Riddell's Revolution helmet has been advertised as the best football helmet ever designed for preventing concussions in football players, from high school to the NFL.
But some researchers question just how effective the Revolution is. Alan Schwarz of the New York Times reports that Riddell uses a study published in the journal Neurosurgery to bolster its claims about the Revolution's effectiveness, but there's an awfully big caveat:
That study has been strongly criticized by several prominent experts because it was commissioned by Riddell and because it tested new Revolution helmets against reconditioned traditional models of indeterminate age....
Dr. Michael Levy, a neurosurgeon at the Children's Hospital of San Diego, said in a telephone interview: "People are running around with that paper selling helmets, and it has not been shown that it makes a difference. People get a false sense of security, and you have to hope that children are not suffering from the promotion of numbers that are not accurate."
That doesn't mean the Revolution isn't a good helmet - most experts do seem to believe that it's effective. But it's troubling how little good, solid, unbiased science there is behind the claims about which helmets are most effective for preventing concussions.
So who is he, really: the tough guy given to swinging his stick or the guy Nolan says will do charity events at 6 a.m.? The guy who earned the NHL's longest suspension or a committed teammate who merely had what Hamrlik calls a "cuckoo moment?"
For too long in the NHL, players that exhibit a complete disregard for the safety of their peers on the ice are lauded for being solid citizens or "nice guys" away from the rink. It happened with Simon, and it happened more recently with Flyers goon Jesse Boulerice. It reminds me of the old, pre-divorce Howard Stern defense: It's OK if he spanks a woman's bare derriere with a dead fish on his radio show as long as he's a good husband back home. The "entertainer" is separate from the "real" individual away from the show.
But beyond what is an interesting character study about "a man who has been suspended more often than disbelief," I think some real and rather embarrassing news about the Islanders comes out in the piece:
After his disciplinary hearing with NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell, Simon issued a nine-paragraph apology. In it, he let it drop that when he swung his stick he was still dazed from being checked into the boards from behind by [Ryan] Hollweg. (According to a source with knowledge of the drafting of the apology, Islanders owner Charles Wang wanted to mention Simon's possible concussion as a way of "getting out in front" of the story.) Simon said he had stayed in bed for about a week with headaches. He also said his eyes were overly sensitive to light, a symptom consistent with a Grade 2 concussion, according to American Academy of Neurology guidelines. But Simon's apparent haze sounded like a hockey variation of the Twinkie Defense; instead of sugar, a concussion had made him behave aberrantly. Judging by his record, however, the concussion just made him more like himself.
There was actually a time, not all that long ago, when the organizers and promoters of pro wrestling claimed with a straight face that the matches weren't staged and that pro wrestling was a legitimate sport.
Eventually the WWE and other organizations admitted that it was all scripted, in large part to avoid the regulations that many states put on sporting events.
Now the state of Georgia is considering going back to regulating pro wrestling as a sport, in part because of talk that steroid use or concussions suffered in the wrestling ring may have contributed in some way to pro wrestler Chris Benoit killing his wife, his son and himself in his Georgia home. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
"I'm going to fight like a dog to make sure that exemption is pulled from the law," [a lawyer for Benoit's father] said Tuesday. "I want to make sure we have a way to protect folks in Georgia from the shenanigans of the WWE."
Should state lawmakers opt to rescind the exemption, WWE wrestlers could be subject to drug testing and other regulations just like performers from other sports that compete in Georgia.
"When you look at all the health issues of professional wrestlers and how many of them have died, it's clear they've been abused," Ichter said.
The WWE resists the move and thinks Benoit's father is motivated by an attempt to get money from the WWE in a lawsuit.
The analysis by doctors affiliated with the Sports Legacy Institute suggests repeated concussions could have contributed to the killings at Benoit's suburban Atlanta home.
The wrestler's father, Michael Benoit, told reporters Wednesday that he knows his son had concussions because his son told him so. But he also said he knows of no medical records or records kept by the wrestling league to support the diagnosis.
