The Set Up

"Boy that's REALLY gonna hurt in about 20 years bruh!"

The early 21st century author Dashiell Hammett once wrote, “Who shot him? I asked. The grey man scratched the back of his neck and said: Somebody with a gun.” The comedian Steve Martin was very profound when he said, “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” These are both quotes that simply state the obvious bruh! I’m always blown away by folks that think that they’re saying something that is ground breaking but in reality they’re not even close.

This week the results of a study of former NFL players found that they were unusually prone to dying from degenerative brain disease, the latest indication that repeated blows to the head may cause serious trouble. Duh?? It went on to say that Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease combined was about 3 times that of the general population.

Is this really news bruh or thought provoking? All that study did was state the obvious! That’s like doing a study on drive by shootings in the hood and finding that young cats that are gang affiliated are more prone to being shoot and killed in the street by bullets than the general population. While you’re at it do a study on lung disease and report that people that smoke are more susceptible to dying from lung related illness. Also people that drive 100 mph blind folded with no hands are more likely to have an accident than folks that don’t.

My background is in pharmaceutical sales and I decipher clinical studies for a living bruh. The key to reading clinicals is to pay close attention to the set up. Don’t start with the results section of the joint, start with the methods section and then on to the statistical analysis. The results mean absolutely nothing to you until you understand how it was put together. Understanding that first will always explain to you why the results look the way they do. It’s like looking only at Boise State’s record of being 10-0 in past years before you've looked at who they have played. Most importantly, finding out who funded the study will tell you why the results look the way that do too unless it was done independently.

What’s so crazy is that the obvious isn’t so obvious to folks that should know better. I’ve sat in the cut and listened to all kinds of so called sports experts talk about these results like it was a major revelation and that the NFL is in trouble because of them. Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! If you put on a helmet and ran into the side of the house at full speed for let’s say 20 years of your life (Pop Warner thru the NFL). You would more than likely have problems with your brain later in life. If you did drugs for an extended period of time you would be 10 times more likely to have some problems as you got older, if you get older. If you ate candy everyday for 30 years you would be 100 times more likely to have rotten teeth sooner rather than later. We don’t need clinical studies to tell us that bruh!

What cats don’t talk about is the fact that the medical community just recently started diagnosing concussions in all sports but in football more specifically within the last decade. There has been extensive research done lately to understand the correlation between football and head injuries. So it’s asinine for former players, especially those 40 plus, to try to sue the league as a result of problems they are experiencing when there was no data available to suggest the relationship between the two at the time they played. While we're keeping it real, boyz wouldn't have turned in their equipment if some dun had released a study to suggest the correlation 20 years ago anyway. The bread was too good to walk away from! Well let's just say this, it was better than working a real job everyday! That's real talk!!!

If you haven’t read the Hot Joint make sure to pop the link on "Hindsight IS 20/20" that further explains why I believe that boyz are out for a money grab by trying to sue the league. Now that we have the data to suggest what the dangers are and if a kid is sent back onto the playing field, then and only then should the league, school etc. be responsible.

I saw where the Cowboys tight end Jason Witten suffered from a lacerated spleen during the preseason. Earlier this week it was reported that he was willing to sign a waiver to play in the season opener because he hadn’t at that point been cleared by the doctors to play. However, a specialist in New York cleared him at the last minute. What happens if later in life Witten has problems with his spleen? Who would be on the hook for it, Jason or the specialist? Legally the specialist would but Witten put himself in danger by not sitting out and being safe in the first place. However, ole boy will be ready to sue anybody he can in 20 years if that spleen starts acting up. I’m just sayin’!

Holla At Ya Boy!

Jay Graves

Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport