NO LONGER CENSORED: Investigative Reporter Tim Joyce’s Story on Sex Abuse Allegations at Michael Phelps’ North Baltimore Aquatic Club
October 12, 2012USA Swimming Sex Abuse Scandal Flashback: Muchnick’s Pre-Olympics Story — Killed by Yahoo Sports, Picked Up by MomsTeam
October 17, 2012
Peter Berg, producer of the television show Friday Night Lights, based on the movie based on the Buzz Bissinger book, has a beef with Mitt Romney. Berg doesn’t like Romney’s use of FNL phrase “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” You know, sort of like Springsteen getting mad over Republican attempts to appropriate “Born in the USA.”
But as I explained eight months ago, I have a beef with Peter Berg. See below.
From the People Who Brought You nflhealthandsafety.com: The Super Bowl Player Safety Ad!
Stefan Fatsis, with whom I haven’t always agreed, has a hell of a strong post in his latest contribution to the Slate-Deadspin NFL Roundtable – a smart fan’s gasfest that I sometimes poke fun at, but not this time. See “Why Are Ray Lewis And ‘Friday Night Lights”s Peter Berg Shilling For The NFL On Player Safety?”, http://deadspin.com/5880953/why-are-ray-lewis-and-friday-night-lights-peter-berg-shilling-for-the-nfl-on-player-safety.
The money quote from Fatsis:
[T]he NFL’s chief marketing officer, Mark Waller, [tells The New York Times] player safety is “probably one of the most important topics for casual fans, particularly mothers.” I added the italics, because if mom thinks football is crazy dangerous, she’s not going to let her son play, and if enough sons don’t play, football loses popularity, and if football loses popularity-you get the picture. Mom may not be reading websites that track catastrophic football injuries, but she will be watching the Super Bowl.
I’m also amused by the news that the NFL is about to unveil yet another new safety website, this one focused on the evolution of football rules. I wonder if it will juxtapose contemporary commentary with observations by Dr. Joseph Maroon – of the Pittsburgh Steelers, World Wrestling Entertainment, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and ImPACT Applications, Inc. – on how you just need to make sure you lead with your shoulder pads when executing the flying wedge. (And maybe Dr. Joe and WWE can lend John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and others to do “don’t try this at home” public service spots.)
Irv Muchnick
Our new ebook, George Visger’s OUT OF MY HEAD: My Life In and Out of Football, is here on Amazon Kindle. UPMC: Concussion Scandal Ground Zero is here. DUERSON is here.