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Red Sox Faith NOT Rewarded...

By: George Havanidis 

With an 11 game lead over the Yankees as we head into the end of the regular season, and into the Post Season it’s pretty obvious that the Red Sox are taking the AL East title this year. After the 3rd consecutive division title was made and on it’s way to Fenway, it hit a bump in the road and wound up going missing. Although there was no foul play suspected in this, I would of suspected someone to have their eye on this Gem. 

A few days ago in Somerville,MA 3 guys were out and about when they spotted something unusual that a passing car ran over. The three immediately picked up the banner and held it for about 2-3 days and notified the Sox organization about their miraculous find. The guys had their hopes set high on meeting some of their favorite players and score some tickets, as we would all think a fan friendly organization like the Red Sox would do in return. 

So a couple of days later, the men took a trip to Fenway Park to hand back the banner to the Red Sox, and had their hands out for what reward was to come their way. According to the men they left empty handed... even though i’m sure there were quite a lot of thank you’s and possibly an old bobblehead from a previous giveaway night. One of the men claims that their plan was to return it all along and denies that it was ever stolen. 

To be fair, I know it’s not a World Series Banner but the Red Sox could’ve offered a small reward in return. 

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Backlash for Champions League coverage on TNT

By: Brian Petterman

On August 16th, 2018, Turner Sports and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) announced a new partnership. Instead of the UEFA Champions League matches being broadcasted on Fox Sports and Fox Deportes (Spanish language broadcast), UEFA accepted Turner Sports’ offer for the broadcasting rights for the Champions League of an annual $65 million. Univision also pitched in for the Spanish-language broadcasts, another $35 million annually. 

However, today marked the first day of the Champions League group stage match-ups with teams including FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Internazionale, etc, and Turner Sports received heavy backlash due to their coverage of the games. These matches were broadcasted on TNT, and via Bleacher Report Live, a new streaming service rooted from Bleacher Report, a company that specializes in sports coverage and is owned by Turner Sports (acquired for $175 million in 2012).

All over social media, especially on one of the most prominent social media websites in the world, Twitter, backlash and heavy criticisms were made towards Turner Sports. Viewers, fans of the game, as well as others, partook and weren’t lenient when it came to how Turner broadcasted and covered these matches. Criticisms were made about their on-air talent (commentators, analysts, reporters), about their highlights (and lack of), and even the scoreboards were criticized. Fans are calling for immediate action to be taken to improve the coverage and broadcasts of one of the world’s top soccer tournaments. 

Personally, I did find their coverage to be sporadic, especially in terms of the analysis of the games and the way the camera cut to different angles. I was also very upset to find that once the match I was watching ended, the highlights for the other matches weren’t being shown. That was something I was looking forward to, so that I can see a proper recap of the other games being played at the same time. Because of that, fans have to look for a third-party, or a website like YouTube, to find proper condensed highlights of the matches.

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NFL Sunday Ticket High Pricing

By: Joe Paladino

For many NFL fans, Sunday is a sacred day when it comes to football.  They like to center it around the sport and take in all the action the league has to offer.  When it comes to watching their favorite teams and premier games around the league, things get a little more complicated.  NFL Sunday Ticket has always been the go-to package for football fans looking to catch any game they want.  Lately, there’s been a different feel when it comes to purchasing the service.  Back in 2014, DirecTV upped their deal.  For the baseline price, it is around $300 and the max package runs for $400.  While this seems like a deal DirecTV gets a massive return on, it’s not that easy.  The television company paid 1.5 billion dollars a year to get this kind of exclusivity and would need 3,750,000 customers to buy the max package to break even.  On top of that, it’s rumored that DirecTV only has two million subscribers to Sunday Ticket.

At the end of the day, yes, the NFL is making a whole lot of money on this deal, but how good is it for the sport?  When a league makes fans pay that much money to watch, many people walk away and hold onto their money.  Many households aren’t even eligible to purchase Sunday Ticket because the area they live in is unable to get DTV.  Of the 90 million cable/satellite households, a little under 20 million have DirecTV.  To add to the number of 70 million left over, there’s also another 30 million households who don’t even have cable.  All in all, give or take 90 million households don’t have easy access to NFL Sunday ticket.

