Column

The documentary called “League of Denial” based on a book by two ESPN investigative reporters aired tonight on PBS. The book and documentary give a detailed look at the NFL and the science community’s handling of concussions suffered by NFL players.

I thought the special was very well done and consistent with the many pieces of reporting I’ve read on concussions in the NFL over the years. I’ve been a voracious reader on this topic since I first heard about it back in 2007. There wasn’t much in the doc that I didn’t know aside from the accusations that the league tried to bully Dr. Bennet Omalu into backing down from his initial research he published after studying a former player’s brain.

The rest of the doc wasn’t new to me but I’d imagine it was pretty sensational for those who are new to the topic. To recap for those who didn’t see it, the documentary looked at the efforts to evaluate former players’ brains for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition that causes the brain to deteriorate. The special touched on the late Mike Webster and Junior Seau among other players. Attention was given to how much Webster’s life deteriorated after football due to brain injuries and other issues. 

Appropriately, the documentary also touched on how important it is to talk about the jarring that takes place on every snap and not just the big hits. Dealing with “sub concussive” hits will be the NFL’s biggest challenge going forward now that they’ve begun reducing the amount of big hits in the league via rule changes. 

I’ve said this before but I think that the more the public learns about brain conditions and football the more they will demand the types of changes the league is already trying to make. Making the game safer (or softer, if we must use that word) will be critical to keeping the sport alive for future generations.

I’ve already noticed a chance in folks’ mentalities since a few years ago when the NFL first decided to enforce the pre existing helmet-to-helmet rule. Around the time I started my blog in 2010, I remember my readers and tweeps being livid at the changes and screaming about the game becoming soft of being killed by the commissioner. Rarely do you hear those complaints anymore, thankfully.

I’ve been fully on board with rule changes even as I lament the fines and suspensions defensive players have received in many cases. My personal opinion is that the defenseless receiver and helmet to helmet rules are intentionally impossible to follow. I think that the NFL wants players to voluntarily stop hitting each other before they have to make it rule. Just like the league backdoor’d it’s way into reducing hits on kickoff by moving the line.

All in all, I’m curious to know what folks who may be knew to the concussion subject think? Did this documentary influence the way you view the league and the game? 

P.S.: To watch League of Denial click here. The actual book can be ordered here.

P.S. II For a harrowing but very real and necessary descriptions of life in football read my post on former DT Kris Jenkins. 

One of the goals I had when I started this blog that I don’t think I achieved very well (and other people have echoed this sentiment) is being beginner-friendly. I’ve had quite a few folks tell me that they’ve tried to read the blog and they feel like it’s above their head. And I think they’re right-for the most part, I write from the perspective of someone who’s already up to date on the latest headlines that I then give my opinion about.

So I reached out on twitter to find two women who are watching the NFL for the first time this season. I asked for anyone new, but I knew that women would be a great start 1. Because we’re not ashamed to learn or to say we don’t know something unlike men who are happy to pretend they know everything about sports already 2. Because there are a lot of women who support my blog because I’m a woman and not because they love sports. So why shouldn’t they hear from someone like them?

When I talked to Fawn and Winniek I told them I’d like to get 5 or 6 blogs from them from now until Superbowl. I’m leaving it up to them as far as how to approach what they write about. At the end of their posts I will post a short response to what they write. I hope you all will too. I’m hoping it will be a fun experiment and something I can do next season as well.

A little big about the beautiful ladies:

Winniek is 23 years old and from Georgia. She recently moved to Maryland and says she knows more about basketball than football. I’ve been following her on twitter for a while and she’s very sweet and smart. So I was happy when she volunteered to be a guest blogger.

Fawn is a Jill of many trades. She’s a former music writer, a classically trained dancer and musician, and a general lover of  artistic excellence. She’s been a regular contributor to some of the most popular urban music outlets like Vibe, XXL Magazine and AllHipHop.com. Somehow she also managed to get a law degree in between. Fawn is pretty dynamic and I think you will like her posts. 

with that said…

Click here for Winniek’s first post. “Winniek Tries to Figure out NFL Terms Like NFC.”

