Does Absence of Athletic Trainers Constitute Negligence? - Athletic Business

[Illustration by Arnel Reynon]

JACKSONVILLE - It seems like with what we know about the risks inherent in participation in football that this a really silly question to ask. Of course it does. Schools and programs at every level are weighing the economics versus the risks and shamefully are trying to save nickels and dimes while risking the long-term health of kids. 

The fact that the justice system is not stepping in makes the story even more reprehensible. And then we wonder why stories like the loss of life at the University of Maryland's football program happens to say nothing of the overall "toxic culture" that was mentioned there and elsewhere. You can make the argument that all of the toxic stories we hear about in college athletics recently including Michigan State and Penn State earlier, emanate from a system that values nickels and dimes over the health (physical, mental, emotional) of kids. 

Kids are not a commodity. We have to stop treating them as cogs in a machine.

from athleticbusiness.com

https://www.athleticbusiness.com/athlete-safety/does-absence-of-athletic-trainers-constitute-negligence.html

Does Absence of Athletic Trainers Constitute Negligence?

Intercollegiate football is an exciting but violent sport. A school can employ qualified coaches and medical personnel, and use injury waivers to protect itself from liability. However, failure to meet industry standards for student-athlete care will likely bring litigation in the event a player sues over treatment of injuries suffered on the field. This is evident in the ongoing case of Feleccia v. Lackawanna College, 156 A. 3d 1200 – Pa: Superior Court 2017.

The injuries On March 29, 2010, Augustus (Gus) Feleccia and Justin T. Resch participated in a tackling drill during the first day of spring football practice at Lackawanna Junior College in Pennsylvania. Both players were injured during a variation of the Oklahoma drill, during which an offensive player is isolated against a defensive player in a confined space. The offensive player tries to run past the defensive player without being tackled.
The Oklahoma drill is recognized as one of the most violent practice drills, especially the variation used by Lackawanna. This drill emphasizes proper pad level and ball security for the offensive player, and proper block shedding and tackling technique for the defensive player, but often results in a vicious collision.
While involved in this drill, Resch attempted a tackle with his head down and suffered a T-7 vertebral fracture. Normally the football program would have two certified athletic trainers assigned to its practices. However, this session had two non-certified "first responders" instead. Resch was evaluated by a Lackawanna first responder, then was transported by ambulance to a hospital.
The tackling drill continued. Feleccia suffered a "stinger" to his right shoulder during his first tackling attempt. A second Lackawanna first responder told him that he could return to practice once he began feeling better. Feleccia returned, made a tackle with his right shoulder, then suffered a brachial plexus avulsion on his right side.
After the players sued, the trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of the college. This ruling was supported by the fact that the players had signed injury waivers and assumed the risk of injury by participating in the violent sport of football. On appeal, the players asked the court to rule on two issues:
1. Is a Pennsylvania college required to have qualified medical personnel present at intercollegiate athletics events to satisfy a duty of care to the college's student-athletes?
2. Is an exculpatory clause releasing "any and all liability" signed in connection with participation in intercollegiate football enforceable as to negligence?

