Anybody who watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Carolina Panthers last Sunday got to see one of the more egregious fouls in recent NFL history. With only 0:10 left to go in the first half, Carolina punted to Tampa Bay for what was supposed to be an otherwise normal return. What happened, however, was anything but.
As Tampa Bay receiver Clifton Smith waited for the ball to land in his arms, he was leveled by a flying tackle to the head courtesy of Panthers safety Dante Wesley. To say this was a cheap shot grossly understates the term “cheap shot,” as the ball was nowhere near landing in Smith’s hands when he was hit. In fact, when you watch the video of the whole thing, it is clear that by the time Wesley had launched off the ground at Smith, Smith still did not have the ball.
The impact knocked Smith out cold for a good minute before he managed to get back to his feet and was taken off the field. As for Wesley, he was disqualified for the rest of the game and he was also later suspended by the NFL for another game.
This all comes at a time when the NFL is already under pressure to address concerns that the constant head impacts experienced by football players – even those at the college and high school level – are causing brain damage that can lead to early onset dementia, depression and suicide.
Be sure to check out the December issue of Risk Management, when we discuss this topic more fully in an article written by Emily Holbrook. In the meantime, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an outstanding article on this in The New Yorker that is not to be missed. Clearly, the issue of player head trauma has only a little emerging science behind it. But the science that is there suggests that the NFL, along with college and high school football, has a potentially game-breaking liability issue on its hands.
Very interesting, and thanks for the link on the Gladwell article. It was outstanding!
The blog is great– it looks very pretty and you guys put up interesting content. Keep it up, I dig it!
There was another story about this from the New York Times today on the same topic. It mainly focused on the risks to college players, but really we’re talking about the same long-term liability here: the seemingly inevitable consequence of substantial brain damage occurring to people who routinely sustain small to medium-intensity impacts to their head. Namely, football players.
Here’s a link to the NYT story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/sports/ncaafootball/22concussions.html.
In the meantime, I’m going to be thankful that both of my children have expressed an interest in soccer. And it pains me to say that, BTW, since I really do love football. It’s hard to reconcile that enthusiasm with the thought of what the cost of this great game may really be.