"Hindsight is 20/20"

"This game has always been violent bruh!"

The ole timers would always say that hindsight is 20/20! What that means is that everything is always clear as a bell after the fact. It's easy to be a detective and see all of the clues leading up to the crime once it's been committed. Grandma used to say, "the best sense is bought sense" that's why they call it wisdom. You don't get it until you've been through something.

That's why I find it amazing that former players are suing the NFL in federal law suits that brain injuries have left them struggling with medical problems years after their playing days have ended. I would think that suits claiming that the NFL hasn't provided enough medical insurance and support to help them in their retirement would be more appropriate.

They maintain the NFL knew as early as the 1920s of the potential for concussions to harm its players. The former players claim a range of medical problems stemming from their playing days, including memory loss, headaches and sleeplessness. They are seeking jury trials and unspecified damages. Are you kidding me?

"The NFL has done everything in its power to hide the issue and mislead players concerning the risks associated with concussions," the players argue in several lawsuits.

The issue of concussions is serious business. However, for former players to sue the NFL for the risk of concussions is like a race car driver suing NASCAR for car accidents. Especially those that played prior to the NFL or the medical community as a whole identifying them as being problematic.

I'm not making light of concussions but it's only been in recent years that the football community as a whole has embraced the fact that the medical diagnosis of concussions were prominent in the game. Back in the day if a kid suffered a major hit they called it "getting your bell rung." Coaches would tell them to sit out a couple of plays and they'll be alright. Cats have always stumbled off of the field seeing stars with dizziness and feeling nauseous. That wasn't just in the NFL bruh! That was happening in Pop Warner as well, especially prior to about 2002!

It wasn't until former players started having medical problems and dying did the football community start looking into the connection seriously. One of my good friends, Tory Epps, who played 6 seasons in the NFL died at 38 years old after complaining for years of continuous headaches just 7 years ago. Was there a connection? I would think so. After Dave Dureson committed suicide and his brain was examined it was shown to have what has been called Concussion Syndrome. Dave knew that he suffered from it but no one took him seriously. However, during the time in which he and my boy Tory played there was a different culture and the medical community wasn't diagnosing concussions in football the way they are now. So to try to sue the league after the fact is ridiculous!

We understand NOW that there is a link between sustaining years of devastating blows to the head and concussions but to sue the league because of it doesn't make sense. That’s like Muhammad Ali suing the WBA because he has Parkinson’s disease. When you signed up for Pop Warner football everyone knew that it was a violent sport at that time.

The older you got the more violent the game became. Even in the violence of guys suffering major injuries we all willingly continued to play. Let's keep it real or all the way 100 which ever comes first! You didn't have to play in the NFL before it got violent bruh. If you don't believe me ask all of those kids that have been paralyzed as a result of playing this game in high school and even those in middle school.

Over the years guys have had extremities shredded, lost consciousness and been paralyzed right before our eyes. The risks have always been there. So to sue the league because you claim that they hid the risks associated with concussions is asinine. The question is, if the league had known then what they know now and had explained to you what the risks were. Would you have turned in your equipment? Probably not bruh!

Boyz have always known that football was a violent sport and all parties understood that the risks of major injuries were out there. Now that it has become proper protocol for the league to diagnose concussions and they have a system in place we can call that progress. The medical community has not only recognized the connection in the NFL but in all sports. My nephew, who as a freshman football player at Ball State last year, was ruled ineligible to participate for the rest of his college career because of multiple concussions. Also my teenaged son was diagnosed with a concussion from an elbow to the head while at basketball practice a few months ago. He wasn't able to resume activities until he passed a concussion test at the team doctor’s office. That's progress bruh!

If the NFL doesn't address the issue of concussions now I think they should be sued. However, you can't go back to 1920 and say that they knew of the risks then. Medicine and technology changes and gets better as more evidence becomes available. Remember what I said about wisdom earlier. These law suits are nothing but a lot of  former players, many of whom that haven't made the best financial decisions, trying to get paid at the league's expense. That's like the prodigal son suing his ole man for giving him his bread too early. No, it's like some one's family trying to sue the automobile industry because they had a loved one die in a car accident in 1970 because they weren't wearing a seat belt. When at that time there wasn't even a seat belt law in existence! Hindsight is and will always be 20/20 bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter:@jaygravesreport