The issues First, the plaintiffs asked if the college is required to have certified medical personnel at practices. Led by athletic director Kim Mecca, Lackawanna hired Kaitlin Coyne and Alexis Bonisese in August 2009 to serve as certified athletic trainers.
At the time each was hired, neither Coyne nor Bonisese was licensed or credentialed as an athletic trainer. Mecca designated the two as first responders, but they were assigned job responsibilities typically granted to athletic trainers. Moreover, neither Coyne nor Bonisese had earned their athletic training credentials by the time of the athletes' injuries, yet court testimony revealed that Coyne, Bonisese and the football coaching staff represented the first responders as athletic trainers. In addition to being inexperienced and without credentials, the court heard testimony from a former professor and an internship supervisor that expressed concern regarding both Coyne and Bonisese's ability and potential work performance.
The college argued that there is no law in Pennsylvania or standard in the National Junior College Athletic Association requiring that certified athletic trainers be present at practices. The college also contends it did not have sufficient funds to hire qualified athletic trainers. In fact, Lackawanna Junior College president Dr. Ray Angeli said he was unwilling to pay an athletic director a salary higher than that of a first-year professor, but an athletic department budget analysis showed the funds were available.
Next, the plaintiffs questioned the validity of the waiver. To be valid, a waiver must not violate public policy, must be between persons relating entirely to their own private affairs, and each party must be a free bargaining agent. In common terms, a waiver is scrutinized based on its context and its content. The context refers to font size and where the waiver appears — a court may choose not to accept a waiver written in very small type and hidden within a large contract. The content refers to the language itself. The waiver should contain clear language that is easily understood by the participant.
Prior to spring football tryouts, both Feleccia and Resch signed the "Lackawanna College Waiver and Hold Harmless Agreement." Among its provisions, the signer relinquishes the right to sue "for any and all liability." The plaintiffs argued that the language is not clear that Lackawanna's negligent acts are included in the waiver.
Although Resch testified that he understood that the Oklahoma drill might be used during practices, the plaintiffs argued that the requirement to participate in the drill does not include the use of the non-certified first responders. The college still had the duty to use qualified personnel to assess and treat foreseeable injuries to meet a reasonable standard of student-athlete protection, according to the plaintiffs.
Lastly, the plaintiffs argued that the assumption of risk theory does not cover the acts in this case. Generally, the assumption of risk doctrine protects a defendant when a plaintiff encounters a known or obvious danger but voluntarily engages in the activity anyway. The plaintiffs argued that while they may assume the general risks of playing football, they were unaware of Lackawanna's failure to provide qualified athletic trainers. This act could not be considered a known or obvious danger of participating in football.
At the trial court, the defense argued that the assumption of risk doctrine eliminated any duty for the college. The plaintiffs are experienced football players (Feleccia had been playing since age 10, Resch since age six) and acknowledge that football is an inherently dangerous sport in which injuries occur. Neither player testified that they were forced to participate or coerced into participating in the Oklahoma drill.

The outcome The trial court entered a summary judgment for the defense. A summary judgment is appropriate only when the record clearly demonstrates that there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
The appellate court rejected that finding and stated that "colleges are expected to put a priority on the health and safety of their students, especially student-athletes engaged in dangerous sports." The summary judgment was overruled, and the case was remanded back to a trial court for a number of reasons.
Although courts generally accept a waiver for an inherently dangerous activity such as football, this specific waiver was rejected. First, the waiver did not state in clear and unambiguous terms that it would excuse Lackawanna's own negligent behavior.
Next, the waiver cannot be used as a shield against claims of recklessness or gross negligence. The Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965) states that recklessness is an unreasonable act that involves a risk of harm to others that is substantially more than negligent behavior. Thus recklessness is more similar to intentional conduct — which is not absolved via a waiver — than ordinary negligence.
Finally, the court stated the college's hiring and use of Coyne and Bonisese as athletic trainers fell below the applicable standard of care. This conduct should be considered gross negligence or recklessness.
Ultimately this court held that the college owed the players, who had engaged in school-sponsored and supervised intercollegiate athletics, a duty of care. This duty requires qualified medical personnel to assess injuries and adequately provide medical treatment when appropriate.
This case demonstrates that colleges owe a duty of care to student-athletes in terms of their safety and protection. Although a valid waiver may offer a school some protection, a court will also analyze the school's behavior and may determine that behavior to be more than simple negligence and thus allow the case to be heard at trial.

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This article originally appeared in the July|August 2018 issue of Athletic Business with the title "Absence of actual athletic trainers may constitute negligence." Athletic Business is a free magazine for professionals in the athletic, fitness and recreation industry. Click here to subscribe.

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Study: Youth Tackle Football Linked to CTE Symptoms - Athletic Business

I believe that some day in the future folks will look back and say "What the hell were they thinking subjecting kids to that kind of abuse?"


from AthleticBusiness.com
Study: Youth Tackle Football Linked to CTE Symptoms - Athletic Business:

Copyright 2018 The Florida Times-Union

Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)

A new study suggests a strong correlation between the age at which some athletes begin playing tackle football and the onset of behavioral and cognitive problems later in life, findings that become significantly more pronounced for those who take up the sport before age 12.

Researchers concluded that for every year younger an athlete begins to play tackle football, he could experience symptoms associated with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy 2 1/2 years earlier. Those who begin playing before age 12 could start experiencing symptoms more than 13 years earlier.

The study was published Monday in the Annals of Neurology journal and was conducted by researchers with the Boston University School of Medicine and the VA Boston Healthcare System, including some of the leading CTE researchers, such as Dr. Ann McKee, Dr. Robert Stern and Dr. Robert Cantu.

