Thursday, February 10, 2011

Super Bowl Concussion Hype Week, Part 1: Los Angeles Times’ NFL Writer Pens a Promo for Riddell Helmets

[posted 2/2/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]


SEE ALSO: “Pittsburgh Steelers’ Physician Joseph Maroon Key Figure in Sports Concussion Probe,” http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/pittsburgh-steelers-physician-joseph-maroon-key-figure-in-sports-concussion-probe/

Sam Farmer, the NFL writer for the Los Angeles Times, offers a great example of the benighted coverage of the football concussion crisis by most of the media. See “New helmets should be a hit,” January 29, http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl-equipment-20110130,0,5864830.story.

In what is basically a promo for Riddell helmets, Farmer doesn’t get around to mentioning that Riddell is currently under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly exaggerating the safety claims in NFL-funded research at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, as published by the journal Neurosurgery in an article co-authored by Dr. Joseph Maroon, a doctor for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Asked for comment, Farmer emailed back, “Thanks for your information. Be well.”

NEXT: What’s the deal with the NFL and the journal Neurosurgery?



Irv Muchnick

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