December 2, 2012, - 2:33 pm

You Knew This Was Coming: Mainstream Media Blames NFL Murder Suicide on NFL Head Injuries

By Debbie Schlussel

Yesterday evening, when news of the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide broke, I tweeted (follow me on Twitter) a prediction that it wouldn’t be long before the mainstream media blamed it on NFL concussions, like they do with virtually everything your typical spoiled, messed-up NFL player does. And I was right. The mainstream media is soooo predictable.

For those who haven’t been following, Belcher played for the Kansas City Chiefs and murdered his babymama girlfriend, then went to the stadium and killed himself in front of team personnel. And, today, this from the Associated Press:

Belcher is the latest among several players and NFL retirees to die from self-inflicted gunshot wounds during the past few years. The death of star linebacker Junior Seau, who shot himself in the chest in at his California home last May, sent shockwaves around the league.


Seau’s family, like those of other suicide victims, donated his brain tissue to medical authorities to determine if head injuries he sustained playing football might be linked to his death. That report has not been released, although an autopsy showed no underlying hemorrhaging or bruises on Seau’s brain.

Belcher did not have an extensive injury history, though he was listed as having a head injury on a report from Nov. 11, 2009. Belcher played four days later against the Oakland Raiders.

Puh-leeze. As as I noted upon Junior Seau’s suicide, regarding the behavior of many of these guys, they are spoiled brats taken from the killing fields of America, and many of them go broke shortly after they leave the NFL, with many of them committing crimes and other tragedies and idiocies while they are still playing. This is no different, as much as the mainstream liberal media wants to blame “Big Sports” for this.

Blame the athlete (and those in society who idolize these brutes for no legit reason). Nobody else.

These are selfish, spoiled manchildren, who never ever grew up. And this is sometimes what happens. Normal people don’t kill the mother of their kid and themselves when they get into a fight. But NFL players aren’t normal.

They aren’t treated normally. They aren’t paid normally. They don’t behave normally. It has nothing to do with injuries and concussions. It has to do with enormous pay and adulation for the accident of birth of being unusually big, tall, fast, and strong.

They aren’t trained how to handle it. And sometimes, too many times, the “handling” of it is tragic, as in this case.

Even more tragic is that the Kansas City Chiefs are playing football today anyway. The NFL profits must go on.

By the way, news just broke that, yesterday, a Cleveland Browns grounds crew employee killed himself. Maybe he once saw a player get a concussion.




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44 Responses

The sports world is just a microcosm of the real world at large. These kinds of things happen every day and have nothing to do with head injuries, etc. There are a lot of sick people out there and they commit violent crimes every day. I think it’s more dangerous to live in sections of Chicago than it is in Afghanistan, even with the Taliban.

JeffT on December 2, 2012 at 2:45 pm

Selfish act … Shameful…

As goes so goes on December 2, 2012 at 2:52 pm

Brava, Debbie. You summed up the situation perfectly.

And: “By the way, news just broke that, yesterday, a Cleveland Browns grounds crew employee killed himself. Maybe he once saw a player get a concussion.”

LOL!

DS_ROCKS! on December 2, 2012 at 3:13 pm

You know what, I to think it was an selfish act on Jovan Belcher, and not head injuries/concussions. When this story broke out when I was watching NCAA Football yesterday, I couldn’t believe what I learned and was stunned. This story is being investigated on why Mr. Belcher both killed his girlfriend and himself infront HC Romeo Cronell, and as DS claimed, this sad story has nothing to do with concussions!

”A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on December 2, 2012 at 3:28 pm

“It has to do with enormous pay and adulation for the accident of birth of being unusually big, tall, fast, and strong.”

…and perhaps some ‘roid rage.

Road Warrior on December 2, 2012 at 3:49 pm

It is another example of people who never grow up.

Worry01 on December 2, 2012 at 4:35 pm

Pro football is so savagely punishing to the body, that no
amount of money is worth the risk.

Nicole on December 2, 2012 at 4:37 pm

Bella Pelosi, now that’s a great Twitter handle

AnusPresley on December 2, 2012 at 5:20 pm

Debbie,

Well said. I hope the child they left behind is OK. Speaking of the mainstream media, I read Jason Whitlock’s article about this incident. It’s disgusting how he blames the 2nd Amendment for contributing to this incident. You may want to Google the article.

