Goodell still dances around CTE issue
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Roger Goodell is an enemy of language. The commissioner of the National Football League has long said things which render the notion of communication — of using words to convey meaning — meaningless. It’s a strategy, and a lifestyle.
But meaningless matters. Last week Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice-president of health and safety, unexpectedly admitted to Congress there was a link between playing football and degenerative brain diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
“The answer to that question is certainly yes,” Miller said, in response to a question from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. Even Miller seemed surprised he said it out loud.
The next day the NFL issued a statement saying Miller’s statement accurately reflected the view of the NFL. And on Wednesday of this week, Goodell, at NFL owner’s meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., was asked about Miller’s admission.
“The most important thing for us is to support the medical and scientists to determine what those connections are,” said Goodell. “We think the statements that have been made through Jeff Miller and others have been consistent with our position over the years.”
Wait a minute. Consistent? With the NFL’s position? At the Super Bowl this year I asked Dr. Mitch Berger, a neurosurgeon and a member of the NFL’s Head, Neck & Spine Committee, where he was on a link between playing football and CTE. Four times I asked, and four times he refused to say there was a link. The third time I asked he said, “We’ve seen evidence anecdotally of a number of players who have come to autopsy who have had the diagnosis made. We’ve also seen a number of players who have done very well. I feel that there is clearly a link to degenerative brain disorders, and tau is one piece of it, but it occurs in all spectrums of life.”
Hold on, I asked, is there a link between football and degenerative brain disorders? Would you say that?
“No,” said Berger. “What I’m saying is that there are football players who have come to autopsy who have found to have changes consistent with CTE. And there are other individuals who come to autopsy without playing football, and they have degenerative changes as well.”
When later asked by Time’s Sean Gregory to clarify, Berger said he believed the word “link” meant 100 per cent incidence rate. He preferred “association,” and even then the closest he would come was, “There’s an association between football, we think, or any traumatic brain injury, and possible long-term effects in terms of neurodegeneration.”
The torture of semantics is consistent, but not the actual position. Here’s what Goodell told Face The Nation’s Bob Schieffer on the morning of the Super Bowl in 2013: SCHIEFFER: For years the league would not acknowledge, really, that there was a connection. You now acknowledge that there is a connection (between football and brain injuries)? GOODELL: Well Bob, again, we’re going to let the medical individuals make those points. We are going to give them the money, advance that science. In the meantime, we have to do everything we can to advance the game and make sure it’s safe.
Miller’s statement was not consistent. Referring to Boston University concussion researcher Dr. Ann McKee, who has found CTE in 90 of 94 NFL brains she has examined, his full quote was, “Well certainly Dr. McKee’s research shows that a number of retired NFL players were diagnosed with CTE, so the answer to that question is certainly yes. But there are a lot of questions that come with that.” Miller seemed flustered on the follow-up, and added, “When we talk about a link, or you talk about the incidence or the prevalence . . . ” before mentioning he was not a doctor, and referring the question further to the medical experts around the table.
This was new. In 2009, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the New York Times, “It’s quite obvious from the medical research that’s been done that concussions can lead to long-term problems.” But until Miller last week, that statement stood alone.
So what is Goodell trying to do? Likely, he’s just echoing what NFL lawyers did in the immediate aftermath of Miller’s comments. Objectors to the concussion deal filed a motion, written by lawyer Steven F. Molo, demanding that CTE be added to the settlement in light of Miller’s comments, and the NFL response cited “Mr. Miller’s comments on the limited knowledge of the ‘incidence or the prevalence’ of CTE (and) the District Court’s express finding that the scientific community indisputably acknowledges that the causes of CTE remain unknown and the subject of extensive medical and scientific research.”
In other words, Mr. Miller is not a doctor, and the science on CTE is not 100 per cent settled, both of which have always been the NFL’s position. The NFL tried to choose what to take and what to throw away, and Goodell repeated it. As Orwell wrote, Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
Words matter, and they especially matter here. In a moment of clarity Jeff Miller told the truth, accidentally or otherwise, and the NFL is still wrestling with it. Of course, asked directly on Wednesday if he believed there was a link between football and CTE, Goodell dodged, once again. That, at least, is consistent. That, at least, hasn’t changed.