As former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue prepares for his latest — and perhaps best and last — shot at enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, he has addressed directly and candidly one of the issues that could be the hardest for the selectors to overcome: Tagliabue’s attitude toward concussions.
In an interview with Ron Borges, Clark Judge, and Rick Gosselin of the Talk of Fame Sports Network, Tagliabue was confronted with his decision to describe concussions as “one of those pack-journalism issues” in 1994, adding that “there is no increase in concussions, the number is relatively small, the problem is the journalist issue.”
“Obviously, I do regret those remarks,” Tagliabue told Borges, Judge, and Gosselin. “Looking back, it was not sensible language to use to express my thoughts at the time. My language was intemperate, and it led to a serious misunderstanding. I overreacted on issues which we were already working on, but that doesn’t excuse the overreaction and intemperate language. Bottom line, it sounded like I was shooting the messenger, instead of dealing with the message which was the concussion issue.”
Tagliabue opted not to admit to a similar error in appointing Dr. Elliott Pellman to chair the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee in 1994. Pressed to explain why Tagliabue would put Dr. Pellman, a rheumatologist, in charge of such an important committee, Tagliabue provided a long-winded answer that ultimately justified the decision by explaining that “the chairman of committee needs to be able to work with people, needs to be able to recruit people, he needs to identify the special knowledge . . . that’s being addressed, but does not necessarily have to be a specialist in that particular area if he has other qualities and other skills that are supportive of what you’re trying to accomplish.”
To have real credibility within the committee and with those who will be asked to accept the committee’s work, it’s vital that the chairman be a specialist in the field in question. And if that’s the best argument Tagliabue can muster for putting a non-specialist in charge of such an important area of research, it’s going to be hard to convince at least 80 percent of the selectors to put Tagliabue in the Hall of Fame.
Notwithstanding his willingness to admit to an error when discussing concussions in 1994, Tagalibue’s candor underscores the chronic failure of the league to take the issue seriously at any point in his tenure, with the apparent strategy being to downplay and dismiss the issue and to denigrate those who were proving via the application of scientific principles and painstaking study that chronic brain trauma leads to potentially serious health consequences. With the league not taking the issue seriously until more than three years after Tagliabue’s tenure ended, it’s going to be even hard to convince at least 80 percent of the selectors to put Tagliabue in the Hall of Fame.