Quickie: An unexpected turn

Well, this is unexpected.

So, the governing body for the state's high school sports passed a new rule this summer. The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) has mandated that all athletes have to watch a video about concussions and sign a form saying they understand concussion risks. Florida schools are the first in the country to take this step, and football programs --with their big rosters and summertime practices -- are already dealing with the extra paperwork.

 Florida's is the first state association to mandate such training. It won't be a complete shock if others do so, but I'm not predicting it. Of course, I didn't predict this one either.

I'm not saying this is quite an earth-shattering development. I don't necessarily think that watching a video and signing a paper is necessarily going to change the minds of thousands of kids, or that every athlete will necessarily be honest on that form. But still, it's an unexpected step, particularly from Florida -- a state regarded as a recruiting goldmine for multiple sports, but also a state that gives the world Florida Man, the perpetuator of some of this country's most bizarre and depressing headlines. Since when does this state (the state in which I live, might I remind you?) come up with anything even as enlightened as this?

One of the coaches cited in the article makes a very good point, though; coaches are going to need help. NFL teams have extensive staffs, and crazy budgets, that can take on physicians on the sidelines. Similarly, the biggest college programs can also have plenty of medical staff. There are probably even high school programs, particularly in some of the larger cities in Florida, that keep physicians on hand for these things. But smaller colleges, and smaller and less well-off high schools, don't have that kind of capacity, and junior high school programs probably don't get that kind of consideration either.

So, a video is a step, at least, but it can't be expected to solve everything. More is going to have to be done.

Stil, this is an encouraging step for one reason: the athlete is being held accountable for his or her own health, from a early stage at that.

This blog does not seek to address questions about much of anything other than being a fan in a way that doesn't betray one's faith. I don't for the most part address athletes themselves, although the occasional athlete does draw attention for his, er, interesting viewpoint. The fan has responsibility for his or her own participation in a system that destroys the lives of any portion of its participants, and no more. The only degree to which a fan might have some say over the athlete's individual choice to play or not to play might be in the case of the fan's own son or daughter, or possibly spouse?

Athletes, in the end, have to make their own choices. One noteworthy element of the NFL's pending settlement on these brain-trauma issues (aside from its denial of the one actual condition that can't really be attributed to anything other than football, in the case of football players) is that for the most part, current players will be eligible for nothing. If you are playing now, you get nothing besides your pension.

And this is absolutely as it should be. To suggest that the examples of Mike Webster, Terry Long, Andre Waters, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, Kevin Turner, Paul Oliver, Chris Henry, Tony Dorsett, Mark Duper, and a large number of names we will never know cannot be cavalierly dismissed. It's on you to know what you're getting into from now on. Guys in the 70s, 80s, and 90s knew that they were putting their bodies on the line by playing the game, but didn't know they were putting their brains in a blender. That ignorance is unacceptable anymore.

Also worthy is that this new rule applies to all athletes. Florida isn't necessarily overrun with high school hockey programs, but there's plenty of soccer in the state, and it's not impossible to suffer concussions or repeated blows to the head in other sports in high school (wrestling, anybody?). Anything that puts more responsibility on the kids and their parents to know what the risks are is not a worthless step.

So, we'll see how this works out, and how many other groups, if any, follow suit.

Who'da thunk? (Image via bigteams.com)