The study comprised 246 deceased football players who had donated their brains to the brain bank run by the VA, Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Of that group, 211 were diagnosed with CTE.

While the research did not find a "statistically significant" connection between the age of first exposure and the severity of CTE later in life, the study says "youth

exposure to tackle football may reduce resiliency to late life neuropathology."

The researchers warned the results might not be representative of the broader population of football players. It did not include a control group and could suffer from ascertainment bias, meaning families might have been more likely to donate a loved one's brain posthumously if they suspected something was amiss.

The study results were not impacted by the level of play and included those who had played football in high school, college and professionally. Researchers found that even the former players who were not diagnosed with CTE experienced an earlier onset of behavioral and cognitive impairments the earlier they took up the sport, "suggesting that the relationship between younger [age of first exposure] to tackle football and longterm neurobehavioral disturbances may not be specific to CTE," the study says.

While CTE, like most neurodegenerative diseases, cannot currently be diagnosed in a living person, the symptoms surface earlier and become more pronounced as the person ages, often in the form of behavioral and mood issues followed by cognitive impairment.

"Youth exposure to repetitive head impacts in tackle football may reduce one's resiliency to brain diseases later in life, including, but not limited to CTE," McKee, the director of Boston University's CTE Center, said in a statement. "It makes common sense that children, whose brains are rapidly developing, should not be hitting their heads hundreds of times per season."

Research on traumatic brain injuries related to sports is a burgeoning field, particularly among youth athletes. Several recent studies have suggested head impacts before the age of 12 can be more damaging than those suffered by athletes who take up the sport later, though some research hasn't found that age of first exposure is necessarily a contributing factor to cognitive functioning later in life.

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Evaluating Player Fatigue with Eye Sync | Concordia University Chicago

This is forward, outside the box thinking. Great stuff!!

I could see baseball teams using this to monitor fatigue from jet lag or just generally for guys who like to "grind it out" and play every day. 

Evaluating Player Fatigue with Eye Sync -:

"With playoffs looming, the Golden State Warriors are taking a proactive approach to diagnosing exhaustion and fatigue in their athletes. To do so, they are utilizing a tool that is primarily used to detect concussions. 

The device is called Eye-Sync, and it’s from SyncThink. Warriors’ Assistant General Manager, Kirk Lacob, and Head of Sports Medicine, Chelsea Lane, teamed up to implement the tool after testing it out themselves. Designed as a virtual reality headset, Eye-Sync uses a 60-second eye-tracking test to detect any visual impairments. For this reason, it is often used to assess concussion symptoms.

However, it’s also able to determine players’ fatigue levels, Using Eye-Sync, Golden State now performs regular screenings on their players to detect for signs of accumulated fatigue, in addition to concussion symptoms.

Lacob views this as an “added bonus” and “very valuable” in preparing for the postseason, according to article from SportTechie.

“What our technology is doing is measuring [the players’ eye movement] and saying, ‘Oh yeah, they’ve improved,’” said Lacob. “Or ‘They’re back in a normal range where their eye signatures have been minimized into a range that tells us that the brain is optimized for performance now and that the effect of fatigue is no longer there.’

“That’ll help us understand what we need to do to reduce stress and fatigue on players over the last month [of the season], and that could affect our ability to push forward or scale back a little bit because our ultimate goal is to be fresh for the playoffs,” Lacob continued."

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Survey: 36 percent of parents would let 10-year-old play football - Coach and Athletic Director

Survey: 36 percent of parents would let 10-year-old play football - Coach and Athletic Director:

A coach who has spent more than a decade in a youth football league outside of Chicago said five years ago 266 kids participated. Today, there’s just 98.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, who discovered the degenerative brain disease CTE, said children should avoid football, ice hockey, rugby, lacrosse and soccer until high school, when the brain is more developed. Even then, contact sports come with great risk, he said.

Today.com’s survey also found that 88 percent of parents worry about concussions if their children participate in contact sports. 

Youth football participation has declined nationwide, but the drop also is an issue at the high school level. Since the 2009-10 school year, the sport has lost 53,663 high school players, but football still remains the most popular boys sport.

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Former NFL WR Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football | Campus Sports Net

That is a strong quote from someone who has been through the trenches at every level. While I am happy in the sense that here is a guy who now says he would have rather have played baseball over football, even though he succeeded at a very high level in football, it's heartbreaking to see what is happening across the country to kids playing a game.

