LAST WORD ON ROETHLISBERGER INJURY

We were ready to move on from the whole Ben Roethlisberger Super Bowl non-injury injury thing. But then we heard from Peter King of SI.com this morning. King wanted to talk for a few minutes regarding our stated discomfort with the Steelers’ failure to disclose Roethlisberger’s rib/back condition on the injury report for the week of the Super Bowl. He explained that he believed the Steelers didn’t need to disclose the injury, but he wanted to give me a chance to state my case. So I did. And he included a quote from me in his Tuesday edition of MMQB: “My problem is the injury report focuses only on availability to play without giving full information as to whether a player will be effective. It’s called an injury report. Roethlisberger was injured, and he wasn’t on the report. I think that’s wrong.’' Not surprisingly, the league disagrees with me on this. Here’s what NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said by e-mail on Monday: “Ben’s injury was disclosed in the required injury report the week prior to the Super Bowl. He was listed throughout that week with a back injury. The reports that week said he did not practice on Wednesday and fully practiced on Thursday and Friday. He was then listed on Friday as probable for the Super Bowl with a back injury. “The Steelers then fully cleared him to practice and play and he was not listed on the [Super Bowl] week injury report. We also have a pool reporter procedure for Super Bowl week. A PFWA-appointed reporter attends every practice session of each team to report on the physical condition of the players. AFC pool reporter Peter King reported throughout the week that Ben fully practiced and ‘looked sharp.’ There was no doubt as to Ben’s availability. Then, of course, he played the entire game.” Aiello summed up the league’s position in a subsequent message. “The injury report procedures require clubs to disclose injuires in a general sense (knee, back, shoulder, etc.), report on practice participation, and provide an estimation of the players’ availability,” Aiello wrote. “The Steelers did all of that.” So the league’s position, as articulated by Aiello, confirms that the injury report focuses solely on availability, not effectiveness. But is that enough? Consider this quote: “We should have an honest assessment of a player’s condition before the game, because if a team doesn’t acknowledge a player is hurt and the injury will be a factor in the team’s performance, inside information could influence the betting line and potentially compromise the integrity of the game.” The quote speaks not just to availability but to effectiveness. And we agree with it completely. But the quote comes from King, who believes that Roethlisberger’s full participation in practice and the team’s certainty that he would play excused the Steelers from disclosing the condition. Let’s track the language of the quote. In this case, Roethlisberger was hurt. In the days preceding the Super Bowl, the Steelers didn’t acknowledge the injury. If Roethlisberger had taken a hard shot to the midsection, the injury could have been a major factor in the team’s performance. Thus, inside information could have influenced the betting line and potentially compromised the integrity of the game. And that continues to be our primary concern -- the integrity of the game. The reality, however, is that the individual teams are more concerned about competitive advantage or, more importantly, disadvantage. If, as it appears, the Steelers took pains to conceal the fact that Roethlisberger received an X-ray on his ribs and that, as Roethsliberger said, “I knew all along there was something wrong,” they did so in order to prevent the Cardinals from targeting his midsection early and often, in the hopes of knocking him out of the game. It appears, then, that the NFL is striking the delicate balance between the integrity of the game and notions of competitive disadvantage by making the injury report an issue of availability only, not of effectiveness and/or potential for aggravation. Thus, there’s a loophole in the injury report. A player can be injured, and his team can avoid reporting it. And, consequently, there’s an incentive for folks inclined to place and/or accept wagers, legal or otherwise, to attempt to develop relationships aimed at getting to the truth. For the good of the game, we can only hope that the league has put sound systems in place for ensuring that such efforts will be unsuccessful, because such efforts if successful can do serious and permanent damage to the sport we love.