Friday, January 8, 2016

Put Down Your Pom Poms - Pick Up Your Pens - Report!

With all the news about the risks posed to the brain from concussions and sub-concussive hits received by playing football, when do you suppose a university president or high school administrator will voice concern and take action about a sport that causes brain damage?

When will reporters start questioning their university presidents and high school administrators?

Concussion, a movie starring Will Smith is informing the public for one primary reason:  the press hasn't. With only a few exceptions, local news organizations across the country have ignored an obvious story year after year after year after year.  So has the national press.   It took PBS to do League of Denial because ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox certainly wouldn't want to hurt one of their cash cows.  Who cares if young men's brains pay the price.  Not the networks, not when there's lots of money to be made on America's game.  

When journalism fails, bad things happen.  

If sports reporters actually want to be reporters instead of cheerleaders, they should put down their pom poms, pick up their pens, and go question their university presidents and school administrators about a sport that causes brain damage, a sport where concussions will continue. And as Jason Luckasevic, the attorney who filed the first concussion lawsuit against the NFL, predicts, so will the lawsuits.    Why you ask, when the athlete knows there's a risk of injury, should there be a lawsuit?  Click here and listen to Jason Luckasevic explain.