I'm really not into it.
The sport looks too insane for me.
However, I was interested to read League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru.
Here is what it is about via Amazon.com:
“PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS DO NOT SUSTAIN FREQUENT REPETITIVE BLOWS TO THE BRAIN ON A REGULAR BASIS.”
So concluded the National Football League in a December 2005 scientific paper on concussions in America’s most popular sport. That judgment, implausible even to a casual fan, also contradicted the opinion of a growing cadre of neuroscientists who worked in vain to convince the NFL that it was facing a deadly new scourge: A chronic brain disease that was driving an alarming number of players -- including some of the all-time greats -- to madness.
League of Denial reveals how the NFL, over a period of nearly two decades, sought to cover up and deny mounting evidence of the connection between football and brain damage.
Comprehensively, and for the first time, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tell the story of a public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields of our 21st century pastime. Everyone knew that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know – and what the league sought to shield from them – is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football; that the very essence of the game could be exposing these players to brain damage.
In a fast-paced narrative that moves between the NFL trenches, America’s research labs and the boardrooms where the NFL went to war against science, League of Denial examines how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research -- a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. It chronicles the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives; and former Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of an unseemly scientific battle between researchers and the NFL. Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents and private emails, this is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it – questions at the heart of crisis that threatens football, from the highest levels all the way down to Pop Warner.
Honestly, reading it made me glad that my son was not interested in football. I would not think a helmet could prevent the crazy blows that sometimes happens in games or in practice.
I found it a shame that the NFL seemed to want to hide injuries from the public and not want to protect their players more. I mean, aren't the players getting paid millions? Wouldn't they want to protect that?
Mind you, I still find our military soldiers to be the true heroes in the world--they are getting shot at and protecting our country--but the football players still deserve to have better protection. It's awful that so many are dealing with multiple concussions.
I found the book well-written and interesting--for those who are avid football fans, they will find it eye-opening.
To learn more about the book and its authors, you can check out the book website.
If you want to buy a copy of League Of Denial you can purchase it from Amazon or other book retailers.
I have a copy of League of Denial that one lucky reader can win!
Giveaway Rules:
--Must live in the US
Mandatory Entry: Tell me who you'd give the book to if you won a copy. Would it be for you or a gift for someone?
I will run this contest until November 9th.
Good luck!
**I was given a free copy of the book to review. My opinions are my own**
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