Good morning, it’s Friday, another week done and dusted.
It probably comes as a surprise to no one who has been here a minute that I am not a fan of professional football. I don’t follow the game. I don’t watch the game. I know very little about the game, other than the big stars whose names make it into the mainstream press (hello, Travis Kelce).
I used the word “professional” there as a qualifier, because I do know a little something about college football, thanks to the short time I worked for a midwestern Big 10 school where the sport was a combination of a religion and a cult and, of course, a major money maker.
I learned a lot about the business of college football during that time, and also got tuned into the things that coaches worry about, not the least of which was whether players were healthy enough to actually get on the field. Football is not a gentle sport. Massive men crashing into one another inevitably results in injuries, including the dreaded concussion.
Concussions have been in the news again lately, thanks to Tua Tagovailoa, of the Miami Dolphins, who just this week was placed on injured reserve, sidelined for at least the next four games after suffering a concussion during a collision with Bills safety Damar Hamlin during Miami’s Week 2 loss to Buffalo on Sept 12.
(As an aside, speaking of injuries, if the name “Damar Hamlin” sounds familiar but you can’t place it…he’s the player who went into cardiac arrest in January 2023 after a blow to the chest caused his heart to stop, a condition known as commotio cordis. The result was a near-death experience that required his heart to be re-started while he was on the field).
I’ve hit my head hard a number of times throughout my 52 years, but was I ever officially concussed? Based on the clinical definition of a concussion – a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that occurs when the brain is affected by a blow or jolt to the head or body – I don’t think so.
When a concussion occurs, the brain moves or twists inside the skull, potentially causing brain cell damage and/or chemical changes. Even a single concussion can have long-term effects, including memory loss and concentration problems that last for months or even years, headaches, sleep disruption, difficulty balancing, balance issues and more.
Here’s a complicating factor – once you’ve had a concussion, you’re likelihood of experiencing another increases, and the next time the concussion might be more severe. Each successive concussion is more severe than the last, and raise the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Which brings us back to Tua Tagovailo. The Sept. 12 incident was his fourth diagnosed concussion since 2019 and his third since becoming an NFL player, in 2020, which is raising concerns across the football world that perhaps it’s time for Tagovailo to consider retiring, even though he’s only two games into his fifth season.
Tagovailo is the reason why the NFL updated its concussion protocol back in 2022, with the most notable change being that the diagnosis of “ataxia” (defined as abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination or dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue) was added to the mandatory “no-go” symptoms that determine whether a player re-enters a game.
The NFL has a long and rather sordid history with concussions, about which, if you’re really interested, you can learn quite a bit by watching the controversial 2015 biographical sports drama “Concussion” in which Will Smith plays Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who fights the NFL for trying to suppress his research on CTE suffered by professional football players. (To be clear, a little Googling will demonstrate that there are other movies on the subject, this is just the one I happen to know about).
There has also been quite a bit of reporting on the 2015 landmark so-called “concussion settlement” in which the NFL promised payouts for impacted players. “But strict guidelines, aggressive reviews and a languishing doctors network have led to denials for hundreds of players diagnosed with dementia, including many who died with CTE,” according to a Washington Post investigation.
An American Academy of Neurology study indicated that 40% of retired NFL players portrayed signs of TBI. It’s hard to know exactly which player suffered the most concussions during his career, because tracking that data is a pretty recent phenomenon. But one big name player – Brett Favre – estimated he suffered at least 1,000 concussions over his 20-year NFL career.
Of course, one doesn’t have to be a professional football player to be at risk of suffering a concussion. They are occurring every day across the U.S. in a wide variety of settings. Today is National Concussion Awareness Day, which is recognized each year on the third Friday of September. Learn more about that here, here, and here.
You only get one noggin, folks, and one brain inside it. Protect it! Wear your darn helmets – it’s going to be a great weekend for getting outside, so make sure you have all the right safety gear if you’re planning on biking, skating, scootering, etc.
It will be partly cloudy – but dry – all weekend, with temperatures in the 80s today. Tomorrow and Sunday will be cooler, but still pleasant, with temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s.
In the headlines…
The Israeli military carried out dozens of airstrikes against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah yesterday – one of the most intense waves of bombardment this year.
The military said its air force struck approximately 30 Hezbollah launchers and infrastructure sites, containing approximately 150 launcher barrels, as well as “infrastructure and a weapons storage facility in multiple areas in southern Lebanon”.
The leader of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah accused Israel of breaking “all conventions and laws” and vowed that “retribution will come” after the coordinated explosions of hand-held devices belonging to his fighters that killed at least 37 people.
Taiwan’s government says Taiwan is not the source of components used in the thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday.
The New York Times has its first two polls since last week’s presidential debate: one national poll and one poll of Pennsylvania. Combined, they’re a bit of a puzzle.
Vice President Kamala Harris harnessed the star power of one of her most powerful surrogates to lay out a powerful pitch for her campaign, as she passionately confronted pressing issues during a livestream forum with Oprah Winfrey.
During the “Unite for America” event in Michigan, Harris reflected on the change that Winfrey said she and others had observed in the vice president once she became the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer.
Winfrey was just one of a long list of A-list celebrities boosting Harris yesterday. Actor Bryan Cranston, actress Julia Roberts, actress Meryl Streep, actor Ben Stiller, comedian Chris Rock, actress Tracee Ellis Ross and singer Jennifer Lopez joined via Zoom.
Trump, speaking at a campaign event in Washington centered on denouncing antisemitism in America, said that “if I don’t win this election,” then “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.”
Trump repeated that assertion at a second event, this one focused on Israeli Americans, where he blamed Jews whom he described as “voting for the enemy,” for the hypothetical destruction of Israel that he insisted would happen if he lost in November.