Now when Randle El says he wouldn't be surprised if football isn't around in 20-25 years years, that is bound to get more attention than if I say it. And I have.

"The kids are getting bigger and faster, so the concussions, the severe spinal cord injuries, are only going to get worse," he said. "It's a tough pill to swallow because I love the game of football. But I tell parents, you can have the right helmet, the perfect pads on, and still end up with a paraplegic kid. 

"There's no correcting it. There's no helmet that's going to correct it. There's no teaching that's going to correct it. It just comes down to it's a physically violent game. Football players are in a car wreck every week."

"Right now," he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if football isn't around in 20, 25 years."

It's difficult to foresee a day when that may happen but I guarantee you that people would have said the same thing about boxing in the early 1980's and look at what has transpired since then.

Good for Antwaan Randle El and others for speaking out.  My guess is he would have had a great career in baseball as well. Provided he could hit the slider of course. That one will just crush your psyche though, not your spleen.

from campussports.net
http://m.campussports.net/former-nfl-wr-antwaan-randle-el-regrets-ever-playing-football/

Former NFL WR Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football

Former NFL wide receiver Antwaan Randle El regrets ever playing football after dealing with constant memory loss and barely being able to get down the stairs in his home. Randle El offered further detail to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as part of a Pittsburgh Steelers project, as Randle El spent five seasons with the team over two separate stints.

"I have to come down sideways sometimes, depending on the day," Randle El, 36, said. "Going up is easier actually than coming down."

"I ask my wife things over and over again, and she's like, 'I just told you that,' " Randle El said. "I'll ask her three times the night before and get up in the morning and forget. Stuff like that. I try to chalk it up as I'm busy, I'm doing a lot, but I have to be on my knees praying about it, asking God to allow me to not have these issues and live a long life. I want to see my kids raised up. I want to see my grandkids."

"If I could go back, I wouldn't," he said. "I would play baseball. I got drafted by the Cubs in the 14th round, but I didn't play baseball because of my parents. They made me go to school. Don't get me wrong, I love the game of football. But right now, I could still be playing baseball."

This is certainly heartbreaking to here, as Randle El is not even 40 years old and already dealing with the myriad number of physical problems that so many retired NFL players deal with regularly. Unfortunately, it isn't entirely a surprise.

Keep in mind that on top of high school football and NFL, Randle El played his college ball at Indiana and was not a wide receiver, but a quarterback. In four seasons with the Hoosiers, he threw for 7,469 yards and 42 touchdowns while also accumulating 3,895 yards and 44 scores on the ground. Needless to say, in the hard-hitting Big Ten, he surely took his fair share of punishment as a dual-threat quarterback.

Randle El then went on to play nine NFL seasons with the Steelers and Washington Redskins and take even more punishment as he posted 370 receptions for 4,467 yards and 27 touchdowns while also adding 4,316 yards on special teams.

And Randle El also sees firsthand how much of an effect football has on the younger generations, as he is now the athletic director of the school he founded in the Washington DC suburb of Ashburn, Virginia, Virginia Academy. The school had a football program, but was discontinued after two years for expense reasons. Still, Randle El offered another take.

"The kids are getting bigger and faster, so the concussions, the severe spinal cord injuries, are only going to get worse," he said. "It's a tough pill to swallow because I love the game of football. But I tell parents, you can have the right helmet, the perfect pads on, and still end up with a paraplegic kid. 

"There's no correcting it. There's no helmet that's going to correct it. There's no teaching that's going to correct it. It just comes down to it's a physically violent game. Football players are in a car wreck every week."

"Right now," he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if football isn't around in 20, 25 years."

Either way, no matter how one feels about the sport, Randle El's tale is a cautionary one. If he's only 36 years old and can't even walk down stairs without a struggle, then to say that football doesn't cause long-term injuries is just plain wrong.

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports

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Call me a worry wart all you want...

It was only two days ago that I said this about the potential injury risk to Posey.

http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2015/06/former-giants-prospect-giving-up.html

You can call me a "worry-wart" all you want, I worry about the Giants facing this with Posey some day and with Susac's development, I'm not sure why you continue taking the risk too much longer. 

