Theories are just theories, part 3

So you have this theory that the NFL causes brain swelling that can only be diagnosed on autopsy. You have a theory that the NFL causes an increase in suicides. None of this is proven, but you have the NFL accepting the premise and defending itself.

And you have guys like Shannon Sharpe blaming the NFL for intentionally allowing the game to go on while knowing all along that it caused brain damage.

So, based on one theory, all the people who run the NFL are evil and wicked and trying to make a buck at the expense of all the people playing the game.

So then the media buys into the theory. Because that's what the media does: every time a new theory comes out they consider it as fact. Instead of just reporting on it and letting the people decide what is true or not, they treat it as a fact.

So then you have people like Chris Borland reading what the media says. Then Borland gets scared, and he quits the NFL based on his fears. And of course there are other players in the NFL equally scared but don't want to risk giving up all that money.

Surely we should respect theories. Surely we should be careful. But we should not panic and change the game of football based on a couple theories.

I think people tend to over react to theories, and it is this that has lead to the rise in mental disorders in this nation.  Yet, in the meantime, people who believe every new theory postulated think the cause is smart phones. 

Theories are just theories, part 2

You may also replace big industry with progressive.

How many theories were postulated that told you that coffee is bad for you. Once it was thought that it would cause Parkinson's. Yet the same people -- who happen to be on a government panel -- who said that are now claiming that drinking four cups of coffee a day prevents parkinsons. They are also claiming it prevents heart disease and liver cancer.

I remember my mom, back in 1977, drank a beer a day while she was pregnant with my younger brother. Then she didnt' breastfeed, because one study came out that showed formula was better for a newborn. Yet that theory was proven to be false, and now the recommendation is that children should be breastfed until the age of three, which was how long most parents throughout history nursed their kids.

My point here is that we need to stop kowtowing to theories.

Another theory postulates that the NFL has lead to an increase in suicides among former players. So the NFL accepts the premise on the scanty evidence available, and defends itself against it. While a more sane solution would be to monitor the situation while waiting for more evidence to come out.

I have seen this (by my own study of medical history) over and over and over throughout history. It goes all the way back to the primitive and ancient worlds. You had people for thousands of years banned from touching a corpse, even for scientific purposes, because dead bodies were considered sacrosanct; that touching them would cause the gods or demons to cause famine and disease.

So what good did this result in. None. It resulted in slowing down of progress. It made it so people would have to wait until the 18th century to actually be able to look at and study a dead body without fearing death. It made it so people had to wait until the 20th century to get results. It made it so asthmatics had to needlessly suffer until the 1950s.

It's all because of senseless, cooky, mythological, feel good theories. It was all based on fear caused by theories that were later proven to be nothing more than theories; nothing more than myths.

Further reading:

• Theories are just theories: part 1
• Theories are just theories: part 3

Theories are just theories, part 1

As a person who has studied the history of medicine, I have seen over and over again throughout the history of mankind that people tend to overreact to theories. They forget that theories are just ideas that have yet to be proven true or false.

Look at global warming as a good example. You have people who are scared to death that the world is going to be destroyed if we don't do something to stop it, and yet there has been no increase in global temperatures since 1998. And yet they don't care, they continue to be scared, to champion for more regulations that harm economies.  No wonder kids these days are depressed. The so called experts like to blame it on stuff like iphones, but the real reason is probably that kids are taught to be scared based on "theories."

There once was a theory that asthma was all in your head. All the focus of physicians was aimed at finding medicine to soothe the mind, rather than soothe the bronchial muscles that spasm during an asthma attack. It was for this reason that asthmatics had to wait until the 1950s to get medicine that actually worked. You see, sometimes the most well intentioned theories are wrong.

Another good example is the NFL. Joesph Maroon was the first to discuss a study of the brain that produces Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease caused by swelling of the brain due to violent head injuries, such as those produced by violent hitting during football.

This "theory" has yet to be proven, however. This was just the result of one study. Many initial studies have later been proven false. 

