Dear Mr. Lambert:

Thank you for your interest in our letter to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, in which we called for a ban on fighting in the NHL.

While appreciating the passion in your commentary, we believe there were several misunderstandings, misstatements and unwarranted [...]]]> Ryan Lambert
Puck Daddy Blog
Yahoo! Sports

Dear Mr. Lambert:

Thank you for your interest in our letter to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, in which we called for a ban on fighting in the NHL.

While appreciating the passion in your commentary, we believe there were several misunderstandings, misstatements and unwarranted claims in your blog. We would like to rebut several of the statements you made in reference to our letter.

First of all, we never said that fighting is the “leading cause” of concussions as you state. Clearly, the vast majority of concussions in hockey result from blows to the head received in ways other than fighting. As such, we called for a ban on fighting as part of an overarching ban on ALL blows to the head in the NHL.

You claim that we said “fighting is directly related to the number of concussions in the NHL these days.” You called us “stupid” for saying that. Your problem is, we never said such a thing.

And we also didn’t say fighting prematurely cut short the careers of Pat LaFontaine, Eric Lindros or Keith Primeau as you assert. Moreover, we didn’t state that fighting is threatening the careers of Sidney Crosby and Chris Pronger.

Repeated head trauma shortened the careers of LaFontaine, Lindros, and Primeau, and is threatening the careers of Crosby and Pronger. Obviously, the brain trauma these players endured came from blows to the head due to multiple causes, not simply fighting. That’s why we asked Mr. Bettman to take the step to outlaw all shots to the head, including those resulting from fighting.

Additionally, while nobody can definitively say that fighting contributed to the deaths of three enforcers, Derek Boogard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak, this past year, it’s certainly possible that the brain trauma they experienced on the ice in their roles as enforcers was a contributing factor to their tragic deaths. In fact, we know for sure that Boogard was suffering from advanced stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head. CTE symptoms include memory loss, depression, impulsiveness and drug and alcohol addiction. It can only be diagnosed by examining the brain after death.

Mr. Lambert, you also took us to task for suggesting a link between how NHL players conduct themselves on the ice and how young players at lower levels conduct themselves. Junior hockey players know that fighting prowess is one way they can get to the NHL. Junior hockey leagues allow fighting as part of their developmental role for the NHL. To be sure, there are a large number of teenagers — the vast majority of which will never make it to the NHL — taking unnecessary shots to their brains in junior hockey leagues due to the fact that fighting and other unnecessary blows to the head are still allowed in those developmental leagues.

Brain trauma is a serious problem in the NHL, and in all of sports for that matter. It could be THE sports issue of the coming decade. The fact Mr. Bettman — after creating a department of player safety and professing a deep concern for his players’ health — continues to allow bare-knuckled blows to the head during games is tragic and completely irresponsible.

As we asked Bettman in our letter, “How can you continue to allow fighting, in which the primary target is the head of your opponent, and seriously make the argument that you’re doing all you can do to make player safety a priority?”

Only last month, The Globe and Mail published an editorial calling for an end to fighting in junior hockey. The editorial concluded, “The rules of Canada’s game were not set in stone on a mountain top. There is no earthly reason to put teenagers brains through a meat grinder to keep purists happy.” We couldn’t agree more.

The NHL and Gary Bettman have taken some positive steps in recent years to deem certain blows to the head illegal that were considered legal only a few short years ago. That’s progress. But some blows to the head remain legal and, of course, fighting is still allowed. That needs to change.

As NHL hockey legend Ken Dryden recently wrote, “If hits to the head are banned, why not punches to the head? … This is about head injuries, not fighting’s place in hockey.” (See “Time for the NHL to Get Head Smart“).

Mr. Lambert, the gist of our letter was about unnecessary damage to the brains of hockey players and what that damage means to the players themselves and everyone who loves them.

It’s fine to be passionate about the game of hockey.

