By Phil Riske | Managing Editor
As the Valley awaits Super Bowl XLIX with predicted sunny weather, clouds remain over the National Football League (NFL) and its legacy of crippling injuries, along with recent comments by NFL Hall of Famer Mike Ditka.
In an HBO episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” Ditka asked sports reporter Bryant Gumbel if he would want his child to play football.
“I wouldn’t,” Gumbel said. “Would you?”
“Nope,” the former coach and player Ditka replied. “I wouldn’t. And my whole life was football. I think the risk is worse than the reward. I really do.”
A 2014 Bloomberg survey found half of Americans don’t want their kids to play football, and a mere 17 percent said they expect football to be more popular 20 years from now than today.
If football is to remain a favorite American pastime, the NFL must implement substantial protections for current players, along with meaningful remedies and support for former players, says Rose Law Group attorney Jana Weltzin, who represents several former NFL players in a concussion lawsuit.
“If icons, such as Coach Ditka . . . feel the risks outweigh the rewards, then we can only imagine the painful mental and physical status of no-name role and practice players, whose bodies and brains were rattled to their core daily, yet they, have no ability to continue to benefit monetarily from the game, unlike Ditka, who owns multiple sports bar and steakhouses and provides regular commentary for ESPN,” Weltzin said.
HBO reported and Ditka confirmed Chicago Bears players regularly used painkillers and other drugs to play through injuries, much to their detriment later in life.
Former Bear quarterback and current Valley resident Jim McMahon says he suffered a broken neck but played through it because he was never informed of the injury. Instead, he was allegedly given drugs to allow him to keep playing.
McMahon told Gumbel he considered suicide after his retirement and multiple concussions and probably would have killed himself were it not for lack of a gun.
Dave Duerson, a star safety for the 1985 Bears, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2011 after complaining to his family of severe headaches and memory issues, the Chicago Tribune reported.
There were more than 120 concussions in the NFL in 2014.
“Many [players] suffer from crippling depression, coupled with bodies that have been aged way beyond their years, due to lack of treatment of injuries and or drugs to dull the pain . . . so that the NFL could get the most bang for its buck . . .” attorney Weltzin said.
She suggest the non-profit NFL should consider donating what it would pay in taxes to high schools across the nation for safer equipment. “Parents would likely feel more comfortable with their youngsters suiting up for the game if they had the proper gear.” perhaps the NFL
“In order for the NFL to maintain its hold in the hearts of Americans, it needs to refocus its priorities, and protect current and future players and provide for past players,” Weltzin iterated.
