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America’s Coming Depression
No, I don’t mean an economic depression. I mean an emotional depression. I fear that a funk could hit a significant portion of the population over the next five years. Tens of millions of lives will be affected. There will be substantial economic hardship. Fortunes will be lost. Media empires will be rattled. Some municipalities will face bankruptcy. Universities and colleges across the country will face new funding pressures. The changes that I see coming will reshape a cornerstone of the American way of life.
What could possibly cause this? The answer is that American football is in very, very serious trouble.
2,450 players have now filed 89 concussion related law suits against the NFL and Riddell Athletics (helmet manufacturer) . All of the State cases are being referred to Federal Court.
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I’m no expert on this topic. I follow (among others) ESPN and NFL Concussion Litigation. I have recently talked with four attorneys (none directly involved – all sue for a living). The cut to the chase question for the lawyers was:
“Will there be financial awards?”
Four out of four were quick to answer:
“Yes.”
The dark side for American football depends on whether these four attorneys are right.
The suits against the NFL/Riddle are based on the fact that a significant number of players have received permanent brain injuries while playing for the NFL. There are dozens of reports that prove this. A Michigan University study of former players found that:
“Alzheimer’s disease or similar-memory related diseases occur ‘vastly’ more often than the national population – including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30-49.”
NY Giant’s ex ace QB, Jeff Hostetler, has filed a suit against the NFL. A review of the court papers (Link – paragraphs 47-117) lists the medical conclusions that football is directly linked to permanent brain injury. It's going to be very hard for the NFL to beat this.
That football is dangerous and players might get traumatic brain injuries is old news. The basis of the suits is that the NFL teams, knowing full well the risks that the players were taking, willfully ignored the scientific evidence, and repeatedly put the players at neurological risk.
A critical issue for the teams/players is, "What did the teams do when a player incurred a head injury during play/practice?" As far back as 1999 it was shown that players who received a concussion during practice or a game were 4Xs more likely to receive another concussion in the following 10 days.
The NFL ignored this information. It was not until 2009 that it established rules that required players who exhibited any sign of concussion had to be removed from a game or practice, and be barred from returning the same day. But there are hundreds of documented cases since 2009 where players who received a head injury that produced symptoms of concussion who were returned to the playing field within minutes of the original injury.
The problem that the teams face is that it’s not possible to diagnose a minor concussion on the field. The league established a practice of identifying a player with a concussion as one who had to be carried off on a stretcher. The lawsuits allege that the teams/NFL knew the facts on concussions, and their documented actions put the players at risk. This is referred to as Willful Misconduct. If the juries agree with this (I think they have to), then the financial awards will go through the roof.
Can the NFL afford these suits? Some say they can, and point to the fact that the 32 teams have a value in excess of $40 billion, and revenues of $20+ Billion a year. I don’t think this argument stands up. There are 1,700 active pro players each year. The suits will go back at least ten-years. The evidence is that as many as 60% of all players have suffered multiple concussions during their careers. When a class action settlement is made, thousands of additional players will seek compensation. The individual awards will be in the millions. Based on this, the total damages could easily exceed $20 billion. That would put a very deep hurt on the NFL and the team owners.
An import question for the courts will be Riddell Sports’ liability. If there is liability on behalf of Riddell, it creates a major problem. Can Riddell (the official provider of helmets for the NFL) continue to make helmets knowing full well that every helmet that goes out the door is a lawsuit to be in the future? I would think not.
I’ll come back to the problems with the NFL, but first some thoughts on college, high school and pre-teen football. There has to be some very substantial changes for this group of athletes. The medical evidence is clear. The younger a person receives head injuries, the greater the chance of a lifetime consequences.
When the lawyers finish busting up the NFL, they will turn their sights onto colleges and high schools. In our litigious society more football suits are a sure thing. What will happen to the big football schools? All of these Universities have mega endowments. The schools are sitting ducks for lawsuits. Then there is the moral issue. How can a University field a team knowing that half of the players are taking life time risks?
I can imagine that Penn/Ohio State will be one of the last Universities to come to grip with this problem, but what about the Ivy’s? Can Yale, Cornell, Brown etc. stand up to the coming suits? I would think not. The legal risks are too high. Can the Trustees at Harvard (or the Army/Navy/Air Force) put their students at risk of turning their brains into Jell-O?
The only question I have is which University is going to drop football first.