If you dig deeper into what fans are most interested in when it comes to purchasing the Sunday Ticket package, many of them have the same response.  The NFL Redzone channel is one of the more intriguing parts of the deal.  It gives you instant coverage any time a team is in the red zone and close to scoring.  The thing many people don’t know is that there are cheaper options to obtaining the Redzone channel than paying $400.  Depending on the cable service, Redzone is usually offered in the typical package of sports channels.  If not, you would need to upgrade, but at a much cheaper price than DTV.  And if you’re someone who doesn’t have cable or wants to get rid of it, the NFL lets you watch Redzone on your phone for $5 a month.  That’s a whopping difference than the earlier mentioned $300-400 for the season.

To be honest, I don’t see a change in prices coming anytime soon.  While the NFL is behind other leagues in making it easier for fans to watch more games, they are making a lot of money.  The NFL is a business and will do anything they can to make that extra dollar.

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Sniders' Tribute Gone Wrong

Three days ago, on Monday, April 18th, the Philadelphia Flyers put on a spectacular pregame tribute to the late Ed Snider, who was the owner of Comcast Spectacor in Philadelphia and was the face of the Flyers franchise. Mr. Snider died on April 11th from cancer and the Flyers planned to host a pregame tribute for him before their game 3 home game against the Washington Capitals. Each fan was given a light-up wrist band for the opening ceremony to commemorate Mr. Snider.

Unfortunately, things got ugly and the Capitals took a 4-1 lead. Fans began hurling their wristbands onto the ice, causing delays and further contributing to the infamous image of angry, rude, and disrespectful Philadelphia sports fans. Flyers fans also booed an injured Capital’s player as he took a hit from a Flyers player and needed help getting off the ice in the second period. Being from Philadelphia and as a Philadelphia sports fan, I am downright embarrassed and ashamed of those fans.

I can say myself, I am very frustrated. Each of our sports teams are not competitive. That’s why there was a ceremony on the first home playoff game, because there usually aren’t any sports teams in Philadelphia that have been in the playoffs in the past 5 years. It is a disgrace that this is how Philadelphia sports fans handled a losing effort. They need to have more class or the image and perception of Philadelphia’s sports fans will remain ruthless, merciless, and classless. The final score of the game was 6-1 Capitals.

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Minnesota Coaching Job

by: Sunny Kim

The interim head coach, Sam Mitchell, was effectively removed from the position as the 2015- 2016 NBA Regular Season concluded. Sam Mitchell took over the head coaching position in September 2015, as the previous head coach, Flip Saunders took a leave of absence and later died in October 2015. The team went 13th in the Western Conference with a record of 29 wins and 53 losses.

Despite the terrible record, the team is widely known to be on an upswing. With a bevy of talented young players, it will be a crucial time for the Minnesota Timberwolves organization to carefully layout plans for success in the near future. Karl Anthony Towns is on his way to be named Rookie of the Year, Andrew Wiggins is a previous Rookie of the Year with multiple talents, Zach Lavine is a two time Slam Dunk Champion, Kevin Garnett is a previous NBA Champion and a seasoned veteran with multiple accolades. The roster is widely accepted by many to be complete, but only young. They are expected to be better with each passing season, and this open coaching position is crucial to the development of this franchise.

Several names come up in discussion for the job: Jeff van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, and the ex interim head coach himself, Sam Mitchell. Each coach has had success in the NBA, but the biggest concern for the T Wolves will be to find the suitable coach to develop young players along with a forte each coach stresses. For example, Tom Thibodeau was known for stressing defense in his Chicago team before he got fired. Mark Jackson helped Stephen Curry elevate his game early, before he went on to win MVP honors and the NBA Championship. In whichever direction the organization wants to head the team, along with the counsel, it is the coach pool of a lifetime for Minnesota fans and dreams of a New York Knicks fan.

