Brandon Statement Released
So far on Chengelis twitter feed. Not on website.
Fucking 1am!
https://twitter.com/chengelis/status/516813190249086976/photo/1
September 30th, 2014 at 1:17 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 30th, 2014 at 1:17 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:17 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:17 AM ^
That believed Hoke's horseshit about there being no concussion today and called Brian and Ace liars all show up here and offer your sincere apology and stop defending this group of amoral dipshits.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:18 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:18 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:29 AM ^
That's not a new term by any means. There's an obvious spectrum with brain injuries, with relative weighting between them. The scale can be "mild to severe" or "high to high-high-high," but any way you slice it there is a spectrum.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:37 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^
I agree with you that the field is evolving, but I'm not going to get on Brandon about this. I am 100% confident a medical person told him this, and the term "mild" is used--a lot--with concussions. Look, this is from the Aug 2014 issue of Neurology, one of the top journals in the field.
http://www.neurology.org/content/83/6/494.short
"White Matter Correlates of Cognitive Dysfunction after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury" "Conclusions: Acute mild/moderate traumatic brain injury is characterized..."
The American Academy of Neurology's brochure for patient education says that "A concussion is a mild, traumatic brain injury..."
https://www.aan.com/practice/patient-education-brochures/
There's numerous more examples.
I fully agree with you that in this case the term "mild" is not ideal, but it is a medical term. David Brandon (who has done enough bad things) didn't make up that term.
September 30th, 2014 at 2:03 AM ^
We agree about the overall problems - but to be super-clear - "Mild concussion" is absolutely NOT a current medical term
September 30th, 2014 at 1:23 AM ^
If Brandon was trying to make Hoke look even more dumb/incompetent than he has on the sidelines, he couldn't have done a better job than this. Why wasn't this released at 1PM Monday instead of 1AM Tuesday? Way to get on top of things, Dave.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:21 AM ^
At least Dave's not dwelling on the Shane situation... SMH
Big day for #fieldhockey MT @umichfldhockey: Highlights from our 2-1 win, facility dedication, 64 alums in town... http://t.co/O278DbhlK0
— Dave Brandon (@DaveBrandonAD) September 30, 2014
September 30th, 2014 at 1:21 AM ^
1) Mild concussion is not used as a term anymore. The truth is that no one knows how long symtpoms last. (am an ER doc). We tell people that a concussion is a concussion and should be treated as a serious brain injury. There are no mild brain injuries.
2) How does one do a comprehensive review of the incident but not speak to the head coach? Hoke said that he didn't speak to Brandon.
3) Did Shane participate in anything yesterday? Hoke said he saw him yesterday at practice. He didn't participate fully because of his "ankle sprain."
I feel horrible for these players - most particularly Shane (and Devin)
September 30th, 2014 at 1:30 AM ^
You are certainly correct that any brain injury should be considered serious. But "mild brain injury" or "mild concussion" is definitely a term still in wide use. Consider:
http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/concussion.html
http://www.biausa.org/mild-brain-injury.htm
http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20140716/even-mild-concussion-can-cause…
...and just do a quick search in Google news for "mild concussion" and sports. You'll see all sort of organizations use the term (the MLB, the NHL, etc),
There's plenty to get on UM about in this whole matter. That term is still in wide use, in top medical journals, medical associations, and elsewhere, so I don't think this is one of them.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:41 AM ^
I would disagree with your interpretation of the websites you linked.
Just a few years ago, we used to grade concussions (1,2, etc) and call them mild, severe, etc. We no longer do that. The most recent American Academy of Neurology guidelines specifically do away with "grading" them. It was mostly abandoned because there was no predictive value categorizing them. The ultiumate outcome (length of symptoms an cognitive impairment) cannot be predicted from the initial insult.
A concussion is sometimes called a "mild TBI" because a "major TBI" is something has positive findings on a head ct and often requires surgical intervention.
Calling something a "mild concussion" is just trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation.
I
September 30th, 2014 at 1:54 AM ^
I am on board with what you are saying about grades, etc.
