By Joe Torosian
Kick it!
Conclusion: Watching the on going implosion of the Buss family reminds me, again, that money/generational wealth are not the greatest gifts you can give your children.
Seventeen years ago, my mom died, and among the gifts she gave us over a lifetime was the blessing that all we had to do as a family was divide up her photos.
Selfishly, while I’m still going to root for the New York Knicks, I really want the Lakers to do well.
Have you seen the recent pics of Luka? Can Walker Kessler be a 2026 statistical version of Vlade Divac?
The New York Times recently ran a huge piece on CTE and football.
As I shared a few months ago, don’t sell your soul to a “scientific” report. No matter how credible it sounds. Before diving in, ask who paid for it, what their agenda is, and why they claim absolute certainty.
I share this in light of a Facebook memory that popped up from 13 years ago about the imminent end-of-the-world scenarios “Climate Change” would bring about in the next five years.
“Joe! It’s already happening!” And the “science” would be cited.
Match that with the millions of gallons of Kool-Aid swallowed about the absolute certainties of COVID six years ago.
And I refuse to believe everyone was trying to be safe and careful with the information they had. No, there was an agenda beyond the “greater good” narratives.
And this is where CTE becomes a thing with football. Don’t trust everything you are told or see in print. (If you got a pastor that expects you to trust him over the Bible, you need to fire that guy.)
Rather ask where the money behind it is coming from, who the information serves, and why it—like everything else—is an absolute. (Like the pastor telling you his church is the only true church.)
The “science” the MLB trusts can’t even figure out how to preserve and protect million-dollar arms.
We can’t even define or agree on what a woman is in this culture, but a “scientific” report by the New York Times has nailed all things CTE, football, and traumatic brain injury?
Yeah, and Kawhi Leonard will play 82 games this season.
We still have football because it makes so much money, but there is an agenda—arming itself with fear & emotion—to get rid of it.
I can go on a long rant on why football is great…and easily produce another 500 words on why it is important for young men…and maybe the last island remaining where we encourage our young men to grow as men…and why there’s an agenda to destroy it…but not today.
Speaking of football…Two things are true about the Los Angeles Rams after Saturday’s dirt-roading of the New Orleans Saints.
1—The discussions about there being a legitimate battle for QB2 were ridiculous.
2—The Rams are the only NFL team that can give snaps to their #3s/Practice Squad guys with the expectation they’re going to play good football.
I’m not condemning Kansas City, New Orleans, or any other NFL franchise to a high draft pick next April, but the Rams are the only team I’ve seen operationally that looks ready for the regular season.
Last Add Saints-Rams: Is anybody looking out for Jourdan Rodrigue? I’ve sung her praises, but the pairing of her with Brenda Song was an image-destroying catastrophe.
Someone should have been looking out for her, and demanding that she stay on the football script—a script she does really well with.
Instead, all that celebrity in the booth moment did was give fuel to every dude arguing women shouldn’t be involved with football at any level.
…And I’ve never said that. I don’t want them doing play-by-play…and if they’re going to provide analysis, they need to be as good as Rodrigue has been in the past.
Late to the party on this, but my only question regarding the Ennis Kanter Freedom-Natasha Cloud spat over the weekend is, did he say something?
I haven’t heard anything about him verbally taunting her (I welcome correction), so if she was triggered merely by his presence and t-shirt, the whole thing’s her fault.
Then I begin to wonder if the rage was pre-planned. In the end, all Cloud did was show the QNBA’s immaturity and shed more light on a debate it can’t win.
Hey, the New York Mets are only nine games back in the National League Wildcard race.
#99—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth…
Last Add Mets: I’m telling you there’s a chance.
The Dude abides…
1,346
1 Corinthians 10:13
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
“RamView” M-W-F
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It might surprise you to know that the study was funded, in part, by the NFL and the NFLPA. If you actually look at the study, you would learn all about the funding for the study, any competing interests, and the backgrounds/qualifications of the 26 scholars who worked on this study and their affiliations, including Harvard, Boston University, University of Connecticut, et al. Or let me guess, these organizations are Woke? Have DEI? Are not RFK Jr? Regarding the latter, do you question his methods or his motivations? Maybe you can ask the people who have died of measles because of the fear of vaccinations. I challenge you to actually read the study with an open mind.
This is an important study because we need to know more about the sport that you claim is the last bastion of masculinity in this country (a ridiculously ignorant statement) and its potential impact on the quality of life of those that have played tackle football. People like me, who played eight years of tackle football (4 years, JAA–Gremlin to Jr. Midget, and 4 years of high school, three of those at the varisty level, where I was all-league twice and even have a CIF championship to show for it [Div IV], and coached at the high school level for 4 years beyond that) wand to know the long-term impacts of tackle football on my physiology. Oh, and add three diagnosed concussions to that list of accomplishments. Did you play tackle football at any competitive level?
As a nation, we need to be informed by scientists about the potential impact of the game, if not inform changes to the nature of the game itself. This latter point is not without precedence: look at the changes made to college football at the onset of the 20th century. Nobody is out to destroy football, especially not scientists who’ve spent years earning their degrees and esteem at highly regarded institutions.
A manliness rooted in a violent game (or failed pro athletes grandstanding at a Wnba game for internet likes) says a lot about about the backward/outdated definition of masculinity in this country–and you.
MVS: The recent New York Times-covered CTE study (Daneshvar et al., published in The BMJ on August 25, 2026) was funded primarily by U.S. National Institutes of Health grants plus a private research fund.
hms.harvard.edu
Support came from:National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grants U54NS115266 and U01NS086659
National Institute on Aging (NIA) grants P30AG13846 and P30AG072978
The Maloney/Carpenter Trauma-Related Neurodegenerative Disease Research Fund
eurekalert.org
The work was led by researchers at Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School, Boston University, and affiliated brain banks (including UNITE). Some authors separately disclosed relationships with NFL Players Association–funded programs (such as the Football Players Health Study at Harvard), but those were listed as outside this study.
I like to quote one of the all-time smart guys in history, Einstein, who said “nobody knows it all.” This being true, it’s dumb to turn your independent judgment over to the nearest loudmouth who claims HE knows it all.
I’m not here to say that the human mind isn’t capable of great things, but to amplify Joe’s warning that there are any number of false scientists and preachers who will gladly try to substitute their thinking for yours. They’re doing this for either monetary or psychological gain, and you need to have a finely-tuned B.S. detector to avoid getting gamed by them.
To get to the heart of this matter, we need to ask: is the universe governed by Gods and Ghosts, or are the things in the universe knowable, with fixed identities? If you agree with the latter viewpoint, you’ll discard the ideas of anyone who requires you to have faith in their utterances. That includes virtually all politicians and religious figures.
The major problem with the United States (and indeed the world) is that there are very few secular scholars, who base their teachings on the nature of man instead of some form of mysticism. Sadly, our own Joe Torosian has bought into his share of the Gods-and-Ghosts universe viewpoint. We need more facts and less feelings, more reason and less emotions.
Acts 17:11
From Joe T.: Bingo
Sounds like you have a rival pastor! In the world of pastors, you’re the long time coach who teaches for a living and doesn’t recruit and your rival sounds like the type that goes and poaches kids at a 7 on 7 and is on social media everyday 🤣
From Joe T.: LOL…That’s a cool analogy, I might have to steal it…. but not here…I have people who are afraid to come to church because they don’t know if I’m going to be like that guy they recently left who told them those very things…and I encourage them, be suspicious and to trust no one because of a title or station.