League of Denial Documentary Notes PDF

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Summary of League of Denial documentary on the NFL's concussion crisis. Discusses the correlation between playing football and the chances of getting Alzheimer's disease...

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League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis Players come down with dementia, Alzheimer’s - Pittsburg Steeler’s Mike Webster -

11 years after retiring, Mike Webster died at age of 50; known as Iron mike; had heart disease; threatened forever how Americans see football

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Omalu medical examiner; trained neuro pathologist; did autopsy; saw effects of 17 years in football; mike looked older than his age, looked beat up, worn out, drained; cracks in feet, looked a lot older; feet were destroyed

o Herniated disc, torn cuff, separated shoulder, cellulitis, heart was enlarged; forehead was fixed to scalp bc of continuous bounding of head into other ppl o Mike’s brain looked normal somehow; omalu was surprised, wanted to study, bc something doesn’t match o Webster’s brain changed the NFL - NFL would not cooperate nor talk to frontline , nonetheless they continued to report the story - Webster’s favorite weapon was his head - When you collide, head is going forward, but brain is hitting up against the end side of his skull - 1991 mike webster left football; hits to head were showing; he was angrier, no patience, moody, no physical stamina; become forgetful; couldn’t get his thoughts together - would be living in pick up truck, unable to sleep, had lot of pain ; homeless, declined - erratic behavior caused damaged brain - tv interviews became impossible -

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1997 went to visit a lawyer to sue NFL for ruining his life; disability claim against the NFL; doctors concluded: football had caused Webster’s dementia NFL’s doctor hired investigator and own doctor to evaluate mike Webster: agrees that football related injury o NFL granted Webster monthly disability payments; football can cause brain disease ; repetitive trauma to head can cause permanent brain injury o Link between football and dementia 2002: Mike Webster passed away Monday night football became entertainment show ; people like the violence of it; biggest cheers are for touchdowns 2nd biggest cheer is for nasty hit o Logo/marketing of football was slamming of 2 helmets There’s a darker side: athletes would fight with doctors, deceive coaches so players could run back into game Dallas quarterback Troy Ikman playing 49ers: took knee to the head; bad concussion couldn’t return to game; reliving conversation over and over; memory relapse 49ers Steve young; 7th concussion; was knocked cold, then walked off field; there’s one place in body that you don’t understand that’s the brain

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Mid 90’s concussion had made front scene in NFL headquarters NFL thought its “Pac Journalism” – there’s no concussion issue NFL created MTBI committee; put a rheumatologist Pellman not a neurologist at main study of NFL doctors; didn’t have adequate background doctors to study; concluded they are not serious injuries; said there’s no direct correlation between collision in football with later on brain issues in life; no long term psychological/cognitive problems in athletes o Can return to play after concussion on same day as injury; making comments that didn’t make sense o NFL committed to writing 16 papers; denied there was risk; established impressive set of findings o ***** was happening at time which Mike Wester’s brain tissue was being examined Collections of proteins in brain tissue; chronic traumatic encephalopathy : progressive neurological disorder Protein depositions that separate in brain; changes the way person behaves, starts destroying integrity of brain cells. Impacts way brain is working, memory, agitation, anger ; submitted for journal ** first hard evidence than playing football can cause brain damage o League officials NFL questioned Omalu’s findings, they publically said he should retract his findings, he’s misunderstanding findings of their paper

2) Terry Long from Pittsburgh Steelers committed suicide by drinking antifreeze; steroid user, financial problems; Omalu ran same tests as Webster and found CTE in brain too ; this was not a statistical anomaly; Omalu submitted another paper to neurosurgery again NFL denied it - if 10% of people perceive football as dangerous sport, thats the end of football

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Change in NFL commissioner Sept 2006 Roger Goodell; replaced Pellman and promoted Casson neurologist that publically denied Omalu’s conclusions; said there was no link NFL convenes a summit in summer of 2007 with doctors/trainers from league teams, even invited outside scientists ; Dr Omalu (neuropathologist) is excluded; Casson claimed only boxers are at risk of CTE Pittsburg stellers doctor Julian Bales partnered with Omalu, Omalu also found CTE in other football players; Playing football can cause permanent brain damage ; Bales was bothered of how steadfast belief nfl had that its not a problem

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Omalu moved to California

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Examination of brain; weigh brain; 2008 Anne Mckee researcher of Alcheimer’s disease; was interested in examining brains of football players; joined team of researchers to build on Omalu’s discovery; colleagues from Boston Univ arrange sending of brains from football players

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Nowinski Harvard tackler; moved to wrestling, had blows to head, began having migraine headaches; motivated him to find brains of football players for Dr. McKey aka

the brain chaser ; asking families to donate brains of a deceased loved one; secured brain of Tampa’s Tom McHale; went to Cornell ; became depressed, addiction to drugs; died of overdose 45 yrs old o McKee wanted to dissect and section brain with splices; taltal protein in all regions of brain; location of brain from CTE -

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Nowinski was determined to get word out and speak up to save lives/prevent damage; took on NFL in public way at 2009 superbowl o Held press conference in Tampa with Dr. McKee where superbowl is about to play out with media of people there waiting for game; o Lisa McHale went public with her husband’s situation ; became advocate for McKee’s research; little media people actually showed up Casson wanted McKee to NFL headquarters to present data; denied everything, pushback from Casson. 2 issues with McKee’s argument; a lot of players have other substance usage, we don’t know concussion history, genetics ; sexism played a role o 1. Causation o 2. Prevalence: how many players Internal research document was leaked to reporter NY Times Alan Schwartz; scientific study of retired NFL players; former NFL players seem to have memory related disorders at a much higher rate than normal people o High rates of depression and dementia; now NFL is denying their own studies; but it was national news now o McKee, wives, daughters or players forced this into public light; coverage sparked Congress’s interest ; put concussions; on trial; analogy of denial from tobacco company to NFL’s denial ; NFL owners as tobacco executives o NFL then announced changing playbook; commissioner embarrassed by congress for this comparison. NEW RULES  Concussion is game ending injury  New doctors on NFL committee  NFL gave 1 million to Boston University for research; league will assist with connecting brain bank for McKee study  NFL is finally admitting it o Found CTe in 19/20 brains

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CASE Owen Thomas Penn State case; 21 year old from age 9 was football, committed suicide, never diagnosed with concussion o Had CTE; had gotten it from sub concussive hits that are part of everyday game; showed how just playing game can be dangerous o Mini concussion are just as dangerous, may be sustaining these hits during course of game ; injury you never feel until its too late

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CASE 18 year old died 10 days after 4th concussion Eric Pelley, played multiple sports; o Cte EVEN in high school athlete

How safe is it for kids to play football? Youth brain is lighter in weight, less inertia, under 14 should be prohibited -Junior Seau NFL suicide: domestic violence, alcoholism; brain became center of research; spent 20 years in league, crashing as linebacker, acknowledged how you have to sacrifice your body - omalu got back into the NFL study Seau’s brain was sent to NIH away from McKee and Omalu; still concluded it was CTE

100/101 cases of CTE, prevalence of cases Committee 12 million dollar NIH to study conclusions gave them NFL withdrew money from stern...