NFL’s defence takes big hit

Official makes gaffe: He tells the truth

Items that may grow up to be columns, Vol. XVIII, Chapter 6: We’re talking concussions today, so do up your chinstraps.

Slip of the tongue Wonder if Jeff Miller, the National Football League’s senior VP of health and safety, is already in NFL custody, his mouth duct- t aped shut, headed for a cat-o’-nine-tails lashing by commissioner Roger Goodell, possibly at Guantanamo?

Did he really admit, in public, that an established link exists between football and the degenerative brain disease CTE, which has been found in the brains of 90 of 94 deceased NFL players examined by Boston University neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee?

“The answer to that question is certainly yes,” Miller said Monday, when pinned down by Rep. Janice Schakowsky during a round-table discussion on concussions convened by a U. S. congressional committee.

OOPS! HE MEANT TO SAY: The NFL quickly issued a backtracking statement, couching Miller’s stunning admission in the “more information needed” terms the league has adopted for the last six years (and which NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has parroted).

But once on the record, Miller could hardly unsay what he said, and Tuesday league spokesman Brian McCarthy provided a statement to the Washington Post that said: “The comments made by Jeff Miller yesterday ac- curately reflect the view of the NFL.”

Miller’s words may put the NFL on the hook, though, and the NHL, too, if it is forced to give up its “Gosh, we just don’t know enough about that yet” stance.

DENY, DENY, DENY: Prior to Super Bowl 50, Dr. Mitch Berger of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee unequivocally rejected the existence of a clear football-CTE link.

And last year, when asked the CTE question after the death of former NHL player Steve Montador, Bettman famously declared:

“From a medical science standpoint, there is no evi- dence yet that one necessarily leads to the other. I know there are a lot of theories, but if you ask people who study it, they tell you there is no statistical correlation that can definitively make that conclusion.”

TO THE MATTRESSES, BOYS: Both the NFL and NHL — and now the Canadian Football League, as well — are being sued by groups of former players seeking damages for head trauma and lasting post- concussion ailments (including CTE, which can only be found posthumously). In general, their claims are that those leagues failed to warn players of the dangers, or did not properly treat their concussions.

Hundreds of millions of dollars could be at stake.

UNDENIABLE: Dr. McKee’s brain studies already have active players of any number of sports wondering if they are walking around with degenerative damage caused by concussions, and the leagues are desperate to prevent an exodus of kids participating in contact sports, with many parents already deciding to hold their children out.

“I unequivocally think there’s a link between playing football and CTE,” McKee said. “… The fact that over five years I’ve been able to accumulate this number of cases in football players, it cannot be rare. In fact, I think we are going to be surprised at how common it is.”

TELL IT TO THE UNION: Meanwhile, B. C. Supreme Court Judge Christopher Hinkson ruled retired star receiver Arland Bruce III’s concussion lawsuit against the B.C. Lions, Montreal Alouettes and former commissioner Mark Cohon belongs in arbitration because the CFL Players Association is the exclusive bargaining agent for players, and therefore Bruce’s claims should be presented in the form of a grievance, per the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

That looks like a victory for the league, but it may be temporary. Bruce’s lawyer, Robyn Wishart — who also represents claimants ( seven named, so far) in a separate class- action lawsuit against the CFL — told the Ottawa Citizen’s Gord Holder that she plans to appeal. Wishart noted the CBA doesn’t relieve clubs from longterm injury costs if they are caused by negligence.

WIDEMAN REDUX: Further to arbitrator James Oldham’s decision last week to cut Calgary Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman’s 20- game suspension in half … If Oldham based that decision on the league’s failure to show that Wideman meant to injure linesman Don Henderson, that’s probably fair. Wideman clearly intended to hit him, but who knew Henderson would be concussed?

If Wideman’s hit results in Henderson being unable to resume his career, a civil suit might well be the linesman’s next avenue. That’s all for today’s headaches.