D6
S PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL NFL shares helmet test results
Follow-up studies planned in effort to reduce concussions
by Mark Maske The NFL sent results of its con-
cussion-related helmet testing to teams Friday, with instructions for the information to be shared with players. League officials said they con- sidered the testing of 16 helmet models to be a first step toward improving helmet technology in an attempt to prevent players from suffering concussions. The study, which was conducted by two independent laboratories, was supported by the NFL Play- ers Association, which prepared a written summary of the testing results jointly with the league. “We thought there was a sub- stantial reason to believe this was valuable data, and the players’ as- sociation felt this was important and should be shared with the
players,” said Jeff Pash, the NFL’s executive vice president of labor. But “this is not the final word or anything close to the final word on helmets.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goo- dell wrote in a two-page memo to teams that the league and union “believe that the information contained in the summary should be shared with your play- ers.” Goodell also wrote that the
study “should be regarded as an initial step in learning more about the effectiveness of safety equipment. It is not a definitive statement on helmet perform- ance. A number of follow-up studies are planned. Our hope is that manufacturers will use the information generated from these studies to continue to im- prove the quality of equipment used by NFL players.” The NFL sponsored the study and testing was conducted at labs in Tennessee and Canada, Goo- dell wrote. He added that the study design, testing procedures and data were reviewed by two
MIKE WISE
independent engineers and an in- dependent statistician analyzed the data. Helmet models were evaluated for their performance in various impact tests. The performances of the helmets in the tests were compared to the testing perform- ances of helmets worn by the players in the 1990s, and the league and union wrote in their summary that “no contemporary helmet performed worse than the helmets” from the ’90s. The league and union wrote
that three current helmet models — the Riddell Revolution, the Revolution Speed and the Schutt DNA Pro — qualified as “top per- forming” helmets. NFL players are permitted to wear any helmet certified by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equip- ment. “We’re not telling players to wear any particular helmet,” Pash said. “Based on this study, you can’t do that. This was a first step. There’s more work to do.”
maskem@washpost.com
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2010
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Indiana’s Katie Douglas, left, fouls Washington’s Lindsey Harding in the Mystics’ 68-65 victory on June 29 at Verizon Center. The Mystics have won both meetings against the Fever this season.
Top spot is up for grabs in East
Mystics can take over first place in conference with a win over Fever
by Jorge Castillo It had been eight years since
the Washington Mystics stood at the summit of the Eastern Con- ference standings. It took all of 30 hours — without the Mystics stepping onto the court — to knock them off the peak. But that can change again Saturday night. In handing Atlanta its fourth
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST Mike Shanahan’s first training camp in Ashburn opens Thursday, and Albert Haynesworth is a wild card. A fresh start benefits Redskins, Haynesworth wise from D1
300 pound-plus wayward soul an honest opportunity at redemption is good for everyone. Mostly Mike Shanahan. If the coach’s goal is to win in
the next two to three years and further his post-John Elway legacy, a period in which he’s only won one playoff game, Shanahan needs Haynesworth now.
If his goal is to turn the team
over at some juncture to his 30-year-old son, Kyle, the team’s new whiz-kid offensive coordinator, Haynesworth makes sense. Irrespective of whether he wants to play in the middle of the muck or not, taking on three behemoths while Andre Carter and the linebackers grab quarterback-crushing glory, Haynesworth instantly makes that defense markedly better. Yes, indigestion instantly forms in the innards as these words are typed. Yes, in any similar employee-employer relationship in this country, that big, ol’ Cosby kid whose co-workers publicly said he let them down would be out of work and replaced by someone who actually wanted the job. But there is nothing similar.