Jeff van Gundy is to be interviewed next Monday on the 25th, Thibodeau has been interviewed over the Boston marathon weekend, and Mark Jackson will be interviewed on Wednesday the 20th.

[emersonsportscom]

Why I can never underestimate Gregg Popovich

By Seong Pak

Courtesy of Twitter

As a Warrior fan, it is great that the Golden State Warriors are getting so much recognition after years of being the NBA doormat. All this talk about the record and how good they are, yet no one seems to be talking about the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs are the quintessential standard of excellence in the NBA for the last 20 seasons. They have a system that anyone can envy, and they have players that are committed to winning championships. For example, you see this from David West walking out of a $10 million contract to take significantly less money in order to win the championship.

In Popovich, they have one of the greatest coaches not only in NBA history, but in the history of professional sports. Popovich has an uncanny ability to motivate his players and strategically out coach the other coaching staff. I can never underestimate the San Antonio Spurs, and the Warriors cannot afford to do that also.

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The Red Sox Rotation is Gar-Bage.

by Harris Rubenstein

7.23. The combined ERA of the Red Sox rotation is 7.23, which is by far the worst in the MLB. Even David Price isn't safe from the awfulness the Red Sox rotation has given off over the past 2 seasons after he got killed during the home opener.

 Clay Buchholz has hung more pitches in his last two starts than someone who mans a coat room with coats. Joe Kelly can't throw a strike and when he does it gets blasted. Rick Porcello for Yoenis Cespedes might be the worst trade of the past five years outside of the Mets getting Noah Syndergaard from the Blue Jays. The Red Sox best starting pitcher is the knuckleballer Steven Wright, who is more of a AAAA player than an MLBer. 

Meanwhile, their top pitching prospect Henry Owens is being kept in AAA for who knows what reason at this point. He has given up just 3 hits in his first 12 innings this season and Bill James thinks he will pitch to a 3.66 ERA in 167 innings. That sounds a lot better than what the Red Sox are currently throwing out there right now. 

If the Red Sox want any chance of making the playoffs, they have to stop losing games 9-7 or 9-6 and learn how to get out of an inning.

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by Harris Rubenstein

Goodbye, Old Friend

First, it was City Sports and now, Sports Authority is the latest victim of sports retail to go bankrupt. This massive chain is being forced to close 140 stores after filing for Chapter 11. The chain has been around since 1928 and has over 450 stores nationwide. Sports Authority has always been pretty big, but never really got to the level of store that somewhere like Dick’s Sporting Goods did. If you ask me, I think the real culprit is Nike and Under Armour. Both companies have rapidly increased the amount of stores they have opened over the past few years. It seems both have decided to cut out the middle man and sell their own product directly from their stores. If anything, the volcanic rise of Under Armour might be the biggest reason these stores are dying. UA stores have been popping up in almost every major city over the past 2 years due to the brands success with the players they sponsor. These include Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Steph Curry, Jordan Spieth, Clayton Kershaw and Buster Posey. While the future is unknown for the rest of the sports retail stores, it’s clear survival is much more difficult than it once was.

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David Price is Going to Win the Red Sox a World Series

By Harris Rubenstein

The Red Sox won their first game of the season on Tuesday and it was all thanks to one guy. Their $214 million man, David Price. Price went 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, walking two and STRUCK OUT 10. The most from a Red Sox starter on Opening Day since Pedro and the most from a Red Sox lefty on opening Day since basically the dawn of time. You could tell from the beginning of the game what kind of pitcher Price is as he struck out the first two batters he faced with the third getting out on a weak grounder. Sure, the home runs from David Ortiz and Mookie Betts helped, but David Price set the tone. His attitude on the mound was infectious and even when he ran into trouble in the third inning, he came back out and retired 7 straight batters .Don’t be surprised if he runs away with the AL Cy Young award this year, while helping lead the Red Sox to a World Series Championship. He’s the ace the team desperately needed last season and with their stacked lineup and crazy back end of their bullpen, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone is they win the AL East either. (This was from last week, I posted this on my own tumblr instead of this one, Sorry!)

