Why the NFL Fined Jabrill Peppers $24K & Why He Could Win An Appeal

Former Michigan Football stud Peppers is a rookie for the Cleveland Browns and has looked pretty good on the field given the unfortunate circumstances of being on the Cleveland Browns. In Week 12, the Browns played their in-state rival, the Cincinnati Bengals, and because apparently no game in the NFL can finish 60 minutes of play without some controversy, the officials made a controversial call against Peppers when he made quite possibly the best hit of his career to date.

In the fourth quarter, Peppers was flagged and given a penalty for his hit on Bengals wide receiver Josh Malone. The Browns were only down 23-16 when an official threw the flag and announced that Peppers received a personal foul because he made contact with Malone's helmet. The penalty gave the Bengals an automatic first down and moved the ball 15 yards down the field. Just moments later, the Bengals scored a touchdown to seal the deal and defeat the still-winless Browns 30-16.

Where We Are Now: No state law requires baseline testing of high school athletes.

Where We Can Go: Somewhere a lot better than the "now."

Back in 2013, Michigan became the thirty-ninth state to enact legislation governing sports concussions and return to activity. It requires that coaches, employees, and other adults involved in youth sports programs complete online concussion awareness training. It also requires that when an athlete is suspected to have a concussion, that athlete must be removed immediately and can only return with a health professional's written clearance. All states have some form of laws addressing concussions in high school sports, but many are quite feeble because they are reactive rather than proactive. Sports concussion law does improve young athletes' safety, but honestly, more should be done so we can understand brain trauma in sports to better prevent it from happening in the first place.

This is where Michigan may be onto something!

Jaime, High SchoolJaime MiettinenJanuary 21, 2016Concussion, MHSAA, High School Football Comments

Imagining A Society That Enforces A "Legal Age" To Play Contact Sports

The Nigerian medical pioneer who was first to discover the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which has the NFL "balls deep" in anxiety, is in the headlines again for more than just the upcoming movie about his discovery and his clash with the colossal professional football league. Dr. Bennet Omalu published an opinion piece in the New York Times with a quite provocative title comprising of five uncomplicated words that together bring forth a transparent position: "Don't Let Kids Play Football".

To some, this suggestion is sacrilegious. To others, this suggestion is reasonable. Either way, he has the reader hooked because he wants you to detach - just for a moment - the love affair society has with contact sports, most notably football, and consider the parental instincts that science is now beginning to support. Can you imagine a society enforcing a "legal age" to play contact sports?