But given the growing mound of research on brain trauma in sports, it’s important that everyone who cares about hockey be just as passionate about protecting hockey players — and their futures — by doing everything possible to make hockey a more “head smart” game.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader, Founder, League of Fans

Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

(Find our initial letter to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman here.)

It’s hard to read this piece and not come away thinking that football’s days are numbered — at least as a [...]]]> Patrick Hruby has written an outstanding article on the subject of brain trauma and the implications for the future of football for Yahoo! Sports’ new online magazine ThePostGame. It’s eye-opening, scary, and impactful.

It’s hard to read this piece and not come away thinking that football’s days are numbered — at least as a mainstream youth activity and sport sanctioned by public schools. Football is simply too dangerous. Rule changes and equipment advances won’t ultimately be able to save the sport for our young people. The sport of football, by its nature, causes numerous jolts to the skull, meaning the brain is regularly tossed around inside that skull like jello.

We’ve known for several years now that concussions aren’t good for short-or-long-term health. We’ve heard that Second Impact Syndrome (SIS), a second blow to the brain quickly following a concussion, can be extremely dangerous and even fatal. In recent years, we’ve heard about how a history of concussions is associated with a brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE symptoms include depression, erratic behavior, memory lapses, and eventually dementia. But the scariest findings coming out of recent brain trauma research is that repetitive subconcussive hits can have major negative consequences for the brain — especially the young developing brain. A football player (or hockey or soccer player, or anyone who is the victim of repetitive brain trauma can develop CTE even without having suffered a concussion. Wow.

“Evidence suggests that CTE — the silent killer, the disease that turns players’ brains into ticking time bombs, slowly driving them mad — is caused not only by concussions but also by sub-concussive trauma,” writes Hruby. “Little hits. Little hits like the 1,000 – 1,500 blows to the head that the average high school football lineman absorbs in a single season, according to estimates by Boston researchers.”

Can football be saved for our young people? Undoubtedly, every attempt will be made to find a way to make football safer. Limiting the number of hits to the head that players receive in practice is probably the first place to start. But ultimately, the question is, how “brain safe” can tackle football ever be?

“Protect our national pastime,” writes Hruby. “Protect our children’s brains. The hope is that we can do both. Biology and physics suggest otherwise. Safer does not mean safe.”

We’re at the beginning of the end for youth and high school football.

– Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Chris Nowinski

Chris Nowinski is one of the foremost educators, advocates, and researchers in the field of sports concussions and brain trauma.  A former Harvard football player and WWE wrestler, Nowinski was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and forced to retire in 2004.  He began a quest to better understand [...]]]> A League of Fans Special Feature

Chris Nowinski

Chris Nowinski is one of the foremost educators, advocates, and researchers in the field of sports concussions and brain trauma.  A former Harvard football player and WWE wrestler, Nowinski was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and forced to retire in 2004.  He began a quest to better understand his condition and quickly discovered that a lack of awareness about brain trauma among athletes, coaches and medical professionals was threatening the short-and-long-term well-being of athletes of all ages.

Nowinski eventually teamed up with Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the country’s leading researchers in the area of concussions, and co-founded the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI) with Cantu.  SLIis a non-profit organization dedicated to solving the sports concussion crisis.  Nowinski also serves as a co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at BostonUniversitySchoolof Medicine.    In addition, Nowinski is the author of Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis.

Nowinski was interviewed by Ken Reed, League of Fans’ Sports Policy Director.

Ken Reed:  What was the trigger that really made you passionate about getting the word out on concussions after you retired from the WWE?

Chris Nowinski:  Well, I found that everything we were doing in sports was wrong when it came to the brain.  I discovered we weren’t diagnosing concussions properly; athletes weren’t resting long enough after concussions; we were allowing too much brain trauma that could have been avoided; and there weren’t any return-to-play guidelines in place; to name a few things.

KR:  How did the Sports Legacy Institute come about?

