December 8, 2011; Pittsburgh,PA, USA: Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy (12) is attended to by medical personnel after a helmet to helmet hit by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison (92) during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Steelers won 14-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

Talk of player safety has increased over the past few years, but little of consequence seems to have been done about it. Sure, we’ve seen James Harrison getting fined every other week, and new “rules” for concussion recipients are in place.

Tell that to Colt McCoy, who was clobbered in a game against – you guessed it, the Steelers by – you guessed it – James Harrison. McCoy sat woozy on the turf and was obviously wobbling when he did get up.

He was left in the game.

That one play could wind up being the centerpiece of the massive lawsuit against the NFL and used as an example of total systemic failure on the part of the NFL to properly protect players and could wind up being the costliest hit Harrison has ever delivered.

However, he won’t be the only one paying for it.

Should the multibillion-dollar suit succeed, there’s a very real possibility that the league could be shut down either temporarily or have outsiders dictate the rules of the game. We could wind up with the FFL, and I’m talking “Flag” not “Fantasy” depending on how things go.

To add fuel to the fire, league Guru Ricky Williams said that he doesn’t trust “doctors” as he air-quoted the word, when it comes to medicine. Really?

Considering the source, that should make the NFL even that much more worried over the litigation it faces. Whatever the league airhead proclaims to be true, the opposite should be assumed and move forward from there. The fact Williams retired after last season notwithstanding.

Even back in 2009, GQ of all publications came out with an article called “Game Brain” prompted in large part by the death of former all-universe center and – you guessed it – former Steeler – Mike Webster back in 2002.

The full 9-page article can be found here:

http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/200909/nfl-players-brain-dementia-study-memory-concussions?currentPage=1

I highly recommend reading it in its’ entirety, but here I’ll sum up as much as I can.

Webster had retired after fifteen seasons, all with the Steelers, and his life after football became one tragic turn after another. At one point, he was broke and living in a car without even all the windows intact. He reportedly bought a Taser and would tase HIMSELF unconscious so he could sleep.

If that’s not someone in dire need of assistance, I don’t know who is.

What the autopsy revealed at the time was Webster suffered from “Punch-Drunk Syndrome” which is just as it sounds like: something that Boxers (ever seen Mohammed Ali after about age 40?) get way too much. But Webster’s brain didn’t look different from a normal one on the outside – Boxers often wind up with visible contusions on their brain from repeated blows to the head.

Webster wore a helmet. That should’ve prevented such a thing right?

Not so fast.

Webster had been to multiple doctors, asked for help many times, and according to the GQ piece, applied for the highest compensation level allowed by the NFL: “total disability, football-related.” Had he gotten approved, he would have gotten as much as $12,000 monthly. After 6 months of tracking down Webster’s doctors and medical records since Webster’s memory was by now horrible (he couldn’t recall if he were married or not, for instance) and presenting the case to the NFL, the league responded by “wanting Mike Webster to see THEIR doctor.”

What this almost always translates to is “Before we can make a decision, you have to see a doctor that is on OUR payroll and whose job it is to minimize awards to former players so he can save us (the NFL) TONS and TONS of cash.”

Webster’s case was so obvious, as it turns out, even the NFL’s doctor agreed with Webster’s others: his injuries were caused by playing football.

The NFL committee unanimously voted for PARTIAL disability despite this. That’s the lowest level allowed. LOWEST LEVEL FOR MIKE WEBSTER?

Appeals followed, the NFL fought them. Webster died soon afterward.

I could recount case after case after case, starting with the hit on Cleveland Browns’ signal caller Colt McCoy, continue with Junior Seau, and bring up several players that have recently retired because of concussions. I trust my point is made.

No doubt, the litigators have gathered information like this and hundreds of other cases. Granted, Webster’s is an extreme example, but he’s not alone by any means. The attorneys will present each case along with the records that the NFL will be forced to provide to paint a picture of the league ignoring the issue probably for much, much longer than we even know today.

What I see coming out of this is MAJOR trouble for the league in general. With today’s Workers’ Compensation laws and Federal vs. state jurisdictions, it’s already a big mess but unifying the lawsuits has brought some measure of focus to the problem as well as intense media and fan scrutiny.

I can’t see how the NFL will be left untarnished and unpunished. As a result, should the suit succeed, at minimum we should see a large increase in prices and fees the league and NFL franchises will charge for everything from tickets to jerseys – forcing the middle class to stay home instead of attending the games. Revenue will be more difficult to generate with a smaller paying fan base, and the entire pie will shrink.

