Fatty Liver

Well they did manage to cut off the story headings with images so your point is well taken.

As in the past restocking Natl. talent through F.A. is difficult, as the best will never see the light of day and those that do make it are usually pricey or on the wrong side of the hill. Chris Jones won't be able to do much about that inherited deficiency.

SPuDs, he was in jail the equivalent of decades since he left the NFL in the mid 70's. If he wasn't in jail then he was living on the streets in Chicago. His dirty laundry was already well known so myself or anyone else isn't airing or saying anything bad about Herron that wasn't said before & was public knowledge. He was an addict & a dealer probably sold to young kids among others. He wasn't a nice guy. So, am I supposed to lie & say what an upstanding person he was for 24 hours? It is what it is. He wasted his life away & that is sad. I just hope he finally now has found peace. You might want to read the story before making blanket statements based on assumptions. Either way this is not the right time to attack the guys character, let it rest.

You can't really tie these random attacks to ISIS as an organization as I'm sure they didn't provide this nutbar with the knife or explicit instructions on what to do with it. This is not to deny that desperate people will not sympathize with the "cause" and execute criminal acts on behalf of the organization and their beliefs in the hope of giving up their lives or freedoms in the publicity of the "cause".

If the knife attacker says "this is for Syria" it makes headline news around the world, if he says "this is for screwing my girl friend" it's a local non-story.

New York Times takes a stand with their first front page editorial n 95 years. Hopefully the presidential candidates get on board and we start to see the beginnings of the political will to create positive change. End the Gun Epidemic in America ​ It is a moral outrage and national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. All decent people feel sorrow and righteous fury about the latest slaughter of innocents, in California. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are searching for motivations, including the vital question of how the murderers might have been connected to international terrorism. That is right and proper. But motives do not matter to the dead in California, nor did they in Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut and far too many other places. The attention and anger of Americans should also be directed at the elected leaders whose job is to keep us safe but who place a higher premium on the money and political power of an industry dedicated to profiting from the unfettered spread of ever more powerful firearms. It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism. Opponents of gun control are saying, as they do after every killing, that no law can unfailingly forestall a specific criminal. That is true. They are talking, many with sincerity, about the constitutional challenges to effective gun regulation. Those challenges exist. They point out that determined killers obtained weapons illegally in places like France, England and Norway that have strict gun laws. Yes, they did. But at least those countries are trying. The United States is not. Worse, politicians abet would-be killers by creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those politicians to keep their jobs. It is past time to stop talking about halting the spread of firearms, and instead to reduce their number drastically — eliminating some large categories of weapons and ammunition. It is not necessary to debate the peculiar wording of the Second Amendment. No right is unlimited and immune from reasonable regulation. Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their fellow citizens. What better time than during a presidential election to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense of decency?

