Head Games

TigerBlog was driving yesterday when Bill Belichick's press conference came on the radio.

TB listened as the Patriots coach read a long statement about the Aaron Hernandez situation, about how a member of his team was arrested for first degree murder. Now, instead of getting ready for the start of training camp, Hernandez sits in a jail cell, probably never to be free again, while police investigate whether or not he was behind two other murders.

And so there was Belichick, the surliest coach of all-time, up there to talk about it.

As Belichick spoke, TB couldn't help but wonder what Hernandez thinks about as he sits in that cell. Does he realize that he went from a $44 million contract to prison and that there's likely no going back?

Anyway, Belichick was perhaps sincere enough - or possibly just smart enough - to realize that
this wasn't the time for his standard contempt of the media. To that end, he did fine.

Of course, he also benefited from just how low he's set the bar for himself. To that end, he could talk in insulting generalities - as opposed to saying the obvious, which is that in today's NFL teams have to take chances on players who aren't exactly model citizens - and do that without having getting completely ripped apart for it.

In fairness to Belichick, TB doubts that anyone could have anticipated the fact that Hernandez would become an alleged murderer.

And TB certainly didn't envy Belichick for having to stand up there yesterday and face that music.

When he made it clear that he wasn't going to answer questions about Hernandez directly, Belichick was flooded with other ones asking about the screening process before the draft, about how potential players were evaluated for their citizenship, about anything that might be done differently in the future.

The Hernandez situation is the last thing the NFL needed.

Right now, the league is wrestling with huge issues that threaten its very existence. And can you imagine two or three years ago having that sentence written?

The NFL is by far the biggest sports property in the country. Nothing approaches it. The league brings in billions of dollars, draws insane television ratings and is seemingly immune to any of the other problems that take down other sports.

Von Miller, one of the top linebackers in football, was suspended for four games for violating league policy. That's one-quarter of the season. Think Ryan Braun and A-Rod for the baseball equivalent. Football? Not even a mild wrinkle.

So what is it that can possibly threaten this league? Concussions. Head injuries. Long-term health concerns.

TigerBlog heard one clip of a social commentator who actually likened football to dog fighting.

The NFL features grown men who play for the chance to earn millions of dollars each year. College football and high school football - or youth football - aren't earning big dollars.

But they are taking the same kinds of health risks.

The Ivy League, partnering with the Big 10, has been actively - or is that proactively - trying to solve the problem. Princeton's head of athletic medicine, Dr. Margot Putukian, has taken a leadership role on the issue.

Most recently, the two leagues combined to have a head injury summit outside of Chicago.

Basically, there's a recognition on the part of these two conferences that the marquee sport of college athletics is also at a crossroads.

Yes, Ivy League football and Big 10 football are much different. The smallest Big 10 crowd of the year will probably eclipse - or at the very least approach - Princeton's total for its entire home schedule.

Even with that, the two league's understand what's at stake here.

Ivy League football dates back to 1869, when Princeton played Rutgers in the first game.

The history of football at Princeton and in the Ivy League is storied and loaded with legendary games and players.

Even today, nothing other than Reunions and Commencement brings more people to the Princeton campus than football. A football Saturday on an Ivy campus is a wonderful event.

Could it ever go away? It's laughable on its face, right?

But it's also a serious issue now.

Football can survive many things, even having an All-Pro tight end who turned out to be a murderer.

What it can't abide by is its former players who are killing themselves because of head injuries.

Can the sport be saved from itself? Probably.

Events like what the Ivy League and Big 10 had last week are a huge step forward.

It's important to keep the issue front and center, not hide it and hope it goes away.