CN:  My book, Head Games, came out in 2006.  While working on that book, I realized that the only way to confirm what was happening with the brain after head trauma was to study the brains of athletes after they had died.  So, I began to help researchers find more athletes’ brains to study.  I had met Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the leading researchers in this area, and we decided to form a non-profit structure to work on the concussion issue in sports.

KR:  What’s your general philosophy on how we can make sports safer for the brain?

CN:  I don’t know if I have a general philosophy, but basically, we need to fully recognize what the brain can handle and structure our sports from that knowledge.  Every aspect of each sport should be reconsidered with an eye towards brain trauma.

KR:  How can we limit the number of hits athletes – especially young athletes – take to the head in sports?

CN:  It’s not easy but there are ways that we can count and limit the number of hits an athlete takes to the head in practice.  For example, we can count the number of headers that players take in soccer practices and limit those.  In football, we have the technology that shows us the data on the number of hits to the head for a season.  Those hits can be significantly cut back if we limit the number of hits to the head during practice.

With the new labor agreement, the NFL has limited full contact practices to once a week during the regular season.  The Ivy League now only allows two full contact practices a week.  Meanwhile, high school and youth football leagues are still allowing full contact practices four or more times a week!

We’re also learning which football drills are the most dangerous.  We can put limits on those specific drills that result in the most hits to the head.  With soccer, first we have to determine at what age it’s appropriate to do headers.  Once we determine at which age headers are appropriate, we can work on limiting exposure by limiting the number of headers.

KR:  Can we change how sports are played in order to protect athletes’ brains without changing the nature of the games?

CN:  We’ve always adjusted the rules of our games when new information or ideas come to the forefront.  Our sports have never been static.  We didn’t used to have the forward pass in football, or the three-point line in the NBA.  People have always adjusted to modifications in sports.

KR:  How can we speed up the education and awareness process when it comes to brain injuries in sports, especially at the youth level?

CN:  We need to annually educate coaches, parents and athletes.  Every athlete needs to know that you don’t mess with brain injuries.  Almost every athlete knows you don’t mess with neck injuries because you can end up paralyzed.    In a similar way, every athlete needs to learn about brain trauma and realize you don’t take chances with brain injuries.  We need to start educating young athletes when they’re six years old.  We have to get to the point where athletes can recognize the symptoms of concussion in themselves and their teammates.

KR:  What about helmets?  Do we need more helmets in sports?  Better helmets?

CN:  I don’t advocate helmets, unless the sport has a skull fracture issue.   Adding helmets, in soccer for example, can actually result in more problems.

Repetitive brain trauma is worse than ever today despite the high-tech helmets in football and hockey.  And the evidence is growing that repetitive sub-concussive hits cause long-term problems, similar to concussions.

KR:  What would you tell parents of athletically-minded children who want their kids to participate in sports but are increasingly nervous about all the findings regarding brain trauma in general and concussions in particular?

CN:  Get educated and try to make an informed decision.  Nobody should expose kids to repetitive brain trauma without knowledge of what the potential ramifications could be.  Also, make sure the youth sports program you’re considering is clearly doing all they can to make the sport as safe as possible.

KR:  What should youth sports organizations be doing to protect the brain as much as possible?

CN:  While sports provide immense value both to athletes and our society in general, with current practices they are exposing children to unacceptable levels of brain damage.  Much of this brain damage, however, is preventable with a few simple steps that we cover in our minimum recommended guidelines for youth sports.

Editor’s Note:  Here are SLI’s “Minimum Recommended Guidelines for Youth Sports”

1)     Preseason education for coaches, parents and athletes – Preseason concussion and brain trauma education should be required for coaches, parents, and athletes.

2)     Youth programs should adopt the CDC Heads Up Concussion Action Plan – If you suspect that a player has a concussion, you should take the following steps:

1. Remove athlete from play
2. Ensure athlete is evaluated by an appropriate health care professional.  Do not try and judge the seriousness of the injury yourself.
3. Inform athlete’s parents or guardians about the known or possible concussion and give them the CDC fact sheet on concussion.
4. Allow athlete to return to play only with permission from an appropriate health care professional.

