09-29-2016, 05:48 AM
Everyone should email the Pac-12. I'm not on social media, but this issue should be going viral with a lot more attention. Maybe contact the guy who heads up the concussion awareness project too? http://chrisnowinski.com
Anyway, here's my email to Hirsch:
Dear sir,
This morning I saw an email exchange posted on a Stanford message board about the Tahaan Goodman hit on Francis Owusus last Saturday night in the Rose Bowl, and had to let my feelings be known, because the conferences stance is unacceptable.
First, study this image: https://www.instagram.com/p/BKyUOc-BUlH/
How is Goodman not hitting Owusu with the crown of his helmet, in the face? Hes lucky there were no facial fractures.
Even if it technically wasnt the crown - though I certainly am curious to hear an argument as to how this wasnt the crown, because I can see - the entire point of calling targeting is to eliminate deliberate head hits, is not? How can anyone claim this wasnt a deliberate shot to the head? Please explain how being a defenseless receiver is any worse than being a defenseless runner in the open field. What is the point of even having a targeting rule - ostensibly designed to prevent traumatic head injuries - if there is a giant loophole to allow them in some form? This is like outlawing murder by gun, but allowing it by knife. Its absolutely absurd. If the Owusu hit isnt illegal, why have the targeting rule at all?Â
The Pac-12 is essentially saying it is perfectly acceptable for defenders to deliberately hit ball carriers in the helmet in an effort to knock them unconscious so they drop the football and create a turnover. Think about this. Every defensive player has just had it made clear, in an official statement by the Pac-12 Conference, that they can head hunt without penalty. Is that what we want? In an age when more lawsuits are being filed against institutions that allow head injuries to happen, the conference is opening itself up to significant legal liability by not immediately making clear the kinds of hit Goodman leveled are prohibited.
Now, I understand all helmet-to-helmet hits cant be eliminated, particularly in and around the line of scrimmage, so here is a suggestions to consider:
1. No ball carrier beyond three yards of the LOS can be targeted with a helmet to helmet hit
2. Any defender who lowers his head to deliver a blow with his helmet outside this area is considered guilty*
*If the image above showed Goodman hitting Owusu facemark to facemark, it would be legal, but he clearly lowered his head to protect himself and hurt Owusu with his helmet - unacceptable.
Hitting within the LOS is expected, and all players in that area are ready to be hit, and see hits coming, so they protect themselves. By definition, Francis Owusu was not expecting to be hit in the head, because if he was, he would have ducked or turned himself to be ready for such a collision. I have an idea. Go interview Francis Owusu. Ask him if he thought it would be legal to be hit the way Goodman hit him, and if he would have been more aware of what might happen if he thought such a hit could be leveled on him.
As much as I hate to see these college kids being put at risk by the Pac-12 conference, part of me hopes more of these kinds of hits happen, and the conference is forced into action because it has a crisis. The idea of well review in the offseason when there is a serious loophole in the rules that puts young men at risk right now, is the embodiment of abdicating responsibility and failing to lead.Â
Disgusting.
Anyway, here's my email to Hirsch:
Dear sir,
This morning I saw an email exchange posted on a Stanford message board about the Tahaan Goodman hit on Francis Owusus last Saturday night in the Rose Bowl, and had to let my feelings be known, because the conferences stance is unacceptable.
First, study this image: https://www.instagram.com/p/BKyUOc-BUlH/
How is Goodman not hitting Owusu with the crown of his helmet, in the face? Hes lucky there were no facial fractures.
Even if it technically wasnt the crown - though I certainly am curious to hear an argument as to how this wasnt the crown, because I can see - the entire point of calling targeting is to eliminate deliberate head hits, is not? How can anyone claim this wasnt a deliberate shot to the head? Please explain how being a defenseless receiver is any worse than being a defenseless runner in the open field. What is the point of even having a targeting rule - ostensibly designed to prevent traumatic head injuries - if there is a giant loophole to allow them in some form? This is like outlawing murder by gun, but allowing it by knife. Its absolutely absurd. If the Owusu hit isnt illegal, why have the targeting rule at all?Â
The Pac-12 is essentially saying it is perfectly acceptable for defenders to deliberately hit ball carriers in the helmet in an effort to knock them unconscious so they drop the football and create a turnover. Think about this. Every defensive player has just had it made clear, in an official statement by the Pac-12 Conference, that they can head hunt without penalty. Is that what we want? In an age when more lawsuits are being filed against institutions that allow head injuries to happen, the conference is opening itself up to significant legal liability by not immediately making clear the kinds of hit Goodman leveled are prohibited.
Now, I understand all helmet-to-helmet hits cant be eliminated, particularly in and around the line of scrimmage, so here is a suggestions to consider:
1. No ball carrier beyond three yards of the LOS can be targeted with a helmet to helmet hit
2. Any defender who lowers his head to deliver a blow with his helmet outside this area is considered guilty*
*If the image above showed Goodman hitting Owusu facemark to facemark, it would be legal, but he clearly lowered his head to protect himself and hurt Owusu with his helmet - unacceptable.
Hitting within the LOS is expected, and all players in that area are ready to be hit, and see hits coming, so they protect themselves. By definition, Francis Owusu was not expecting to be hit in the head, because if he was, he would have ducked or turned himself to be ready for such a collision. I have an idea. Go interview Francis Owusu. Ask him if he thought it would be legal to be hit the way Goodman hit him, and if he would have been more aware of what might happen if he thought such a hit could be leveled on him.
As much as I hate to see these college kids being put at risk by the Pac-12 conference, part of me hopes more of these kinds of hits happen, and the conference is forced into action because it has a crisis. The idea of well review in the offseason when there is a serious loophole in the rules that puts young men at risk right now, is the embodiment of abdicating responsibility and failing to lead.Â
Disgusting.