Peter on December 2, 2012 at 5:44 pm

I knew I would hear the SANE take here. Soon after the news broke many in my twitter feed (mostly, if not all are so-called Conservatives) were saying crap like so many people today are tortured in their minds (???) and that we should pray for the family of the homicide/suicide dude. Ah, no thanks.

If people want to be helpful I would think they would want to help the child who is now down a mum and dad. Or even the baby-mama’s family. They’re gonna need it.

We are supposed to cry over some OOC creep who shot a women he didn’t even want to marry and act like a family is broken? I don’t see fraud unions like that as “family”. I feel the innocent, of course, is the innocent all along…the young child. I am gonna kick against these fraud “non families” because they are what is wrong with this going down the tubes country. And they are forever protected by the corrupt Obama-Media.

So the MSM is gonna play their Liberal card and the cultural rot is so bad even so-called Conservatives are gonna fall into that abyss. It makes me sick.

@ AP: & I too like “Bella Pelosi’s” tweets & avatar. I follow him/her and re-tweet many of BP’s tweets.

Skunky on December 2, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    Skunky and Peter, the NY Daily News says that HIS mom is going to raise the baby in a Long Island suburb. Pictures show him to be a doting father. Something happened. People don’t just commit murder/suicide because they’re “spoiled brats.” At least he didn’t kill his precious little baby.

    Italkit on December 3, 2012 at 2:58 am

      Italkit, ‘doting fathers’ are married to the mother of their kids and PLAN their families…not have kids as a by-product of casual sex. He didn’t even dote on the baby-mama…had NO interest in marrying her and being a “family man”. Those two fought viciously and he was controlling and liked to drink & party and was addicted to pain killers.

      Some doting father! Standards are below the toilet in 2012. MINE ARE NOT!

      Skunky on December 3, 2012 at 9:46 am

        So, Sunky, if a couple divorce, there’s no way for the Dad to dote on his kids? That’s ridiculous. Plenty of men can’t get along with their baby’s mother, married or not and vice versa, however I had not read the gossip about him being a party animal and if that’s true, then obviously he wasn’t a good dad. I wonder tho why it’s his mother, not hers who are going to raise the baby.

        Italkit on December 3, 2012 at 11:19 am

          I’m sorry Italkit, were we talking about DIVORCED dads here? Only if one’s huffing gas. We are talking about a “man” who was NOT married and didn’t value his baby-mama enough to marry her. I’m not gonna value her more than he did or what she accepted herself. The truth is the truth. And that dysfunctional relationship ending uber dysfunctionally.

          And to answer your weird question on “divorced dads” YES a divorced dad can NOT dote on his kids. He’s not in the home being a “dad”, the kids have split homes and don’t even get me started on when the divorced mum and dad re-marry or shack-up and introduce NEW kids or “step kids” and significant others into the dynamic.

          Did I answer your question on divorced dads good enough????

          Skunky on December 3, 2012 at 12:13 pm

        Addicted to pain killers AND a booze chasher will mess up his head without any head injury (if true) As DS says it’s a matter of arrested development.

        Rochelle on December 3, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    And I’m not saying it was a head injury but it is very sad for the child and needs some better explanation.

    Italkit on December 3, 2012 at 3:01 am

      Perhaps the child has a better chance of growing up normal without parents with very serious issues.

      Rochelle on December 3, 2012 at 10:16 pm

clearly a head injury is involved. It occurred on the part of the main stream media which is officially dead from the neck up, and numb as a boot. Where did I read a
succinct description of multiculturalism, as tribalism recycled.
And so when nothing means anything, ala’ the cultural wasteland of multiculturalism, and the chroniclers of the msm bow and institutionalize murky meaningless wasteland, who else can they blame, but to make a ‘victim’ out of the meaningless murderer.

mgoldberg on December 2, 2012 at 6:40 pm

I agree with your viewpoint in general, but I do have to say that Wayne Morse’s politics changed for the worse (from Republican to antiwar Democrat) after he got kicked in the head by a horse.

Little Al on December 2, 2012 at 8:43 pm

Strange. They never seem to have these problems in NASCAR.

There is NO Santa Claus on December 2, 2012 at 9:26 pm

What’s the matter with Debbie and everyone else on this message board? Of course, Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and then shot himself as a result of concussions on the football field. You folks need to get with the program. People are no longer responsible for their own actions. External forces or substances are always to blame.

Taking responsibility for your own lives and actions is an outdated concept from a bygone era.