Good article by Wicek. Shadow on the game Former CFL players tackle their greatest challenge as the full effects of sport concussions brought to light By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 12/5/2015 6:00 AM | Comments: 0 He remembers the four Grey Cup wins. He remembers his Hall of Fame teammates. He even remembers single plays he authored that changed the history of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers franchise and which fans still talk about more than 50 years later. But what Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback Ken Ploen no longer remembers is what he did yesterday. The greatest Bombers player who ever lived has been diagnosed — like an alarming number of his aging CFL teammates — with dementia. Ken Ploen "He’s still in great health otherwise. We just had our checkups and the doctors say he has the heart of a 16-year-old," says Janet Ploen, his wife of 55 years. "He’s still able to get out and he’s still able to do things. It’s just that he doesn’t remember the experience the next day." Case in point: Ploen, 80, got together last weekend with football legend and former Bombers head coach Bud Grant, 88, during a Grey Cup event in Winnipeg. Ploen remembered Grant vividly, Janet says, and the two men spent time together reminiscing about their CFL glory days in the 1950s and ’60s. The following day, Ploen had mostly forgotten the meeting. Fifty years ago? No problem. Yesterday? Not so much. It is the insidious nature of dementia, a catch-all diagnosis for a wide range of brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s, that slowly rob sufferers of cognitive abilities and memory. It’s a tender mercy Ploen thus far retains his long-term memories and can recall the greatest moments of an exceptional life. Who needs to remember yesterday, after all, when your yesteryear is so rich and so full? "Ken likes to tell me," says Janet, "that he remembers what he wants to remember." Among those memories Ploen has retained are some of the savage hits to the head he took during a 10-year career with the Blue Bombers from 1957 to 1967. "They didn’t talk about concussions in those days; they said you got your bell rung," says Janet. "And Ken says he can remember a few times when he got his bell rung." Kenny Ploen Nick Miller says everyone got their bell rung in those days and the Bombers training staff had a rudimentary way of determining whether you were ready to go back into the game. "They asked you how many fingers they were holding up, what day it was, what the score was," recalls Miller, a Bombers halfback from 1953-64 and a member of the club’s Hall of Fame. "They took sprained ankles more seriously in those days than concussions. Because a sprained ankle could cause you to miss a game or two, but a concussion just meant you missed a play or two." It’s the opposite these days. Medical research has shown one of the worst things you can do after suffering a concussion is not allow what is basically a bruise on your brain adequate time to heal. And so these days, the NFL and CFL have rigid concussion protocols every player has to undergo — and pass — before they are allowed back on the field. It’s serious medical condition taken very seriously — and it’s why Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish announced earlier this week he’s retiring at 31, after taking one hit to the head too many. No one knew any better in the 1960s and, besides, a generation of men who came of age during the Second World War weren’t about to whine about a little headache. Instead, they made light of concussions. Still do, in fact. Miller recalls the time he got knocked unconscious while tackling a Stampeders running back late in the first half of an afternoon game. "I had him dead to rights and he tried to jump over me. And his knee hit me right in the head and knocked me out. And then he fell down and he was knocked out, too. It was," Miller says with a laugh, "like a Road Runner cartoon." And just like Wile E. Coyote, Miller got right back up after that 1,000-foot plunge off a desert cliff. "I was back in the game," he recalls, "by the third quarter." It was all very cavalier, and it’s all catching up to them now, says Miller. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Blue Bomber great Nick Miller is taking part in a concussion study and, at 84, is asymptomatic. A longtime board member of the Bombers alumni association, Miller says an alarming number of his former teammates have been diagnosed in recent years with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Old guys from any walk of life get dementia, but Miller — reciting a long list of former CFL players battling the disease — says the sheer number of cases seems disproportionate. "It seems like everyone is having trouble with this," he says. "It seems like an epidemic." t seems that way, of course, because there is an increasingly compelling body of research that says it is. Unless you’ve been living under a rock — or in the office of the commissioner of the NFL — you’ve probably heard all the stories and all the studies in recent years that increasingly suggest football is killing football players. In some cases, players are dying prematurely — Mike Webster (50) of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Junior Seau (43) of the San Diego Chargers and Dave Duerson (50) of the Chicago Bears all died way before their time. In other cases — Pro Football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, 84, most recently — they are withering away in old age. But what those men had in common is a condition researchers call chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Here’s how researchers at Boston University, pioneers in the field, describe it on their website: "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic sub-concussive hits to the head. CTE has been known to affect boxers since the 1920s. However, recent reports have been published of neuropathologically confirmed CTE in retired professional football players and other athletes who have a history of repetitive brain trauma. This trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, including the buildup of an abnormal protein called tau. These changes in the brain can begin months, years, or even decades after the last brain trauma or end of active athletic involvement. The brain degeneration is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse-control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia." Boston researchers announced this year they found CTE present in 87 of the 91 brains of former NFL players they’ve examined. Last spring, a federal judge approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit against the NFL that resulted in former players affected by CTE receiving up to US$5 million each in compensation. A similar lawsuit against the CFL is still before the courts. A Canadian version of the study being done in Boston is underway in Toronto. And that sound you hear? That’s a ticking time bomb. MIKAELA MACKENZIE/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Former Bombers great, Bisons coach and 25-year dean of physical education at University of Manitoba Dr. Henry Janzen in his home. He has been diagnosed with dementia after having many head injuries in his past, but still says that "if I could go back, I'd do it all over again." Henry Janzen doesn’t like using the term dementia. "I prefer," he says, "to tell people I have short-term memory problems. "People hear I have dementia and they get alarmed, ‘What’s wrong with Henry!’ So I just tell them I’m having memory problems." A punt returner for the Bombers from 1959-65, Janzen followed up his Hall of Fame career by getting a doctorate in education and having a distinguished career in academia at the University of Manitoba — athletic director, head coach of back-to-back Vanier Cup champions (1969-70) and dean of the university’s faculty of physical education from 1978-97. Like Ploen, Janzen has nothing but fond — and vivid memories — of an exceptional life lived. But like Ploen, his day-to-day life the past couple years is blurry, like watching clothes spin in a dryer. Does he blame football? A little bit. But not in the way often seen in an era in which it sometimes seems everyone is a victim and everyone wants a settlement because of it. "I loved my experience playing football," says Janzen, 75. "And everything I have in my life started with football. But, unfortunately, I’m now having memory problems... There’s no question that age is a big factor in memory loss. But I also took a lot of hits to the head playing football and it makes me wonder if that’s not a part of this, too." MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Henry Janzen shows off an honour from the City of Winnipeg. A lot of people are wondering the same thing. And researchers at Toronto Western Hospital are hoping with the help of former CFLers such as Miller and Janzen, they will eventually have some answers. Researchers have flown Miller and Janzen — along with dozens of other former Blue Bombers and CFL alumni — to Toronto in the past year or so to take part in the Canadian Sports Concussion Project, an exhaustive study on the effects of sport concussions on the brain. The former CFLers are subjected to testing over the course of two days ranging from MRIs to memory and reaction tests to probing discussions on mental health, including questions on depression and suicide. At the end of the tests, they’re asked to sign a form that, upon death, donates their brain for further study. It’s a critical final step as it’s only by cutting open a former player’s brain that researchers can determine for certain if there are the lesions and proteins present that prove those repetitive head injuries led to those cognitive difficulties later in life. Dr. Carmela Tartaglia, a neurologist and the clinical and bio-marker lead on the project, says 61 former CFLers have already enrolled. She was in Winnipeg during Grey Cup week hoping to recruit more to take part. "The study calls for 100 people, but we’re hoping to get even more," Tartaglia says during a phone interview Friday from Toronto. "One-hundred people compared to all the people who played isn’t a large number. But we’re hoping it’s enough to begin to answer some questions." Tartaglia says none of the CFLers taking part in the study have died yet, but researchers in Toronto have obtained the brains of 20 deceased former pro athletes who’d suffered multiple concussions in their careers — including former NHLers — and found evidence of CTE in 10 of those samples. JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES CFL Hall of Famer and former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Chris Walby. Miller has been encouraging his former teammates to make the trip to Toronto: both to get some answers for themselves, but also to help researchers get to the bottom of a problem some think could ultimately threaten the survival of pro football. "This is a very important study. I’d hate to see this kill the game," says Miller. "And I’d hate to see the CFL become the CFFL — the Canadian Flag Football League. I’m encouraging all the players to become involved. "I’ve donated my brain, so I’m telling those guys out there, ‘They accept small donations.’ " Nothing, ever, scared Chris Walby in a 16-year Hall of Fame career as an offensive lineman for the Blue Bombers. He took on the toughest defensive linemen in the history of the Canadian game. He lost a few battles, he won more — but more than anything, he never backed down out of fear. Until now. Walby, 59, is brutally honest when he explains why he hasn’t joined Miller and Janzen and the others in taking part in the Toronto concussion study. "My wife really wants me to do it," says Walby. "She says I forget a lot of stuff. "And there’s a part of me that really wonders, too. Sixteen years of banging my head, what effect did that have on me in the long term? But there’s also a part of me that’s very nervous about what they might find. My mother had Alzheimer’s and dementia, too, unfortunately. So I wonder if it’s not a hereditary thing for me, too, and the football is going to speed the whole thing up. "There’s a real fear factor here for me — what you don’t know and what you don’t want to uncover." Former Bombers defensive lineman Doug Brown, on the other hand, is almost obsessive in his quest to learn everything he can about CTE. Brown’s taken part in an American study, he is a regular visitor to websites and blogs that track the problem and he’s written extensively about the issue in his weekly column for the Winnipeg Free Press. WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Doug Brown, soon-to-be CFL hall of fame inductee, at the Delta in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015. (Mikaela MacKenzie/Winnipeg Free Press) Speaking of that column, Brown says it’s one of the things that worries him as he ponders life after a 15-year pro football career that ended in 2011. "I’ve re-read some of my old columns and I don’t think I write as well as I used to," he says. "I’m not sure if it’s just not as sharp or not as funny, but I just don’t write the same way as I used to." When he was examined as part of the U.S. study, Brown, 41, says a doctor told him there were some "spots" on his brain that turned up in a MRI the physician described as "interesting." Brown says he was also told no one will know for sure what effect — if any — football had on his brain until he’s dead. It raises interesting questions: if you knew then what you now know about CTE, would you have managed your career differently? Retired earlier? Played differently? Not played at all? "I know I would have wanted to have been paid more," Brown says with a laugh. "But you’ll have to call me again in 20 years before I’d be able to definitely tell you if it was worth it — and if I’d still do it all over again." A lot more will be heard about concussions and CTE as the television advertisements and trailers ramp up for the release later this month of Concussion, starring Will Smith. The film, based on a 2009 article in GQ, tells the real-life story of forensic neuropathologist Bennet Omalu, who is widely credited with linking CTE to pro football players and who had to fight vicious attempts by the NFL to discredit him and suppress his research. There’s a scene in the film in which Smith’s character is warned about the wisdom of taking on the NFL: "You’re going to war with a corporation that owns a day of the week." WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Some are wondering if the movie — with a big-name star, Hollywood production values and a worldwide theatrical release — will do for CTE sufferers what the 1993 Tom Hanks film, Philadelphia, did for people with HIV and AIDS and put a human face on all those faceless news stories and, by humanizing the problem, lead to grassroots calls for action. Maybe, but whatever comes of the movie, it will come too late for the likes of Janzen and Ploen. "My memory problems," says Janzen, "are only going to get worse, not better." And Ploen? He speaks in short, clipped answers these days. Ask him a question and he will answer it succinctly, but without elaboration. Friends who have known him for decades say the greatest Bombers player of them all now prefers to be more a spectator than a participant in social situations. How’s he feeling? "I’m doing fine." Did he enjoy the Grey Cup? "I lived it up a little bit." How’s his memory? "I don’t think it’s too serious." Janet Ploen says dementia also runs in the Ploen family — his father, sister and brother all suffered from it or are suffering with it. So who knows, maybe Ken Ploen the accountant would have ended up with this same problem? And what does Ploen think? "I’m sure," he says, "football had an effect." The last word goes to Miller, seen on the dance floor at the Grey Cup Dinner Gala last Saturday as rock legend Randy Bachman hammered out the iconic guitar line from the Guess Who classic, American Woman. Miller looks great and is mentally sharper at 84 than many in their mid-40s. And so, with such an alarming number of his former Bombers teammates ailing, how does he feel? "I feel guilty," Miller says, "because I don’t have any health problems at all." paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Really poor choice of weapon for an an effective terrorist attack. Guess he couldn't find a sale on Uzi's at his local gun shop.