My simple point is that--today--many, many, many reputable organizations (including medical people) use the term "mild concussion" (e.g., I doubt the Reds are trying to avoid the Nightly News by using the term "mild concussion" to discuss Billy Hamilton's injury from 5 days ago)
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/billy-hamilton-robs-r…
Hopefully in the near future they will not use this term, due to education by all involved. But again, I think the focus is on UM's poor procedures (e.g., why didn't anyone tell Hoke that Morris might have had a concussion before his press conference?) rather than Brandon's utilizing the widely-used "mild" terminology.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:44 AM ^
At the continuing medical education conference I attended in 2011 in Ann Arbor, Dr. Kutcher (presumably the neurologist to whom Brandon refers) discussed brain injuries using the more modern terminology. So unless Dr. Kutcher "dumbed it down" for Brandon (not all that far-fetched, I suppose), Brandon is using the "mild" qualifier to make this sound more palatable.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:44 AM ^
Am I wrong to say that even some/certain immediate concussions wouldn't show up on a CT scan? I.e. this whole CTE thing with the NFL...where we really don't know what is going on with the brains of atheletes who suffer "traumatic" hits to the head/brain. Is it wrong to say that some of this stuff doesn't show up immediately, via imaging, and even "personal evaulation"; and that's nothing against the people trying to help these situations, but it seems a really unknown spectrum at this point. And that last point shows that we should really err on the side of precaution on all of this "head injury stuff", even though the game of football is very similar to the hockey aspect in that injuries aren't shared for pretty ignorant reasons.
*agree with your most recent post, just a moment ago
September 30th, 2014 at 1:44 AM ^
Concussions do not show up on CT scans. They are diagnosed by symptoms. The most objective way is to use one of the standardized screening tools. If something shows up on CT - then it is a more serious type of TBI.
September 30th, 2014 at 2:00 AM ^
Thanks. And the more I thought about my questioning the more I actually knew the answer as you point out. This whole head injury thing where we really cannot "see" the damage done is a scary thing. On site screening is a definite help in this effort to identify these injuries, but in my pure opinion does not do the full job needed to fully diagnose true brain injuries on the spot. That being said, the game of football is likely, hell it's quite obvious, a terrible sport and game for athletes, as much as I hate to admit it. I've played the game and in retrospect seen teammates and even opponents suffering from these seemingly legitimate head injury effects, on the field of play. Lineman and linebackers on damn near every damn play are likely suffering from these brain damaging effects (I know to some this isn't exactly a newsflash): See the recently deceased and unfortuante end-of-life scenarios of former NFL and lifelong football players whose brains have helped the science and understanding in all of this).
September 30th, 2014 at 1:23 AM ^
One other point and I am not being facetious. Based on the fact our friggin team doctors cannot communicate with each other in an efficient manner maybe THEY TOO SHOULD WEAR HEADSETS!
September 30th, 2014 at 1:29 AM ^
editing... after reading the entire thing...wow... at least he owned up to it, but damn that makes Hoke and the entire staff look really, really terrible.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:24 AM ^
I agree that the timing of this is really a bad look.
But, I don't really have a problem with the content of the statement. From field level when trying to call in plays, it is believable that Hoke and Nussmeier didn't see the hit. If they already had feedback from the orthopedic people that he had a leg injury and didn't know he'd taken a shot to the head, it is not unreasonable to assume he was staggering / limping due to the leg injury. From my removed view in row 41, section 22, it was clear he wasn't right and that seems to be the vantage point that the neurology staff had. So, at face value, if the coaches knew he had an orthopedic issue and didn't see the hit, I can understand why they wouldn't take him out directly after the hit if they'd already made the (questionable) decision to let him keep playing on the bad ankle.
They admit to having a significant communication problem in game and lay out a solid seeming plan to address that in the future. So, on face value, this is a reasonable explanation of the in game decision tree and a good plan to avoid it happening in the future.
But, there are obviously issues that this doesn't address.
1. How can they not get Hoke the whole story asap? If neurology was involved, there's no excuse for Hoke not to know that before his post game press conference. And not telling him by 12:30pm Monday that the docs had diagnosed a concussion on Sunday? That one is really mind boggling.
2. How does a neurology staff who has a physician quoted on the American Academy of Neurology's statement on sports related concussions not have a better system in place to begin with?
