In the summer of 2007, Roger Goodell, the new NFL commissioner, convened a meeting in Chicago for the first league-wide concussion summit. All thirty-two teams were ordered to send doctors and trainers to the meeting.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The new disease was named chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and the NFL fervently and repeatedly denied that such a thing had anything to do with the league or its players.
They're on the right road, but there's a long way to go on concussions, not only in the NFL, but college football, high school football and all football.
Athletes, coaches and parents today are increasingly aware of the danger of concussion, and this awareness influences decisions about buying new and reconditioned football helmets.
I would hope this experience would help me if that NFL opportunity were to arise. But I also know that it's a totally different league. There's a lot more to it.
News writing and sports writing have become synonymous. And it started with, you know, free agency, and now it's in the concussion debate.
In the normal process of evaluating the end of the season, I meet with key executives for thorough discussions and evaluations of all aspects of football operations.
Everybody in wrestling is looking at the information coming in on concussions. Everyone from the NFL to the WWE to TNA to the youth soccer groups around the country are realizing that there are dangers that weren't previously known.
More and more NFL players have been willing their bodies to science so that their brains can be studied even if they die of other causes.
I understand the seriousness of concussions.
There was absolutely zero discourse between me or anybody at the studio with the NFL. None. The only exchange was one-sentence e-mails trying to arrange a meeting, before deciding to cancel the meeting. Period. End of story.