Much to my chagrin Eddie Steele re-upped with the Esks. a couple of months ago. Of all the MB. players to pursue he would have been at the top of my list as a much needed Natl.

That's too bad, Willie was a great RB. I have to wonder if his premature death had anything to do with concussions.

Favourite quote from the Rider Forum thread so far. "Hire Jones now!!! It's a know brainer!!!"

Details? When and for what position?

The look on the guys face above him texting is priceless. What...now...

I'm not a fan of the scouting either, but let's be honest - they also got Cotton, Marshall, Daniels, Bruce Johnson. I take it despite the poor results they're standing pat with the current scouting staff?

Sigh, if that's all you have, my agreeing with a poster that I don't like to see the office of prime minister disrespected, then I concede I guess, but it's pretty weak sauce, and I think you got caught confusing me with TUP, and now are just back-peddling, which is fine, I would have been actually a lot more impressed if you had just admitted your mistake.. That wasn't my intention to say that no one is allowed to criticize the PM, as there is a huge difference between disrespect and legitimate criticism, something the Anti-Harper squad could never figure out or gave one whit about.. Especially in cases where the person occupying the position commits blatant hypocrisy, as was/is the case with Trudeau and his nannies. And that's not just my opinion, but Thomas Mulcair's as well. At any rate, I don't think that anyone should be shackled from stating that they disagree with something that the Prime Minister is doing, no matter what party is in power. I just don't like it when out of partisanship, blatant lies are manufactured and parroted, usually by special interest groups, be they Ezra Levant on Trudeau, or some "coalition" that blatantly lies about health care.policies of the Conservatives. I have found some of Ezra's attacks on Trudeau almost as repugnant as the lies told about Harper. What I found interesting was the lack of criticism coming from a lot of extremely vocal political pundits here. The excuse was given that it wasn't significant enough to comment on, which I think is a cop-out, but whatever. One thing I believe to be true, and that is that we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. What will be the breaking point for those who choose to remain mum? The Liberals have already broken their promise regarding the cap on the deficit. How big will it grow? And how long can they keep blaming the Conservatives (Ie how long will even the staunchest and willfully blind give them that slack?) We will see. Just waiting for Trudeau's response. If the perk of child care is in his job contract like the chef, the groundskeeper and the housekeepers, good on him, he's got the most important job in the country and is entitled to the support mechanisms. I believe Trudeau took this job with some trepidation from his own experience growing up in a fishbowl to the effects it could have on his family. If the stress of being PM is too much for his family to sustain (re:happy wife) I wouldn't be surprised if he did not run for re-election next time around.