Click here for Fawn’s first post. “Fawn Chooses to Root for the New York Giants.”

So the other night, the Houston Astros tweeted about their ladies night and got a huge negative reaction from many women.

9/27 is Ladies Night by @StateFarm! Ladies can learn about baseball, enjoy music, food, drinks & more! For info & tix http://t.co/erBV1YdNbu

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 23, 2013

If you go look at the tweet and the reactions there are many women who are upset by the implication that women don’t know baseball and need to learn it. I also saw many women offended at the very idea of a ladies night (whether learning is involved or not) and some of the common things that happen at such nights (cocktails, pink jerseys, giftbags, team-design manicures etc).

I definitely get why this is a sensitive subject and I’ve written about it many times. In fact, just a few weeks ago, I wrote about how I was going to stop getting riled up when guys troll female sports fans. By now, folks should understand that women are large parts of fan bases and can retain a wealth of knowledge about sports.

Howeverrrrrrrrrr, I can’t get with the anti-ladies night crowd. I LOVE LADIES NIGHTS. I love pink jerseys, and getting balls and logos painted on my nails. I do believe that I am the target audience for a baseball ladies night especially since my baseball knowledge is VERY lacking. I would love to learn more. In fact, I googled to see when Phillies ladies night is and what it entails so that I can make sure to attend one next year.

As far as learning more about the games is concerned, educational opportunities like that are extended to women because women are more open to learning in the first place. Men are largely encouraged to pretend as though they know everything already. If men would attend these kinds of events, I’m sure that teams would hold them. Nubyjas Wilborn pointed out that teams used to hold fantasy camps for guys to come out play but that’s about as educational as you’re going to get men to go. Women on the other hand, are not ashamed to asked questions about sports which is why events like Football Camp For Her exist.

A lot of the reactions I read also alarmed me because it seemed to mirror the whole real fan vs. fake fan dynamic that is very common in male circles. As though a woman (or man, for that matter) can’t attend a sporting event as a casual fan or hell as not as fan at all. The vast majority of sports fans are fairly casual and don’t know their teams or the sport in depth despite what they may say. I don’t think that a woman going to a game or attending a team event means she has to have the roster memorized. Sporting events are entertainment, nothing more. For example, I dislike hockey but if you have a free ticket for me I’ll gas up the pinto and we can be on our way.

Admittedly, I probably don’t take some of this as serious as others. A few months ago I was tweeting about whether or not I should get a Lesean McCoy t shirt or a pink jersey and a woman tweeted me saying they need to end pink jerseys because women don’t need all that girlie crap. She argued that it makes women set apart and that all jerseys should be in the style of the team. And of course I’m all like EXCUSE YOU MADAM! What kind of terrible horrible really bad person doesn’t like pink? I almost reported her to the FBI. #WhoHurtYou

So again, I understand that women are sensitive about how female sports fans are viewed and I admit I can be sensitive too.  But ladies nights are all right with me and I hope teams continue to be inviting to all people whether they be fans or not. After all, their tax payer dollars fund teams whether they attend or not! And if ladies nights aren’t your thing, try to remember that there IS an audience for them and they deserve to attend events as well.

Being able to watch any NFL game I want whenever I want is the Golden Ticket I’m striving to get.

Three weeks into the NFL season and I’m once again frustrated with the fact that I can’t get NFL Ticket. Of course, I wanted to see the Falcons play Miami without having to *redacted* online, but I couldn’t because I don’t have DirecTV. NFL fans know, DirectTV has an exclusive deal with the NFL which keeps NFL ticket from cable providers like Time Warner and Comcast or even fellow satellite companies like Dish network.

According to news outlets this could be coming to an end. Google/YouTube wants to purchase rights to NFL games which would mean more flexibility for people like me. If the deal goes through, NFL games could belong to google next season. Yes, 2014. Forbes also reports that Apple could step up to the plate and get rights so that Apple TV gets a greater share of living rooms across the country.