3)     Utilize CDC Heads Up Stickers on Clipboards – Stickers make for easy access to both a list of common concussive signs and symptoms and an action plan if an athlete potentially experiences a concussion.

4)     Prevention Through Neck Strengthening – Studies have shown that neck strength may be an important factor in reducing the forces on the brain resulting from impacts to the head.

5)     Prevention Through Overall Brain Trauma Reduction  – Coaches should monitor total brain trauma and strive to reduce both the number of hits to the head that players receive and the severity.  Repetitive brain trauma suffered in youth sports is believed to lead to some athletes developing the progressive neurodegenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which can eventually lead to dementia.CTE may be more correlated to total lifetime brain trauma than concussions.

It’s time to act.  The National Hockey League must take immediate steps to ban fighting and outlaw all blows to the head.  And you, Mr. Bettman, as league commissioner, must lead the way.

Fighting in hockey can no longer be a long-debated issue pitting those who find it barbaric and unsportsmanlike and [...]]]> Dear Mr. Bettman:

It’s time to act.  The National Hockey League must take immediate steps to ban fighting and outlaw all blows to the head.  And you, Mr. Bettman, as league commissioner, must lead the way.

Fighting in hockey can no longer be a long-debated issue pitting those who find it barbaric and unsportsmanlike and those who argue that it’s an integral part of the fabric of the game.  The growing mound of research on sports concussions and brain injuries has taken the fighting issue to an entirely different level.  We’re talking about short-and-long-term damage to the brain, the very foundation of who we are as people.

Commissioner Bettman, it’s very possible that concussions and degenerative brain disease caused by blows to the head — such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — will be the biggest issue in sports in the coming decade.  Continuing to downplay what we know about sports-based brain injuries, while simultaneously supporting fighting as an elemental aspect of theNHLgame, is simply irresponsible.

You are right on one point: science has yet to provide us with all the answers when it comes to head trauma and concussions.  But we do know that concussions are a big problem and we all intuitively know that a fist swung against a skull at a high rate of speed is not good for the brain inside that skull.

Repeated head trauma has shortened the careers of Pat LaFontaine, Eric Lindros, and Keith Primeau.  Currently, concussions are threatening the careers of Pittsburgh Penguins’ superstar Sidney Crosby and the Philadelphia Flyers’ Chris Pronger.  Three enforcers, Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak, whose primary job was to protect teammates by throwing fists at the heads of opponents, have died in the past year.  It’s certainly possible the brain trauma they received on the ice from their fellow combatants played a significant role in their deaths.

Your league has created a department of player safety.  That’s well and good.   But a quick question:  How can you continue to allow fighting, in which the primary target is the head of your opponent, and seriously make the argument that you’re doing all you can to make player safety a priority?

You don’t have to be a pioneer in this area Mr. Bettman.  The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) already bans fighting and all blows to the head.  So does the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the NCAA, and other hockey organizations.  The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center Ice Hockey Summit recommended prohibiting fighting and all contact to the head at every level of the game, including theNHL, a little more than a year ago.

While there are certainly many potential rule changes that need to be carefully examined to make sure they result in a safer game, banning fighting isn’t one of them.  It’s clear fighting is not a safe policy.

Mr. Bettman, you’re the leader of the most influential hockey organization in the world.  As such, you have the responsibility to make hockey as safe as possible for the players in theNHL.  You also have the moral responsibility to be a good sports citizen and do what you can to make hockey all the way down to the youth level as safe as possible.  There are nearly 1 million youth hockey players in theUnited StatesandCanada.  Like it or not, the actions you take — or don’t take — impact these young hockey players, either positively or negatively.

According to an analysis of hockey-related concussions written by Dr. Syd Johnson of Dalhousie University, and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal last year, one study found that up to 25% of all players in junior hockey leagues sustain concussions in any given season.

