Roger Goodell: Marlboro Man

Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, earned over $29 million in salary and bonuses last year.  The current TV contracts negotiated with NBC, ESPN, CBS, and FOX will guarantee the league's owners over $7 billion to be split amongst themselves.  Remind me again why anyone would possibly doubt Mr Goodell's sincerity when he says that his primary concern is the safety and well being of NFL players?  Remember his quote from the Bob Schieffer interview: In fact, we’re all learning more about brain injuries, and the NFL has led the way,” he declared. “We started a concussion committee back in the mid-90s with the players’ association to study these issues and advance science. We’re obviously now learning more and more, and we’re investing more and more. And I think that’s going to lead to answers, even outside of brain injury, even to brain disease.” What cannot be emphasized enough is that this committee (the Mild Brain Trauma Injury committee) was led not by an independent neurologist or neurosurgeon, but by a salaried rheumatologist named Elliot Pellman.  Now for those unfamiliar with medical terminology, a rheumatologist is a doctor who typically manages auto-immune mediated diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis.  The only logical explanation for appointing a rheumatologist to head your ad hoc head injury committee is to guarantee message control.  They may as well have named a dentist to head the committ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - Category: Surgeons Authors: Source Type: blogs