opponent's "enforcer" on a regular basis. Red Wings fans cheered him on; in spite of his well-documented personal problems, he was still one of the most beloved players to ever don the Winged Wheel. His early death, though, begs a question:
Was Probert a victim of his own playing style and the expectations it brought?
Enforcers fight and deliver crushing body checks; it's what they are expected to do every time they go onto the ice. They are involved in many high-impact collisions every time they play a game. When one considers an average close to a hundred games a year counting playoffs over a period of ten or fifteen years, that is a lot of collisions and a lot of impact. It isn't much of a stretch that it would involve a lot of concussions. According to a CNN article from Jaunary 27, 2009:
"Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)."
CTE is routinely found in ex-NFL players, and the beginnings of it were even found in the brain of an 18-year-old who had suffered multiple concussions.
Chris Nowinski, an ex-WWE wrestler and founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, which researches head injuries, had to retire from one concussion after a kick to his chin connected with more force than intended or scripted. According to Nowinski:
"My world changed," said Nowinski. "I had depression. I had memory problems. My head hurt for five years."
On January 21, 2008, Science Daily stated:
"Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University have identified the neurological basis of depression in male athletes with persisting post-concussion symptoms."
In the case of Probert or any athlete, I believe that drug and/or alcohol abuse can result from "self-medication" of depression symptoms. While I am unable to find a study showing a causal relationship between depression and drug abuse, they have been found to occur together too many times for it to be mere coincidence.
Depression is often treated by SSRI's, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Those with clinical depression have been found to have low serotonin levels, and the drugs keep the body from breaking down its own serotonin, thus increasing the serotonin level. However, there are many substances that also increase serotonin, which would be a different way of "medicating" the problem. A few of those substances are alcohol, cocaine, and ecstasy. Marijuana hasn't been proven to directly increase serotonin, but researchers concede that it "may" do just that.
It isn't much of a leap to see that drugs are an effective way to unconsciously treat depression, whether or not it has been diagnosed. Unfortunately, we all know of their myriad "side effects." One in particular is that when one raises one's serotonin with recreational drugs, it tends to "crash" the next day. It is easy to see how addictive patterns can be formed in short periods of time for those with chronically low serotonin levels.
Probert's problems with drugs and alcohol were well-documented and kept him from moving freely across the US-Canada border on a regular basis. Between the drugs and a typical professional athlete's lifestyle, there was probably enough to ravage his body to a point where dying young was inevitable. But I also think that the repeated blows to the head had a lot to do with his addictions, his quality of life, and his ultimate death at 45.
I know many may see Probert as a victim of his own shortcomings, but I think he was much more a victim of his sport and how he played it. No matter what a tox screen or autopsy shows, I believe that it was chronic impact, both directly and indirectly, to the head that was the root of most of his problems.
I also believe that it is time to take research even further and to explore ways to make all sports safer for their combatants. I couldn't find any stats for NHL players, but NFL players now have a life expectancy of 52 years. It is usually blamed on their BMI, but it is beginning to appear that both NFL and NHL players are at least anecdotally more prone to Alzheimer's Disease and depression than the general population.
I think a lot more research needs to be done on athletes in contact sports, depression, CTE, and its relation to drug and alcohol abuse. Athletes live in a macho world, and are probably the last people who would ever "admit" that they have clinical depression. Active players are under peer pressure to play through injuries and illness, and a condition that is often percieved as "all in the head" would be seen as unmasculine by a players peers. I would imagine that athletes and ex-athletes percieve depression as a "bad mood" that needs to be "shaken off."
The culture needs to be modified so that a player can spot early signs of depression and CTE and get the proper care early enough to have a long life and a good quality of life. Drug and alcohol abuse, instead of being seen as a "lack of maturity" or a "lack of discipline," needs to be investigated as a possible early symptom of CTE and depression.
Nobody has any idea what an autopsy of Bob Probert will find, but I can't help but think that unless more research is done regarding athletes and chronic head trauma, his death will have been in vain no matter what the autopsy shows.