...and now this.....

from mercurynews.com
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2015/07/01/casilla-serves-up-walk-off-home-run-giants-thoughts-turn-to-posey-after-sudden-defeat-in-miami/

Instead, Heston took no decision. The Gians fell to 37-2 when leading after eight innings. And the immediate concern was Posey, who made a lengthy mound visit after Marcell Ozuna fouled back a curveball in the second inning. The team did not acknowledge whether Posey had concussion symptoms, but they are all too familiar with them. It was here in Miami, in a stadium 25 miles north of Marlins Park, where Mike Matheny played his last major league game after taking an innocent-looking foul off the mask.

I heard a podcast with former player Brian Johnson talking about this very issue (wish I could find the link) and he said the Giants feel that Posey's value as a catcher is worth the risk and how Joe Mauer's numbers as a 1B diminished and made him somehow less valuable to the Twins than if he had remained a C.

Remember Matheny. Sometimes the number go to zero. If you lose Posey's 20-90-.300 slash line from your lineup entirely because you're trying to protect the incremental advantage of him being a premium bat at the catcher position versus a "dime a dozen" bat from a productivity standpoint plus whatever his pitch calling and framing gives you, then you are taking a serious gamble with the future of the franchise.

The Giants have dodged some bullets in the past and some have found their mark (remember why the Posey Rule was implemented). I'm just saying if Susac is a valid alternative, this debate can be re-visited on an annual basis as far as I'm concerned.  

from grantland.com
http://grantland.com/features/mlb-catcher-concussions-home-plate-collisions-rule/

 In September 2011, Tigers catcher Alex Avila was hit so hard by a foul tip that his mask produced sparks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SswaGjRtB24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuaMMkiwPcU

Both on the broadcast and in the stadium, the sparks were treated like slapstick, a chance for a little light humor. An announcer chuckled; the PA played “Ring My Bell.” Now, it’s hard to watch that video without wondering whether Avila’s brain smacked against his skull when those sparks were produced.1

Former Giants Prospect Giving Up Catching Over Health Risks

Tommy Joseph was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft.(USATSI)

You can call me a "worry-wart" all you want, I worry about the Giants facing this with Posey some day and with Susac's development, I'm not sure why you continue taking the risk too much longer. 

from Bleacher Report:

Former Giants Prospect Giving Up Catching Over Health Risks:

The Phillies have lost a catching prospect, but possibly gained a first base prospect.

After suffering several concussions behind the plate, Tommy Joseph is officially being converted from catcher to first base. He began working out at the position on Saturday.

“He’s not going to catch going forward,” said Joe Jordan, the team’s director of player development. “We’re not going to expose him to that type of risk.

“Tommy is very excited about the move and anxious to get back on the field playing again.”

Joseph, 23, is a former second-round pick of the San Francisco Giants. He joined the Phillies in the summer of 2012 as the centerpiece in the trade that sent Hunter Pence to the Giants. Joseph immediately became the Phillies’ top catching prospect, but a concussion and a wrist injury that required surgery limited his playing time the last two seasons.

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Grow: Imagining an MLB concussion lawsuit | SABR

Get used to the term "guardian of player safety". It could be coming to a courtroom near you and will include MLB and more importantly youth sports leagues according to the article.  Between lawyers and insurance companies, nothing brings fundamental change to a sports landscape quicker than a major court decision.

Something to keep an eye on. One thing is for sure, it will not drive the cost to participate or attend any of the sports down.

from SABR.org
Grow: Imagining an MLB concussion lawsuit | SABR:

Grow: Imagining an MLB concussion lawsuit
From SABR member Nathaniel Grow at FanGraphs on February 18, 2015:

You may have heard that football is in the midst of a bit of a concussion crisis. Not only is the National Football League facing a number of concussion-related lawsuits, but suits have been filed at the collegiate, high school, and Pop Warner levels as well. Meanwhile, both professional hockey and soccer are also facing their own concussion litigation.

Like football, hockey, and soccer, baseball is also – at times – a contact sport, and baseball players occasionally suffer concussions. In 2013, for instance, former outfielder Ryan Freel became the first professional baseball player to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – the brain disease often associated with professional football players – following a career during which he reportedly suffered nine or ten concussions.

So it is reasonable to ask whether Major League Baseball could be the next league to face a concussion-related lawsuit, and if so, how such a case would compare to those in the other sports?

