One of the disturbing things about the football games today was an event/occurrence during the Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens game where a player got injured and was down on the field holding his head /helmet obviously in a significant level of incapacitation as a result of a very hard blow to his helmet from a teammate of similar size and stature, vomit visibly present on his face mask, and laying on the turf holding his helmet in a sort of frantic frenzied disorientation accompanied with a seemingly gut wrenching ache similiar in nature to getting kicked in the balls.
The more disturbing thing about the whole incident was how quickly the broadcast cut to a commercial break, and how there was no mention that I heard of him or his condition later on in the game or in the post game broadcast. Not a "he was carried off the field" "he was helped to the sidelines" or "he was escorted to the locker room for examination or treatment", not a mention of anybody being injured, nothing...zilch...nada...
To put this one in perspective for you, ive been watching the NFL on television since I was 6 years old and I just turned 28 recently. I've never seen a hit this hard in a live game accompanied with a player being so incapacitated as a result of the blow to the helmet vs a serious structural injury ie. serious leg injury, accompanied by an nvoluntary response of vomiting immediately after the hit.
So it came to mind that The National Football League may have coercively tried to cover up the severity of this incident and maybe even worse, ignored its occurrence altogether excluding the live broadcast of the play and the instant replay broadcasted on television immediately after including the close-up of the player on the ground close enough to see the vomit emitted from his mouth.
Everybody who saw the film with Will Smith called "Concussion", an expose of the National Football League's history of covering up, silencing, and paying off past and present players who have endured significant brain damage as a result of the impacts endured to their heads while playing in the league, would be or should be acutely or semi aware of the impact that film had not only on their own perceptions of the sport moving forward but also the overall collective perception of the sport nationally and internationally.
Part of the effect its had is already being vividly seen in the NFL's recent marketing campaigns including blatant advertisements touting the implementation of new helmet technologies as if it is all of the sudden relevant, a recent change in the rules regarding tackling forms and methods, and the new slogan appropriated to the advertisements specifically implemented to address this growing concern in the public eye titled "The NFL, Moving Forward". This new slogan and advertising of the measures being taken to make the sport "safer" are espoused as new 21st century advancements in technology and products of the leagues 'newfound demands regarding saftey'. Such technological advancements are made to seem as if they are derived from the good conscientiousness, awareness, and keenness of the NFL, its partners, players, and viewers. However, anybody who saw the movie "Concussion" which debuted in 2015 starring Will Smith" starkly knows and sees otherwise.
The truth is this wasn't so much of an issue of concern with regards to the public's perception of the sport pre 2015. And the almost panic like frenzy the NFL has been in to garner a more responsible image since the movie debuted is unquestionably expedient timing in response to its widespread impact. The movie's expose and unveiling of all that has been going on over the years regarding the level of damage that has been done to player's brains, the level of damage that is ascertainably still being endured to this day, and the lengths for which the NFL association has went through and still may to cover up this information, silence those who have attempted to speak out against the nature of what has been going on in the league, and fervently withheld disclosures of prudent facts and data they hold and have held for decades regarding the level of personal danger current and future players are and/or will be exposed to as a result of playing the sport and more specifically in the National Football League, has definitely skewed anybody's perception of of not only the league, but also themselves, their families, their communities, the fan base as a whole, and the entire sport itself.
All things considered it was not such a big surprise we have seen the campaigns the last few years conveniently timed after the release of the movie. But a little bit more surprising is the more recent seemingly blatant disregard for an occurrence during live television in where the nature of such occurrence is at the heart of what the recent PR campaigns have been poised to address.
Everybody who saw the film with Will Smith called "Concussion", an expose of the National Football League's history of covering up, silencing, and paying off past and present players who have endured significant brain damage as a result of the impacts endured to their heads while playing in the league, would be or should be acutely or semi aware of the impact that film had not only on their own perceptions of the sport moving forward but also the overall collective perception of the sport nationally and internationally.
Part of the effect its had is already being vividly seen in the NFL's recent marketing campaigns including blatant advertisements touting the implementation of new helmet technologies as if it is all of the sudden relevant, a recent change in the rules regarding tackling forms and methods, and the new slogan appropriated to the advertisements specifically implemented to address this growing concern in the public eye titled "The NFL, Moving Forward". This new slogan and advertising of the measures being taken to make the sport "safer" are espoused as new 21st century advancements in technology and products of the leagues 'newfound demands regarding saftey'. Such technological advancements are made to seem as if they are derived from the good conscientiousness, awareness, and keenness of the NFL, its partners, players, and viewers. However, anybody who saw the movie "Concussion" which debuted in 2015 starring Will Smith" starkly knows and sees otherwise.
The truth is this wasn't so much of an issue of concern with regards to the public's perception of the sport pre 2015. And the almost panic like frenzy the NFL has been in to garner a more responsible image since the movie debuted is unquestionably expedient timing in response to its widespread impact. The movie's expose and unveiling of all that has been going on over the years regarding the level of damage that has been done to player's brains, the level of damage that is ascertainably still being endured to this day, and the lengths for which the NFL association has went through and still may to cover up this information, silence those who have attempted to speak out against the nature of what has been going on in the league, and fervently withheld disclosures of prudent facts and data they hold and have held for decades regarding the level of personal danger current and future players are and/or will be exposed to as a result of playing the sport and more specifically in the National Football League, has definitely skewed anybody's perception of of not only the league, but also themselves, their families, their communities, the fan base as a whole, and the entire sport itself.
All things considered it was not such a big surprise we have seen the campaigns the last few years conveniently timed after the release of the movie. But a little bit more surprising is the more recent seemingly blatant disregard for an occurrence during live television in where the nature of such occurrence is at the heart of what the recent PR campaigns have been poised to address.
Maybe their plan is to hush hush the facts, shuue away any reckoning of these events as they unfold on live television in front of millions of people, and continue to tout 'how technology is being advanced to make a safer sport, rules are being implemented to better suit a 21st century level of conscientiousness and moral reptitude with regards to the aftermath of recreational sport violence' as if these actions were born out a spontaneous increase in the injuries occurring in the league, the severity of those injuries, the increasing need to address them, or even worse, their ethical responsibility to do so.
But we all know that if the movie Concussion was even remotely accurate in its depictions, the NFL wasn't and probably still isn't worried about anything other than its public image and corporate profits. If they were not that concerned then this would have came to the forefront of their PR campaigns a long time ago when the evidence was first coming out. (Actually they could have been concerned and may have avoided their upcoming downfall).
Its a lesson for all of us, that human greed can create monstrous atrocities amidst the almighty temptation of a large cash cow and better yet accompanied with the FEAR of that cash cow disappearing.
This why we need to take survival out of this system and make it guaranteed. For as long as the FEAR is there, the human will stop at nothing to destroy itself and others as he/she is being conned into this delusion promulgated this competition forced upon them by virtue of our inability to come to a comon sense agreement about what is best for all and how to implement that.
Amen. God have mercy on us. They know not what they do.
Sources:
Live viewing of the broadcast of The Ravens vs. The Browns on CBS.
"Concussion" fictional film by Peter Landesman featuring Will Smith in the lead role.
Excerpt from Wikipedia about "Concussion"
:
"Concussion is a 2015 American biographicalsports drama film directed and written by Peter Landesman, based on the exposé "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas, published in 2009 by GQ magazine.[ "
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