High school football is at risk. The evidence is clear that the earlier in life a person receives multiple head injuries, the greater the probability of medical complications later in life. Will individual towns that sponsor high school teams get sued in the future? It would appear that this is inevitable. Knowing that they may get sued will force changes. But the most compelling argument is, again, the moral one. How can a municipality support a sport that it knows will cause traumatic injury to the players? Based on the information now available, we know that football for high school is like giving kids cigarettes. A percentage of the players will be affected in their lives.
A check of the Internet shows that across the country the issue of high school football is up for discussion.
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Now go back to the NFL. What’s the future?
- The existing suits (and those that are coming) will result in payouts to former players and substantial losses.
- The suits will force changes in the way that football is played. The suggestions on how to reduce the risk of head injuries include:
I) No kick offs or punt returns. (What?)
II) No blocking or tackling above the waist. (Impossible)
III) Strict rules on a player who does use his upper body when making plays. Players who break the new contact rules will face multiple game suspensions. Repeat offenders will not be allowed to play. (There would be few players left)
IV) Players will be forced to wear new uniforms that substantially increase padding. New helmets with both a soft and a hard surface will be the rule. Players will look like the Michelin Man on the field. The ability to run fast and maneuver will be diminished. (Think of this, it doesn't work)
V) Television will be banned from showing any hard hits. Announcers will be forced to not speak of any aggressive blocking and tackling. (The assumption is that the TV attention on those doing the hard hits contributes to the number of injuries.) (Boring....)
There will be more rules. A significant one is what will teams do when and if a player does have a head bump during practice or a game. The players will have to be monitored, assessed, evaluated or otherwise examined to insure that any transitory or permanent injury is properly recognized, diagnosed and treated before allowing return to play.
How can the NFL teams maintain this standard? If every player who had head contact was forced to sit out the rest of the game, then the teams would run out of players before the 4th quarter. (The scrubs take over at the end of a game? Where's the fun in that?)
What is the future of the NFL if/when these changes are implemented? I’m curious to hear from readers. I think it will kill the public interest in the game. From an audience perspective, the hard-hitting nature of the sport is part of the reason for the popularity. Without the speed and action (hard hits) on the field, pro football will lose fans.
I conclude that American football is going to have to go through some radical changes. High School teams will disappear; college and university ball is going to be suspended by some schools. Pro-football is going to be transformed into something that will not work.
Sorry if I have ruined some reader's Father's Day. Try to enjoy it anyway.
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They're football players. They're supposed to be stupid.
The generations to come will be scratching their heads as to how a nation sustained by football, food stamps, wild government printing and spending, foreign wars and surveillance to the nth degree, ever managed to last for as long as it did.
This can only be explained by a highly organised control centre and a population that is becoming increasingly stupid, hopeless, fearful and compliant. Debt spending does incredible things to our psyche and values on the way up. But on the way down it totally destroys us.
Hmm, the same was said of the Roman Empire...
The generations to come will be scratching their heads as to how a nation sustained by football, food stamps, wild government printing and spending, foreign wars and surveillance to the nth degree, ever managed to last for as long as it did.
This can only be explained by a highly organised control centre and a population that is becoming increasingly stupid, hopeless, fearful and compliant. Debt spending does incredible things to our psyche and values on the way up. But on the way down it totally destroys us.
Many of our soldiers are being injured, even killed, in gubmint-sponsored, Zionist wars. Where are the Jew lawyers?
Football is too big to fail. Anything that big, with that amount of money, fully in bed with the war machine, cannot fail. Football is neccessary to distract all the mommies and daddies away from the fact that their sons are more likely to die from suicide than in battle. Cheer for the jets flying over prior to a Jets game. America, fuck yeah. The NFL can get amnesty from congress like the telcos did and the trance will run anabated.
Helmets can be much more protective if they inelastically absorb energy. Imagine a football helmet with the foam on the outside and the inside, no hard shell on the outside. A good hit will put a huge dent in it. A dent over a certain size means you get a new helmet, or everyone gets new helmets at halftime.
It will help the machismo of the game, because the more dents on your helmet, the better the player you are. Riddell will go through several hundred helmets per game. A win-win.
Perhaps only the outer shell of the helmet would be disposable, and maybe they could find some corn-based celluose foam so that ADM and Monsanto could cash in, also.
"I was retarded before I played football and now 10 years after I stopped playing I am still retarded"
They could all be like Gerry Ford and play without a helmet. That might make them less apt to use their heads as weapons.
Friends and I have been discussing this for weeks. I was not believed when I said this would filter down to high schools and colleges. That makes even more sense than the pros.
