Former Connecticut HS phenom, SU stand-out and Super Bowl Champ, Tebucky Jones, filed suit against a former employer for not providing an accurate medical diagnosis with regards to his career ending injury. Mr. Jones alleged that the New England Patriots fumbled when they did not inform him he suffered a severe tear to his knee ligament against the Washington Redskins on Aug. 26, 2006, at Gillette Stadium.
Let’s take a step back for a moment. I have been trying to help athletes, agents and execs to understand the necessity for more professional attention to complete human performance management. You can not ignore the sign of the times.
Let’s take a quick look at what has transpired over the last few years in sports.
- The Performance Enhancement Saga in MLB involving many of the biggest names in the sport.
- The DNA personal privacy issues also with MLB regarding their young and not-so-young prospects from outside of the US.
- Several musical entertainers named as persons reportedly receiving shipments of either steroids or HGH.
- The Mitchell Report revealed what we already knew, but cost millions of public dollars for the government to research the prevalence of drug abuse in MLB.
- Dozens of high-profile athletes were indicted related to the BALCO scandal from professionals to Olympic athletes alike.
- Prize fighters from many different disciplines have tested positive for illegal performance enhancing drugs over the past few years.
The only sports still left un-touched are mainly golf and hockey. However, if you think any sport is completely clean, then you are unfortunately mistaken.
Now, let us get back to the business of Tebucky’s lawsuit. It is not the first lawsuit of its kind, but it possesses the potential be the biggest. The Sporting World, much like the real world, is at a critical turning-point in history. The environment is heating-up and it is only a matter of time before we have a major meltdown.
How much involvement do these issues require of the government? Will we get a resolution to move forward for all parties concerned if that happens? This is one of the main reasons I came to work in the profession of human performance. I was in a quest for the most effective and efficient way to live in an effort to progressively perform at your best. Sport science was shrouded in mystery and may possibly be even more so now.
Through the advances of science and technology, we are able to accomplish incredible feats today. I talk to some of the most remarkable minds on the planet everyday, and each day I am blown away by what scientists are discovering. I guess the major questions are: what is the purpose of sport, who is responsible for the well-fare of today’s athletes and does anyone care if an athlete can enjoy life after competitive sports? There are many all natural, healthy alternatives to the dangerous performance enhancement drugs out there. Why is it then that athletes pay so little attention to these all important areas of their professions? Continuously exposing your body to the harmful side-effects of harmful illegal drugs from locker room dealers does not sound like a true professional. The first missing piece is education genuinely targeted at developing smarter athletes and fans.
Agents and executives may be next in the line of fire if they don’t take a definitive positive action on behalf of the athletes and also the fans. If you are currently an agent, exec or athlete might I suggest taking a little more stock in getting the best information available to increase the performance of today’s elite athletes. Real performance enhancement allows for a sustainable athletic future. That means it is everybody’s responsibility to take care to ensure that our athletes play their best every time out. The Tebucky case is a lesson for all of sports to learn from.
Resources on the web:
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/gallery/2008-07/juicing-30
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1190012&srvc=rss
http://www.patriots.com/news/index.cfm?ac=latestnewsdetail&pid=24208&pcid=47