Of concussions, Congress, our sports culture and common sense:
Congress recently called in the NFL to try to explain the staggering rate of neurological impairment suffered by pro football players. The answer, or at least as it appears through the application of common sense, could be found Saturday on ESPN Classic.
While thousands of high school and college players literally were going head to head, Classic presented two installments of “The Way It Was,” hosted by the late Curt Gowdy and produced by PBS in the mid-1970s.
The shows focused on the 1946 Army-Navy game — No. 1-ranked Army was nearly beaten by 1-7 Navy — and the 1947 Army-Columbia game in which Army’s unbeaten streak ended at 32.
Both epics, as seen in film of about 50 plays, featured fierce tackling. But not one tackle was made above the chest nor was there an attempt to knock a ball-carrier or receiver down (or out) with a forearm. The tackling was classical in that it was designed to tackle , as per the rules of the game then, and now.
If anyone in those games was knocked cold or “silly,” it was neither apparent nor shown. “Smash-mouth football” wasn’t played because the game was played no higher than the shoulders.
For the last 35-40 years football has been played — and coached — in a way it was never intended to be played. Defenders are taught and encouraged not to tackle but to devastate, to separate the man from the ball by trying to separate him from his senses.
Players, offensive and defensive, are left maimed in ways that reflect war more than sport. Where once an ex-pro in his early 40s could reasonably expect to suffer early arthritis, neurological damage has been added to the logical residuals of a game now illogically and indefensibly played.
Football can fix itself to resemble a sport, but only if there’s a mandate to ensure sweeping and not incidental change, then unwavering enforcement. Of course, the remorseless and (ostensibly) inconsequential violence that the NFL, NCAA and its affiliated TV networks, video game-makers, advertisers and assorted licensees sell as football — in relentless pursuit of the omnipotent young, male demographic — would be eliminated, too.
And those who will claim that football has gone “sissy” — generally those who have never suffered one, let alone two, three or four concussions, i.e., the swelling of their brain after it slams against the inside of their skull — would have to be ignored.
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Also not seen in those “The Way It Was” episodes was any act of immodesty; no dancing, trash-talking, chest-beating, muscle-flexing.
Sunday on Fox, Green Bay up 10-0 early in the fourth, Packers CB Charles Woodson, a 12-year vet, sacked Tony Romo. The ball bounced free. Woodson could not recover the fumble because he didn’t know about it. He was busy beating his chest and flexing his biceps.
Last week the NFL rejected rum-maker Captain Morgan’s offer to donate $10,000 to aid indigent ex-players if a current player strikes a “Capt. Morgan pose” in the end zone. Still, if the Capt. Morgan folks want to do something nice as opposed to exploitative, why not donate the money, no strings or poses attached?
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The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the Padres are interested in adding CBS’s Dick Enberg to their broadcast team — and that Enberg, 74, is interested. . . . Given that Allen Iverson played three games for Memphis, David Dominik, of Somerset, N.J., asks where those who purchased Grizzlies’ Iverson jerseys, $45-70 at the NBA Store, should submit their requests for refunds.
Stats of the Week: Nets’ YES analyst Mike Fratello on Tuesday saluted his parents, Vincent and Marie, on their 68th wedding anniversary. He didn’t say how it’s working out. . . . This year’s Cy Young winners, starters Tim Lincecum and Zack Greinke, totaled 31 wins, the same as 1968 AL Cy Young winner Denny McLain. McLain pitched 336 innings, 107 more than Greinke, 111 more than Lincecum.
If you don’t think that money counts far more than people, consider: The NFL now ties up six teams and thousands of game-related workers on Thanksgiving. One game for CBS, one for Fox and now one for the NFL Network — Giants-Broncos. A night game on Thanksgiving in Denver. When you’ve no shame, it’s easy.
Monday I faked surprise that ESPN didn’t classify No. 11 Ohio St. over No. 10 Iowa an “upset.” (The game was at Columbus and with Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi out, OSU was a 17-point favorite.) “Or did I miss it?” I sarcastically wrote. Heck, no sports network could be that ignorant about sports. Turns out, I missed it! In news crawls, ESPN did call it an “upset.” Geez!