I think college coaches are larger degenerates than anything we see in the pros. They are plantation owners at major colleges, espeically in the football heavy south. They feel, literally, that they own the players. The players can be dumped at any time, kept on the farm (not allowed to transfer) while the coaches go from highest offer to even higher offer. These guys often remind me of the financial guys on Wall Street that feel they are above the law. On Wall Street it is all about profit. In major college football it is all about winning. As long as these guys make those goals they can justify any, and all, actions it took to get there. Just look at the Penn State debacle of 2011/2012. And they are supposed to be a hallowed program.
This is a great article Bruce but you didn't deal with the trickle down effect in colleges. Many college sports programs are funded by their football and / or basketball programs. Take away college football and you pretty much kill their entire athletic department. You also have to include the ramifications of Title IX. That is the rule that for every boy's athletic scholarship there must be a girl's athletic scholarship, even though boys participate in sports in numbers that dwarf girls' participation. But that is neither here nor there.
Football has 75 scholarships it can give out. That means there are also 75 scholarships for girls that have to be given out. Take away all of those football scholarships and you no longer have any field hockey, gymnastics, girls golf, volleyball, etc.
This would force colleges to truly have athletes that are student athletes and not just mercenaries for their sporting teams. It would be more difficult to be minor leagues for colleges. Universities will have to go back to the business of learning.
Bruce didn't bring hockey into the picture, either. That will be another pool of money for the blood-sucking legal profession to go after. The possibilities are endless.
I had 3 concussions in my younger days. None of them had to do with any organized sport. They were all involved with physical activity but it was mostly screwing around. A concussion is a terrible experience. I have never had a migraine but I would imagine it would be like that. Most people don't realize how violently ill, including vomitng, you can become from a concussion. Perhaps this post reflects on those concussions but my point is that for every 1 concussion you know about there are probably many more that you don't know about.
Even after all of that is said and done we have to ask ourselves, "how pussified are we going to become?" The more we try to make ourselves 100% safe against life we become less free and less human. The trade offs are huge in this one. I don't think the legal profession cares about that aspect. Expect a whole arrange of stupid demagoguery and bad decisions.
"I think college coaches are larger degenerates than anything we see in the pros. They are plantation owners at major colleges, espeically in the football heavy south. They feel, literally, that they own the players. The players can be dumped at any time, kept on the farm (not allowed to transfer) while the coaches go from highest offer to even higher offer."
Amen. The hypocrisy of calling them student athletes while making huge money off them while treating them like property and having boosters give the select few money and prizes under the table. College sports and professional sports are a joke. I like how these nimrod idiots that are obsessed with sports think that that Disney movie Blindside was inspirational.
'We need to save these kids in the ghettos so we can have better football teams. It'll improve their lives when they become pro sports athletes!'
Oh yeah, cause there are so many jobs out there in the pros for athletes. Encourage a bunch of poor kids to spend all their time learning a stupid and worthless skill for a sport so you can select one out of a million to live it up for about 5 years and be thrown on the scrapheap afterward. Gee, how nice. Everything about this country is so God damned rotten!
Developing the cultural habit of displacing blame for money... fuck man, what a twisted thing to do the cultural evolution of your species.
What? No they wont. Personal responsibility? What does that have to do with anything when money and lawyers are involved.
A lot of lawyers are going to make a lot of money. And in the end, NFL will be a flag football league.
Yo, Dude...
I'll be watching lingerie football on my Ipad, If my mom doesn't take that away.
Oh wait, I have to get read for tommorrows ES open and the low volume meltup at 1:30.
American football is, by definition, a retarded sport. It is little suprise that the coaches and owners have always exercised poor judgment with respect to the health of the players. If it fades away under a litigious assault, it will get the fate it deserves. It can't happen too soon.
If American football is a retarded sport then we may as well add sending young men and women to war on that list as well.
These folks coming home from these fuckin' wars many times have been proximal to large and small devices blowing up -- when this stuff goes off near a human, it can send a percussion wave through soft brain tissue that will fuck you up for life! I am willing to believe that the american football players are experiencing symptoms along the same magnitude. TBI (traumatic brain injury) is serious shit. It can turn a normal human into a raving crazy person!
Well I care about our kids being used in pointless wars - just like Vietnam (to make LBJ richer) war. Screw the NFL, Screw the NCAA, the NFL owners, college teams, the dumbass fans, illiterate college players. If it all went away tomorrow - I would be happy.