Did they actually plan to survive? I would think engaging the police in a shoot out and throwing bombs at them would be the acts of people pretty much expecting to be killed. There's a couple things that make me think they at least prepared for survival: 1) They left a huge cache of ammo & explosives at home... why not bring it unless you think you'll make it back home? 2) The bomb they left in the building had a remote detonator (which thankfully didn't work). That tells me they planned to be safely away from there when the bomb went off. It's possible that they didn't think the cops would track them down as fast as they did. The SUV was rented so maybe they thought that even if the guy had been ID'd, they'd be looking for his car, not a rental right away. They were pretty much crazy if they thought they could ever escape, don't these people watch COPS?

Not to mention all of the assistants and coordinators these guys will drag around with them. CFL coaching carousel is the perfect analogy.

This shooting was a bizarro/hybrid event, a few items that makes this different than the typical Muslim extremist terrorist attack. 1. A male/female team 2. No shouting of religious sayings 3. Planned to survive. 4. Was an employee with conflict with coworkers. 5. This couple had a young child together.

So once Jones goes to Sask., once Maas goes to Edm., once LaPo goes to BC, once Cortez retires, that's when the Bombers will come up with their OC interview list? This seems very similar to having the 9th pick on draft day.

I need a source to confirm this, but I've heard rumours flying around that Edmonton is requesting permission to speak with Maas. The pieces seem to be falling into place. Been discussed ad nauseum.....he's the next head coach, when/if Jones leaves for the Dirty Regina... Not sure Maas is ready for a HC position yet, he was part of a strong RB coaching staff which can distort one person's contribution. Remains to be seen if he can handle the top job or not.

You could do that, and then I could post some paragraphs about how you have a terrible misunderstanding of Christianity (and the Bible). But what would be the point? It's still just Muslim terrorists killing everyone. Can't you see that? I dispute this statement, as few of these mass shooting events have been linked to Muslim terrorists. I don't care what the motive or the religion of the nut bars who execute these mass killings is, the fact is 14 more innocent people are dead. The root of the problem lies in their unrestricted access to excessive fire power and their determination to execute as many people as possible. Can't find the link but watched a doc. on YouTube earlier this year on black youth gangs in New Orleans where kids as young as 12 were getting their hands on automatic weapons like the one shown in the previous video and using them to mow down other teenage gang members on a nightly basis. The film-makers easily tracked the sale of these guns to a local inner-city gun shop who was doing a "bang up" business from all the carnage created. When questioned about excessive sales of automatic weapons in an inner-city neighborhood, the shop owner's response was that his business was perfectly legal and he didn't sell guns to anyone that wasn't qualified. So why are these weapons legal, when they have no justifiable use but to kill humans? When the accumulation of money trumps human life, the justification for profit is no longer necessary.

It would be pretty funny if Corky went back to Tennessee to enjoy Christmas and delayed his decision until after Dec. 31. The Greenies would have a melt down of burning keystrokes that could keep the fields bare of snow all the way to Estevan. The "Riders search for a GM" thread is currently 237 pages and counting.

If Khari is the QB Coach in BC, how can Wally not allow him to interview for an OC position?

Might as well have a thread for "Mass Shooting of the Day" as that's virtually what's happening. I almost wish that this was a terrorist event as the motive would be better defined and there would be more concentrated action to prevent these attacks from reoccurring. As it stands absolutely nothing is being done to prevent these events from happening on a regular basis, just a whole lot of caterwauling and hand wringing coming from the media and the neutered politicians.