Another good example here is the hypoxic drive theory. Many COPD patients, for years, have been denied the oxygen they need based on a silly theory. While the theory may prove interesting in theory, real life experience has never corroborated it. Nearly all studies since its inception have proven it false. Yet out of fear of causing their patients to stop breathing, many physicians to this day continue to under oxygenate their patients based on this myth.

So based on one study, Chris Borland, a star defensive player for the San Fransisco 49ers, has decided to quit his million dollar job after only playing one season. He is turning down all sorts of fame and money based on a theory that has never been proven.

Years ago scientists came up with this theory that all cholesterol was bad for you. They believed that all foods high in cholesterol caused heart disease. So, based on this theory, you had many people afraid to eat foods that tasted good.

According to the Washington Post, there is now new scientific evidence that "eating foods high in cholesterol may not significantly affect the level of cholesterol in the blood or increase the risk of heart disease." The findings are so significant that the U.S. Government is "poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol."

According to National Review, March 9, 2015: "Few areas of science have seen greater advances in recent decades than medicine, but the cholesterol story shows that when dealing with highly complex systems, even the best-informed scientists, using the best available data with the best of intentions, can draw conclusions that turn out to be incorrect. Science deserves all the love we can give it, but that love should not be blind.

My point here is that people need to quit overreacting. Surely we should respect theories, but we must stop treating them as facts. And the last thing we should do is write laws that are nearly impossible to get rid of based on fear caused theories.

Further reading:

• Theories are just theories: part 2
• Theories are just theories: part 3
• Challenge the theory: 'Think for yourself'

NFL finally back to normal again

I don't know about you, but I was so glad to get back to football talk this past weekend.  During the pregame shows on Fox and ESPN there was no talk of Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson, at least during the time I was watching these channels.

Like other guys and gals who love football, I don't watch pregame shows and NFL games to hear about politics.  In fact, just the opposite: I do it to get away from life for a while.  I do it to forget about politics and bills and money and work.

But here we were, week after week, hearing about how bad the NFL was because of a few guys.  There was one interview on ESPN between a female sports journalist and Roger Goodall.  It took place just after Roger Goodell told Ray Rice he was no longer welcome in the NFL, and during the media fallout.

She said: "Don't you feel bad for ending this man's career?"

Goodell defended himself. I was irritated that he would do this, because I always tell my kids that if you get to the point you have to defend yourself you are probably guilty.  What he should have said was this:

"I did not end Ray Rice's career: he did."

The bottom line is this: Any man who disrespects the natural rights of the women and children in his life is a thug.  Period.  And just because one man disrespects the women and children in his life in no way represents the place of that mans employment.

The reason I wrote that is because, over and over again during the past several weeks, we have heard about how bad the NFL was for harboring such thugs.  We have been hearing about how bad men are.

We have been hearing how what's happening in the NFL, how its harboring of people found guilty for drunken driving, ingesting drugs, spousal abuse, and other sociological crimes, is indicative of men in the main population.

You know how many times some ESPN sports analyst was interviewing some person who said something like: "What Ray Rice did was representative of the NFL in general.  The NFL is too rough, and such acts of violence are conducive to men acting badly."

This is poppycock.  In fact, studies show that the NFL is less violent than real life. Yet if you were new to ESPN, and new to the NFL, and were watching these pregame shows for the first time, you'd think the NFL was full of a bunch of child beating, wife beating, thugs.  You would turn it off.

Yet if that was the goal of these journalists, they failed.  A recent poll showed that such poor, politically orientated, journalism had no effect on who watches football.

It seems wherever there is a trauma, and men beating their wives and children is a trauma, there are progressive activists who try to take advantage of it to advance their agenda.  In this case, it was feminists who believe the NFL is too violent and who are aiming to femanize the game.

What I'd like to say to them is: get on with your life, and let us enjoy the game!