If I do win, Israel will be safe and secure, and we’ll stop the toxic poison of antisemitism,” Trump said, though Harris had the backing of 65% of Jewish voters in a Pew Research Center poll that was conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2.
Springfield, OH, Mayor Rob Rue issued a proclamation yesterday that allows him temporary emergency powers to address safety concerns amid violent threats tied to the baseless claims.
“Ensuring the safety of Springfield’s residents is our top priority,” Rue said in a statement, according to local outlets.
Residents of the Ohio city where Trump has baselessly insisted that Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets expressed concern after he publicly promised to visit them in two weeks.
A star New York Magazine political reporter has been placed on leave after disclosing a personal relationship with the former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a statement posted online, the magazine said its Washington correspondent, Olivia Nuzzi, recently acknowledged to its editors that she had engaged in a relationship “with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while reporting on the campaign.”
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, the Republican nominee for governor who has a history of making inflammatory remarks, once called himself a “black NAZI!” on a pornographic messaging board.
Shortly before the report was published, Robinson issued a video statement vowing to stay in the race and denying having made the statements.
An email address belonging to Robinson was registered on Ashley Madison, a website designed for married people seeking affairs.
Republicans in North Carolina and nationally are assessing the potential fallout for Trump from the bombshell report alleging that Robinson posted disturbing and inflammatory statements on a forum of a pornographic website.
Stocks on Wall Street notched new highs yesterday, after a momentous cut to interest rates from the Federal Reserve invigorated a global market rally.
Mortgage rates dropped again this week, extending a monthslong decline fueled by expectations of a cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, which came into fruition on Wednesday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability rating has sunk lower than Trump’s among likely Empire State voters, a newly released Siena College poll shows.
Only 34% of likely New York voters said they had a favorable opinion of the Democratic governor, compared with 39% for Trump.
The results continued a precipitous trend of flagging support for the governor; last month’s Siena poll had her favorable/unfavorable numbers at 39% to 50%.
Hochul is reminding New Yorkers that Trump’s administration backed legislation capping the State And Local Tax deduction (SALT) after he promised to reinstate the policy at his Long Island rally Wednesday.
Hochul is steering more than $1 million toward a flagging effort to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution — a move that could shore up her party’s chances in key House races.
Hochul doubled down on banning phones in classrooms yesterday — saying kids shouldn’t be distracted by screens during emergencies — after a lockdown at an Upper West Side school left parents railing against her proposal.
One of New York’s most powerful unions has been scheming to benefit from Hochul’s proposed changes to the state’s allegedly fraud-ridden $9 billion home care Medicaid program, sources say.
About $50 million in funding awards will go to support child care facilities across New York, Hochul announced, impacting an estimated 5,500 seats at those facilities.
Over the last decade or so, fatal traffic crashes are on the rise, according to a report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.
A new bill set to be introduced in the state Legislature would cap how much hospital networks can charge for outpatient services and allow patients to sue if that ceiling is superseded.
Federal investigators are reportedly looking into two more prominent figures with ties to Mayor Eric Adams — a close advisor and a monsignor with the Brooklyn Diocese.
All New York City mayors — faced with one of the country’s toughest jobs — fight off scandal and bad press. But perhaps no administration in recent history has faced this much trouble in a single term.
The City Council is trying to pass a law that would repeal a policy from Adams requiring them to fill out a form in order to meet with department heads in his administration.
The official in charge of New York City’s pandemic response, Dr. Jay Varna, participated in sex parties and attended a dance party underneath a Wall Street bank during the height of the pandemic, even as he told New Yorkers to stay home and away from others.
Varna made the confession in secretly-recorded conversations with a so-called undercover operative from conservative podcaster Steven Crowder’s “Mug Club.”
New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services withdrew a contract from a vendor with ties to high-ranking City Hall officials after city Comptroller Brad Lander raised numerous red flags about the potentially favorable deal.
The Big Apple is the most rodent-riddled city in America, according to new data that will hardly surprise New Yorkers, who notice the pests proliferating in parks, playgrounds and subway stations.
Trump’s scheduled campaign trail appearance at a popular Brooklyn kosher deli, Gottlieb’s, a mom-and-pop restaurant known as a staple of Hasidic Williamsburg, was canceled yesterday after the owner died of a heart attack. He was 76.
A vote against unionization at a Trader Joe’s on the Lower East Side was undermined by managers who violated federal labor laws by discouraging workers to join, according to a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board’s Manhattan office.
Under a new labor contract announced yesterday, the Philharmonic’s musicians will get a raise of 30 percent over the next three years, bringing the base salary to $205,000. They will be among the highest paid orchestra musicians in the country.
Pest-control company Terminix ranked the 50 most rodent-infested cities based on what locales use their services most often, with New York coming out on top.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been placed on suicide watch inside the Brooklyn jail where he awaits trial for his alleged sex crimes as the 54-year-old’s mental state is unclear, according to a report.
The rapper being added to the watch is a “preventative measure” days after he was arrested for sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution charges, sources told People.
With an anticipated increase in the cost of state retirement contributions as well as health and liability insurance, the Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi announced that 2025 will be a tight year for the city’s coffers.
A Thai-born chef whose family ran a restaurant in Brooklyn for 15 years has relocated to the Capital Region to open Suwun Thai Home Cooking in the former Cuckoo’s Nest building in the Pine Hills neighborhood.
A black bear apparently had a craving for Panera Bread on Wednesday morning, and an employee caught it on video wandering near the eatery in Latham Farms.
M&Ms has introduced its first new flavor since 2022 and I am SO HERE FOR IT.
Also, former First Lady Michelle Obama was hawking “healthy” soda at a California Costco.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