[quote] TBI (traumatic brain injury) is serious shit. It can turn a normal human into a raving crazy person! [/quote]
Which then leads to posting comments on ZeroHedge! Yer onto (or on!) somethin' there! :>D
Most of the knowledge about this type of brain damage is very new so there is no way the players knew the risks, so too the NFL in my opinion, so that puts the validity of the lawsuits in doubt.
Brain damage has been seen in players too young to understand the risks and not getting paid at all.
Dig into SLI and get both sides of the argument. http://www.sportslegacy.org/about-sports-legacy-institute/about-sli/
Get a copy of "Head Games" by Christopher Nowinski and educate yourselves. A movie about this topic is coming out soon too I believe.
The first military brains that have been donated to the research team show the exact same type of damage the sports players received. Your comment is dead on.
Disclosure: One of my best friends is dead and scans of his brain will be used in the lawsuits.
Ironically, many of the same "libertarians" who advocate rule of law and who post here, wish to turn over matters such as this to corporations and politicians. Let a jury of our peers decide. A crazy idea concocted by our Founders.
Good call. It's fairly violent, and not so many lawyers.
I have an idea, let's send the lawyer to war, they can charge with their briefcases!
It would kill two birds with one bullet....
If it wasn't for all the "protective" gear they wouldn't have been injured as much. You don't spear someone with your head if you're 100% certain that your head will hurt.
Joe Paterno addressed the injury problem some time back. His suggestion was to go back to leather helmets, as the lack of head protection would keep players from leading with their skulls. I think he's onto something there. I don't have any figures, but anecdote and personal experience suggest that spearing is far less prevalent in rugby versus that in football.
It's nice to hear that Joe was so concerned about football players and head injuries... Now, only if he'd been that concerned about little boys and sphincter injuries...
I suppose nannies like you will want to ban rugby next. I've got one thing to say, "you need leather balls to play rugby"
"The best steel comes from the hottest furnaces" Charles Dickens
Fans love those hard hits-can you actually look away from a good car accident? I think not!
Everybody knows that soccer is the only true sport.
America will need to change their game!
In the US soccer is for boys whose mommy is too afraid to let them play football or baseball.
The lawsuit thing is ridiculous, there is clearly danger involved and chance of permanent injury and its flat out nonsense to pretend that those guys werent aware of the risk and paid obscenely well for it.
Fuck lawsuits and trials by juries. Best to let corporate leaders and politicians decide which cases are legitimate and which are not.
"In the US soccer is for boys whose mommy is too afraid to let them play football or baseball."
+ a four million dollar signing bonus.
I can't wait for wusses to ban "heading the ball" in soccer...by the way, whens the last time a riot broke out at a football (not futbol) game?...lol.
American football is not a sport. It is an entertainment.
Who really gives a shit when few retards kill each other?
Their lawyers care.
Deeply.
Yep, fuck the individual athletes. So long as the owners are making money and the beer is flowing, fuck everyone else and their fucking brain injuries. You just summed up corporate America asshole.
Aaah… It's no more dangerous than that other All-American sport, boxing.
We need to bring more football techniques and ethics into the corporate world.
Or, better yet into banking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbSpAsJSZPc
We should replace players with trained chickens and an egg sized ball. Anybody who has watched a hen run around with an egg in its beak, with the whole flock chasing it will see the humor in that !!!
They better not touch the Lingerie Football League.
http://www.lflus.com/
right now that league plays tougher football than the NFL.. they let the girls destroy each other - a lot of the rules are cheesy but not the effort
I say take away the equipment all together...do it rugby style. You'll see a lot more tackilng instead of "hitting".
Fucking lawyers & nanny's will be the death of us all.
I appreciate being told what to do by people who know better. I plan on suing bicyle manufacturers for having the most dangerous children's toy on the planet, and then come the rollerbladers and those skateboard things. Then I will sue the television makers and all broadcasting companies because it is proven that television raises retarded zobies that can only use CrAapl products. Following that a suit against "smart phone" makers for false advertising as more people die and get injured while texting and walking as a result of them. Then I will sue the makers of platform shoes of all varieties as they cause permanent back, knee, ankle and hip injuries. It won't stop there as all makers of sweets should be sued because sugar is killing everyone that eats it. Of course fire and hot water can be blamed for many deaths and injuries so all ways of heating, boiling and cooking, including all forms of energy that provide electricity will have to be terminated until all are proven safe.
You forgot computer manufacturer keyboards (carpal tunnel). The victims livelihood has been extinguished!!!
But please...we can't sue S&M shops...because thats "voluntary"...lol.
