Pats' Hernandez arrested at his home

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/hernandez-custory-home-handcuffs-article-1.1382767

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was led out of his house in handcuffs by law enforcement officials Wednesday morning.

Hernandez, 23, has been at the center of a homicide investigation into the death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd. Police twice executed search warrants inside Hernandez's home in the last week, but have been quiet about Hernandez's suspected role in the murder.​

Dave Duerson, Ray Easterling, Junior Seau, Kurt Crain, OJ Murdock, and Jevon Belcher all committed suicide after varying lengths of service in the NFL. Rae Carruth, and Robert Rozier, both former NFL players, are doing life for murder. Now we have Hernandez arrested as a key figure in the murder of another football player, semi-pro player Odin Lloyd.

I'm not an advocate for banning the game of football or anything drastic like that. But maybe the NFL isn't telling us the whole truth about head injuries? Just a thought ...

 

These are the most obvious, headline-grabbing incidents among NFL players. There are thousands of cases of early-onset dementia, memory loss, addiction, and other mental health issues affecting former NFL players. In most cases, the incidents of the various symptoms are anywhere from eight to fifteen years earlier in onset than they are in the average population, with the exception of addictions. Those begin as self-medication for pain relief during the players' careers.

This is not a promotion, on my part, of not taking responsibility for actions. What this is, is a complaint that the NFL knows the extent to which head injuries affect the brain and the body, and they aren't sharing for fear of bringing damage to the game's image. The league has done more head injury research than anyone outside of the United States military. There is evidence that TBI (traumatic brain injury) occurs almost immediately from the first day a young player puts on a helmet and pads. That information needs to be shared so equipment manufacturers can better develop their product so as to protect young men from beginning a lifetime of damage and regret caused by playing a game they love.

 

That's the difference in technique taught over the years. Believe it or not, in the late 60s, we were taught to "spear" the player right in the chest. I stopped doing that my second game at MLB when I sprained my neck trying to bring down a fullback who was about my size.

Hard to believe anyone would be stupid enough to coach that way, or even stupider to do it.

 

Sorry, but I don't agree. When you are playing football, you have been given the absolutely reasonable expectation that the equipment issued to you for protection of your head and extremities is sufficient to do just that. You play for years and then discover the dizzy spells you're having and the memory losses you experience after your playing days are directly related to the failure of that equipment to do the job you were told it was designed to do, you're going to be demanding some answers, and they deserve some.

Certainly injuries are to be expected over the years, but only those injuries that you as a player have been led to believe are unpreventable should be of concern to you. Discovering the equipment is inadequate to protect you, as you had been told it would protect you, is to discover you've either been lied to all these years, or the information given you was misleading because the research that would have verified its veracity is inadequate. Either way, you want answers.

You can argue that point if you wish, but I don't believe you can argue it effectively.

Nonetheless, the issue is going to come up, either post mortum of the investigation, or at trial. I'm simply saying, it warrants some attention.