How 'bout the terrific writing on concussions by the New York Times' Alan Schwarz and the New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell making everyone rethink the wisdom of football players returning too soon after concussions and changing the way teams approached that specific injury, only now it's swung too far and made the NFL think it can control every impulse or reaction of football players. These guys have spent their entire careers being taught, "If anyone goes over the middle, you deck them" and being glorified on segments like "Jacked Up" -- in which multiple announcers cackled in delight during a weekly montage of players getting laid out with hard hits, and ohbytheway, this was only two years ago, and ohbytheway, some of those same announcers who cackled in delight have now ascended Mount Pious (my friend Dameshek's term) and excoriated people like Meriweather and James Harrison for doing things that, ohbytheway, would have absolutely been shown on "Jacked Up" -- and now we're telling these guys, "Wait, you can't do that anymore! BAD! STOP IT!" It's ludicrous.
I keep going back to the "bad parent" analogy and Roger Goodell, who's done a masterful job manipulating the mainstream media these past few years, benefitting mostly from the fact the previous regime was out of touch. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think Goodell is a total hypocrite for pretending to care about the welfare of his players as he's pushing for an 18-game regular season that would lead to more injuries, more concussions, more collateral damage, more everything. Hey, Roger: If you cared about the welfare of the players, you'd shorten the season to 15 games and add another week of byes. Right? But hey, that would cost owners money. Instead, you'll continue to position yourself as the Sheriff of Player Safety, puff out your chest, crack down on hard hits and swagger around like you're Tim Olyphant in "Justified." Meanwhile, if the players' union doesn't agree to your 18-game schedule, we're headed for a lockout.
Oh, and you know what else is great? NFL owners recently threatened the union that, if the lockout goes into effect next March, the league wouldn't cover health care benefits for its players until a new collective bargaining agreement is in place. So Roger, you care about the welfare of DeSean Jackson in October, but not five months from now if he's paying for his own doctor's appointments because he's suffering from post-concussion syndrome? You're going to tell us that with a straight face?
Some advice for Mr. Goodell: It's time to admit that your players have gotten too big and too fast. We knew this day was coming for 30 years. We're here. We have 260-pound linebackers who can run 4.6 40s, safeties who hit like Mack trucks and 375-pound offensive linemen who can wipe anyone out for a year if they fall on them the wrong way. This isn't about a style of play; it's about evolution. If you care about player safety as anything beyond an easy way to ingratiate yourself to media members who don't know any better, then stop worrying about the small picture (changing the rules on the fly during the season so it looks like you did something) and concentrate on the big picture (cutting back to 15 games, adding more byes and making sure your players still have their health benefits in April after you lock them out because the league and the players can't figure out how to split eleventy kajillion dollars in a fair way). And sorry for the tone, but this entire subject leaves me ... JACKED UP!!!!!!!!!!