3. Why isn't it in the protocol (like it seems to be almost everywhere) that a player's helmet is taken away when a concussion is suspected? I believe the neurology people probably assumed that there's no way that he gets put back in, but they should have taken steps to make sure it didn't happen. (As the lawyer who deposed me a medical legal case said about 500 times, "what is the downside of communication?")
September 30th, 2014 at 1:37 AM ^
The statement lays out a perfectly reasonable sequence of events. I am in agreement with you about that and I think anyone who really thought about the situation would of been able to deduce that this is essentially what happened without the statement.
Its the handling of the situation after that point that is infuriating. Stop denying responsibility and admit a mistake was made immediately after the game when it was obvious in a replay that Shane should of at a minimum been subject to a screening for concussion prior to returning the the game. You didn't need a concussion diagnosis in order to admit that a mistake had been made, even if Shane didn't suffer a concussion it was clear that he was exhibiting symptoms of one.
September 30th, 2014 at 2:05 AM ^
is everything in this case. It deliberately released at 1AM AFTER, AFTER the coach held a press conference 12 hours earlier.
This was a deliberate attempt by Brandon to further distance himself from Hoke. Its pure crap and everyone should see through this.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:24 AM ^
goes Brady Hoke. Wow! Wow! Wow!
September 30th, 2014 at 1:25 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 30th, 2014 at 2:06 AM ^
Brandon not only sits in on film sessions, but on all medical evaluations. He's a hands-on guy.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:27 AM ^
What a complete and utter embarrassment.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 30th, 2014 at 1:28 AM ^
Brandon in release says Hoke was not provided updated diagnosis Mon but "As of Sunday, Shane was diagnosed with a probable, mild concussion"@chengelis
Kid had a concussion and was left out there...2 quarters after sustaining a substantial knee injury. Wow. Utter breakdown by Hoke and his staff.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:30 AM ^
Leave TKA out of this
September 30th, 2014 at 1:28 AM ^
Belated, and released at a curious time, but this message does three important things: (1) accepts responsibility for what happened, (2) provides details regarding why Morris was unexplicably allowed to take the field, and (3) presents a basis to believe that it will not happen again.
I suppose it is possible that something like that may happen in the 'fog of war' by mistake and not intentional. This is still absolutely negligent, in my view, and unacceptable.
Brandon did Hoke no favors by not informing him he was conducting an investigation into the matter (or Hoke shot himself in the foot by speaking out of school).
Our, the AD tried to bury this, but realized that due to the flurry of media attention they had to act, and so belatedly launched this investigation.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:42 AM ^
This is the pattern that Brian and staff have nailed about this AD.
1) Do something blitheringly stupid and/or that is anethema to the vast majority of fans.
2) The fan base complains vociferously letting them know the AD has crossed a line and should remedy the action.
3) The AD does something that looks like a cover up and/or blames us for the mistake in the miscommunication. This response looks to be worse than the initial mistake by far.
This AD needs to be relieved of his duties immediately. What the heck are the regents and president doing? Is there some kind of conference? Are they on Fall Break?
When can this be over with both Hoke's and Brandon's resignations. It's rediculous and embarrasing to the university. Please Schlissel do or say something already before it's too late and we are all penalized for Hoke's and Brandon's shortcomings.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:29 AM ^
Obviously leaving Shane in was a mistake. I can completely buy a miscommunication preventing Shane from being removed from the game immediately, heck I might even buy him going back into the game before someone said something. Mistakes happen, everyone understands you might miss something on the field or have a breakdown in communication.
What is completely unacceptable is the way in which Hoke, Brandon, and the AD have handled the situation from that point forward. Instead of addressing it, they lied until it was clear they couldn't lie any longer. If Hoke had said immediately in the post game presser, that he didn't see the hit, but would look into the procedures in place to prevent a repeat occurence this 100% would of blown over. Instead Hoke and the AD decided they wanted to pretend that Shane never took the hit and all he was suffering from was an ankle injury.
People would be still calling for him to be fired based on the tire fire on the field, but Shane Morris going back in wouldn't be a cause to question his character. The coverup is always worse than the crime.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:50 AM ^
If Hoke comes in to the presser and says
"Thats on me--that's one me--I didn't see the hit--I sent him back out there because I thought it was just his ankle. I never would have sent him out there if I had seen that hit. I've apologized personally to Shane and I'm so thankful that he wasn't hit again on that play. I will make personally sure something like that will never happen again."