Read the full article here:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/imagining-an-mlb-concussion-lawsuit/

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First, a bit of legal background. The pending lawsuits against the NFL and National Hockey League are based on the idea that both leagues voluntarily assumed the role of “guardian of player safety,” and therefore owed their players a legal duty of care. This duty of care, the lawsuits assert, required the leagues to not only take reasonable precautions to protect their players from injury, but also required them to inform their players of any known dangers related to their sport.

Concussions Derail Batting Performance for MLB Players -- University of Rochester Medical Center

At least now I will feel like I'm in good company when I feel the need to repeat myself. Before I read this I felt like I was just banging my head against a proverbial wall in some perverse way hoping that I would feel better when I stopped. 

Ben Carlson, CFA, who writes for A Wealth of Common Sense, referenced a financial advice quote from Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal that sums up what investors should be thinking in these volatile times.

"I was once asked, at a journalism conference, how I defined my job. I said: My job is to write the exact same thing between 50 and 100 times a year in such a way that neither my editors nor my readers will ever think I am repeating myself."

"That's because good advice rarely changes, while markets change constantly. The temptation to pander is almost irresistible. And while people need good advice, what they want is advice that sounds good."

Now I feel more like a professional journalist. Perhaps I should start getting paid for this. 

• The following study demonstrates why you will continue to see the "Buster Posey moves to 3B" conversation continue to be pervasive among Giants fans and bloggers regardless of what Brian Sabean says.

• The following study demonstrates why you will continue to see the "Buster Posey moves to 3B" conversation continue to be pervasive among Giants fans and bloggers regardless of what Brian Sabean says.

Concussions Derail Batting Performance for MLB Players - News Room - University of Rochester Medical Center:

"The message, “when in doubt, sit it out” flashed on video boards throughout the World Series, with good timing: A new analysis of Major League Baseball statistics shows that concussed players may not be fully recovered when they’re cleared to return to the batting lineup.

A University of Rochester study looked at MLB players who suffered a concussion between 2007 and 2013. Researchers found that during their first two weeks back, the concussed players’ batting performances were significantly worse than another group of players who were rusty because of being away for paternity or bereavement leave during the same period.

Lead author Erin Wasserman presented the data at the 142nd annual meeting of the American Public Health Association on Nov. 19, 2014, in New Orleans. Wasserman is an epidemiology doctoral student in the Department of Public Health Sciences at UR specializing in concussion research.

Brain injuries are most often associated with contact sports, but they are prevalent in baseball, too. During the World Series last month, head injuries affected two San Francisco players, one of whom was not able to play due to his concussion. At the high school and college levels, baseball concussions are rising at a rate of about 14 percent a year, researchers said.

In the MLB study, players returning after a concussion had lower batting averages (.234 versus .264); lower slugging percentages (.359 versus .420); and lower on-base plus slugging percentages (.654 versus .747) compared to players returning from bereavement or paternity leave, researchers reported.

“Although players who sustain a concussion may be symptom-free and cleared by MLB protocol to return to play, the residual effects of concussion on the complex motor skills required for batting may still be a problem,” said Principal Investigator Jeffrey J. Bazarian, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Emergency Medicine at the UR School of Medicine and Dentistry, and a national expert in sports head injuries.

When a batter is at the plate, the brain and its neural networks must be in top form to master hand-eye coordination, intense visual acuity, fast reaction time, postural stability and balance, and swing control in just 400 milliseconds – the estimated time it takes most balls to pass from pitcher to batter, Bazarian said.

After a concussion, brain function can be impaired for weeks or months resulting in symptoms such as slowed thinking or response speed, and poor concentration. Understanding the impact of concussions on batting performance can help to inform decisions about when to return to the lineup, the study said.

Concussions account for about 2 percent of all injuries that result in loss of playing time, behind strains and contusions as the most common MLB injuries.

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Umpire concussions and working the slot

I had a discussion with one of my umpire buddies at a clinic once and he told me that rather than work the slot, he uses the catcher as a shield and follows him. I told him he was going to get hit by foul tips -- a LOT and HARD!! He said he never gets hit. I called BS!! It's nice to know I have a documented study to fall back on instead of relying on just empirical evidence and my own experience.

Major league did a study on foul balls and the probability of the umpire getting hit by the ball. They designated certain areas as "hot" zones for potential concussions from foul tips. MLB defines the zones as Green Zone, Yellow Zone and Red zone (or Danger Zone). 