“The way hockey is played by the professionals is imitated in junior hockey,” wrote Johnson in the journal article.  “This creates a vicious cycle in which young athletes learn to play in a way that inevitably causes injury and in turn influences the next generation of players.  It’s time to break that cycle and teach youths to play in a way that emphasizes skill and protects their brains, so they’ll be prepared to do the same thing when they grow up.”

Mr. Bettman, your position as commissioner of theNHLdemands that you confront this issue head on and heed the call for policy change when it comes to fighting.  There isn’t a single thing you can do that will communicate your seriousness about protecting our hockey players’ brains – at all levels — than immediately banning fighting and all blows to the head in theNHL.

On behalf of hockey players everywhere – and their families — here’s hoping you have the strength and courage to take this decisive step.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader, Founder, League of Fans

Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

A more accurate understatement has never been uttered.

At universities with NCAA Division I athletic programs, most notably Bowl Championship Series (BCS) schools, the school’s educational mission [...]]]> “There is so much money tied into big-time college athletics that it forces some people to make bad decisions,” says Robin Harris, executive director of the Ivy League.

A more accurate understatement has never been uttered.

At universities with NCAA Division I athletic programs, most notably Bowl Championship Series (BCS) schools, the school’s educational mission takes a backseat to the greed-based arms race for bigger and better facilities, so bigger and better athletes can be recruited, in order to land bigger and better television and sponsorship deals.

“We’re talking big, big money here,” says Jason Lanter, assistant professor of psychology at Kutztown University, and a member of the Drake Group, a college faculty organization whose mission is to defend academic integrity on campuses.

The biggest crime is that money from schools’ general funds are feeding a large portion of this arms race during a time of cutbacks everywhere else on campus. Of 53 universities surveyed by Bloomberg this year, 46 diverted money to sports in in their fiscal years ended in 2010. Rutgers spent more money on athletics than any other public institution in the six BCS conferences. According to a Bloomberg report, more than 40 percent of sports revenue at Rutgers came from student fees and the university’s general fund. This at at time when budgets were being cut for professors salaries, and while tuition, housing and other fees were on the rise. Even things like the use of photocopies for exams were being chopped at Rutgers during this time period.

“There are a lot of people chasing the Holy Grail,” Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby said. “Chasing leads to some bad decisions.”

On second thought, in the wake of the Penn State, Miami, Ohio State, and USC scandals, that is probably the most accurate understatement ever uttered.

– Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

In fact, sports-related head trauma in general, and concussions in particular, will be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest sports issue in the next decade. The NFL will be thrust right into the middle of it.

For [...]]]> The NFL just wishes the concussion issue would go away. But it’s not going anywhere.

In fact, sports-related head trauma in general, and concussions in particular, will be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest sports issue in the next decade. The NFL will be thrust right into the middle of it.

For years, the NFL ignored the concussion issue, then they disputed it, then they simply downplayed it. Now, after a variety of player lawsuits, and a growing mound of evidence indicating that brain trauma from football activities can lead to multiple physical, mental and emotional problems — both in the short-and-long-term — the most popular professional sports league in the United States is finally taking some positive steps.

But those steps don’t come easily. In fact, they seem to result only after new research reports or controversial stories. For example, in reaction to the Cleveland Browns questionable treatment of quarterback Colt McCoy after he was hit on the head during a Dec. 8th game, the NFL will now pay for a certified independent trainer, not affiliated with either team, to be at every game to assist in checking for possible concussions. The trainers will be approved by the players union. The policy unfortunately falls short of having an independent neurologist on the sidelines at every game to perform concussion checks.

The NFL should be leading the movement on concussion prevention and awareness. Instead, they’re having to be dragged by their fingernails to address the issue and most of their concussion-related actions to date feel more like public relations tactics than a deep concern and appreciation for the seriousness of the issue.

That approach needs to change.

– Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans