He is guaranteed fawning media coverage
Fox News, on the other hand, considers all this fuss about concussions to be more “political correctness.” Ok…so conservatives just power through their brain damage? It’s only sissies who find CTE to be an obstacle to normal functioning?
Did you know who Ed Cunningham is? Probably not. Cunningham, a college football analyst for ESPN, was unknown to all but hardcore football fans. But by tying himself closely to a politically correct cause – in this case, resigning his position Wednesday, in a protest over concussions in football – he is guaranteed fawning media coverage. The New York Times is leading the Cunningham canonization.
Right? I bet he drinks lattes, and thinks racism is bad. What a pussy.
With the new college football season for most teams starting this weekend, the resignation seems timed for maximum attention. But the politically correct movement seems much more focused on opposing what is uniquely American than where players actually face the greatest risks of concussion.
That’s right! It’s treason, is what it is.
The opinionator, John Lott, goes on to say soccer football is more concussion prone. Then that’s a reason to fix that problem too – it’s not a reason to jeer at the idea that football is dangerous for players.
“Ok…so conservatives just power through their brain damage?”
This could explain continued Republican support for Trump….
The claim does not even seem to be true, per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussions_in_sport – discounting “spring football” (is that anything but football played in spring? – I know and care squat about sports, we think something’s wrong with my Y chromosome…). And even then, that’s with protective headgear standard in football and without it for soccer.
I’ve taken, when I hear “political correctness”, to considering if the supposed political correctness is anything other than informed decency. It usually isn’t, and it isn’t here. Lott is smirking at someone no longer being willing to base a career on a sport in which the guys he gets to know and introduce to millions of fans are bashing their brains in year after year. Congratulations, Lott – you’ve dismissed someone for not being an amoral blood sport enthusiast, and exposed yourself as cherishing that as foundational to patriotism in your America.
Incidentally, Vancouver Pride throwing Cirque de So Gay under the bus does fail the informed decency test: given information and perspective, it turns out that they’re denying Iranian gays a chance to express themselves in a celebration of their selves and a condemnation of oppression back home, by importing an element of that oppression to a gay pride parade in Canada. That’s far beyond the demands of decency, in the wrong direction.
“the resignation seems timed for maximum attention.”
If you want to publicise something you think is causing harm, that’s what you do: that’s the point. I’m sure Fox never times anything for maximum attention.
“But the politically correct movement seems much more focused on opposing what is uniquely American than where players actually face the greatest risks of concussion.”
Well, Cunningham was a FOOTBALL commentator. It would make no sense for him to resign in an attempt to bring attention to a sport or activity with which he was not involved. It would be like a football commentator resigning to protest violence in hockey.He’s trying to save the well being and lives of American athletes. Wouldn’t that be a good thing? He’s pointing out that football is a bloodsport, just one that takes place on a much slower timescale than the gladiatorial games of the Roman Empire.The real problem is the moneyed interests who profit from this, along with the whole concept of “manliness” that is packaged along with it (which can be tied to the problem of sexual assault by football players). Sure car racing has fiery crashes, but that’s when things go wrong, not a part of normal “play” in the sport. Knocking heads together is built into the game itself.
And NFL advertising plays up the violent body slams, the ones that cause the CTE. Apparently that’s what the fans love, so that’s what the league promotes. The ads are shocking to watch.
Jeff, the “protective” head gear is part of the problem. It encourages a heads up tackling style and deliberate head clashing in collisions.
Gotcha. Still – I would think it’d help if practices were held constant. Granted, you’d probably need to have test dummies playing the game rather than human beings to avoid that recklessness out of proportion to what protection the gear offers.
Sea Monster & Jeff, Trevor Noah had a brilliant idea on The Daily Show this week regarding helmets. As Jeff pointed out, sticking a few millimetres of plastic ‘armour’ on somebody’s head tends to give them confidence out of all proportion to the actual protection the helmet provides. Noah’s suggestion was simple and blindingly obvious; if you want to stop players from leading with their heads, take their helmets away.
One only has to look to rugby union, a game big on bodily contact but played without protective gear (save for gumshields) to see how a very physical sport can be played at very little risk as long as the rules are followed. I haven’t seen the results of any studies into this but in Britain there is certainly more media concern over the potential dangers of footballers repeatedly heading the ball during their careers than there is of rugby players becoming brain damaged from the normal course of play.
Acolyte of Sagan, CTE is a big issue in both the Rugby Football codes; particularly the 13 player Rugby League which is played at a faster pace and has a 10 meter defence rule resulting in more momentum and bigger hits.
Both codes have reacted by introducing “head bins” and cognitive testing to avoid second-hit syndrome. League has banned shoulder-only tackles (which were never legal in Union). There has been a spate of professional players retiring in recent years for cognitive health concerns.
I do think, however, that the NFL should have mandated rugby style tackles years ago. Using one’s head as projectile on every play is just stupid. Some NFL team use rugby tackles and win games. Seattle is one them I understand.
As I see it whatever’s legitimate about the “political correctness” trope can be expressed better by the term “overcompensation” (which acknowledges that there is indeed something to compensate for, but some people just go too far, think too simplistically etc.). Recently, however, the phrase seems to have become a shorthand for anything other than cheering for the schoolyard bully and shouting “more blood!”
Sea Monster, thanks for the correction. I don’t particularly follow much sport so only become aware of a lot of stories when they appear in the general news rather than on the back pages or in dedicated sports media. Here in England (specifically*) football gets far greater coverage than either rugby code so it tends to be the football stories I hear.
On a side note, you mentioned the 10 metre defence rule and the subsequent high-impact hits. I used to play Union at county level way back when, and can say from experience that some of the buggers needed far less than a 10 meter run-up to impact with all the force of a raging bull.