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Doctor’s Orders
Outside the Lines (Sunday 9 a.m. ET, ESPN)
(In collaboration with PBS’s FRONTLINE)

Dr. Elliot Pellman, former Jets team doctor and long-time head of the NFL’s committee on head injuries, is a lightning rod in the federal lawsuit against the NFL filed on behalf of more than 4,400 former players. Pellman was the lead researcher on league-sponsored papers that downplayed the long-term health effects of concussions, research that has since been challenged by many within the scientific community. John Barr has new details about Pellman’s personal relationship with key NFL executives, how the medicine he practiced on NFL Sundays mirrored what he put in print as a researcher, and why his latest role with the league is questioned by some. Barr also interviewed former NFL player, Kyle Brady, for this piece.

“I find that very peculiar. If you want to be paranoid about it, the paranoia was that they wanted to find zippo. They wanted to find that this was not a problem and they wanted to keep it sequestered.” — David Hovda, Director, UCLA Brain Injury Research Center, on the NFL naming Pellman, not a neurologist, Chairman of its Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee

“We were the first to establish a committee, back in 1994, to address this (concussion) issue and make significant changes to the game.” — Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner

“I don’t know how Dr. Pellman lives with himself. There’s a whole group of people who relied on his advice who have degraded lives today. He’s got that on his hands and on his conscience.” — Leigh Steinberg, former NFL agent

 

Polo Player has “Gold” Standards in and out of Water
ESPN Deportes SportsCenter (Sunday, 11 p.m.)
Reportajes Especiales piece on ESPNDeportes.com

https://youtu.be/En_kKnU1w0o

First generation Mexican-American Brenda Villa represented the USA in four Olympic Games, and is one of only two American players to medal in each. In the London 2012 Olympics, Villa led the country to its first Olympic gold medal in water polo. She is the co-founder of Project 2020, a nonprofit organization that provides girls from low income communities the opportunity to learn to swim and play water polo as part of their daily exercise routine.

 

Pete Rose Doesn’t Deserve Sympathy
ESPN.com
ESPN The Magazine Senior Writer Steve Wulf opines:

“We all loved watching Pete Rose compete. But we should all hate what he did when he decided he was above Rule 21(d), then refused to come clean for 14 years.

“Now the Biogenesis suspensions have given him a new cover, in the form of another crime that strikes at the heart of fair play. Hardly a day goes by without a Rose citing or interview or story. That’s partly the fault of the media, which wants to compare the use of PEDs to the use of a bookie. But Pete plays right along, showing a hint of remorse for what he did, while pointing to others and saying: Look what they did.”

 

Accidental Videographer

Chad Kopcak

To learn how video of New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady’s injury made it to SportsCenter Wednesday, click here