[posted 1/11/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
by Irvin Muchnick
With the Pittsburgh Steelers about to open their playoff schedule Saturday in quest of a franchise record-extending seventh Super Bowl title, one of their long-time team physicians, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center neurosurgeon Joseph Maroon, is under heightened scrutiny for his role in the National Football League’s increasingly visible concussion issue. It’s a role best described as some undetermined compound of “part of the problem” and “part of the solution.”
Last week Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico called for a Federal Trade Commission probe of Riddell helmets, an official NFL supplier, for the company’s consumer-product claim of a new design promising to decrease concussions by 31 percent. That number was based on a research paper co-authored by Dr. Maroon and commissioned by Riddell. Maroon told the New York Times that Riddell advertising overreached from a limited sample of his results, which require further testing.
CONTINUED TODAY ON THE FRONT PAGE AT BEYOND CHRON, THE SAN FRANCISCO ONLINE NEWSPAPER, http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Joseph_Maroon_Doctor_for_NFL_and_WWE_Has_It_Every_Which_Way_on_Concussions
Saturday, January 15, 2011
‘Jerry McDevitt vs. Mike Benoit’ Is Not as Important as ‘WWE Lobbyists vs. the Regulators’
[posted 1/10/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
A few days ago Cageside Seats’ Keith Harris broke down Dave Meltzer’s Part 2 of his World Wrestling Entertainment lawyer Jerry McDevitt-induced walkback of the suggestion that WWE might have sought to coordinate with the Benoit survivors a narrative of the order of Nancy and Daniel Benoit’s deaths.
See “Jerry McDevitt and Mike Benoit continue their feud in Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter,” http://www.cagesideseats.com/2011/1/6/1919843/jerry-mcdevitt-and-mike-benoit-continue-their-feud-in-dave-meltzers.
Overall, the credibility of Chris Benoit’s father is much, much higher than WWE’s. That simple truth gets lost in the thickets of Meltzer’s legalistic review of a sideshow story.
I hope Meltzer eventually comes through with an analysis of similar length and complexity on the inner workings of the various Congressional committees and government agencies, federal and state, that could constructively recast the pro wrestling industry after Linda McMahon’s failed Senate bid in Connecticut. So far Meltzer has mostly given us variations on how unlikely such interventions are because nobody cares about wrestling. (Always left unclear is whether Meltzer includes himself among the nobodies.)
What I concede to be a very interesting story from Jerry McDevitt’s recent paper dump on me is how both Meltzer and I missed, for nearly three years, the finding of an enlarged heart in Chris Benoit’s autopsy. It doesn’t change the paradigm of a “cocktail of death,” but it is a material unreported fact. I’ll get to that one in due course.
Irv Muchnick
A few days ago Cageside Seats’ Keith Harris broke down Dave Meltzer’s Part 2 of his World Wrestling Entertainment lawyer Jerry McDevitt-induced walkback of the suggestion that WWE might have sought to coordinate with the Benoit survivors a narrative of the order of Nancy and Daniel Benoit’s deaths.
See “Jerry McDevitt and Mike Benoit continue their feud in Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter,” http://www.cagesideseats.com/2011/1/6/1919843/jerry-mcdevitt-and-mike-benoit-continue-their-feud-in-dave-meltzers.
Overall, the credibility of Chris Benoit’s father is much, much higher than WWE’s. That simple truth gets lost in the thickets of Meltzer’s legalistic review of a sideshow story.
I hope Meltzer eventually comes through with an analysis of similar length and complexity on the inner workings of the various Congressional committees and government agencies, federal and state, that could constructively recast the pro wrestling industry after Linda McMahon’s failed Senate bid in Connecticut. So far Meltzer has mostly given us variations on how unlikely such interventions are because nobody cares about wrestling. (Always left unclear is whether Meltzer includes himself among the nobodies.)
What I concede to be a very interesting story from Jerry McDevitt’s recent paper dump on me is how both Meltzer and I missed, for nearly three years, the finding of an enlarged heart in Chris Benoit’s autopsy. It doesn’t change the paradigm of a “cocktail of death,” but it is a material unreported fact. I’ll get to that one in due course.
