As Merle Kessler once observed:
“Football players, like prostitutes, are in the business of ruining their bodies for the pleasure of strangers.”
Now come claims that Bill Belichick pressured one of his players to practice against the advice of the trainer, causing permanent brain damage (NY Times):
Former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson said coach Bill Belichick subjected him to hard hits in practice while he was recovering from a concussion — against the advice of the team's top trainer.
Johnson, who helped the Patriots win three Super Bowl titles before retiring two years ago, told The New York Times that a collision with another player during that 2002 practice led to another concussion. And, after sustaining additional concussions over the next three seasons, he now forgets people's names, misses appointments and suffers from depression and an addiction to amphetamines.
''There's something wrong with me,'' the 34-year-old Johnson said in Friday's Times. ''There's something wrong with my brain. And I know when it started.''
And besides, should a guy have to abandon his career because his coach is an ass who won't let him sit out of practice long enough to get over a concussion?
1) A coach saying "We need a player who can do X. If, for whatever reason (including a medical reason), player Y can't do X we need to get a new player."
and 2) Player Y thinking "I'm going to get cut unless I violate my doctor's orders and do X."
I don't feel comfortable chosing a side without getting inside Belichick's heart and head.
A few years ago there was an article that ran in the WSJ that surveyed prostitutes in the major cities (LA, NYC, Las Vegas, etc.). According to the article, 100% of all prostitutes has some kind of STD. That's one way to ruin your body for sure.
We could test this. With two variables, remove one and observe the effect.
First, let's leave the money in, and remove the pleasure of strangers. Does he give up the multi-million dollar contract in favor of selling cars?
Second, let's remove the money, but include the pleasure of strangers. Does he give up the zero dollar contract in favor of selling used cars?
You be the judge.
And general population is..."An estimated 75 percent of the reproductive-age population has been infected with sexually transmitted HPV (Koutsky, 1997)." and that is ONLY for HPV!
also assuming that all those prostitutes aren't skewing this data too much.
This is not Bill B's or Ted johnsons fault. This is either the Dr's fault or the NFLPA for allowing the system to be as it is.
Bill Belichick may be indifferent to his players health, but no one forced Ted Johnson to join the team. Johnson may have a good moral or legal claim against Belichick or the trainers, but it's nothing like the wrong of some of the girls, boys and young women compelled into prostitution.
I doubt Belichick would have intentionally put a player at risk for a permanent brain injury just so he could practice. For the Big Game, maybe; but practice? No way.
I don't blame Belichick, but I'm glad Johnson's saying something about it now. Coming on the heels of Andre Waters' suicide, hopefully team physicians will be more proactive towards head trauma. However, most players don't attain Johnson's stature or security. Those guys are still going to try and play through whatever concussion issues they might receive. It's vogue on this site to say that those players aren't forced to do what they do, but they shouldn't be expected to do so to keep their jobs, and hopefully, Johnson's actions may lead to a positive change in the culture.
The essence of the story is that players are frequently left crippled by their injuries from playing and the pension fund denies their claims on specious grounds.