Obviously, google/you tube has invested a lot into making their company competitive with television. Remember their much promoted effort to invest in channels? They gave creators money to create content that would air at a specific time on a schedule similar to television. That project hasn’t seemed to go as planned and I’m sure that Netflix pouncing on the same market by creating several highly successful shows probably contributed. But mainly people, myself included, prefer to use you tube to see people who CAN’T get on TV rather than people who are already well known. I still am a fan of you tube because that’s where my favorite vloggers give hair tutorials, review reality tv shows and post their dogs doing cute stuff.

But You Tube wants more than that because growth in that audience has probably reached a peak. If Google gets rights to the NFL, the likelihood of getting more folks to use their new chromecast tool and stream shows on you tube would go up. You might not go out of your way to set your television up to get regular television shows but if you have your pick of NFL games it might be the extra boost you need to invest $35 and incorporate google’s technology into your home.

Overall, I don’t see how a partnership between Google and the NFL could be bad for either company. I see only more and more opportunities to make money and to expand the number games watched by fans during the season. However, the whole thing still makes me nervous due to the fact that Google has become less and less consumer friendly as time has gone on. I keep racking my brain to think about what unintended consequences there could be for consumers if this deal goes through.

The only immediate downside I see is for folks from rural areas (like me - I grew up on a farm) may have trouble streaming through Google because broadband in rural areas is still largely GARBAGE. Whatever happens, my house (in DC proper) isn’t DirectTV eligible (long story) so until NFL Ticket is available some other way I will still be complaining and *radacted* online. 

[Source: 7 Reasons for Google to Buy NFL Rights. Forbes]

At least once or twice a week I make it my business to tweet love notes to Juicy J. I’ve always been a fan of his going back to the Three Six Mafia days. Back when he, Gangsta Boo, Crunchy Black, Scarecrow, and DJ Paul used to make horror core music that got banned in  my hometown VA clubs when I was a teen.

Fast forward almost 20 years later (20 years omg!) and Juicy J is still making club music and doing his part to get the strippers paid and the patrons laid. His new album is released this week and I haven’t had a chance to listen yet but from what I’m hearing the album delivers what you expect from a Juicy J work — driving beats, amusing, if not ridiculously trivial, lyrics, and the southern bred rappers usual charisma.

Everything here was plotting along fine until the mainstream white community decided they were as obsessed with asses shaking as black men have been since…well…forever. Now “twerking” is going through the same mainstream commodification that so many other black cultural indicators have experienced. Juicy J has long influenced and capitalized on southern club culture which twerking is a big part of, but stands to gain even more now that it’s in vogue. Mainstream culture is probably going to know Juicy J not as the part of a duo who miraculously won an Oscar for a song featured in the movie Hustle and Flow but as the first rapper that milquetoast-twerker Miley Cyrus first jiggled her bones in front of on stage.

Since booty rocking is now all the rage and Juicy J makes the perfect music to execute it, it make sense that he’d look for a way to market both together. I guess that’s where he got the idea of offering 50K to the woman who twerks the best. On face, there’s nothing wrong with this plan — women have been doing the equivalent of twerking for scholarships for a long time. Every “beauty” pageant is nothing but a woman putting her goodies in front of men for their judgement in return for an opportunity to go to college and learn why the pageant was patriarchal and disgusting.

So no I’m not technically opposed to Juicy J’s scholarship because women have the right to make their own choices. However, Juicy J is a 40 year old man and most of the young ladies who would be pursuing this educational opportunity would be in the 17 or 18 year old range. Yes, I just closed my eyes and pictured Juicy J and his homeboys both real and internet-based poring through thousands of videos of 17 year old girls shaking their asses just for ONE to have a chance at the American Dream and it makes me want to vomit. I guess there’s just not enough women parading themselves around for men for money, and not enough men both enjoying the parade and throwing tomatoes at the performers.

I’m not saying Juicy J should cancel the scholarship I’m just saying it’s pretty fucking gross.

Wtf! im givin back to the community RT @truthminista: @blackfems Women boycott Rapper’s twerking http://t.co/QpJg3cSMzS

— juicy j (@therealjuicyj) September 1, 2013

ummm no.