Furthermore, the ripple effects will be that player salaries could very well begin to _decrease_ which in turn will cause more labor strife. The NFLPA union will rightly demand more concessions for ex-players and a much larger revenue share going to the retired players’ fund for these injuries and in turn putting even further strain on the finances of the NFL.

After that, the entire business model could collapse.

Welcome to reality, folks.

Dec 5, 2010; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings doctor Joel Boyd (right) tends to quarterback Brett Favre (4) after he was hit hard by the Buffalo Bills in the first quarter at the Metrodome. Favre did not return. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE

Junior Seau’s recent tragic death put the exclamation point on the player safety issues that have been percolating for the past few years and this lawsuit was much longer in the making than just the 6 weeks since Seau’s suicide.

The suit was officially filed in Philadelphia on Thursday. With nearly a hundred suits being filed on behalf of over 2,000 players in the past year or so, it was decided to make one big case out of it instead. Since they all stem from the same issue, they unified the legal action.

Basically, the suit claims the NFL knew of the problems that have faced players regarding head injuries for many years and has done little to nothing about it until recently, and that even that isn’t nearly enough.

Of course, the NFL says the suit has no merit. I think that’s what everyone always says before a case in the public eye like this one is if you’re the defendant. It’s almost like the politi-speak in Washington that George Carlin (R.I.P.) had such a hilariously insightful routine about (among many other things). The NFL spokesperson said the suit alleges that the NFL sought to “mislead” players.

I think the facts should speak for themselves. It’s only been in the past 2 or 3 years at MOST that head trauma has become a concern of the NFL on a preemptive or preventative level. The players say things like NFL Films “glorified the violence” and they’re right, they did in many instance. Just watch some of the old “Voice of God/John Facenda”-narrated stories of the 60′s and 70′s. Some of it was almost poetic, but glorified violence of the game nonetheless.

NFL Films is NOT the NFL, however. This case should be in the headlines repeatedly this summer, so watch out for news as it happens. The NFLPA is NOT a party to the suit; it’s former players and a number of ex-wives who are suing for loss of alimony as a result of the lost income.

I think this will get more convoluted before it gets any clearer. Stay tuned.

Feb 6, 2011; Arlington, TX, USA; NFL Players Association president DeMaurice Smith stands on the field before Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

While teams unveiled their squads at OTAs this past week, there have been a few things that didn’t get the limelight:

First, we’ve found out that the NFLPA had instructed the players not to cooperate with the Bountygate investigation according to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Some players (including Jonathan Vilma) are appealing the suspensions and that process will take some time to complete. Goodell claims to have invited the players to be part of the process, but they declined.

In addition, NFLPA union President DeMaurice Smith spoke of a lawsuit argued in part on Wednesday in Federal court in Minnesota. The claim is that in the uncapped year 2010 the 32 NFL teams colluded to have in place a “secret salary cap,” costing players somewhere near a billion dollars in wages. Both sides claim they have the facts on their sides, of course.

Interesting, since the Redskins and Cowboys both have their salary caps slashed by the league for “overspending” in 2010. That’s supposed to be some kind of proof that teams were keeping salaries DOWN?

I can almost see this scenario in one of those cell phone commercials: Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones in on a conference call of all 32 owners. The word goes out to fire more underproducing players and they heard “hire” instead of “fire.”

Funny how a single word changes everything.

There’s even supposedly a clause in the new CBA to prevent such a suit, but the courts rejected portions of it and allowed the suit to get this far at least. Smith ranted about the NFL “cartel” behaving badly. He could be right for all I know, but each side is going to do public posturing. It’s all part of the show. I can see some merit in one of Smith’s arguments – that the NFL fights hard against a lot of Worker’s Compensation cases. That much, I can easily believe.

You can bet that when things come down to honor vs. money, money will be the deciding factor 99% of the time. That’s the world we live in.

In other un-sexy but relevant news, the league and the NFLPA have been in discussions trying to decide what levels of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) will trigger a “positive” result in urine tests. A third-party arbitrator was to dole the punishment and handle the appeals process for any infractions and players’ privacy is of utmost importance to the NFLPA.

Last September, the NFLPA submitted a proposal that would first establish a baseline level for NFL players through a population study and, once the results are tabulated, the levels would be established. At one point, even U.S. Representatives were involved in the details.

I’m so glad our nation has so few problems that our elected representatives have the time to get involved in such things.

It appears the CBA that was hammered out last summer is, shall we say, something less than perfect. Way less.

As such, expect the deadlock to continue.