BONUS: The NFL's Violent Ballet
The Intercept Briefing
The Intercept
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2018
⏱️ 41 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
This year in the National Football League, there have been 281 recorded concussions that players have suffered — spanning from the pre-season right up to the last playoff games. This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday. That is a macabre sort of record — it represents the most concussions in a season since the NFL started keeping track six years ago. The hits that these players take over and over during their careers can lead to very serious brain damage and a degenerative condition known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE.
We are doing this special episode of Intercepted to highlight a gut-wrenching new short film that The Intercept’s Josh Begley has directed. It is called "Concussion Protocol."
In this special bonus episode of Intercepted, Josh Begley, The Intercept’s Shaun King and Donte Stallworth, a ten year veteran of the NFL, discuss brain injuries, the #TakeAKnee protests, and Trump’s attacks on athletes.
Josh Begley’s video “Concussion Protocol” can be viewed at theintercept.com/NFL.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is intercepted. |
| 0:30.0 | I'm Jeremy Skayhill coming to you from the offices of the Intercept in New York City, |
| 0:37.0 | and this is a special bonus edition of Intercepted. |
| 0:40.0 | Up the middle, little screen to Adams. |
| 0:44.0 | He got him off the face. |
| 0:46.0 | Oh my God, he comes out and they're asking for help right away. |
| 0:49.0 | Oh no. |
| 0:50.0 | And a flag. |
| 0:52.0 | That looked bad. |
| 0:55.0 | This year in the National Football League or the NFL, there have been 281 recorded concussions |
| 1:02.0 | that players have suffered. |
| 1:04.0 | These span from the preseason right up to the last playoff games this weekend is Super Bowl Sunday. |
| 1:12.0 | These concussions represent a macabre sort of record. |
| 1:16.0 | They represent the most concussions in a season since the NFL started keeping track six years ago. |
| 1:24.0 | It hits that these players take over and over during the course of their careers can lead to very serious brain damage |
| 1:33.0 | and a degenerative condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. |
| 1:40.0 | When Boston University did a major study on the brains of 111 former NFL players, a stunning 110 of them were found to have CTE. |
| 1:51.0 | Donald Trump has made it a central passion of his to attack NFL players because of the take-in-e protests and to bash them as unpatriotic spoiled rich people. |
| 2:03.0 | He's called black athletes sons of bitches and he's called for those who protest to be fired. |
| 2:09.0 | He even used his state of the union address to attack the players. |
| 2:13.0 | Preston's reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us of why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance, |
| 2:25.0 | and why we proudly stand for the National Anthem. |
... |
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