This story found me in the headlines: “Colts’ Jim Irsay discusses addiction.” I had never heard of and would not have been able to cite the name of the owner of the Baltimore Colts. I certainly am no fan of professional football. I have reviewed recent problems in other posts. It seems to me that football — seemingly more than other sports — breaks brains, heads, bones and lives and may foster drug addiction to boot. Read more on Baltimore Colts Owner Jim Irsay – Too Rich To Need Help?…
Filed under Diagnosis, Sports, Substance Abuse by on Jun 16th, 2014. Comment. 
I was in my specialty training when I read Peter D.Kramer’s “Listening to Prozac.”
I remember thinking he was articulate and observant and all kinds of wonderful things, riding the cusp of a great change in psychiatry, doubting him to be a “real” scientist who would hang out at a meeting of the Society for Biological Psychiatry as I once did.
I was wondering what to do with the result of his observation that certain character traits, such as “rejection sensitivity,” could be somehow changed for the better with psycho-pharmacology. Read more on “Listening to Prozac” and What People Really Want…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, News, Sports by on Apr 17th, 2014. Comment.
Every year, back comes the Super Bowl. It is the closest Americans get to throwing Christians to the lions in a Coliseum.
Of course, since Christians are a majority in our delightful money-worshipping theocracy, we can expurgate the violent tendencies of a beer soaked, unhealthy snack-stuffed populace by throwing two teams of highly paid professional athletes at each other.
The only alternative programming known to me in the media is the Puppy Bowl of the Animal Planet Channel. This is sufficiently important to be covered by Variety, the bible of the entertainment industry. I have an unusually high “cutesy” tolerance, but this canine phenomenon, with its attendant spin-offs and franchises (and extended parodying of professional football) is enough to generate nausea even in me. Read more on Superbowl Every Year…
Filed under Brain Damage, News, Sports by on Feb 3rd, 2014. Comment.
Waylon and Willie said it best. “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to play football.” Wait, maybe they said cowboys.
Actually, it was a soccer player who came to visit me regarding chronic pain of the knee and ankle on one side, from soccer injuries. He was only semi-pro, but so loved the game he could not and would not stop playing. I suggested marijuana balm, instead of just knocking himself out with smoking. He did have to work at his customary job as some sort of electrician on most days and could not “medicate” with marijuana until he got home. This produced some pretty painful days. Read more on When Will the Footballers Ever Learn About Concussion?…
Filed under Brain, Brain Damage, prescription drugs, Sports by on Jan 30th, 2013. Comment.
Well, it turns out there aren’t really gators in Gatorade. The drink was named as such because a University of Florida coach – team name Gators – worked with a researcher to find a way to replenish fluids in his heat exhausted, wilting athletes. And Gatorade was born. Read more on What’s In Gatorade? Gators?…
Filed under News, Research, Sports, Stimulants by on Dec 24th, 2012. Comment.
Cutting back on football practice during excessive heat in order to diminish death can only be a good idea.
DJ Searcy, age 16, died during practice drills at a football camp.
About a year ago, scientists studied the surge in heat related deaths on the football field and noted some real problems. Problems like the tripling of the average death rate from one per football season to nearly three per football season, the need for 14 days in order to “acclimate” to heat, and the need to closely monitor obese linebackers. The American College of Sports Medicine actually came up with concrete recommendations such as practicing without full gear, using a “cooling tub”, and taking plenty of breaks. Read more on Less Football = Less Death…
Filed under Sports by on Sep 18th, 2012. Comment.
Dr. Alycia A Chambers is one of my new heroes. An investigation in 1998 led her to suggest that Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky met the criteria for pedophile, in her own assessment of the person now identified as “victim #6.”
What is at stake here is not the usual legal case of “my expert vs. your expert,” for only the most jaded of lawyers would suggest that this case be deferred to the adversarial system, letting the truth fall where it may.
Sexual abuses of childhood trust generally lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can affect the conduct of an entire life if untreated. They are all too often untreated.
Dr. Chambers’ report was buried for a long time. Part of this could have been because she was female. It is not powerful anymore to talk about sex discrimination and harder to prove it, but I have no trouble believing the opinion of a professional female was buried in the files. Read more on Penn State Coach Scandal Update…
Filed under abuse, Sexual Misconduct, Sports by on Jul 25th, 2012. Comment.
The New Orleans Saints were busted for giving financial rewards to players who inflicted game-ending injuries on the other team. Perhaps you can understand why I think competitive sports should be banned.
When I was very young, my father and mother took my brother and me to a Harvard football game. My father — the original dyed-in-the-wool Harvard man — also pointed out how it was the only major stadium that was a “U” shape. Being open on one end somehow made it special. He told me about the values of sportsmanship and fair play, and how it was good for young men to play football. They were “good” young men, and maybe, since many prep school girls like me dated Harvard men…well, someday.
My father was surprisingly naive about his love of Harvard and cheering. He is the only person I have ever known personally who believed that Tom Lehrer’s parody fight song, “Fight Fiercely Harvard,” was a real Harvard song. Read more on Encouraging Brutality In Sports…
Filed under Brain Damage, News, Sports by on Jun 19th, 2012. Comment.
I am not going to repeat the lurid details of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes against young boys and the whole of humanity. I suppose what he was able to accomplish was a pedophile’s dream — The specific charity (the Second Mile) for “helping young boys” that brought him a steady flow of victims, the who judge had been a volunteer for his charity.
Now, there are allegations that his own family contained alleged victims – possibly his grandson.
It’s not that nobody knew — People had complained and reported many times over many years.
Some how it never got out. Read more on Sandusky-Penn State Revelations Keep Coming…
Filed under abuse, Celebrities, News, Sexual Misconduct, Sports by on Nov 30th, 2011. Comment.
I know some people think I’m not a sports fan – and I’m really not – and that’s why I harp on the negative side of sports news.
Why do you think so many ball games are on Sunday?
But the truth is that I’m a humanist and a doctor, and I continually wonder why our society is so dedicated to dangerous and destructive activities that – if they were not so profitable and so glamorized – should be considered insanity.
Every time a person – especially young people – dies during an athletic contest or practice, every time there is a tragic injury or accident while “playing games” I shudder.
Somebody died at a triathlon, and somebody else had something wrong.
Of course, the uneducated and, generally speaking, minimally-informed people who comment on such things say they think it must have been something in the water.
Read more on Glorification Of Sports Is Our Modern Major Mental Illness…
Filed under Sports by on Aug 24th, 2011. Comment.