Goodell defends NFL to Congress about concussions

AP ^ | 10/29/2009 | FREDERIC J. FROMMER and HOWARD FENDRICH

[762X51]

After testifying for several hours on Capitol Hill and defending how the NFL handles current and retired players with head injuries, commissioner Roger Goodell recalled suffering a concussion himself in high school.

Goodell said outside the House Judiciary Committee hearing room Wednesday that he was injured sliding into second base in a baseball game.

"I saw a doctor, but it was briefly, and I don't recall missing any time," he said, contrasting it with how athletes are treated today.

"There's been a cultural change in all the sports," Goodell said. "But in particular, I'm responsible for the NFL, and there's been a significant cultural change in the seriousness of these injuries, and how to treat them. And the fact is, they should be treated on a very conservative, careful basis."

But when Goodell delivered that message at the packed, daylong hearing, several lawmakers challenged him to acknowledge a connection between head injuries on the football field and later brain diseases, which he did not.

Committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., asked Goodell whether he thinks such a link exists. Goodell responded the NFL isn't waiting for that debate to play out and is taking steps to make the game safer.

"I just asked you a simple question. What is the answer?" persisted Conyers.

[762X51]

This is GREAT! Goodell didn't want Rush to have a small piece of the pie but now Maxine Waters is threatening to "look" at their anti-trust exemption. It looks as if Goodell now answers to Maxine Waters, demoting him to Vice Commissioner. This is the same idiot woman that let slip what she really wanted and that was to "nationalize" the oil companies. Guess the NFL will now be the "Nationalized Football League". Couldn't have happened to a better bunch of felons, homo-sympathizers, and liberals!

[Steamburg]

Goodell didn’t do much to enhance the NFL image you might want to look at the testimony on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdCimSglD3c

That is not much of a defense.

[cweese]

Yeah, what was all that fuss about the KC running back making a “gay slur” and getting suspended? What did he say and why is the NFL now courting the sissy lobby??

[kevinm13]

Goodell is slime for the way he treated Rush. I hope Maxine Waters has her way with him.

[izzatzo]

I know not what course others may choose; but, as for me, I’m switching to college games. (Hook’em Horns, Gig’em Aggies, Sic’em Bears, etc.) The college players are paid, too.

[izzatzo]

Maxine Waters! You’re talking a real testicle lockbox there.

[FreedomProtector]

seems like every game I watch now, there is a really nasty helmet to helmet hit, and there is never a call...last weekend I saw a really nasty one where the guys helmet came off and he was knocked out on the ground for a while, another a Steelers safety ran helmet as hard as he could into receivers helmet...no call....someone is going to die before they do anything. 300 pound guys that run 4.6 40’s running their helmets into each other is not cool. They put a ballerina dress on the QBs, but they won't call egregious helmet to helmet hits on defenseless receivers....stupid

[VA_Gentleman]

If you haven’t seen Rep. King take Goodell to the woodshed yesterday about Rush Limbaugh’s interest in becoming a part owner of the St. Louis Rams, you should give it a view. It’s at the top of Rush’s webpage.

[stayathomemom]

I know nothing about football. But it looks like the answer to all of this is a weight limit on all players (F=ma) and lots of Charmin tissue in the helmets.;-)

[clintonh8r]

Unfortunately King didn’t really press Goodell on the matter of the sleazy owners of the Dolphins. Goodell dodged the question and King sort of let him off the hook, saying he’d send Goodell tapes of their performances, as if Goodell shouldn’t have already known about it.

[nascarnation]

The economy is in the tank and we are at risk on foreign fronts and congress is investigating the NFL.
Since congress is controlled by Democrats, this is probably a good diversion for them.

[Dick Bachert]

In the never-ending desire for more bread and circuses, the American sheeple who attend these modern gladitorial contests require more and more vicarious violence and blood.
They can tell you the stats for their favorite teams and players but don’t ask them to tell you the name of their alleged representative in Malfunction Junction.

I’d also remind you that nobody is holding a gun on these guys to suit up and take to the field. They are there voluntarily — for the glory and the dough. That they may wind up with blown knees and can’t walk? No sweat. Some of them wind up vegtables or dead? Not a problem. There are thousands of kids lined up behind them to take their jobs.

Sorry but I just can’t get all worked up about this when the country is circling the drain. It’s a huge distraction from the really important stuff we SHOULD be doing. Like replacing CONGRESS and fumigating the White House.

[FreedomProtector]

most of the time, big hits are probably best analyzed as momemtum problem P = m*v

[clintonh8r]

Rush is discussing this now. What a wimp Goodell is. Pete Rozelle must be spinning in his grave. I have given up being a Dolphin fan since Steve Ross insists on making these scurvy “celebrities” his business partners.