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More Teen Knowledge About Concussion May Not Increase Reporting

By Carolyn Crist/Reuters

High school athletes with access to a certified athletic trainer are more knowledgeable about concussions and their consequences, but that doesn’t make them more likely to report a concussion, a U.S. study finds.
“The underreporting of concussions is estimated to be high, and the No. 1 reason athletes do not report a concussion is because they do not want to lose playing time,” lead study author Jessica Wallace of Youngstown State University in Ohio said by e-mail.
Although experts estimate that athletic trainers are present in 86 percent of U.S. high schools, only about 37 percent of high schools employ one full-time. In high schools with no athletic trainer, athletes are five times more likely to not report concussion symptoms because they didn’t know they had a concussion, Wallace told Reuters.

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Posted on April 25, 2017

SportsMonday: The Indecent Bulls

By Jim Coffman

The most frustrating thing is that the Bulls failed to take advantage – wait a minute, the NFL Draft starts Thursday!
Who are the Bears going to take with the third pick? Will Ryan Pace be a good enough general manager to engineer a trade down (something that every team from pick 2 to pick 7 is rumored to be trying to do)? If not, Jamal Adams or Malik Hooker? Solomon Thomas or Jonathan Allen?
Whoa there Sparky. As tempting as it is to focus on the annual amateur football player dispersal at this point, the current Bulls situation demands primary attention in this space.

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Posted on April 24, 2017

Hitless Wonders

By Roger Wallenstein

Watching Quick Pitch on MLB.tv for a wrap-up of each day’s games, blast after blast disappears deep into the dark environs of the outfield seats as the Giancarlo Stantons and Bryce Harpers of the world trot around the bases.
Sadly, White Sox hitters have failed to be featured on any regular basis.
As the Sox returned home Friday evening from a more than respectable 5-4 road trip, manager Rick Renteria’s lineup included six players hitting below .200. Included was rookie centerfielder Jacob May, who was 0-for-24 at the time. Designated hitter Cody Asche checked in at .069, and flu-ridden Todd Frazier was 3-for-27 for a .111 mark.

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Posted on April 24, 2017

Canadian Youth Hockey Injuries Cut In Half After National Policy Change

By Carolyn Crist/Reuters

Injuries fell by half and concussions were reduced by almost two-thirds after Hockey Canada banned body checking for players younger than 13 years old, researchers say.
“Concussions are among the most commonly-occurring injuries in youth recreation, and although many recover quickly, some experience ongoing symptoms,” said study author Kathryn Schneider of the University of Calgary Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre in Alberta.
“The goal is to reduce the public health impact of this by preventing injuries from the start,” she told Reuters.

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Posted on April 19, 2017

Not Irrelevant

By Roger Wallenstein

Rebuild, baby, rebuild. If this is what it looks like, the White Sox should have done it years ago.
Led by strong starting pitching, a near-perfect bullpen, and timely late-inning hitting, the Sox surprised a lot of people possibly themselves included by taking two road series’ last week in Cleveland and Minnesota to raise their season record to 6-5.
How can this be?

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Posted on April 17, 2017

SportsMonday: Sports Are Weird

By Jim Coffman

What the heck just happened?
We went into the holiday weekend enjoying one local baseball team’s great start and looking forward to more. At the same time our winter sports stars dove into a playoff series we were confident they would handle successfully.
We exit the weekend with the other local baseball team sporting a winning record and the other winter team having begun the playoffs as successfully as possible.
The White Sox take a 6-5 overall record into this week’s action and the Bulls swiped home court advantage from the Celtics with a 106-102 victory early Sunday evening.
Meanwhile the Cubs fell back to 6-6 after the Pirates swept through town. And the Blackhawks on Saturday suffered one of the most dispiriting losses I can remember, falling 5-0 to the Predators after the 1-0 loss that opened their first-round playoff series two days prior.
Sports are weird.

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Posted on April 17, 2017

What About Avi?

By Roger Wallenstein

Will he or won’t he?
We’re talking about White Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia, the sculpted Venezuelan once tabbed as Little Miggy because of his likeness to fellow countryman Miguel Cabrera when Garcia broke in with the Tigers five years ago at age 21. After three solid minor league seasons, Garcia entered the scene in Detroit just in time to go all the way to the World Series where the Tigers bowed to the Giants in four games.
Garcia was the Tigers’ starting right fielder in two of those games and apparently had a bright future in Detroit. But the very next season when Detroit needed a shortstop, Garcia came to the White Sox in exchange for Jake Peavy, who was then peddled to Boston while Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias landed in Detroit where he remains to this day.
Now in his sixth season, the question is whether Garcia will be part of the White Sox future. By all accounts, this will be the pivotal season for Garcia, and if he can fulfill his early promise, he could be a fixture on the South Side. If not, he can join fellows like Thad Bosley, Dan Pasqua, Brian Anderson and many others, all busts in White Sox annals.

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Posted on April 10, 2017

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