Big, stupid numbers

Whether they tried or not, the Eagles just couldn’t make the numbers add up even though they don’t look so complicated from a first glance.
 
The numbers, 30, 8, 7.5 million and, most importantly, 2 were trickier to solve than a Rubik’s Cube or even the daily online Sudoku puzzle. Sure, the first three are easy to make fit but when one mixes in that 2 the entire puzzle just fell apart.
 
At age 30 with eight hard years already under his belt with a $7.5 million on paper owed to him next season, Brian Westbrook became just another number to the brass behind the Eagles. Oh, there’s nothing complicated about an All-Pro running back at Westbrook’s age and experience that should scare off anyone. However, those two concussions he had in less than a month last season ruined the math.
 
Frankly, that sucks.

No, that’s not because Westbrook was cut by the Eagles (largely because of those concussions), though that is part of it. The disappointing part is that the Eagles’ move exemplifies the ugly reality that we must bear…

We’re all just numbers. That’s it. Somewhere some guy is looking at an Excel spreadsheet without an inch of an emotion or an inkling of knowledge of any of our traits, and that guy is making decisions on all of our futures. Is that the way it should be? And if so, why not train a chimp or build a robot to do that guy’s job.

We like sports because they are an escape. When it comes down to it, it’s entertainment or just one big soap opera that lasts for a long season, but never really rests during the hiatus. So when real life issues like downsizing slides into it from the cold-hearted and emotionless corporate types that run the Eagles, it kind of ruins the whole enjoyment of it. Who wants the local football team to be just like every other business in the country? Not me.

One of the reasons why I dislike fantasy football isn’t the nerdery of the enterprise, though that doesn’t help. Instead, who wants to pretend to be an owner of a team and have to make decisions without emotion? It’s not real, but it kind of is at the same time. You root for numbers, not people.

Numbers lie more than people. They are much more easily manipulated, too. Crunch them and push them they way you wish and numbers will say anything you want them to. They’re cheap, precise and stupid and who can respect that?

So the reason why Brian Westbrook was unceremoniously waived by the Eagles all comes down to the numbers. In fact, Westbrook said he was expecting a call from the team to ask him to take a pay cut or restructure his contract. Well, they restructured it all right—restructured it by dropping it into the office shredder.

“It’s just the fact that you don’t wanna be released,” Westbrook told CSN’s Derrick Gunn. “I have spent a long time in Philadelphia, since ’97—I started in college and had eight years with the Eagles. So you have some type of uncertainty going into the future. I was surprised by the news but at the same time it is part of the business.”

Yep, part of the business. It doesn’t matter that Westbrook was a model employee and the epitome of professionalism. It also doesn’t matter that he pretty much spent the entire 2009 season resting from a knee and ankle injury plus those two concussions, which means he doesn’t have the mileage on his body like your typical 30-year-old running back.

Westbrook says he wants to play in 2010 and he likely will have plenty of job prospects, so no one should feel sorry for the new ex-Eagle. Sure, the Eagles run a money-making machine, but the NFL is an industry unlike the others that are routinely casting off hard-working and professional people. Westbrook very well could end up in a better situation than he was in with the Eagles. That hardly seems farfetched when one looks at Westbrook’s digits.

“A lot of things you lack physically, you make up in the mental aspect. That doesn't mean you can't compete at a very high level,” Westbrook told Gunn. “You see Brian Dawkins, he played here until he was 34 or 35-years old, then went out to Denver and played at a very high level. It can be done. It takes a special player to be able to do that. I have that will to do it, that desire to do it. I am going to train as hard as I can this offseason to come back and show people that I can still play.”

At least there is one aspect of the business we can all respect—if a guy can do the job, there will be a place for him in the NFL. They got that part right.

Time for Brian Westbrook to hang 'em up

Take a perfect Jell-o mold and place it in a bowl of your choosing. It could be Tupperware or Pyrex or whatever. Just make sure there is some space at the top for a lid and the mold is as pristine as possible.

Now, shake it the container and watch what happens to the Jell-o.

Pretty weird, huh? The mold shakes and bumps all over and usually goes back to the way it was. However, every so often pieces of the Jell-o break off and float around adjacent to the main body. Other parts develop fissures and cracks.

And even if the shape holds, the shaking loosens the foundation in a way that future shake-ups just might cause things to fall apart.

That Jell-o, friends, is what happens to a brain when it has a concussion. It bangs up against the walls of the skull with what little room is available. Usually, it bounces back and leaves one with nothing more than a really honey of a headache and some dizziness for a day or two. Other times the brain gets bruised and beat and it takes a little longer for it bounce back.

But always, not matter how mild or severe the concussion, the stage has been set for more damage in the future. After the first concussion, it’s so much easier for a person to get another one. After two, it gets even easier still.