Irv Muchnick
WWE Pedophile Accuser Tom Cole Redux Redux Redux Redux Redux
[posted 1/10/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
For some unfathomable reason, Mike Mooneyham of The Post & Courier (Charleston, South Carolina) thinks there is news value in yet another revised iteration of Tom Cole’s memoirs. See “Troubled past distant memory for ex-ring boy,” http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/09/troubled-past-distant-memory-ex-ring-boy/.
Mooneyham doesn’t ask Cole about his second lawsuit against the McMahons, or about his Wrestling Perspective interview. So what’s the point? It’s great that Cole is happy with how his life is turning out.
Irv Muchnick
For some unfathomable reason, Mike Mooneyham of The Post & Courier (Charleston, South Carolina) thinks there is news value in yet another revised iteration of Tom Cole’s memoirs. See “Troubled past distant memory for ex-ring boy,” http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/09/troubled-past-distant-memory-ex-ring-boy/.
Mooneyham doesn’t ask Cole about his second lawsuit against the McMahons, or about his Wrestling Perspective interview. So what’s the point? It’s great that Cole is happy with how his life is turning out.
Irv Muchnick
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Steelers’ Wheel: Pittsburgh Media Are Mum on the Connections of Pitt Med Center, Pittsburgh Steelers, and WWE Scandals
[posted 1/7/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
The great city of Pittsburgh has much to be proud of. In the upcoming National Football League playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers may well win their record-extending seventh franchise Super Bowl (and their chances will be better if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t get caught raping another woman over the next month). The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby is, simply, the most magnificent hockey player on the planet; let’s hope he makes a full and speedy recovery from his current concussion. And the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is renowned for its research and care.
Unfortunately, there’s another story out there that isn’t so nice: some UPMC doctors have come under heavy fire for some of their outside work – with the NFL and its culture of head injuries, with World Wrestling Entertainment and its culture of multifaceted deaths, including from head injuries; and with a supplement company that seemingly doesn’t qualify as “Industry” under the medical center’s new-and-improved conflict-of-interest code.
So far, not a word about these controversies from any major Pittsburgh media. (Last month Pittsburgh City Paper, an alternative weekly, ran a cover story on the WWE talent wellness program, which managed to whiff on every hard-hitting angle of it.)
Ladies and gentlemen, here’s a weekend reading list:
“Muchnick Flashback: WWE Docs Governed by ‘Private’ Pitt Med Center Ethics Policy,” 12/14/10, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/muchnick-flashback-wwe-docs-governed-by-%E2%80%98private%E2%80%99-pitt-med-center-ethics-policy/
“New Threats From WWE Lawyer Jerry McDevitt,” 12/17/10, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/new-threats-from-wwe-lawyer-jerry-mcdevitt/
“Knocking Heads Together: WWE Is the Next Frontier of Sports Concussion Reform,” 12/21/10, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/knocking-heads-together-wwe-is-the-next-frontier-of-sport-concussion-reform/
“Pitt Med Center Doctors’ Supplement Company and WWE Ties Skirt Ethics Policy,” 1/4/11,http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/pitt-med-center-doctors-supplement-company-and-wwe-ties-skirt-ethics-policy/
“Dr. Joseph Maroon’s Disturbing Pattern of Misstatements,” 1/5/11, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/dr-joseph-maroons-disturbing-pattern-of-misstatements/
“Dear Senator Udall: Help Coordinate Concussion and Steroid Investigations,” 1/5/11, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/dear-senator-udall-help-coordinate-concussion-and-steroid-investigations/
Irv Muchnick
The great city of Pittsburgh has much to be proud of. In the upcoming National Football League playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers may well win their record-extending seventh franchise Super Bowl (and their chances will be better if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t get caught raping another woman over the next month). The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby is, simply, the most magnificent hockey player on the planet; let’s hope he makes a full and speedy recovery from his current concussion. And the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is renowned for its research and care.
Unfortunately, there’s another story out there that isn’t so nice: some UPMC doctors have come under heavy fire for some of their outside work – with the NFL and its culture of head injuries, with World Wrestling Entertainment and its culture of multifaceted deaths, including from head injuries; and with a supplement company that seemingly doesn’t qualify as “Industry” under the medical center’s new-and-improved conflict-of-interest code.
So far, not a word about these controversies from any major Pittsburgh media. (Last month Pittsburgh City Paper, an alternative weekly, ran a cover story on the WWE talent wellness program, which managed to whiff on every hard-hitting angle of it.)