The study illustrates why it is safer for umpires to work the slot. The probability of getting hit by a foul ball increases the more you move from the slot. 

If you are an umpire that likes to set up directly behind the catcher, you stand a greater chance of receiving a blow by a foul ball if you follow him when he moves. The same is true for the umpire that moves with the catcher when he sets up outside. The more the catcher moves toward the outside corner the greater chance the umpire has to get hit. 

President Barack Obama not sure he'd allow a son to play football - ESPNK

This is going to surprise some, but I think he's got a valid point here. It is a really, really tough call here.

Sure, this all sounded like so much crazy talk when I was saying it (OK, me and maybe Terry Bradshaw). Now when the chorus echoes around the Oval Office and the Super Bowl media sound bytes, the talk might get some of the respect that it's due. Think it through though chief, you kill youth football, HS football and college football and what kind of NFL are you going to have? Bernard Pollard thinks it's bad now...


from ESPN:
President Barack Obama not sure he'd allow a son to play football - ESPN:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says he's a football fan but that if he had a son, considering the impact the game has on its players, he would think long and hard before allowing his son to play.

Obama tells The New Republic that football fans are going to have to wrestle with the fact that the game will probably change over time to try to reduce the violence.

 Obama says he worries more about college players than those in the NFL because the pros have a union, are well-paid and are grown men.

 "They can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies," Obama said of NFL players. "You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about."

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from ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/8889447/bernard-pollard-baltimore-ravens-nfl-not-exist-30-years

The hard-hitting Baltimore Ravens safety toldCBSSports.com recently that he doesn't believe the league will be in existence in 30 years because of rules changes instituted in an effort to make the game safer, and the chance a player might die on the field as players continue to get stronger and faster.

"Thirty years from now, I don't think it will be in existence. I could be wrong. It's just my opinion, but I think with the direction things are going -- where [NFL rules makers] want to lighten up, and they're throwing flags and everything else -- there's going to come a point where fans are going to get fed up with it," he told the website.

"Guys are getting fined, and they're talking about, 'Let's take away the strike zone' and 'Take the pads off' or 'Take the helmets off.' It's going to be a thing where fans aren't going to want to watch it anymore."

You're welcome, boys.

I could go into how this is all a European, socialist plot to elevate what we call soccer and what the rest of the world erroneously calls football, but quite frankly, people are so thin-skinned and hyper-sensitive about anything that smacks of political speech, that I'm just not going to do it.

And you can't make me.

Starting to get serious now. Once the concussion lawsuits start hitting the below college levels, it's going to be 'Katy bar the door'.

NFL great Junior Seau had brain disease CTE when he committed suicide | Fox News

It's no longer simply a football problem or a boxing problem, this is rapidly becoming a national public health problem that we simply have to get a grip on.

The news surrounding the suicide of former major leaguer Ryan Freel indicates that he may have suffered from depression brought on by concussions he incurred (and may have ignored or downplayed due to the "warrior mentality") while playing baseball. The details from the article below are disturbing on many levels.

If you think about the recent questions arising from the rising suicide rates among active military personnel and read some of the signs and symptoms of CTE (below , a possible link could be made between head trauma, CTE and the rise in suicides among soldiers as well. Why the recent uptick? It would seem as if warfare has always been noisy and concussive, but what are we doing recently that is leaving soldiers less protected and more at risk than in the past?

Here is where the National Institute of Health and other public health agencies need to step up their efforts and figure out what needs to be done to address these problems.


From foxnews.com:
NFL great Junior Seau had brain disease CTE when he committed suicide | Fox News:

 ""You can't deny it exists, and it is hard to deny there is a link between head trauma and CTE. There's such strong evidence correlating head trauma and collisions and CTE."

Tyler Seau played American football through high school and for two years in college. He says he has no symptoms of any brain trauma.

Gina Seau's son, Jake, in high school, played for two seasons, but has switched to lacrosse. Her 12-year-old son, Hunter, has shown no interest in playing American football.

"That's fine with me," she said."

