Friday 31 July 2015

Gary Bettman gets to shoot his mouth off on concussions again, but under oath this time.

So the concussion class-action suit by former NHL players, notably including Bernie Nicholls, proceeds.  Today, Gary Bettman will be deposed.

Under oath.  We'll see if he's still as intellectually dishonest on this subject, or just criminally misinformed.

And whether he utters more clunkers like this one:
“From a medical science standpoint, there is no evidence yet that one necessarily leads to the other,” Bettman told reporters in Chicago. “I know there are a lot of theories, but if you ask people who study it, they tell you there is no statistical correlation that can definitively make that conclusion.”
That statement is a load of malarkey. I’d give him a bit of wriggle room, excuse him if he wanted to correct what he said on the grounds that he was speaking extemporaneously, and was unprepared to deal with specifics, but this is classic Gary Bettman, who instead of a ‘no comment’ will go out of his way to lecture and belittle his interviewers.

Here are two whopping untruths or errors, take your pick.

1) There is plenty of evidence, good evidence, strong evidence, scientific evidence that “one necessarily leads to another”.

If Mr. Bettman wanted to say, meant to say ‘proof’, to whatever standard he’d want to cling to, then he could go through that dance. But in terms of whether evidence exists, necessarily or not, there’s tonnes of it.

2) About the “statistical correlation”, that also exists. Athletes who engage in sports where they’re subjected to repetitive head trauma suffer from CTE in a much higher proportion than the general population. Again, if Gary Bettman meant to say ‘causation’, then he could try to squirm out that way, but it’s not unlike him to use bigger longer words to bafflegab and prove to everyone how much smarter he is than everyone else.

Let's hope that the Commissioner has had time to bone up on this subject and has his facts straight.  And/or unforks his tongue.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Normand,

    I'll be in Van from the 14th to the 19th of Dec. If you fancy a catch up with a fellow HIO member, let me know.

    Keep up the writing!

    Cheers,

    Marc10 from Oz

    ReplyDelete