Ladies and gentlemen, here’s a weekend reading list:
“Muchnick Flashback: WWE Docs Governed by ‘Private’ Pitt Med Center Ethics Policy,” 12/14/10, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/muchnick-flashback-wwe-docs-governed-by-%E2%80%98private%E2%80%99-pitt-med-center-ethics-policy/
“New Threats From WWE Lawyer Jerry McDevitt,” 12/17/10, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/new-threats-from-wwe-lawyer-jerry-mcdevitt/
“Knocking Heads Together: WWE Is the Next Frontier of Sports Concussion Reform,” 12/21/10, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/knocking-heads-together-wwe-is-the-next-frontier-of-sport-concussion-reform/
“Pitt Med Center Doctors’ Supplement Company and WWE Ties Skirt Ethics Policy,” 1/4/11,http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/pitt-med-center-doctors-supplement-company-and-wwe-ties-skirt-ethics-policy/
“Dr. Joseph Maroon’s Disturbing Pattern of Misstatements,” 1/5/11, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/dr-joseph-maroons-disturbing-pattern-of-misstatements/
“Dear Senator Udall: Help Coordinate Concussion and Steroid Investigations,” 1/5/11, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/dear-senator-udall-help-coordinate-concussion-and-steroid-investigations/
Irv Muchnick
More Cat-And-Mouse Website Games With WWE Doctor-Huckster Bryan Donohue
[posted 1/7/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
This blog has criticized World Wrestling Entertainment’s wellness program cardiovascular screening for not noticing wrestler Eddie “Umaga” Fatu’s enlarged heart before he died of a heart attack in December 2009. WWE employs University of Pittsburgh Medical Center cardiologist Bryan Donohue (as well as UPMC neurologist Joseph Maroon as the WWE medical director).
I’ve also criticized Donohue and Maroon for their promotion of a supplement whose company is partly owned by the former and whose research is licensed by a company partly owned by the latter.
For details, see Wrestling Babylon Blog LLP, passim.
Puckish sort that I am, I also publicized the dormant beta home pages of Dr. Donohue’s website. When he took down the “sample” links, which obviously were submitted by a professional web designer, I published screen prints.
But now I notice that the beta pages are still on the web — they’re just not linked from http://bryandononue.com, which greets visitors with the new language “Coming Soon!”
You can still type into your browser bar and view:
http://www.bryandonohue.com/bd1/
http://www.bryandonohue.com/bd2/
http://www.bryandonohue.com/bd3/
Irv Muchnick
This blog has criticized World Wrestling Entertainment’s wellness program cardiovascular screening for not noticing wrestler Eddie “Umaga” Fatu’s enlarged heart before he died of a heart attack in December 2009. WWE employs University of Pittsburgh Medical Center cardiologist Bryan Donohue (as well as UPMC neurologist Joseph Maroon as the WWE medical director).
I’ve also criticized Donohue and Maroon for their promotion of a supplement whose company is partly owned by the former and whose research is licensed by a company partly owned by the latter.
For details, see Wrestling Babylon Blog LLP, passim.
Puckish sort that I am, I also publicized the dormant beta home pages of Dr. Donohue’s website. When he took down the “sample” links, which obviously were submitted by a professional web designer, I published screen prints.
But now I notice that the beta pages are still on the web — they’re just not linked from http://bryandononue.com, which greets visitors with the new language “Coming Soon!”
You can still type into your browser bar and view:
http://www.bryandonohue.com/bd1/
http://www.bryandonohue.com/bd2/
http://www.bryandonohue.com/bd3/
Irv Muchnick
WWE Cardiologist Bryan Donohue Takes Down His Beta Website Home Pages
[posted 1/5/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
I’ve been criticizing World Wrestling Entertainment’s consulting cardiologist, Dr. Bryan Donohue, who is also the chief of cardiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Shadyside Hospital.
I question his outside investment in and undisclosed hype on behalf of a supplement company, and wonder where that fits in with UPMC’s vaunted new ethics policy.
I also wonder if WWE cardio screening was asleep at the switch with Eddie “Umaga” Fatu, who died of an enlarged heart at age 36.
Earlier today I posted links to Dr. Donohue’s draft website home pages, which highlight his association with the supplement company, Vinomis Labs, and its flagship product, the resveratrol supplement Vindure. These beta pages, labeled “Sample 1,” “Sample 2,” and “Sample 3,” have been up for a year.