Ralph Adamo on December 3, 2012 at 1:01 am

When the “baby mommy” of a three month old is out throwin down with the homies til 1:00 a.m. without the “baby daddy” some might say that’s a signal of domestic disunity…perhaps escalatory disunity. This is not about brain injury, it’s about street smarts. This is the “General Petraeus Follies” in shoulder pads. If a person is exploitable through his zipper for money, power, information, or celebrity, he must guard the gates of that zipper. Both of these men got taken down by the oldest scam in the world. The young football player had his youth and culture militate against good judgment. His overreaction orphaned his child and cost him his life. He is a truly tragic figure. The general had no excuse, he is just a clown.

Pete on December 3, 2012 at 9:19 am

At the risk of being called a racist I would suggest that the problem most of these players have is how they were brought up and the environment which they came from. It’s perfectly alright for liberals to criticize caucasions but apparently any criticism of other ethnic groups is strictly verboten.

Jerry G on December 3, 2012 at 9:23 am

Well, it IS concussion, the concussion of being born. I have a former brother in law who was a jr. high/high school football coach in Texas. Kids who show a proclivity for football start getting away with crimes, sometimes as early as elementary school, may times as early as jr. high and by high school they’re typically getting away with anything/everything … from burglary, robbery, rape, larceny, car theft, assault, etc., etc. And, yeah, it’s typically black kids. In Texas, entire towns are complicit in this criminal enabling, just like the entire city of Dallas was complicit in enabling Michael Irvin in his drugging and whoring. Personally, I think it’s the most vile form of racism to enable criminality in footballing black kids under the guise of going easy on them because they’re young and just don’t know any better and just so they’re little town can beat the other little town in next Friday’s football game. I’m not saying that the kids and their families aren’t responsible, but that it’s a huge problem enabled by the millions and billions of dollars poured into football. And guess what … it’s just going to get worse. Oh, Bob Costas came out for gun control during a game halftime yesterday because of the player killing his girlfriend and himself. Well, you know, if he’d not had a gun it just wouldn’t have happened. Yeah, right. I thought Costas had more sense than that. Guess not.

Pray Hard on December 3, 2012 at 9:42 am

Let’s not forget Bob Costas’ mindless soliloquy about gun control, quoting KC writer Jason Whitlock. Of course, it’s the gun’s fault. Would you have felt better if he stabbed her to death? or beat her to death? Here’s another take on it. If SHE had a gun, maybe SHE’D be alive today. Let’s stop talking about the gun culture and talk about the real problem (like you said Debbie): the spoiled manchildren who are paid millions to entertain us, but have no ability to cope with it all.

Sean M on December 3, 2012 at 10:11 am

In today’s wired up electronics age, almost anything can eb tracked back to Source.

Track back these “head injury” stories and they all end up at PR Newswire. What you don’t know because you don’t know PR Newswire is the PRNW is a blind front fore just about any kind of propaganda you want to convert into “legitimate news”.

I walked into PRNW’s Denver office in the late 80s, laid a $100 bill on the counter (a walk-up counter like a copy-shop) handed over 400 words of copy about a shell corporation I owned and 30 minutes later thatBS “news” release was in every newsroom in America, unedited, no fact checking, no multiple sourcing.

Now, if I can do it, what do you imagine the Great White Sharks of professional image management can do?

Here;s the deal … UNIONS have focused on the NFL owners as the new low hanging fruit.

That’s all this is about. In total. Strong-arm ‘Grievance Money’ out of the owners.

Selah

Jack on December 3, 2012 at 11:26 am

The weird part is there is nothing in the player’s history that gave clues that he would committ a horrid act like this. He has no arrest record and was very well liked by coaches and teammates from high school, college, and the NFL. People described him as being a rather quiet and friendly young man. Ironically, in college he was head of a Male Athletes Agaist Violence group, which was devoted to issues involving domestic violence. He wasn’t a draft pick, but by hard work walked on to an NFL team as an undrafted free agent.

Then he suddenly shoots his girlfriend multiple times, then drives to the Kansas City Chiefs complex, takes the time to thank and apologize to his coach and general manager, and then blows himself away. This sounds like something straight off the TV Show “Fringe”….

And before someone turns this into a racial thing (Oh wait, it’s too late), let’s not forget that relationship murder-suicides are in the news every day and they’re committed by all types of people, and mainly MEN. The REAL issue is heling men to find ways to deal with problems in relationships without resorting to violence. Men need to talk to each other because many of us have been through similar life issues. I just wish Mr. Belcher had gone to his coach, a friend, or somebody before he just lost it and blew away the mother of his child…in front of his own mother!