Junior Seau, one of the NFL's best and fiercest players for nearly two decades, had a degenerative brain disease when he committed suicide last May, the National Institutes of Health told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Results of an NIH study of Seau's brain revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The NIH, based in Bethesda, Maryland, conducted a study of three unidentified brains, one of which was Seau's. It said the findings on Seau were similar to autopsies of people "with exposure to repetitive head injuries."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/01/10/ap-newsbreak-junior-seau-had-brain-disease-cte-when-committed-suicide/?test=latestnews#ixzz2HaKFuPqz

'via Blog this'



From SBnation.com
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2013/1/3/3829070/ryan-freel-suicide-mlb-concussions

Last weekend, ex-major leaguer Ryan Freel committed suicide. Since, it's been reported that Freel suffered a number of concussions in his life, with perhaps 10 coming during his baseball career. Monday, the Times reported that Freel's parents have asked that Freel's brain be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy(C.T.E.) ...

Testing of brain samples drawn from deceased former players by the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy has found that 33 from the N.F.L., along with 17 who competed at other levels, suffered from C.T.E.

With Freel, the center enters the realm of baseball, a sport not usually associated with head trauma. His parents approved the donation of tissue to search for evidence of C.T.E., which might partly explain his decline as a consequence of the injuries.

"I’m very hopeful," [Free's mother] Christie Moore Freel said. "We certainly believe there is some sort of connection."

--snip--

Freel’s former wife said she found no fault with his teams or their medical staffs, concluding that they diagnosed his condition properly and insisted that he abide by the stipulated recovery period.

"He used to get angry at them, wanting to come back sooner than what they recommended," she said.

A collision with a Cincinnati Reds teammate resulted in 30 missed games because of a concussion that was accompanied by memory loss.

From wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease, usually diagnosed post-mortem in individuals with a history of multiple concussions and other forms of head injury. A variant of the condition, dementia pugilistica (DP), is primarily associated with boxing. CTE has been most commonly found in professional athletes participating in American football, ice hockey, professional wrestling and other contact sports who have experienced head trauma. It has also been found in soldiers exposed to a blast or a concussive injury,^[1] in both cases resulting in characteristic degeneration of brain tissue and the accumulation of tau protein. Individuals with CTE may show symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion anddepression, which may appear within months of the trauma or many decades later.

Repeated concussions and injuries less serious than concussions ("sub-concussions") incurred during the play of contact sports over a long period can result in CTE. The brain changes in CTE and DP are similar and are delayed effects of repeated concussions and sub-concussions of the brain. In the case of blast injury, a single exposure to a blast and the subsequent violent movement of the head in the blast wind can cause the condition.^[1]

Epidemiology

CTE is a neurological degenerative disease found in individuals who have been subjected to repetitive traumatic head injuries^[2] by way of the acceleration and deceleration of the head on impact and the subsequent damage to axons. Other risk factors are possible but have not yet been reported, due to the biased donated brain bank at the Boston University School of Medicine and elsewhere, which consists mostly of the brains of athletes with a history of professional participation in contact sports.^[3] Professional level athletes are the largest demographic to suffer from CTE due to frequent concussions from play in contact-sport. These contact-sports include American football, ice hockey, rugby, boxing, and wrestling.^[4] Other individuals that have been diagnosed with CTE were involved in military service, had a previous history of chronic seizures and or were involved in activities resulting in head-banging.^[5] Reports of CTE have steadily increased in younger athletes, most likely due to athletes becoming bigger and stronger producing greater magnitudes of force in collision.^[4]

[edit]Pathology

The primary physical manifestations of CTE include a reduction in brain weight, associated with atrophy of the frontal and temporal cortices and medial temporal lobe. The lateral ventricles and the third ventricles are often enlarged, with rare instances of dilation of the fourth ventricle.^[6] Other physical manifestations of CTE include pallor of the substantia nigra and locus ceruleus, atrophy of the olfactory bulbs, thalamus, mammillary bodies, brainstem and cerebellum. As CTE progresses, there may be marked atrophy of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and amygdala.^[2]

On a microscopic scale the pathology includes neuronal loss, tau deposition,TAR DNA-binding Protein 43 (TDP 43)^[7] beta-amyloid deposition, white matter changes, and other abnormalities. The tau deposition occurs as dense neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), neurites, and glial tangles, which are made up of astrocytes and other glial cells ^[6] Beta-amyloid deposition is an inconstant feature of CTE.

A small group of individuals with CTE have chronic traumatic encephalomyopathy (CTEM), characterized by motor neuron disease symptoms and mimics Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) orLou Gehrig’s disease. Progressive muscle weakness and balance and gait problems seem to be early signs of CTEM.^[6]