In other words, it’s a vicious cycle in the worst way. Brain damage, disease, and even death are the side effects of future concussions.

And that’s why Brian Westbrook should sit down with the people who really love him (as opposed to those who love him as a football player) and contemplate his future in professional football. Having suffered two concussions in 21 days, Westbrook should give serious consideration to hanging ‘em up for good.

So far the Eagles aren’t saying much about Westbrook’s latest concussion aside from the basics. Andy Reid gave his typical lip service and claimed the team will “evaluate it.” But what else could he say?

“I don't know," Reid said, when asked if he thought if it would be wise for Westbrook to call it a season or even a career. “It's too early right now. I'm not that kind of person who's going to stand up here and tell you that without knowing the information. I don't know that. We're going to do everything the right way, that's the approach, and take every precautionary measure we possibly can to make sure Brian's OK. In these types of situations, football is secondary. We've got to look out for this kid and for his future and make sure everything’s OK for him before he gets back out there.”

Why are they even thinking about Westbrook getting back out there? Sure, that’s coach/jock-speak, but slow down and think for a second—two concussions in 21 days? That’s scary.

Others, like LeSean McCoy, said Westbrook will return because he’s a tough guy.

Really? The ol’ “tough guy” argument?

“I don't think it was that bad. I think he'll be back,” McCoy told reporters after the loss to the Chargers on Sunday. “I'm not sure exactly what happened, I was so involved in the game. I know he's a tough guy. He'll be ready to battle back from it.”

That’s the problem. Concussions don’t care how tough a person is or how hard a guy will “battle back from it.” That’s just stupid. But that’s how athletes think. All it takes is hard work and consistent training to return from a broken bone or a torn ligament, why can’t it be the same for a bump on the head?

For one thing, the brain is not a muscle, bone or ligament. Sometimes rest isn’t enough—for ex-athletes like Troy Aikman or Keith Primeau, post-concussion syndrome is a way of life. They live with the after-effects of too many concussions every day. For others like ex-Steelers’ star Mike Webster and former Eagle Andre Waters, the affects concussions led to an early death. At 50, homeless and suffering from depression, amnesia and dementia, Webster had a heart attack and died.

Waters committed suicide at age 44 because, according to neuropathologist Dr.Benet Omalu, his brain tissue had degenerated into that of an 85-year-old man with similar characteristics to those of early-stage Alzheimer's victims.

The cause? Concussions.

There doesn’t appear to be a real treatment from multiple concussions, either. Former Flyers’ captain Keith Primeau tried for two years to return to sports from several concussions—the first suffered in 2000 in a playoff game in Pittsburgh one game after his game-winning goal in the fifth OT—before deciding to retire.

Since then, Primeau has made concussions his cause. Last April Primeau announced that when he dies, he will donate his brain to science.

 “We owe it to the kids playing sports,” Primeau said.

Primeau says his first recorded concussion from that game in 2000 (he told me he probably had several concussions when he was young, just like any sports-crazed kid, but just waited for the dizziness to go away and jumped back into the game), was the beginning of the end.

“I think the beginning of my demise goes back to the playoff situation back in 2000,” Primeau said in April. “I got laid out at center ice and got carried off on a stretcher. I stayed overnight in a Pittsburgh hospital, only to return two nights later against New Jersey. And that was ultimately the beginning of my demise.”

Is this the beginning of the end for Westbrook? Only time will tell. However, if he continues to subject himself to more hits and head trauma, there might not be much left in the Jell-o bowl to shake up.

Keep your eyes open

So a guy gets up to go into the kitchen to poke around in the refrigerator and the next thing he see is the Eagles kicking off after a replay of Brian Westbrook’s back dashing 62 yards down the field for a touchdown.

Serves me right.

Westbrook’s run is the longest touchdown dash in Eagles’ playoff history, breaking the 48-yarder Westbrook had last week against the Giants. More interestingly, the Eagles have had four series in which they ran just three plays and have scored in two of them.

Either way, the Saints counterpunched with a big drive of their own culminating in Deuce McAllister’s pack-moving, 5-yard run to make it 21-20.

Don’t blink and stay out of the kitchen.

Backatcha

Following Reggie Bush’s touchdown, the Eagles marched right down the field using a bunch of creative plays as well as some deft running and throwing by Jeff Garcia. With all of that it looks as if the slugfest that was advertised is on.

Brian Westbrook dropped a sure-bet TD pass on a well-established screen pass, but gave the Birds the 14-13 lead when he dived in from a yard or two out. More telling than Westbrook recovering from the drop to score was that it took the Eagles 11 plays and 4:39 to go 80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Try this – the Eagles lead the game despite being out-rushed 97-14.