D. O'Nay on December 3, 2012 at 11:53 am

    That’s cute, D. O’Nay. Acting like this dysfunctional crap is so “fringy”. Riiiiiiight.

    I think DS covered it well with the culture rot and her background knowledge as a former sports agent. Nothing fringy about that.

    And the ONLY racial aspect that can be rightly alluded to is the shameful 70% PLUS out of wedlock births in the black community. It starts THERE.

    People are NOT racist for pointing it out. It’s a horrible fact that will continue to decimate the black community in America. People pointing it out have nothing to do with the shambles the black community is in. They can talk all day long about it but at the end of the day the real actions of a community is crisis IS what is the problem. NOT the messengers.

    Skunky on December 3, 2012 at 12:31 pm

      Skunky, the idea of Jovan Belcher’s mother raising that child is quite morbid. She did such a great job with her own son. Why not let her ruin another life? I have a feeling that the woman wants to funnel some of Jovan Belcher’s estate into her own pocket if she can by being the child’s guardian. The child would be infinitely better off in foster care than being placed with a “family” member.

      A suicide is a sad thing. However, when you kill someone else(mother of your child) in the course of taking your own life it becomes a purely selfish and evil act. There is no cause for sympathy in such a situation. The suicidal person has become just another murderer.

      Worry01 on December 3, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Think about all the players that got their bodies terminally ruined by playing pro football,in the ’20s-through-the-’60s, long before pro football become the multi-billion-dollar leviathan it’s become since the 1970 merger. How many of them took a gun and committed murder/suicide or both? Very,very few.

MartelReborn on December 3, 2012 at 1:04 pm

Don’t get me wrong, many suffered severe head injuries and I’m sure many have the dementia and other similar injuries of the brain as a result,and I’m sure many may have committed violence because of the states of mind that happen as a result. I’m simply referring to murders and killings.

MartelReborn on December 3, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Skunky, these is a LOT of dysfunction in the Black community, especially when it comes to out-of-wedlock births. Because I’m Black, I see, work with, go to church with, and deal with this issue every day. And it is indeed devastating. And I have a “dog in this hunt”, as my wife is related to the young woman who was murdered, and the family wasn’t exactly happy that she decided to skip college and go off and have a baby with a ballplayer, but that was her choice. Sometimes young women in their youthful arrogance,think they’ve struck gold when they hook up with a “baller”, but most times that is not the case.

But here’s the problem. By somehow blaming the Belcher issue on dysfunction within the Black community is to ignore the REAL issues behind all the cases of relationship murder-suicide that happen across this country every day. Just yesterday my city had a case where a dude holed himself up in his apartment after he shot and killed his estranged wife, and then shot himself in the head when the SWAT team drove up. And this dude was neither Black nor an athlete. And last week in Wyoming, a man killed his father, his father’s girlfriend, and then himself. He was neither Black nor an athlete. The REAL issue is some men don’t know how to deal with tough relationship issues without snapping and resorting to violence. It happens around the country EVERY day because was as men tend internalize too much stuff and try to “suck it up” instead of going to male friends and mentors for advice. And when all of that mess that men internalize comes to the surface, some will go off and do something stupid and horrific.

Folks can ignore the cases of domestic violence that are probably occuring within their own family tree or with their friends and write this Belcher incident off as just a “Black thing” or an “athlete thing” if they want to, but they do so to their own detriment.

D. O'Nay on December 3, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    Niiiiiice try D. O’Nay. You deftly (for the amateur) covered up the elephant in the room with a covering and then put a honkin’ spotlight on a table lamp. No dice. FAIL!

    Your problem is psychological and deeply intrenched with how YOU see yourself (and community). It’s easy for a to follow b and then go to c but you won’t do it because you’re not an independent thinker and and your psyche is too involved. That’s up to YOU to fix but I tell all other peeps to acknowledge that it’s a wall they can’t climb with you, write you off and then keep moving on to the truth. There it is in a nutshell. At least when I moved away from something I *thought* defined me the TRUTH was more important than how I selfishly saw myself. It’s called integrity and hunger for reality.

