They are the pithy euphemisms said about football players who get up a little woozy after taking hits to the head.
Their bell was rung. They’re seeing stars. They got dinged.
Here’s another word for it:
Concussions.
And the controversial issue of head trauma in the NFL takes center stage today when America’s most popular sports league holds an unprecedented concussion summit in Chicago. The medical staffs of each team will be present — along with outside experts who have argued, often heatedly, that the league is in denial about the long-term effects of brain injuries on its players.
Concussions have drawn increased scrutiny because of stories like that of former New England Patriot Ted Johnson. The 34-year-old former linebacker went public earlier this year with details of the dementia-like symptoms that have plagued him, he claims, since coach Bill Belichick sent him back on the field with a concussion.
“There are legitimate questions being asked, and legitimate answers are owed, but they must be done scientifically,” said Dr. Elliot Pellman, a league medical liaison and former chairman of its concussion committee, explaining commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision to convene the meeting.
Critics are hoping the conference is a groundbreaking opportunity to share knowledge that might result in more stringent league-wide guidelines on how to deal with concussions. Currently, each team’s doctors and trainers treat the injuries by their own standards.
Also, the league’s own medical experts have been assailed for their published position that there is no evidence a player who gets a concussion risks further injury if doctors rule him healthy enough to return to the game.
But recent independent studies have shown that athletes who get a concussion face an exponential risk of suffering another more damaging head trauma if they return to the field too soon.
Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of the University of West Virginia’s department of neurology, said players who suffer three or more concussions in a career are three times more likely to have memory problems later in life and five times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
The New York Times reported last week that neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu had determined that former Steelers lineman Justin Strzelczyk, who died in a 2004 car crash at age 36, showed signs of brain damage. Strzelczyk is the fourth ex-NFL player aged 50 and under — Mike Webster, Terry Long, and Andre Waters are the others — examined by Omalu who died with brain deformities normally found in the elderly.
Omalu believes football is the culprit.
Leigh Steinberg, the longtime sports agent who has become a crusader for better concussion treatment, believes the league needs to take a firmer position. Simply put, he says, players must be protected from themselves.
“From Pop Warner on, they’re taught to deny pain and focus on the game,” said Steinberg, whose clients included concussion-prone quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman. “So their concern about long-term health is somewhere out there with the Planet Pluto. This can’t be the athlete’s choice. The decision has to be taken away from them because they are hyper-competitive.”
Chris Nowinski never played pro football but has had a prominent role in pressuring the NFL with his book “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis.” Nowinski had his career as a professional WWE wrestler end after his sixth concussion.
