UNFUNNY BELL RINGING by ST

I'm hearing from fans and reading alot of stuff about football, the NFL front & center right now, and the concussion issue. Ben Rothlisberger suffered one after getting drilled in last week's loss to Kansas City. Arizona's Kurt Warner is listed as questionable, though he practiced today after getting concussed last week in a win against the Rams. Some of the faithful have their hearts in the right place with their concerns, but how many in that group stand up and scream when they see a teeth rattling hit of an opponent. Obviously the technology, equipment and awareness have been upgraded over the years, but at the same time we have machines who are 275-300 pounds who run like the wind and hit like a tank. It's always been a high contact, big time collision game, but 25-30 years ago, the 300 pounders were simply big, not very skilled and athletic. They didn't chase running backs 25-30 yards downfield and bury them into the turf. In case you didn't catch on, the 2 quarterbacks I just mentioned happened to square off in the last Super Bowl. Teams want their guys out there. They're big time commodoties getting paid to produce. At the bottom line, how could you trust a medical professional getting paid by a team who views a player in this manner? I know it's skeptical, but with a basic understanding of how much of a blow you need to take for it to be diagnosed as a concussion, imagine getting back out on the field to play the next week? Yikes!
This topic is not going away. The fact is it's growing legs as the NFL commissioner today announced two doctors who've led the committe on concussions and related problems for 2 years have resigned. One of them, Dr. Casson, is taking heat from the players association and some members of congress for attacking an independent and league sponsored study that connected the lines between an NFL career and a higher risk of dementia and cognitive decline. Came off sounding like a league honk, kind of like Lou Holtz or Beano Cook butt kissing Notre Dame. FYI, I had to do some research to learn what cognitive decline is. Generally associated with aging, it deals with how people remember unrelated things, make comparisons and overall memory strength.
It's rivalry weekend in college football, but you'd hardly know it considering what's NOT at stake. In the Pac 10, we've already had The Big Game with Cal & Stanford. Arizona/Arizona State, The Apple Cup and the So Cal duel with USC & UCLA has no bearing on the conference championship with the Civil War next Thursday holding all the value. In the SEC, the traditional Iron Bowl between Alabama & Auburn was rendered meaningless because the Tide locked up the west weeks ago. In the Big East, it's going to be Cincinatti and Pitt for the conference title and automatic BCS Bowl birth....NEXT WEEK! The Big 10 was settled in Ohio State's favor the Saturday before last against Iowa. Texas had it's spot in the Big 12 championship game iced pretty much when they beat Oklahoma State on Halloween. Clemson's victory against Virginia last week cemented the ACC title matchup between the Tigers & Georgia Tech. Even the Mountain West has been locked down with TCU wiping the floor with Utah 2 Saturdays ago. Okay, one conference title is on the line, but it's not even a game being played on Saturday. If Boise State can handle Nevada on Friday, it's over. Incredible that the Saturday after Thanksgiving has lost so much lustre.