Former ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, who once said Kurt Warner sounded “extremely uneducated” when the Super Bowl XXXIV MVP said he wouldn’t allow his kids to play football over fear of concussions, was fired during the network’s mass layoff in 2017.
Many of you may have thought, as did I, that he then returned to his underwater lair, where he would lay dormant for a thousand years until future humans required his god-awful takes once more.
Well, we were wrong.
Hoge recently co-authored a book along with Dr. Peter Cummings, an assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Boston University, entitled “Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football.”
Seriously. That’s actually what it’s called.
Hoge, whose qualifications in neuroscience include and are limited to, eight seasons as a professional running back, and his NFL punditry ilk have long come to their precious league’s defense from self-inflicted injury like the concussion issue, so this sentiment is nothing new. But with some of the NFL media’s biggest names joining Hoge’s tinfoil-hat society, it’s worth talking about how ridiculous this book actually is.
Chris Mortensen called the book “awesome” and “insightful.”
Trent Dilfer praised Hoge for exposing the “hidden agenda” behind the push for player safety.
Trey Wingo called it “a very interesting read.”
I call it “complete BS.”
First of all, the entire premise of the book is false. For some reason, Hoge seems to believe that there is no scientific evidence showing the link between football and CTE, and he said as much in an interview with USA Today.
This is, of course, patently untrue.
The link between CTE and football isn’t completely clear, that much is true. This is because to prove a causal relationship, you would have to study the brains of athletes over time. Current technology limits the ability to do this, so it may be a while until we have definitive proof that football causes CTE. But to say there is no evidence is absolutely absurd.
There is a strong correlation between concussions accrued while playing football and CTE, and autopsies of dead NFL players have shown that many of them have brain degradation abnormal for men their age. The damage to players’ brains has been fairly consistent with what is known about CTE.
To downplay the dangers of CTE like Hoge and Cummings have is, at best, extremely ignorant.
At worst, it’s blatant propaganda on behalf of the NFL.
But Hoge should know this better than anyone, as his own career was cut short due to brain damage from repeated concussions. He spent 48 hours in the ICU and had to be resuscitated when he stopped breathing after suffering his second concussion in several weeks. He was forced to re-learn to read and suffered from memory loss.
If there is one word to describe someone who wouldn’t wish that upon their child, it’s “uneducated.”
As if the layers of irony couldn’t get any thicker, Hoge actually (successfully!) sued the Chicago Bears’ team doctor after the end of his career.
So, with this change of heart, I expect a forthcoming return of every cent of Hoge’s $1.55 million legal winnings, along with a handwritten apology to the doctor explaining Hoge’s newfound understanding of how beneficial concussions actually are.
Tyler Nettuno is a sports writer at The Alligator. Follow him on Twitter @TylerNettuno and contact him at tnettuno@alligator.org.
Former NFL player Merril Hoge (pictured) recently came out with a book he co-authored with Dr. Peter Cummings called “Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football.”