Clearly, whats called for here is yet another vast bureaucracy to sort through the items citizens come in contact with on a daily basis (jobs jobs jobs) and stamp them government approved...or not...oh wait, they already do.
I feel an Animal House rant coming on ;-)
So are you against trial by jury? Should lawsuits be prohibited by category decided by politicians or unelected corporate leaders?
lol...wut?
If the Sewer Department has a manhole lid open...signage everywhere...traffic cones everywhere...a cage around the open manhole...basically everything but a flashing neon sign with arrows and an electric fence around it to shock you away from the gaping hole...
AND YOU STILL WALK INTO IT...there should be a jury trial?
On what grounds?...your own stupidity?...the Sewer Department is responsible for your stupidity now?
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 deals with that.
(a) Signature. Every pleading, written motion, and other paper must be signed by at least one attorney of record in the attorney's name—or by a party personally if the party is unrepresented. The paper must state the signer's address, e-mail address, and telephone number. Unless a rule or statute specifically states otherwise, a pleading need not be verified or accompanied by an affidavit. The court must strike an unsigned paper unless the omission is promptly corrected after being called to the attorney's or party's attention.
(b) Representations to the Court. By presenting to the court a pleading, written motion, or other paper—whether by signing, filing, submitting, or later advocating it—an attorney or unrepresented party certifies that to the best of the person's knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances:
(1) it is not being presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation;
(2) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for establishing new law;
(3) the factual contentions have evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, will likely have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery; and
(4) the denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on belief or a lack of information.
(c) Sanctions.
(1) In General. If, after notice and a reasonable opportunity to respond, the court determines that Rule 11(b) has been violated, the court may impose an appropriate sanction on any attorney, law firm, or party that violated the rule or is responsible for the violation. Absent exceptional circumstances, a law firm must be held jointly responsible for a violation committed by its partner, associate, or employee.
(2) Motion for Sanctions. A motion for sanctions must be made separately from any other motion and must describe the specific conduct that allegedly violates Rule 11(b). The motion must be served under Rule 5, but it must not be filed or be presented to the court if the challenged paper, claim, defense, contention, or denial is withdrawn or appropriately corrected within 21 days after service or within another time the court sets. If warranted, the court may award to the prevailing party the reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred for the motion.
(3) On the Court's Initiative. On its own, the court may order an attorney, law firm, or party to show cause why conduct specifically described in the order has not violated Rule 11(b).
(4) Nature of a Sanction. A sanction imposed under this rule must be limited to what suffices to deter repetition of the conduct or comparable conduct by others similarly situated. The sanction may include nonmonetary directives; an order to pay a penalty into court; or, if imposed on motion and warranted for effective deterrence, an order directing payment to the movant of part or all of the reasonable attorney's fees and other expenses directly resulting from the violation.
(5) Limitations on Monetary Sanctions. The court must not impose a monetary sanction:
(A) against a represented party for violating Rule 11(b)(2); or
(B) on its own, unless it issued the show-cause order under Rule 11(c)(3) before voluntary dismissal or settlement of the claims made by or against the party that is, or whose attorneys are, to be sanctioned.
(6) Requirements for an Order. An order imposing a sanction must describe the sanctioned conduct and explain the basis for the sanction.
(d) Inapplicability to Discovery. This rule does not apply to disclosures and discovery requests, responses, objections, and motions under Rules 26 through 37.
Ahhh yes, a dalliance with the arcane.
Answer the question...who is most at fault for voluntarily walking into a known, clearly delineated, hazard area?
As an aside, why didn't all those regulations, you love so much, prevent you from walking into an open manhole?
If you read the arcane rule that is above your pay grade, you would know that the case you posit would never reach a jury.
Sounds like a great rule (in theory) but in practice we both know it doesn't work that way.
"We’re definitely going to appeal the verdict and the judgment," said Gary Lovell Jr., who represented Gangasani and CardioVascular Group."
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/jury-awards-3-million-1449443.html
Care to offer an opinion on Loser Pays, counselor?
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I thought not ;-)
And when your child or spouse or parent burns to death and suffers horribly in a preventable fire from a Chinese product allowed in by U.S. law because regulators (like the SEC) are asleep at the switch, you will be the first in line for the nastiest most pit bull aggressive lawyer you can find to sue the fuck out of them. And it will warm your grieving conservative heart to see the comments on the news story that will mostly suggest that you were a bad parent and too litigious.
Finally !!! I have been cured of sex !!!
obvious lie--a reddie on ya
Well, for 5 minutes or so...