    Worry, I agree with what you said with one caveat. I do NOT trust the state/federal agencies when it comes to children. I happen to have heard too many stories lately about kids with druggie mums that were taken away only to be put in more precarious, dysfunctional situations. It is beyond tragic. That is what this sicko society has devolved into. You should see some of the beasts DFS places these children in need with. But you are so right on the homicider’s mum.

    FK, I am disappointed in your post. It is NOT in the DNA and your post only makes sorts like D.O’Nay be even more weak and dig in his heals more and be unable to see the truth right before his eyes. It may be in the DNA of Mooooooslims but it’s not in the Black community. It’s a cultural thing. And the so-called progressives and Liberals make the crappy bed feel like home for blacks too lazy and angry to use their own God-given brains to see the TRUTH. Our Constitution is there for ALL to see what the power of FREEDOM is and can be.

    The white Liberal is truly one of the most despicable creatures on the planet. The pain and trouble they cause and perpetuate makes them quite the enemy, second only to Islam.

    Skunky on December 3, 2012 at 6:43 pm

Let’s not beat around the bush here. We all know what the real problem is. It’s not guns. It’s not steroids. It’s not brain damage from hard hits. It’s a specific culture. One that has sub 100 IQ as proven by the book “The Bell Curve”. The one that needs special handouts, set-asides, and quotas to obtain a modicum success at all. That’s right I said it. It’s in the black DNA. It’s the reason I stopped watching the NFL many years ago after it started becoming ghetto-ized. The corn rowed hair sticking out under the helmut. The tattoos from head to toe. The complete gangsta mentality manifested by unsportsman-like play. There’s a reason why people call the NFL, the National Felons League. This is typical negro behavior. And it will continue until society and the NFL finally say no to black gangstas in the NFL.

FrenchKiss on December 3, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    What’s the difference between FrenchKiss and a musician who only knows one song?

    Nothing. Both play the same old tune no matter what.

    LeanOnMe on December 3, 2012 at 8:57 pm

      Refute my statements with contrary evidence or STFU.

      FrenchKiss on December 3, 2012 at 9:59 pm

        Yep, you did say it FrenchKiss. But you seemed to leave out the 400 years of government-sanctioned discrimination by those with your mindset that made the special handouts, set-asides, and quotas even necessary. If a people were so “inferior”, why were laws needed to hold them back???

        But there’s nothing new under the sun. I’m sure back in the Old Testament, there were Egyptians saying, “Look how pitiful those Hebrews are! They need special handouts and set-asides from their God just to make it anywhere! (conveniently forgetting the hellish way they treated the Hebrews for hundreds of years)”.

        But like Natasha said, keep putting a “blackface” on every damn issue you see, but when domestic violence hits YOUR home and the abuser isn’t one of those guys with cornrows, all the “bell curves” in the world will give you no comfort…

        LeanOnMe on December 4, 2012 at 11:10 am

    FrenchKiss, It’s wild that you’ve started writing Mein Kampf Part II on a Jewish woman’s blog…that’s classic!

    JoeJack on December 3, 2012 at 9:09 pm

Has paternity been proven? Look for his family to request a DNA test. Steroids?

FeFe on December 3, 2012 at 3:52 pm

Give it time, they will claim the gun had a head injury and did it all.

ender on December 3, 2012 at 8:04 pm

People (like this FrenchKiss bigot…gross!)are adding a whole bunch of agenda-driven crap to this story that doesn’t even belong.

Guys kill their wives/girlfriends/lovers every day. The only reason this one made national news is because it was some NFL guy involved.

Some guys think they own their spouses and girlfriends. If the relationship is over and they can’t have them, they make sure no one else can either. The problem is not a “negro” thing or a “sports star” thing. The problem is a “guy” thing.

Natasha T. on December 3, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    SEXIST!!!!!!!!!!!

    Its not a “guy” thing. Why don’t you pull your head out of your ass and examine FBI statistics? Black on black crime is out of control. Oh, and what a shock, the two players in this sitcom weren’t even married. Sounds like the typical black MO to me.

    FrenchKiss on December 3, 2012 at 9:58 pm

      Okay FrenchKiss, you really must have “selective vision” when it comes to the epidemic of violence aganist women. The next time some guy hits your sister, niece, aunt, etc., I can’t wait to see the surprised look on your face because you thought that because of FBI statistics, only “black people” did that!

      Natasha T. on December 4, 2012 at 10:00 am

No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, no murder! Just saying! It works for 99.999% of us ‘born agains’.

Last word on December 4, 2012 at 12:21 am

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