{"id":5268,"date":"2012-02-06T09:01:51","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T17:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268"},"modified":"2024-05-29T17:03:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T01:03:38","slug":"theres-no-offseason-in-football-or-in-educating-the-public-on-child-brain-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<html><body><\/p>\n<p>Congratulations to the New York Giants.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to give the Super Bowl news a day to breathe. Tomorrow we&#8217;ll have the first of a two-part series on what&#8217;s right and what&#8217;s inadequate about the youth football hit-count standards proposed last Friday by two National Football League-subsidized advocates: researcher Dr. Robert Cantu of Boston University&#8217;s Center for the Study of Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy and public face Chris Nowinski of the Sports Legacy Institute.<\/p>\n<p>In the first part I&#8217;ll endeavor, with a minimum of expert-talk, to inject an appropriate and respectful skepticism into the discussion of this &#8220;bold initiative&#8221; from Cantu and Nowinski.<\/p>\n<p>But the guts of my perspective will be in Part 2 on Wednesday: a rumination on how Cantu and Nowinski exemplify the professionalization of amateur sports in America; why that is an understandable approach by those two worthies but a wrong one for us and our kids.<\/p>\n<p>In my view, very, very few media types grasp this. (I don&#8217;t count among them Alan Schwarz, the <em>New York Times <\/em>reporter who admirably put the very subject on the map, or Joe Nocera, the <em>Times <\/em>op-ed columnist who has become one of the leading hand-wringers on concussions and on college sports corruption.) They&#8217;re willing to describe the carnage. They&#8217;re willing to quote other people on it. They&#8217;re willing to analyze rows of statistics. And they&#8217;re willing to probe to a point. But they are not ready, and may never be ready, to make the elemental call of citizenry and statecraft: to state clearly that if an activity, no matter how popular or intoxicating, damages national mental health, it needs intervention at more than the margins. Above all, it doesn&#8217;t need new cottage industries promoting those marginal interventions while reinforcing our addictions to the activity.<\/p>\n<p>One commentator who I think <em>does <\/em>get it is Chicago sports radio host Dan Bernstein. This piece by Bernstein, published over the weekend, is a good prelude to Concussion Inc.&#8217;s upcoming posts:<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Bernstein: Concussion Talk Obscures Dark Truth,&#8221;<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/chicago.cbslocal.com\/2012\/02\/04\/bernstein-concussion-talk-obscures-dark-truth\/\">http:\/\/chicago.cbslocal.com\/2012\/02\/04\/bernstein-concussion-talk-obscures-dark-truth\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Irv Muchnick<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><\/em><strong>For complete info on our ebooks &#8211; <em>DUERSON <\/em>(November 2011), <em>UPMC: Concussion Scandal Ground Zero <\/em>(January 2012), and George Visger&#8217;s <em>OUT OF MY HEAD: My Life In and Out of Football <\/em>(February 2012) &#8211; see <a href=\"..\/?page_id=4925\">https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?page_id=4925<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congratulations to the New York Giants. I&#8217;m going to give the Super Bowl news a day to breathe. Tomorrow we&#8217;ll have the first of a two-part<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Congratulations to the New York Giants. I&#8217;m going to give the Super Bowl news a day to breathe. Tomorrow we&#8217;ll have the first of a two-part [\u2026]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-06T17:01:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-30T01:03:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268\",\"name\":\"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-06T17:01:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-30T01:03:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#\/schema\/person\/c99852d8e46ceec0a886198b0541b98b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/\",\"name\":\"Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick\",\"description\":\"Author Irvin Muchnick\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#\/schema\/person\/c99852d8e46ceec0a886198b0541b98b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9c7fc042ac88763761770071501502e9f1011de77f3e768256d506e1f446c57?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9c7fc042ac88763761770071501502e9f1011de77f3e768256d506e1f446c57?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick","og_description":"Congratulations to the New York Giants. I&#8217;m going to give the Super Bowl news a day to breathe. Tomorrow we&#8217;ll have the first of a two-part [\u2026]","og_url":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268","og_site_name":"Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick","article_published_time":"2012-02-06T17:01:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-30T01:03:38+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268","url":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268","name":"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-02-06T17:01:51+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-30T01:03:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#\/schema\/person\/c99852d8e46ceec0a886198b0541b98b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=5268#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"There\u2019s No Offseason in Football \u2013 Or In Educating the Public on Child Brain Injuries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/","name":"Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick","description":"Author Irvin Muchnick","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#\/schema\/person\/c99852d8e46ceec0a886198b0541b98b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9c7fc042ac88763761770071501502e9f1011de77f3e768256d506e1f446c57?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9c7fc042ac88763761770071501502e9f1011de77f3e768256d506e1f446c57?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5269,"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5268\/revisions\/5269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}