While the news cycle continues to beat the Deflategate drum, a trailer for Will Smith’s new movie Concussion was released yesterday and it should make the NFL extremely nervous.
Will Smith plays Pittsburgh forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu who IRL discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which results from repeated brain trauma commonly known as CTE. Back in 2002, Omalu was the first to study the brains of deceased football players like Steelers legend Terry Long and found their middle-aged brains looked as if they were 90-years-old suffering from dementia.
Omalu attempted to inform the NFL of his findings several times only to be blackballed by the league in favor of doctors that supported the league’s agenda. The NFL went so far as to discredit Omalu publicly and went so far as to say he was practicing voodoo.
While the league now throws a bunch of money in way of concussion research and attempts to make the game safer, that doesn’t mean the NFL will shine a spotlight on this issue.
Look at the homepage of the NFL’s website or social feeds, you won’t hear a whisper about the movie Concussion. They don’t want you talking about it and some have argued the reason Deflategate has gone on for so long is because no one is talking about concussions anymore. Keep in mind the concussion issue worries a lot of parents. And if they keep their kids from playing football, the long-term viability of the NFL will come into question.
With a final ruling coming down Tuesday on the Deflategate nonsense and Concussion movie releasing in December, the public masses may finally get that honest glimpse into the negative side effects of playing America’s favorite sport.
Unless the NFL appeals whatever Deflategate decision is made to keep the story and your attention focused anywhere else besides concussions.