For those who want research, here are a couple of links to articles with more links:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080118115428.htm
And a link to the Sports Legacy institute:
www.sportslegacy.org/
Was Probert a victim of his own playing style and the expectations it brought?
Enforcers fight and deliver crushing body checks; it's what they are expected to do every time they go onto the ice. They are involved in many high-impact collisions every time they play a game. When one considers an average close to a hundred games a year counting playoffs over a period of ten or fifteen years, that is a lot of collisions and a lot of impact. It isn't much of a stretch that it would involve a lot of concussions. According to a CNN article from Jaunary 27, 2009:
"Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)."
CTE is routinely found in ex-NFL players, and the beginnings of it were even found in the brain of an 18-year-old who had suffered multiple concussions.
Chris Nowinski, an ex-WWE wrestler and founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, which researches head injuries, had to retire from one concussion after a kick to his chin connected with more force than intended or scripted. According to Nowinski:
"My world changed," said Nowinski. "I had depression. I had memory problems. My head hurt for five years."
On January 21, 2008, Science Daily stated:
"Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University have identified the neurological basis of depression in male athletes with persisting post-concussion symptoms."
In the case of Probert or any athlete, I believe that drug and/or alcohol abuse can result from "self-medication" of depression symptoms. While I am unable to find a study showing a causal relationship between depression and drug abuse, they have been found to occur together too many times for it to be mere coincidence.
Depression is often treated by SSRI's, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Those with clinical depression have been found to have low serotonin levels, and the drugs keep the body from breaking down its own serotonin, thus increasing the serotonin level. However, there are many substances that also increase serotonin, which would be a different way of "medicating" the problem. A few of those substances are alcohol, cocaine, and ecstasy. Marijuana hasn't been proven to directly increase serotonin, but researchers concede that it "may" do just that.
It isn't much of a leap to see that drugs are an effective way to unconsciously treat depression, whether or not it has been diagnosed. Unfortunately, we all know of their myriad "side effects." One in particular is that when one raises one's serotonin with recreational drugs, it tends to "crash" the next day. It is easy to see how addictive patterns can be formed in short periods of time for those with chronically low serotonin levels.
Probert's problems with drugs and alcohol were well-documented and kept him from moving freely across the US-Canada border on a regular basis. Between the drugs and a typical professional athlete's lifestyle, there was probably enough to ravage his body to a point where dying young was inevitable. But I also think that the repeated blows to the head had a lot to do with his addictions, his quality of life, and his ultimate death at 45.
I know many may see Probert as a victim of his own shortcomings, but I think he was much more a victim of his sport and how he played it. No matter what a tox screen or autopsy shows, I believe that it was chronic impact, both directly and indirectly, to the head that was the root of most of his problems.
I also believe that it is time to take research even further and to explore ways to make all sports safer for their combatants. I couldn't find any stats for NHL players, but NFL players now have a life expectancy of 52 years. It is usually blamed on their BMI, but it is beginning to appear that both NFL and NHL players are at least anecdotally more prone to Alzheimer's Disease and depression than the general population.
I think a lot more research needs to be done on athletes in contact sports, depression, CTE, and its relation to drug and alcohol abuse. Athletes live in a macho world, and are probably the last people who would ever "admit" that they have clinical depression. Active players are under peer pressure to play through injuries and illness, and a condition that is often percieved as "all in the head" would be seen as unmasculine by a players peers. I would imagine that athletes and ex-athletes percieve depression as a "bad mood" that needs to be "shaken off."
The culture needs to be modified so that a player can spot early signs of depression and CTE and get the proper care early enough to have a long life and a good quality of life. Drug and alcohol abuse, instead of being seen as a "lack of maturity" or a "lack of discipline," needs to be investigated as a possible early symptom of CTE and depression.
Nobody has any idea what an autopsy of Bob Probert will find, but I can't help but think that unless more research is done regarding athletes and chronic head trauma, his death will have been in vain no matter what the autopsy shows.
For those who want research, here are a couple of links to articles with more links:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080118115428.htm
And a link to the Sports Legacy institute:
www.sportslegacy.org/
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