Concussion Litigation

Months ago, Brett Romberg, Patrick Chukwurah, and Pat White had all signed on to the always growing ex-player concussion litigation against the NFL. More recently, each has signed an NFL contract to play football again. It's pretty clear that if given the choice of fighting the NFL over concussions in professional football or playing professional football, a football player will accept the risks of playing the game.

The head trauma litigation against the NFL really should be dropped. Everyone that has ever strapped on the pads and put a helmet on their head has known the risks That's why they were strapping on the pads and putting the helmet on their head. For over 150 years, everyone associated with the game has known the risks. Football was nearly banned in the early 1900's. The reason was mostly due to all the damn head injuries. To say that the overseers of the game were ambivalent to the dangers of the game is naive. As the game has evolved so has the helmet. Unfortunately, the players took it upon themselves to use that evolving helmet as a weapon. While the NFL owners are guilty of being greedy. They really aren't stupid. Well, most aren't. They know that any threat to the game is a threat to their money. Head trauma is a serious threat to the game. NFL owners have known it for nearly 100 years. So have the players. Despite all that we know now about the lasting effects of head trauma, players will still play with concussions if the decision is theirs. They should accept some of the blame rather than putting it all on the owners in the form of a lawsuit.

If the NFL is guilty of anything in this mess, it's not providing enough after-football assistance to the players but they're never going to part with some of their money unless they're forced to. NFL Players Association is guilty of this neglect as well. They failed to look after the former players. I've never understood how former head of the NFLPA Gene Upshaw could do so little for his fellow former players. He was sitting pretty with a huge, multi-million dollar salary while his former teammates and opponents suffered. No wonder there was relative labor peace during the '90s. The owners didn't have to pay much in player benefits. Even if they weren't forced to assist with the post playing career issues of the players they should have. The players really did give their bodies and minds so that the owners could make money. If they had, the owners might not be in this pickle.

Even before Romberg, Chukwurah, and White signed their new contracts, I didn't think that the player's lawsuit was a strong one. Player's will play if given the choice. I'm not sure how they are victims when they gladly accept the risks. The specifics of head trauma are still being researched but the dangers of banging the brain around have been known since the first Roosevelt was President. It's not new and neither is the player's willingness to play.