Now Donohue has taken the pages down. When you go to http://bryandonohue.com, you get the greeting “Coming Soon!”
Those of you who want to see crude screen prints of “Sample 1,” “Sample 2,” and “Sample 3,” which were captured before Donohue deleted them, should go to http://muchnick.net/donohue1.pdf, http://muchnick.net/donohue2.pdf, and http://muchnick.net/donohue3.pdf.
The dude seems to have something against the concept of accountability.
Irv Muchnick
I’ve been criticizing World Wrestling Entertainment’s consulting cardiologist, Dr. Bryan Donohue, who is also the chief of cardiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Shadyside Hospital.
I question his outside investment in and undisclosed hype on behalf of a supplement company, and wonder where that fits in with UPMC’s vaunted new ethics policy.
I also wonder if WWE cardio screening was asleep at the switch with Eddie “Umaga” Fatu, who died of an enlarged heart at age 36.
Earlier today I posted links to Dr. Donohue’s draft website home pages, which highlight his association with the supplement company, Vinomis Labs, and its flagship product, the resveratrol supplement Vindure. These beta pages, labeled “Sample 1,” “Sample 2,” and “Sample 3,” have been up for a year.
Now Donohue has taken the pages down. When you go to http://bryandonohue.com, you get the greeting “Coming Soon!”
Those of you who want to see crude screen prints of “Sample 1,” “Sample 2,” and “Sample 3,” which were captured before Donohue deleted them, should go to http://muchnick.net/donohue1.pdf, http://muchnick.net/donohue2.pdf, and http://muchnick.net/donohue3.pdf.
The dude seems to have something against the concept of accountability.
Irv Muchnick
Dear Senator Udall: Help Coordinate Concussion and Steroid Investigations
[posted 1/5/11 to http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com]
Below is the text of a fax sent today to Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico.
Dear Senator Udall:
As someone with a public stake in Congressional follow-through on investigations of the professional wrestling industry’s occupational health and safety – including, as I will proceed to explain, both concussions and drug abuse – I read with great interest the news of your request to the Federal Trade Commission for an inquiry on the consumer product claims of the Riddell football helmet manufacturer.
I am the author of the book CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death. I blog about related issues at http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com.
I am cc’ing two other interested parties in this discussion: Richard Blumenthal, your new Senate colleague from Connecticut, and Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Here is the pertinent background.
In 2007, in the wake of the tragic story of World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit (who murdered his wife and their 7-year-old son before taking his own life), the wrestling industry’s pandemic of young deaths was investigated by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; at the time the chair was Congressman Henry Waxman and that body had a Democratic majority. In January 2009 Congressman Waxman concluded his work in this area by forwarding his personal findings to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The committee’s investigation had included extensive transcripted interviews of WWE executives and contractors by committee staff.
Though the primary focus of that probe was steroid and prescription pharmaceutical abuse, there was also a great deal of information generated on WWE head-injury policies and procedures. In a sense, pro wrestling is “ground zero” of this whole subject in both legitimate sports and sports entertainment: the Benoit case raised awareness of the phenomenon known as Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy; and perhaps the leading advocate of CTE research and concussion-management reform is Chris Nowinski of Boston’s Sports Legacy Institute, a WWE performer who had to retire due to cumulative brain trauma.
Unfortunately, in my layman’s view, the concussion aspect of the Waxman Committee investigation was both incomplete and riddled with misleading testimony, some of which may have risen to perjurious levels.
Indeed, my further opinion is that the entire Waxman exercise of 2007 was incomplete because it did not result in public hearings and because nothing further has been heard on the matter from either Congress or the White House.
The 112th Congress has a major opportunity to rectify that lapse. Senator Blumenthal, like yourself, comes to Washington after long experience as his state’s attorney general. In addition, he was elected to the Senate, in some measure, on the basis of renewed scrutiny of pro wrestling occupational health and safety issues, and he has promised to incorporate them into his agenda.
From my perspective, one key is to coordinate disparate aspects of prospective investigations of wrestling, and that is what brings me to your work on football helmet safety. The New York Times account of your initiative cites a study of the Riddell helmet design by Dr. Joseph Maroon, a Pittsburgh Steelers team physician and a member of the National Football League concussion policy (which, as I am sure you know, was so heavily criticized in House Judiciary Committee hearings that the league last year dismissed its leadership and installed new co-chairs). Since 2008 (subsequent to the Waxman Committee interviews), Dr. Maroon also has been medical director of WWE, and has faced much additional criticism in that role.
