Chargers Dielman Says His Concussion Wouldn’t Stop Him From Pursuing A Super Bowl Win, And Ring

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Posted on 5th January 2012 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Football has been called a gladiator sport, and it inspires the kind of bravado that San Diego Chargers Kris Dielman recently expressed. 

In an interview with the Associated Press Dielman,  who was benched for 10 games after he sustained a concussion, said he would be willing to risk his health “in pursuit of a Super Bowl ring.”

Read the story and quotes for yourself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/in-wake-of-concussion-chargers-guard-dielman-willing-to-risk-health-in-pursuit-of-ring/2012/01/02/gIQA1EPwWP_story.html

Here is a guy who has two young sons. And even though he sustained a horrible concussion, and there has been a ton of press about the long-term dangers and impact of head injuries, Dielman is still willing to get on the field for that big win. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

The handling of Dielman’s concussion was so appalling that it prompted the National Football League to say that it would give  game officials concussion-awareness training so they will be more adept at gauging when a player has sustained a concussion.

Dielman will have to decide if he wants to retire or return to the gridiron. He still longs to win a Super Bowl.

“I would love a ring,” he told AP. “That’s what I’ve been playing for since I got in. That was my goal, my first year, was to make the team, then to make the practice squad, then to get on the 53 (man roster). The Super Bowl ultimately was the end one. And that’s what everybody’s fighting for.”

Dielman’s remarks were the first he has made to the press since his concussion. So maybe he still isn’t thinking straight. Concussions do that to you.

Dielman got a head the injury Oct. 23 early in a game against the New York Jets, but he continued to play. His concussion wasn’t diagnosed until the game ended, and he had a seizure on the flight home. He was hospitalized.

Dielman says he feels good now. Roughly a week after he was hurt, the NFL directed game officials to keep close watch for concussion symptoms in players.

Dielman admitted that a little ol’ thing like a concussion won’t normally hold him back.

“I’ll play through just about anything and I’ve played through this one and it got me,” AP quoted him as saying. “I’ve made my whole career doing dumb (stuff) like that.”

Dielman will huddle with his family and physicians before he takes his next step.

But despite all this guy has been through, he is still tempted by that missing Super Bowl ring.

“No ring. I’ve only got a wedding ring,” he told AP. “I’ve done the Pro Bowls, I’ve done the contract. I want a Super Bowl. I’m no different than anybody else in San Diego that’s (complaining) and moaning about not being in the Super Bowl.”

Yes, you are different, Kris. You had a concussion that benched you for a long period of time. Wise up. 

 

New York Giants ‘Clarify’ Concussion History Of Tight End Kevin Boss

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Posted on 13th September 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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It looks like some NFL teams will do anything to keep a player on the field — including apparently not being forthcoming  about whether a player sustained a concussion.

The New York Giants organization should be a bit ashamed about their comments — and lack of transparency – last year about tight end Kevin Boss, when it denied that he had sustained a concussion.

The issue came up this week because Boss sustained a concussion playing Sunday against the Panthers, when he was hit as he jumped up to catch a pass. He said he never lost consciousness, but was “woozy for a second.”  

 http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2010/09/william_beatty_requires_foot_s.html

In the story, there was “a Giants’ clarification” regarding Boss’ concussion history with the team. It was a clarification of misinformation, by omisson, from the team itself.    

On Monday Giants Coach Tom Coughlin ‘fessed up, admitting that Boss had gotten a concussion last season. Yet Boss, who also had a concussion in 2008, ”endured multiple hard hits to the head last year but never missed a game because of a concussion,” according to The Ledger. 

Last year, “The team was adamant Boss did not suffer a concussion after getting hit hard (and illegally) in games against Arizona and San Diego. In fact, the Giants’  communications staff released a statement about Boss’ lack of concussion after those hits following a Daily News article in December suggested the Giants weren’t handling Boss with utmost care,” The Ledger reported Monday.

The Giants Monday finally came forth and “clarified” that Boss did in fact sustain a concussion last season, in a Thanksgiving game against the Broncos.  Boss continued to play in that game, and was only diagnosed with a concussion after it was over, the Giants claim. 

“By the time the Giants returned to practice the following week, Boss had been cleared to participate and was therefore not listed in the team’s injury report,” The Ledger reported.

And I guess it would have been asking too much for the Giants to have made Boss’ concussion public back then. 

And what was he doing playing again last season, after getting a concussion, when he’d sustained a concussion in 2008? The impact of concussions is cumulative. The Giants should have been extra careful about his safety last year, especially after the National Football League has come under fire last fall during congressional hearings on football and concussions. 

And now that the Giants have finally gone public about the truth about Boss’ concussion history, that admission “could complicate Boss’ return to the field,” The Ledger said.

It should.

      

 

NFL Owns Up To Long-Term Dangers Of Concussions In New Locker Room Poster

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Posted on 28th July 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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I wonder to what extent the National Football League has really changed its stance on concussions. 

The league, long criticized for downplaying and denying the long-term damage of of concussions, is making a poster for team locker rooms that will spell out rather frankly the dangers of brain injury, according to The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/sports/football/27concussion.html?ref=football

The paper published a picture of the league’s new poster with the story it published Tuesday, which was headlined “NFL Asserts Greater Risks of Head Injury.”

The poster, which The Times says will also be given to players in a brochure form, boldly notes the connection of concussions to depression and the early onset of dementia. It also warns that repeated concussions “can change your life and your family’s life forever,” according to The Times.

And the poster also has photos depicting kids playing sports, reminding the pro players that “other athletes are watching.”

 The idea of  creating the new poster comes from the NFL’s new head, neck and spine medical committee, with the support of league commissioner Roger Goodell, The Times reported.  And the text was written by the medical committee along with the players’ union and the Centers for Disease Control. 

But Times reporter Alan Schwartz also noted that the NFL is still giving former players who have symptoms of early-onset dementia a hard time over disability payments. The older players have been deemed ineligible for the richer disability payments that players with on-field injuries receive.