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The Final Four: From Broadcast to Cable Television

By: Sean Duffy

Just five days ago was the Men's Basketball Division I National Championship game between the Villanova Wildcats and the North Carolina Tar Heels. The result of the game was one of the best finishes in college basketball history; a three point buzzer beater by Kris Jenkins to give the 'Cats a 77-74 victory in epic fashion. The game has already gone down as one of the best National Championship games of all time. Yet for such a remarkable game, it is unfortunate that the game was the lowest-rated National Championship game in history.

The championship game is now being provided by cable television, previously broadcast television, which means instead of having the game on CBS for everyone to watch, there are viewers who do not have TBS, TNT, or TRU TV, and therefore cannot watch the game. I asked my friend who lives on-campus whether he watched the game or not and he said, "I don't have cable in my dorm room, I couldn't watch the game." The reality is that this move is for the money, and is not fan-friendly. According to Sports Business Journal, CBS reaches 116.4 million homes while TBS, which carried this year's National Championship game, has the potential to reach only 93.8 million homes.

From speaking with friends, it seems as if this issue affected college students on-campus the most. A lot of students off-campus have a subscription to cable, but it is very rare to find student's on-campus that have a cable subscription.

Last year's National Championship game (2015) between Duke and Wisconsin garnered 28.3 million viewers. This year's game, only 17.8 million viewers.

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Oh Ernie...

By Matthew Lavallee

On Friday morning, Ernie Els had a rather embarrassing moment on hole 1 in the masters after pulled his second shot from the fairway way left and struck a fan in the side of the face.

This was probably the worst hole in this year’s tournament. That is, if you don’t include Erine’s go-round on hole number 1 on Thursday.

Els made Masters infamy by sinking a quintuple-bogey-- a round that will no doubt go down as his career highlight.

Golf fans can crunch the numbers and calculate that Els took 10 strokes on that hole. The last six came within two feet. Talk about humiliating.

Yes, this is the bona-fide worst opening hole in Masters history. If I had to pick the most cringeworthy moments of this catastrophe, I would be torn between the miss after the 20 second timeout in which he took a deep breath to regain his composure, or the famous ‘gimme shot’ that we take in mini golf when the ball is hanging on the edge of the cup (which he also somehow missed). Seriously, I was just begging for him to end the madness after 7.

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Why The Blackout Rule is Hurting Baseball

Seong Pak

Blackouts, we all hate blackouts as a sports fan. Blackouts are present in most sports. For baseball, this rule applies especially to MLB.tv. MLB.tv, is baseball’s version of online streaming for its games. For $130 fans can buy coverage of their team’s games to stream online. However, these games are only for out of market games. For example, a Red Sox fan in Boston cannot watch Red Sox games on MLB.tv. This is clearly hurting the popularity of baseball when it needs it the most. 

Baseball used to be America’s past time. The president used to come out to Opening Day every year to kick off the baseball season. Baseball was once a huge part of the American fabric in terms of culture. Now, that is clearly not the case. Access to baseball has dwindled over the past 30 or so years. There have been  exclusive agreements between the television networks and the MLB to give the networks exclusive coverage of certain games.

More importantly, in a digital age, the MLB has decided to enforce blackout rules in their digital platform. For the MLB, this is a bad decision. Kids are no longer playing baseball the way they used to. The game needs to reconnect with youngsters across America. The only way for them to do that is to lift the blackout restrictions and create a bigger access point for younger fans.

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Ducks Make Historic season Turnaround

-Matt Berg

The Anaheim Ducks were one of the best NHL teams during the 2014/2015 hockey season. They finished in the top four of the league, only losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the semi-finals of the playoffs after finishing in 1st place in the pacific conference. Overall, it was one of the best times to be a Ducks fan.

The beginning of this season was one of the worst times to be a Ducks fan. In October 2015 the Ducks only won one game, 4-1 on October 18th against the Minnesota Wild. This horrific opening eventually put them in last place in the NHL. They were projected to win the Stanley Cup in 2016, this really was a time when the Ducks were anything but Mighty.

