Super Bowl Thoughts and More

 My parents decided to retire a couple of weeks ago from their jobs together. So we had a retirement dinner for them last Sunday. It was nice to visit my other siblings considering that I do not see them all that often. As hard as they worked for myself and siblings, My parents sure earned a nice retirement and NO MORE ALARM clock for them. Hope they enjoy their retired life.

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 The Super Bowl was pretty decent. It had no shortage of storylines: “The Kelce Bros facing off vs each other”, “Andy Reid playing against his old team”, “Mahomes and Chiefs going for their 2 SB in 4 years'. 

The Eagles and the Chiefs were a battle back and forth for much of the game. If it was not for Jalen Hurts the Eagles would not have been in this game whatsoever. Hurts threw for 304 1TD and ran for 70 yds and 3 more TDs. Even though the Eagles lost, Hurts should have been the MVP. There was no player more valuable than he was that night. 

Mahomes, the Chiefs QB, had 182 yards through the air and 3 TD passes. 

The game came down to a questionable defensive holding call on the Eagles to seal the deal for the Chiefs. The refs were letting them play all night but to call it right there….Come on, man. The Chiefs nailed a 27 yd FG with 11 seconds left. It was a good game but marred with ref interference for the Chiefs…AGAIN. It was just entertainment anymore…more like WWE. The NFL knows who they want to win the marquee games….just sayin.

We had our customary Super Bowl spread for the night for Jenn and I and minions. We have a SB party every year. It was good and we had fun at our little party as well. You have to have little weenies wrapped bacon. We also had ribs, pickles and ham rolls.

Another season came and went.

League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada, Steve Fainaru

League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada, Steve Fainaru

Completed: Feburary 2014
Length:399 Pages

Synopsis from Goodreads:

This book reveals how the NFL, over a period of nearly two decades, sought to cover up and deny mounting evidence of the connection between football and brain damage.
Comprehensively, and for the first time, award-winning ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tell the story of a public health crisis that emerged from the playing fields of our 21st century pastime. Everyone knew that football is violent and dangerous. But what the players who built the NFL into a $10 billion industry didn’t know – and what the league sought to shield from them – is that no amount of padding could protect the human brain from the force generated by modern football; that the very essence of the game could be exposing these players to brain damage.
In a fast-paced narrative that moves between the NFL trenches, America’s research labs and the boardrooms where the NFL went to war against science, League of Denial examines how the league used its power and resources to attack independent scientists and elevate its own flawed research -- a campaign with echoes of Big Tobacco’s fight to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer. It chronicles the tragic fates of players like Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who was so disturbed at the time of his death he fantasized about shooting NFL executives; and former Chargers great Junior Seau, whose diseased brain became the target of an unseemly scientific battle between researchers and the NFL. Based on exclusive interviews, previously undisclosed documents and private emails, this is the story of what the NFL knew and when it knew it – questions at the heart of crisis that threatens football, from the highest levels all the way down to Pop Warner.

Fiction or Non-Fiction? Genre? Non-fiction-sports

What lead you to pick up this book? I am a die-hard football fan(Vikings). I saw the Frontline special on this subject. I figured it would be a great read. I was not disappointed.

Summarize the Plot: In the League of Denial it traces the history of the battle over head injuries being suffered by NFL football players. It actually is impacting all football players. It has become a battle between scientists and those in the league who are denying the seriousness of the problem.

What did you like most about this book?

I liked the way that the authors went through to show the way the league tried to deny that football was not the cause for former player with brain damage. It was sad to read some of the cases at what the former players and their families went through.

What did you the least?

The man that discovered the link seemed that he did not get the amount of credit that he rightfully deserves.
What did you think of the writing style?
I thought this book was easy reading. I think that a non-football fan could easy pick this book up and read it with no issues whatsoever.
What did you think of the ending? The book ended on a high note, that the league is starting to take responsibility of a dangerous workplace.The league is starting to take some responsibility for they way the concussion crisis was handled.  

Pitcher and Catchers Report

I am thrilled that Baseball Season is upon us. As many of you will soon find out, I am a huge baseball fan. So in this blog every week I will try to highlight some major happenings in the MLB. For me as a suffering Brewers fan for year. At least it is a little better with the team that they have had in past 5 years or so.

The big news from the Brewers was signing Rickie Week to a multiyear deal that will keep him a in a Brewers uniform until the 2014 season. Weeks will earn $38.5 million over the next four years and could pay $50 million over five years if he remains a fixture of the starting lineup.

With his injury issues in the past we will see if he can stay healthy for this contract. I for one an ecstatic that Weeks will be with the Crew for 4 more years.  So my daughter and I will be able to watch him from the lead-off spot for a while.