Cove's Redzone Pub. The NFL chat thread.

Matt Schaub confronted at his home

Classy stuff.

 

Houston at it's finest. Maybe time to move the team to Austin, a lot more mellow

Anyways, I wanna spark a debate: pink flags, I'd say the NFL is taking things a bit too far. Great cause, fighting for more breast cancer research funds but...
With the pink towels, shoes, gloves, buttons, hats, ribbons, banners and what not but now with a pink indicator line and pink flags and even a pink graphic when the flag is thrown that's just taking it over the top. If you want to make a statement as the NFL let everyone who makes a living of the game, donate 10% or so of their October's salary to the charity. Oh wait this is the US, what was I thinking.

 

PBS published this yesterday:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/

 

Guys, seriously, watch the PBS report, it may be almost 2 hours, but it explains a lot about the disability deal earlier this year. Very shocking to see and hear what the NFL do to get away with it.

I'm curious if Jovan Belcher, who shot his GF and then shot himself on the Kansas City Chiefs parking lot last year had CTE.

 

Its quite a weird one really. He has only been given a 1 year contract in week 5, which would suggest that he will be starter pretty much straight away, but Frazier has come out and said he definitely won't be starting week 6, giving him 10 games to earn a new deal. Plus QB must be the hardest position to come into mid season having to learn a whole new offensive playbook.

What I've seen of Freeman he looks alright, definitely an upgrade on Cassel and Ponder, would still expect Vikes to target a QB very early in next years draft though

 

I think Jovan Belcher was just a bit of a nutter rather than being related to concussion issues. No doubt it's a big deal though, Junior Seau is an example I always think of. Thankfully technology (helmets) and coaching is getting to the point where it should be a lesser issue in the future... hopefully...

 

You'd think that but last year's RG3's knee proved otherwise. The football players are still living in an environment wherein you can't afford to be injured.

And as for Jovan Belcher: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/belcher-threatened-shoot-girlfriend-police-article-1.1223122
Paranoia, drugs/alcohol, financial problems, infidelity and anger issues all combined are very similar to those mentioned in the PBS report. The autopsy showed at the time of his murder suicide he was intoxicated/inebriated. Jovan Belcher shot himself in the head so I doubt they can definitively diagnose him with CTE.

His former team mate Thomas Jones had this to say: http://www.foxsportskansascity.com/01/30/13/Former-Chief-Jones-believes-Belcher-had-/landing_chiefs.html?blockID=856613
Quite odd that the examiners never received any brain tissue from Belcher.

 

Type the link in here: http://hidemyass.com/
Select advanced option, select US server and the IP that comes with it. Then click the hidemyass button

 

I just think it's oversimplistic to blame concussions for Jovan Belcher. Of course, it's a big deal, but as PM said his personal life and obvious mental health issues would have been more major factors.

 

Mate honestly, watch the report, the mental health issues and personal life problems are all CTE related.

I found another proxy where you can insert the link: http://www.uswebproxy.com/

If these two don't work, let me know, I'll find some more options.

 

Yeah, I get that's the aim of the report. You just can't say that absolutely every issue anyone in the NFL has is because of CTE.

 

Nope, I'm not going to say that, with fame comes social and peer pressure. We all can see that with Miley Cyrus nowadays. But in extreme cases the results that PBS have released a resounding. There is a distinct difference between people like Aldon Smith and people like Bevan, one is an addict or rebellious type, the other is in such a dysfunctional state that they kill themselves and others.

Look, I'm a journo, and I know when I'm being manipulated or pushed into a direction through political sway. Yes this is the case in the PBS report, but the Boston University research results and their autopsy on the brains of former NFL players are there. Indisputable but in numbers still meagre. The reporters have tried to get the NFL involved into their reports but their blatant refusal and denial for more than 15 years that concussions could be impairing human bodies later on, have made this issue a very political one. And I for one utterly hate politics.

 

I don't deny that the concussions are a serious issue and the way the NFL has acted for years is disgraceful. Thankfully that appears to be changing. I'm just not too eager to make it a bigger deal than it is - it's a big enough deal in itself. The Jovan Belcher case is very tragic, but I can't help but feel that people like him were bound to be destructive. Let's not forget, Jovan Belcher was very young - his concussion/CTE issues would have been much, much less prevalent than in the likes of Junior Seau.

 

The NFL makes around 8 billion dollars a year and 765 million is a start, as it's 170k a player on average, but as we all know, medical bills in the US can go into millions.

Did the proxy links work btw?

 

Try the links in a different browser as it may be a plugin that might conflict, VLC is prone to do that for example. Or try the Dutch server on hidemyass and ip address.

 

Great start Eli...