Steroid use also has lingered as a theory behind the killings, since anabolic steroids were found in Chris Benoit's home and tests conducted by authorities showed Benoit had roughly 10 times the normal level of testosterone in his system when he died.
It would be a gross oversimplification to blame the Benoit murder-suicide on steroids, and it would be a gross oversimplification to blame it on concussions Benoit suffered in the ring. And it's important to distinguish between making excuses for what Benoit did and trying to find an explanation for why he did it.
But no one should see this report as an excuse. It should instead serve as a wakeup call that the long-term effects of brain damage in wrestling, boxing, football and other sports have consequences that we don't fully understand, and consequences that we need to study more thoroughly.
"We don't know, but we would like to find out," said Julian Bailes, chairman of neurosurgery at the University of West Virginia and medical director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes. "We could be talking about the effects of head trauma, or the effects of head trauma in conjunction with substance abuse, or something else.
"We have seen repeated concussions associated with changes in the brain. These are abnormal changes in former football players who behaved in extreme and destructive ways. We need to ask if this is part of the same syndrome."
The researchers have studied the brains of deceased NFL players Andre Waters and Justin Strzelczyk, and they believe that a long history of concussions has the potential to cause depression, dementia and significant behavioral and mood changes.
Benoit's brain may be too damaged to study, however, because Benoit's body had been decomposing for at least a day before authorities found it. Toxicology tests that will determine whether Benoit was using steroids or other drugs will not be made public for weeks.
The NFL conducted a summit in Chicago this week to address the growing concern that players who suffer concussions on the field also suffer long-term health consequences later in life. But one person is disappointed that he wasn't invited.
Patriots team dentist Gerald Maher said neither he nor any other expert on teeth and jaw injuries was included in the summit, even though NFL research showed that 70 percent of concussions are the result of blows to the jaw. Maher is the inventor of the Maher Mouth Guard and he claims on his web site that no player wearing one has ever had a concussion as a result of a blow to the jaw. Maher can't figure out why he and other team dentists weren't at the summit.
"To not have a TMJ [temporomandibular joint] expert on the panel is extremely shortsighted," said Maher. "I don't understand why they don't. It's one of the pieces that we should be looking at. We should be looking at prevention."
Part of the NFL's concussion crackdown, which includes neurological baseline testing for all players, will be to enforce the use of chin straps. Maher said that's more likely to hurt than help, as it locks the jaw in a position where the end of the jawbone can strike the temporal lobe of the brain.
"That's the worst possible physiological position they can put it in," said Maher.
It's good that the NFL addressed concussions this week, but it's bizarre that team dentists weren't included in the discussion. Maher's views deserve a hearing throughout the league.
"I don't feel as woozy, as spaced out, as I did Saturday," Kotchman said. "When I get my balance back, when I can work out and get my heart rate up without getting a little disoriented, I should be ready to go."
The CT scan Casey underwent on Saturday revealed a Grade I concussion, which is the least harmful of all concussions. So it should only be a few more days before Kotchman can return to action on the field.
What Kotchman doesn't understand is how he could have suffered the concussion even though he had his helmet on.
"When you suffer a concussion and a cut on your head and you have your helmet on, that's a little strange," Kotchman said.
No, it's not that strange. Russell Martin just throws that hard.
Riddell's Revolution helmet has been advertised as the best football helmet ever designed for preventing concussions in football players, from high school to the NFL. 
Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated has a rather lengthy and inquisitive feature story about New York Islanders winger Chris Simon
There was actually a time, not all that long ago, when the organizers and promoters of pro wrestling claimed with a straight face that the matches weren't staged and that pro wrestling was a legitimate sport. 
Could brain damage explain why professional wrestler 
Researchers who study brain trauma in NFL players have asked the family of 
The NFL conducted a summit in Chicago this week to address the growing concern that players who suffer concussions on the field also suffer long-term health consequences later in life. But one person is disappointed that he wasn't invited. 
It was 