Slowly but surely, they turned things around. November 2015 saw them winning 8 out of 15 games. By January 2016 the Ducks were practically unstoppable. Their win against the Boston Bruins on January 26th started a four game win streak, interrupted by a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 8th. The Ducks proceeded to win 11 games in a row, breaking their previous franchise record of 10 wins in a row.

The bad opening of the season was mainly due to players coming to training camp out of shape. Ryan Getzlaf barely scored a goal before January, because he was out of shape before the middle of the season. Coach Bruce Boudreau never let the moral get low because of this. He is quoted telling the team at the start of the season not to give up hope, things will turn around they just had to believe in themselves.

As of late March 2016 the Ducks have clinched the playoffs, and have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup this year, they just have to prove how mighty they really are.

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We Talkin’ Bout Practice

By Mike Corcoran

The time has come. The 2016 Hall of Fame class was announced and Allen Iverson was among those inducted. In a star-studded class, Allen Iverson takes his 26.7 points per game to the Hall in Springfield and he is extremely worthy for the recognition.

Allen Iverson was one that gave a flavor to the NBA and approached the game the way he wanted to. Not everyone would agree with how he went about his business but that was what distinguished Iverson. He didn’t care. He didn’t care who you were or what you were saying. He just went out there and tried to outplay his opponent night in and night out with a style of play that we have never seen. 

He is quoted recently by saying “I wasn’t a point guard. I was a killer.” This quote is Iverson in a nutshell. He is completely right. His playing style was unique, and at his size and stature, he was a killer. Iverson could take anyone off the dribble and embarrass them in the process. Whether it was with the crossover or the mean step back, Iverson made a living off being a defender’s worst nightmare.

Iverson was a character famously known for his practice rant. The video of his press conference went viral and everyone got to see Iverson’s true colors. Now it is extremely funny to look back on. But at the time it was “that’s just Iverson being Iverson.” He didn’t care what people thought of him. He just went out there and took care of his own business, and he did it quite well. I don’t think this league will see anyone like Iverson ever again. There will be many ankle breaking crossovers for years to come, but when it comes to Iverson’s approach to the game, that will go unmatched.

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The Image of Noah Syndergaard

At 6′6″ and 240 pounds, New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard is no average man. Top off his massive frame with a long, flowing set of golden locks and a fastball that could smash through a brick wall, it’s not hard to see why Mets fans affectionally refer to him as “Thor.” The guy looks like a Nordic God.  

Syndergaard is not the first baseball player to be branded with a catchy nickname and he certainly won’t be the last but his case is especially interesting due to the fact that he embodies the superhero persona so well. The strength, the size, and of course, the hair, all parts of a whole that make up a player rapidly rising into Major League Mythology. Like his Asgardian counterpart, his power is both mysterious and revered. 

Players and coaches whisper about his talent. Stories swirl around the league: the fastest fastball every thrown, 95 mile an hour sliders, a “hook from hell,” tales that almost seem unreal -- the stuff of legends. Believe it or not, real pitcher Noah Syndergaard has become synonymous with a fictional Marvel superhero and both he and the Mets Organization are using that to their advantage when it comes to their branding and image. 

Noah has fully embraced his persona and can be seen dressing up like his alter-ego on halloween, tweeting pictures of lighting, and throwing pitches that mortal men could only dream of hitting, all en-route to becoming one of the most popular -- and feared players in the majors. 

The Mets have capitalized on this popularity and fame in the same way they capitalized on that of Matt Harvey and David Wright which is to say they grabbed the branding opportunity by the horns and ran with it -- assembling an “Avengers” style team identity and giving the fans yet another reason to support their team. 

This type of full-scale image branding is new to the MLB but not completely unheard of. Players and fans have become increasingly more receptive to players adopting alternate personalities and these present unique opportunities for the PR and Marketing departments of baseball organization. If the Noah Syndergaard experiment can prove anything its that its not nearly as fun to watch a normal pitcher than it is to watch a god. 

