Pro Football HOFer Jerome Bettis said that the NFL has "taken advantage of its players by not sharing with them all the information it had about the risk of concussions," according to Aron Heller of the AP. Bettis yesterday said that he was "encouraged by the progress but still perplexed about how transparent the league has been over the years." Bettis: "You definitely feel as though you were taken advantage of in a way that you weren't given that information, and you always want to have the choice of knowing, and when that is taken away from you, you feel as though you were taken advantage of." Heller noted in recent years, the NFL has "undertaken a series of initiatives both on the field and off, including spending millions of dollars on research into head trauma." Bettis is one of 18 members of the HOF who is "in Israel for a weeklong visit organized by Patriots Owner Robert Kraft." Bettis viewed an innovation expo in Jerusalem that included a presentation from ElMindA, a Kraft Group-backed Israeli neurotechnology company that can "help the NFL diagnose concussions." The delegation as a whole "received presentations from 10 companies at the expo." ElMindA, which is at the "forefront of the concussion research and has developed a system based on a database of electrophysiological brain recordings that provide personalized functional cognitive mapping, was clearly most relevant to the audience." Kraft said that the expo "exposed the players to various health issues that transcended concussions alone." Kraft: "I really think that may be overdone a little bit. I mean, I don’t think the game has ever been safer than it is now" (AP, 6/19).
GOING GLOBAL: In Jerusalem, Uriel Sturm noted the scene at Kraft Family Stadium on Sunday evening was "one of raucous exuberance as well over 1,000 people showed up to interact" with the group of 18 Pro Football HOFers that came to Israel with Kraft. Joe Montana and Jim Brown "headlined" the list of players. With footballs "flying through the air and jerseys and apparel of almost all 32 NFL teams being adorned by the crowd," the event "began with the American and Israeli national anthems" being played and HOF President David Baker individually introducing the players. Kraft took to the podium and "addressed the crowd to roaring cheers while he noted how he takes great pride in the growth of football in Israel." The group is "slated" to be at today's "inauguration of the Kraft Family Sports Complex" in Jerusalem (JPOST.com, 6/19).
