'Concussion' Author Jeanne Marie Laskas

Edge of Sports

Dave Zirin / The Nation

News, Sports News, Sports, History, Politics

4.8 • 616 Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2015

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“This is the conversation America keeps not having…” Today, we have that conversation on head injuries in football with Jeanne Marie Laskas, whose reporting on Dr. Bennet Omalu serves as the basis for the upcoming Will Smith film ‘Concussion.’ Laskas has strong words for the NFL and calls for all fans to re-examine their complicity in this $10 billion-a-year industry. Laskas is the author of the book ‘Concussion’ published by Random House. Then, Dave celebrates Serena Williams’ SI Sportsperson of the Year award by reading a column of praise from TheNation.com, and finally, the ‘Just Stand Up’ award goes to the Golden State Warriors and #DubNation who exemplify the American ideal of marrying teamwork and individuality…with a place for Steph Curry. Dave’s column) http://www.thenation.com/article/serena-williams-is-todays-muhammad-ali/ Jeanne Marie Laskas website: http://jeannemarielaskas.comJeanne Marie Laskas on twitter: http://twitter.com/jmlaskasNew Edge of Sports website: http://edgeofsportspodcast.comDave on twitter: http://twitter.com/edgeofsportsEmail: [email protected] Music:“Progress” by David Serena http://soundcloud.com/daveserena“we are bounded” by tgthr. http://soundcloud.com/officialtgthr Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Edge of Sports the podcast. I'm Dave Ziron. This week we're going to talk to Gene
0:04.4	Marie Lascus, author of Concussion, the story of how Dr. Bennett-Amalu discovered the connection
0:09.7	between football and the condition known as CTE, which is caused by the normal repetitive
0:14.8	actions of playing the game of football and Dr. Amalu's battle to get the NFL to listen.
0:20.5	This is, of course, going to be a movie coming out Christmas Day, starring Will Smith as
0:24.8	Dr. Amalu and Luke Wilson as Roger Goodell.
0:28.2	We're also going to talk about why Serena Williams was not only the right choice to be
0:31.9	the Sports Illustrated Sports Person of the Year award, but why she just might be the
0:35.2	Muhammad Ali of our times.
0:37.4	And we're going to give out the Just Stand Up Award.
0:39.1	But first, Gene Marie Laskis and the story of David versus Goliath,
0:43.4	aka Dr. Bennett-Amalu versus the National Football League.
0:47.6	If you continue to deny my work, the world will deny my work.
1:02.0	But men, your men, continue to die. Their families are living ruins.
1:06.0	Tell the truth.
1:10.0	Tell the truth.
1:12.6	Tell the truth.
1:22.0	The story really does start in Pittsburgh, where you work and where Dr. Amalu was working.
1:30.3	And it starts with him doing the autopsy of Steelers Hall of Famer Mike Webster who dies after living in a van, tasing himself to relieve pain, using super glue to keep his rotting teeth in his mouth.
1:36.3	I mean, it's a horror story.
1:38.4	And I wanted to ask you as somebody who is a longtime person in Pittsburgh, what do you
1:43.3	remember the local response being to Mike Webster's
	...

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