Further reading:

• DigiNews: Ray Rice Indicative of Violence in the NFL? Data Says No
• USAToday: NFL Arrests Database
• RedState: No, the NFL Is Not a Hotbed of Wife and Child Beaters...Despite what the Left Would Like You to Believe
• FiveThirtyEight: The Rate of Domestic Violence Arrests Among NFL Players
• RushLimbaugh.com: TV Show Idea: The NFL Court - 09.15.14
• RushLimbaugh.com: The NFL Collides with the PC Media Culture - 09.17.14
• RushLimbaugh.com: Aren't Most NFL Players Democrats? - 09.17.14
• RushLimbaugh.com: And Tim Tebow was Bad for the Game? - 09.17.14

Don Jones sent to sensitivity training; Michael Sam doing reality show

Don Jones of the Miami Dolphins

I just want my readers to know that I have no problem with an openly gay person, Michael Sam in this case, being drafted by the NFL.  I have written on this blog how I have utmost respect for the gay population, even to the point that I support gay marriage.

I could write about how good this is for the nation and stuff like that, but I think that topic has been covered ad nauseum on other blogs and in the media.  For the sake of this blog, I would like to take this discussion a step further.

I think that our Constitution is not prejudiced, and it essentially protects the rights and liberties of all Americans equally.  By this, it does not matter the color of your skin, the religion of your choice, whether you are male or female, or whether you are straight or gay.  You are an American, you have natural born rights and liberties that the Constitution protects.

Michael Sam of the Miami Dolphins

Taken a step further, you also have a right to be smart, but you also have a right to be stupid.  You have a right to be sensitive, but you also have a right to be insensitive.

That said, while I completely disagree with him, I think that Miami Dolphin Don Jones is an insensitive idiot for tweeting "OMG," and "horrible" in response to the drafting of Sam.

So, just because Don Jones disagrees with the management of the Miami Dolphins, and disagrees with sensitive and caring Americans who are proud of Michael Sam for doing what he did, the Dolphins are forcing Jones to attend "sensitivity training."

You may disagree with me here, but I think this is scary.  So just because Jones disagrees with you he has to attend "sensitivity training" until he either does or says he does.  That is not American.  In fact, it's as un-American as you can get.

I think we should be proud of Michael Sam.  However, I think what the Dolphins are forcing Jones to do, attend re-educational camp, distracts from all that is good about Sam being drafted.  I think it's crazy; it's scary.

If I openly disagree with Obamacare, am I going to have to attend "re-education" training" until I support it. I openly criticize world leaders on this blog.  Am I going to be forced to attend "re-education training" when my opinion differs from theirs.

Folks, this is not good. Sam being drafted is good, but the Dolphin's punishment for Jones being an idiot is not good.

Should Jones' apologize? Yes!  Should Jones be told to keep his mouth shut? Yes! Should he be fined?  Yes! Should Jones be fired? Perhaps.  Should Jones be forced to think like you and me?  No!  And that's what I find scary.
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Update:  5/17/14

In another interesting twist, the Dolphins learn that Michael Sam was doing a reality TV show during the draft, and they weren't aware of this.  So, this sort of distracts from his coming out, and the kiss.

Think about it this way, when you are in front of cameras, and when the cameras are rolling, do you act the same way you would act when the cameras are not on you?  The answer is usually no.

So, this raises the possibility that Sam came out only as part of the show, and the possibility that "the kiss" was only an act in front of the cameras.  ESPN analyst Jason Whitlock said he would cut Sam based on this deception.

According to CBS News:

Whitlock said that he feels like Michael Sam is contradicting himself. Sam said that he wants to be viewed as a football player, but now he’s doing a docuseries that’s going to take away from football. He also said he’s a staunch supporter of Sam coming out but right now he feels duped.

It's interesting anyway. Were all the media, all those who all they could talk about for several weeks before the draft was Michael Sam being the first ever gay player who came out to be drafted in the "manly" NFL draft, duped?

I'm not forming an opinion here, nor telling you how you should react to this, I'm merely analyzing what's in the news.  Yet some say the show should be cancelled because it will just distract from football (something Sam said he did not want to do), or Sam should be cut.

Further reading or viewing:

1. Dolphins fine and suspend Don Jones for anti-Michael Sam tweet
2. O, No!  Show revealed
3. Michael Sam faces real danger: the Tim Tebow effect