It’s pretty rare for the National Football League to dominate the sports headlines in May, especially with basketball and hockey playoffs going on. But last week, two football-related stories broke just hours apart that sent shockwaves through the sports world.
First, it was announced that Jonathan Vilma, a veteran linebacker with the New Orleans Saints, was handed a one-year suspension amidst allegations that he offered large rewards to his teammates to knock opposing quarterbacks out of the game. Then, a report surfaced that Junior Seau, a well-known, recently retired player, had died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Seau was just 43 years old.
What really makes this compelling is that the stories aren’t entirely unrelated. The bounty program that Vilma — along with three of his teammates who received lesser punishments — is accused of participating in has been an ugly scar on the face of the country’s most popular sport for nearly two months. Football is a violent game — no one can deny that, but talk of a program in which veteran players and even coaches offered money to injure other players has opened the floodgates of discussion around whether the league is doing enough to protect the health of its players.
In recent years, data has surfaced linking concussions and violent hits with neurological and psychological effects — among them, depression. NFL players “have a higher rate of depression, substance abuse, and dementia compared to the general population” that is likely “connected to head impacts,” said James Johnston Jr., MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in an ScienceDaily article. “An emerging line of evidence suggests the effects of repeated blows to the head — both concussive and sub-concussive — may be associated with long term cognitive and pathologic changes in athletes who play contact sports.”
Although it is not known whether Seau’s depression was related to the physical effects he suffered during a long football career, it’s certainly raising some eyebrows — particularly since it was just a year ago that another former NFL player took his life. For the league, the timing of the tragic death of such a popular player couldn’t be worse, as it comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by more than 1,000 former players who claim not enough was done to inform them about the dangers of concussions, and not enough is being done to protect current players. What’s more, an increasing number of players — including former New England Patriot Ted Johnson and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Brad Culpepper, among many — are going public with their stories to help bring awareness to the issue.
Now, for the league, it may too late to educate and protect former players who are feeling the long-term effects of concussions, but it isn’t too late to lay down the law when it comes to excessive, intentional violence. Perhaps the one positive in all of this is that the league does appear to be taking the bounty allegations seriously. In addition to the punishments handed down to Saints players, the team’s head coach was suspended for one year and the defensive coordinator is out of the league indefinitely. When faced with accounts and even apparent evidence that money was changing hands to cause injuries to players, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell drew the line and made it clear that these acts are not going to be tolerated.
The same stand has to be taken any time rules are broken; punishments need to be handed down to all of those who were involved, especially those in positions of power. Last week, charges were filed against Shasta Regional Medical Center, where two top executives are being accused of releasing a patient’s data to several hundred hospital employees along with members of the media in an effort to discredit claims she is making. Aside from the fact that this is a clear HIPAA violation, it’s also the type of story that can damage patients’ trust in not just one hospital, but the entire healthcare system.
In the case of Shasta Regional, the executives involved were possibly trying to defend their organization’s reputation, which they are entitled to do. But there is a right way to do that, and it doesn’t involve making a patient’s private information public without her consent.
Leaders are supposed to know better. Leaders should be held to a higher standard, and when their actions cross the line, people need to know that it won’t be tolerated. People need to know that they are being protected.
Share Your Thoughts
You must be logged in to post a comment.