Bernstein: Gary Bettman's Denying The Obvious
By Dan Bernstein--
(CBS) NHL commisioner Gary Bettman appears more willing than at least one of his counterparts to make players prove conclusively that getting hit in the head is bad for them.
Where Roger Goodell and the NFL chose to avoid the legal expense and ugly publicity of a trial over his sport's role in causing chronic traumatic encephalopathy -- settling instead with a potential $1 billion payout -- Bettman sounds like he wants a fight.
"From a medical science standpoint, there is no evidence yet that one necessarily leads to the other," Bettman said Thursday. "I know there are a lot of theories, but if you ask people who study it, they tell you there is no statistical correlation that can definitely make that conclusion."
The Boston University School of Medicine studies it, and they published this study.
It concludes by saying, "There is overwhelming evidence that the condition is the result of repeated sublethal brain trauma that often occurs well before the development of clinical manifestations."
Bettman is facing several lawsuits, including one being prepared by former Blackhawk Steve Montador, who recently died at the age of 35 and was found to have advanced CTE after suffering multiple concussions.
Even Goodell and his craven, corrupt doctors on the payroll understood this was a bad fight, no matter if it's possible they could prevail on the legal technicalities of proving direct causation. The connection is clear enough already and evidence mounts with every next donated brain, so obfuscating wasn't worth it for the NFL.
It is for Bettman, who seems more ready to have hockey emulate Big Tobacco in court. Good luck.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.