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Wage-Discrimination: It Has To Stop

by Camila A. Cayere Díaz

Ever since women started competing in professional sports, I don’t know, hundreds of years ago, wage discrimination has been an issue. This goes for all sports in most countries: basketball, soccer, golf, among others. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation: “For a WNBA player in the 2015 season, the minimum salary was $38,913, the maximum salary was $109,500, and the team scary cap in 2012 was $878,000. For NBA players in the 2015-2016 season, the minimum salary is $525,093, the maximum salary is $16.407 million, and the team salary cap is an all-time high of $70 million.” The huge gap in the minimum and maximum salaries are startling.

It is not an argument that women don’t win as much tournaments or games as the men do. With as much and maybe more hard work, dedication, time commitment and self-devotion to their sport, women do achieve as many victories as men. The problem is people do not recognize this. One of the best examples for this, and probably the most recent, is the United States National Women’s Soccer team. The women’s 2015 World Cup finals match against Japan was the most-watched soccer match, men’s or women’s, ever shown on a U.S. television network. It attracted 25.4 million viewers. That was more than the NBA finals or the U.S. men’s soccer match against Portugal (18.2 million). In addition, reports from the U.S. Soccer Federation estimate that the women’s team will make more than $5 million for the federation in 2017 while the men’s team will lose money. So, why are these women getting paid far less than the their male counterparts?

Well, five members of the women’s soccer team were tired of this unanswered question and decided to take actions themselves. Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn and Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. women’s team filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). That’s the federal agency that makes sure that people are treated fairly at work. “We have been quite patient over the years with the belief that the federation would do the right thing and compensate us fairly,” said Lloyd, the most valuable player of the Women’s World Cup. But there is still resistant from the federation, coaches, referees and others to make things right for these women. These laws need to change and women should get the same salary as the men do. This wage discrimination has to stop. 

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Retire Early, and Save your Brain

Photo Courtesy of the Buffalo Bills

By Laura Gartelman

Former San Francisco 49er's player Chris Borland said that early retirements will become the new normal in the NFL due to the long term effects of concussions. Borland now isn't the only one defending this situation now. The Buffalo Bills Linebacker A.J. Tarpley, 23, announced his retirement on social media yesterday. He played in 14 games last year as a rookie as he was retrieved as an undrafted free agent from Stanford. He made 8 tackles and 2 interceptions. In a quote from a post on Instagram yesterday, he wrote:

"After months of introspection, I am retiring from football. I suffered the 3rd and 4th concussions of my career this past season and I am walking away from the game I love to preserve my future health. This decision is the hardest I've made yet but after much research and contemplation I believe it's what is best for me going forward."

More and more now players are stepping out into the spotlight on their own terms to speak out against the critical issue of concussions and the NFL. Players such as Calvin Johnson, Marshawn Lynch, and Husain Abdullah all have announced their retirement before the age of 30, Tarpley being another one to add to the list. Abdullah and Tarpley were the only 2 to note their retirement had a direct relationship to concussions and their treatment, but this could become the new normal NFL players, and possibly other professional athletes will do in order to actually make the most of their lives. Many players of the NFL, from the past, present, and possibly future have begun to scold the NFL for the way in which they handle these brain injuries.

The discussion around concussions has been vastly growing in the past year. Will Smith's movie "Concussion" reflected on the beginning of this discovery with Mike Webster and Dr. Bennet Omalu. A few weeks ago, Jeff Miller, the executive Vice President for health and safety in the NFL admitted that concussions have a direct connection to football. "Well certainly Dr. McKee's research shows that a number of retired NFL players were diagnosed with CTE, so the answer to that question is certainly yes," Miller said. He added, "but there's also a number of questions that come with that."

In my opinion being an athlete myself, if it comes to playing the sport I love and living a long and happy, healthy life and I have to choose, my life is much more superior than some money and fans. It may be hard to leave it behind, but why risk 40+ years of your life for the 5-10 years in your youth?