By Julie Buehler
They say knowledge is power.
They say ignorance is bliss.
What they don’t say is what happens when sports fans watch their blissful ignorance of NFL life collide with powerful knowledge of NFL realities.
Last week a law firm founded by Mel Owens, former-first-round-draft-pick-turned-attorney who took on the NFL in thousands of former players worker compensation claims, filed suit that claimed the NFL and NFL team doctors fed players with powerful chemical cocktails that led to long-term disabilities and abused the player’s trust in those doctors to profit off players’ performances at the cost of their health.
News Flash: NFL facilities are registered pharmacies because they hand out so much prescription medication, the DEA has to clear them. This is according to Owens who came on my radio show late last week.
Not News Flash: Players get hurt playing the game of football.
Owens and his team contend that players, as they get hurt, are faced with the dilemma of healing properly with time and sound medical council or pushing their bodies’ limits to get back on the field under the ‘watchful eye’ of team medical council and because of a systemic NFL culture of “Can’t Make The Club In The Tub,” players tend to do the latter, not the former.
It’s not shocking that the lawsuit alleges wide spread pain killer abuse among former and current NFL players. It’s not shocking they allege team doctors being pill-pushers who are eager to mask pain rather than assist healing. And its not shocking 6 plaintiffs that participated in the class-action concussion lawsuit against the NFL are participating in this lawsuit.
But why now? Why are all of these lawsuits being filed in such rapid succession it’s creating a flood of legalese around our much beloved X’s and O’s?
When I asked Owens that very question his answer was illuminating and part of the answer.
He told us that players used to be cut from a team and basically never heard from by other players again. While many think of the NFL as a very closed fraternity, the reality is, it’s only that way for current players. Former players, especially the ones feature in this lawsuit, the ones that played in the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s are often forgotten, and feel isolated.
But then technology came along and social media connected old ties from decades past and players began sharing their stories, happy and horror, and discovered the similarities among treatments.
Owens called it the “cone of silence” that benefited the NFL and allowed improper medical protocol to be the standard while players suffered and teams rolled in the dough.
And while that “cone of silence” does apply to former players, it also applied to the medical community.
Dr. Raj Sinha of Star Orthopedics and host of “The Sports Doctors” on Team 1010 KXPS told me the understanding of concussions was so barbaric 2 decades ago, most would lose their lunch if they understood how scientists procured studies of the human brain.
And the same can be said for pain killers and long-term effects of misuse.
Of course the players and doctors knew they were going down a shaky path by over using pain medication, but could anyone foresee exactly the dire consequences such as kidney failure, stomach cancer, liver disease and more? Those who did, stayed in that “cone of silence” while players popped pills and lived the dream because they either a) didn’t want to get in the way of the player’s dream or, depending on how cynical you want to get, b) didn’t want to get in the way of their dream of being an NFL team doctor and receiving kickbacks from teams, as the lawsuit alleges.
Add to that the culture that football players are supposed to be tough and impervious to pain and the formative years of the NFL were rudimentary, experimental and extraordinarily costly to those who lived it.
And now fans of today’s game are having to reconcile the havoc wreaked on the men who laid the foundation and the understanding that their favorite players could face similar fate in a few decades.
The facts don’t necessarily illustrate that the NFL masterminded this orchestration of exploitation, but rather, perhaps, that it capitalized on our misogynistic culture that silenced men from feeling pain, the lack of medical information, lack of retired player interaction and now, in today’s world of information exchange, we see how much damage that confluence of circumstance created.
This could be a lengthy legal battle and is likely to get dismissed or settle out of court according to the legal experts I’ve spoken to. But the solution is rather simple, although not inexpensive, the NFL needs developmental leagues and bigger rosters, not more games on the schedule.
But as fans become less ignorant to the realities of NFL life, I’m hoping an appreciation for the game’s immensely rich history will be a powerful thing we can all cling to.
Julie Buehler hosts the Coachella Valley’s most popular sports talk radio show, “Buehler’s Day Off” every day from 3-6 on 1010 KXPS, the valley’s all sports station. She’s an avid gym rat, slightly sarcastic and more likely to recite Steve Young’s career passing stats than American Idol winners. Tune in M-F 3-6 pst at www.team1010.com or watch the show on Ustream.