Historically, Dr. Maroon has tended to echo the line on concussion research issued by his corporate clients, be they the NFL or WWE. Without knowing much about the merits of the Riddell helmet matter, I was encouraged by the fact that Dr. Maroon now seems to be distancing himself from some of the specifics of Riddell’s exploitation of the data from his helmet study. I speculate that this may be due to the helpful pressure of a United States senator’s voice on the issue. I also think that is an excellent model – for yourself, for Senator Blumenthal, for Mr. Kerlikowske, or for any elected or appointed public official who confronts the important challenge of reforming and regulating the wrestling industry.
Thank you for your attention to these points. I look forward to continuing to follow your work.
Sincerely,
Irvin Muchnick
Below is the text of a fax sent today to Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico.
Dear Senator Udall:
As someone with a public stake in Congressional follow-through on investigations of the professional wrestling industry’s occupational health and safety – including, as I will proceed to explain, both concussions and drug abuse – I read with great interest the news of your request to the Federal Trade Commission for an inquiry on the consumer product claims of the Riddell football helmet manufacturer.
I am the author of the book CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death. I blog about related issues at http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com.
I am cc’ing two other interested parties in this discussion: Richard Blumenthal, your new Senate colleague from Connecticut, and Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Here is the pertinent background.
In 2007, in the wake of the tragic story of World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit (who murdered his wife and their 7-year-old son before taking his own life), the wrestling industry’s pandemic of young deaths was investigated by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; at the time the chair was Congressman Henry Waxman and that body had a Democratic majority. In January 2009 Congressman Waxman concluded his work in this area by forwarding his personal findings to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The committee’s investigation had included extensive transcripted interviews of WWE executives and contractors by committee staff.
Though the primary focus of that probe was steroid and prescription pharmaceutical abuse, there was also a great deal of information generated on WWE head-injury policies and procedures. In a sense, pro wrestling is “ground zero” of this whole subject in both legitimate sports and sports entertainment: the Benoit case raised awareness of the phenomenon known as Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy; and perhaps the leading advocate of CTE research and concussion-management reform is Chris Nowinski of Boston’s Sports Legacy Institute, a WWE performer who had to retire due to cumulative brain trauma.
Unfortunately, in my layman’s view, the concussion aspect of the Waxman Committee investigation was both incomplete and riddled with misleading testimony, some of which may have risen to perjurious levels.
Indeed, my further opinion is that the entire Waxman exercise of 2007 was incomplete because it did not result in public hearings and because nothing further has been heard on the matter from either Congress or the White House.
The 112th Congress has a major opportunity to rectify that lapse. Senator Blumenthal, like yourself, comes to Washington after long experience as his state’s attorney general. In addition, he was elected to the Senate, in some measure, on the basis of renewed scrutiny of pro wrestling occupational health and safety issues, and he has promised to incorporate them into his agenda.
From my perspective, one key is to coordinate disparate aspects of prospective investigations of wrestling, and that is what brings me to your work on football helmet safety. The New York Times account of your initiative cites a study of the Riddell helmet design by Dr. Joseph Maroon, a Pittsburgh Steelers team physician and a member of the National Football League concussion policy (which, as I am sure you know, was so heavily criticized in House Judiciary Committee hearings that the league last year dismissed its leadership and installed new co-chairs). Since 2008 (subsequent to the Waxman Committee interviews), Dr. Maroon also has been medical director of WWE, and has faced much additional criticism in that role.
Historically, Dr. Maroon has tended to echo the line on concussion research issued by his corporate clients, be they the NFL or WWE. Without knowing much about the merits of the Riddell helmet matter, I was encouraged by the fact that Dr. Maroon now seems to be distancing himself from some of the specifics of Riddell’s exploitation of the data from his helmet study. I speculate that this may be due to the helpful pressure of a United States senator’s voice on the issue. I also think that is an excellent model – for yourself, for Senator Blumenthal, for Mr. Kerlikowske, or for any elected or appointed public official who confronts the important challenge of reforming and regulating the wrestling industry.
Thank you for your attention to these points. I look forward to continuing to follow your work.
Sincerely,
Irvin Muchnick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