We'd probably be done by now. Maybe Hoke gets a reprimand or something.
Instead Hoke pulled the Seargant Schultz routine and tried to pretend that Morris was completely fine. I guess he's so used to giving us nothing but bullshit that he just does it automatically now.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:29 AM ^
This just furthers the AD incompetence for me. How do they take this long to announce this while letting Hoke make his press conference earlier with different information? This is just ridiculous. Honestly, this release from Brandon is pretty good/thorough, but it goes against all of the previous information made available to us. This needed to come out first. Kind of seems like they were really trying to go with the no concussion story, realised how big of a deal it became, and then decided they had to come clean a little bit.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:29 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:32 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 1:32 AM ^
I hope nobody goes to another game until both of those clowns are gone. How can you give money/time to these negligent liars?
September 30th, 2014 at 1:33 AM ^
I've got a GREAT idea for how we can avoid this kind of problem in the future.
1) Fire your sorry ass and keep you as far away from the Michigan program as possible for the rest of your life.
2) Fire Hoke and have our new AD hire a competent head coach that wouldn't let this crap happen.
That should pretty much take care of the problem. No guarantees of course, but I'll take my chances.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^
You missed a step. Fire Hunter Lochmann, the worst Chief Marketing Officer in the country.
September 30th, 2014 at 2:29 AM ^
Dear President Schlissel:
Please take charge of the situation by doing the following:
1. Suspend Brandon starting this minute. Go to his house, and take his badge and computer. All future exchanges will be done through attorneys.
2. Suspend Hoke tomorrow morning with pay. Do not let him have further contacts with players, coaches and recruits. Start termination negotations with his representatives tomorrow.
3. Appoint Mattison as interim coach, and limit practice tomorrow.
4. Setup daily debriefs with Darryl Conway. Terminate any member of the training / medical staff immediately if they are found to have behaved inappropriately during the episode.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:32 AM ^
Left us west coasters something to get super pissed about before going to bed. #PraiseBeilien
September 30th, 2014 at 1:33 AM ^
September 30th, 2014 at 2:00 AM ^
about a half-hour ago, then I see it was just updated at 1:55 am. Haven't re-read it yet...
September 30th, 2014 at 2:14 AM ^
The article seems pretty fair actually. The media and ESPN are not the problem in this instance. They are doing their jobs as the Fourth Estate. Two parties have not been doing their jobs and may have to leave in part because of this incident. I am calming down a little but remember this could be much more serious. If Shane had been hit again he may have suffered far more injury.
I'm glad it appears he is doing ok and, as always, makes a full and complete recovery.
Very proud of our community for taking action and hope our leaders follow suit soon.
September 30th, 2014 at 11:49 AM ^
I agree completely. I was just saying ESPN was all over it as in Dave wasn't going to get it by the media by releasing his statement at 1 AM. ESPN was already reporting it 30 minutes after its release. I'm not upset with the media. As you stated, this is all about the people in charge at U of M who are failing at their jobs and putting our football players' lives in danger. Thankfully Shane didn't get hit again when in the game after the late hit or there would be far more outrage than there is now.
I just don't understand how DB thought it was a good idea to release the statement at that time. He knows with how the media is in the present day that it doesn't matter where what and when it happens, it's going to get reported if it's something worth mentioning. It's an insult to the University and everyone associated with it. Just man up and admit your mistakes in a mid afternoon press conference, or at the very least release the statement during normal business hours, and go from there. Releasing a statement like that at 1 AM was just downright embarrassing on DB's part. I'm just in shock at this point with the current state of our athletic department. Never thought I'd see it in its current state.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:33 AM ^
And again...nobody on either the medical OR coaching staffs even saw the hit?!
Bullshit.
Cowards all.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:34 AM ^
Our football program is run by fucking morons. End of story.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:34 AM ^
Of course he released it at 1AM. He's a coward. My question is, is he so fucking stupid that he thinks releasing it at 1AM is really going to help his cause?
I'm not sure. I haven't figured out just how fucking dumb he is yet. He keeps surprising me.