The NFL is a special business. Haynesworth is a special player. By working out on his own and reportedly dropping 30-plus pounds, by coming to terms he is not going anywhere soon and showing up to training camp, Big Al is getting off the couch and turning off the TV. He is trying. Now it’s up to the type-A taskmaster who wanted things done yesterday. He has to give enough that Haynesworth has hope he won’t become a
consecutive loss on Wednesday, Washington (13-7) ascended into a tie atop the East with de- fending conference champion Indiana. The Fever (14-7) re- sponded by taking sole posses- sion of first in the convoluted East standings with a 76-57 home win over struggling Los Angeles on Thursday. Now, the Mystics can take matters into their own hands when the Fever visits Verizon Center on Satur- day at 7 p.m. with Eastern Con- ference supremacy on the line. A season after losing all six games to Indiana, including a two-game sweep in the first round of the playoffs, Washing- ton has taken both games in the 2010 season series so far — 72-65 at Indiana to open the season on May 15 and 68-65 at home on June 29. That doesn’t mean Coach Julie Plank is sleeping
any easier. “I know Indiana is going to be ready for us and we’re going to be ready for them,” Plank said Wednesday after Washington’s win over the Dream. “We’ve beaten them twice, but in this league, especially in the East, it does not matter. You have to bring it every night. They’re playing really well right now, and we’ll be satisfied [Wednes- day night after beating Atlanta] but we’re going to get after it [in practice Thursday].” In Wednesday’s 82-72 matinee win over Atlanta, the Mystics were able to halt a two-game los- ing streak following a 12-day all- star break. Players admitted the break affected the team’s play in its losses to New York and Chica- go — the East’s two worst teams. “I think we just came back from the all-star break just a lit- tle rusty,” said forward Marissa Coleman, who scored nine points off the bench Wednesday. “Now we’re getting back on track. We had a couple good practices, so I think we’re mov- ing in the right direction. We had 12 days [off], so it was tough.” On Wednesday, Washington
looked like it had shaken off the rust, taking a lead less than three minutes into the game that it never relinquished. In stretches the Mystics dominated the Dream, which had started the season 13-4 before losing five of their next six, and expan- ded the lead to 19. The gap never
got closer than seven in the sec- ond half. Forward Crystal Langhorne and the bench led the way for Washington. Langhorne had 24 points and 15 rebounds, while the bench combined for 36 points. In the teams’ first meeting this season, the Mystics commit- ted 24 turnovers but overcame the miscues by shooting 50 per- cent from the floor and 85 per- cent from the free throw line and outrebounding the Fever, 43-35. Guard Monique Currie led all scorers with 21 points, and the Mystics held perennial all-star Tamika Catchings to 12. On June 29, guard Katie Smith led the charge with five three-pointers and 21 points, as the Mystics controlled the boards again, 35-24. Catchings paced the Fever with 17 points. Saturday, the Mystics have a chance to take the season series just a year after getting blanked in six meetings, but the end goal of reaching the finals is far from complete. “There’s still a lot more games, especially in the East,” Smith said. “I’m still hungry and I hope everybody else is. No mat- ter what we’re doing right now, things can swing on you in a minute. Right now I think we’re hungry and we understand that we haven’t accomplished any- thing that we want to get done. We’re just taking baby steps and keep competing every night.”
castilloj@washpost.com
Wizards’ McGee gets Team USA invite wizards from D1
index finger on the first day of practice. “It definitely helps my chance,
but I’m still going to play as if they are there,” McGee said of the other front-court players. McGee was planning on head-
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
When behemoth defensive tackle Haynesworth, right, is on the field, he can make everyone, including Brian Orakpo, left, better.
scapegoat. If Shanahan is willing to try,
training camp might as well be couples therapy for the two strongest personalities of the Redskins’ offseason. Animosity aside, they would be staying together for the good of the family.
If Shanahan can’t do it for Open Sun 12-5
King Street @ I-395 1-866-BUY-LEXUS
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himself, do it for Daniel Snyder, whose 10 years of paying premium rates for someone else’s stars has never looked like a more ill-conceived strategy. On the surface, it’s insane for Shanahan to bend. After all, the not-exactly svelte guy who signed the richest contract in NFL history for a defensive player just 18 months ago tried to force a trade after a 4-12 season in which he played just 12 games, during many of which he appeared in need of a juice box and a nap. Then he took a front-loaded, $21 million portion of his contract this spring with the caveat he perform the tasks his new bosses asked of him. And he
not only failed to show up for work, he actually never wanted to perform his duties to begin with.
But this is where we are today. Big Al has apparently done some genuine offseason work and conditioning. They’re not trading him; he gets it. In body and mind, people close to Haynesworth have said, he will be present Thursday. Regardless of how angry Shanahan is, all he has to do is look at the film. When he wants to play, Haynesworth is a monster truck in cleats. And even though he played in just 12 games, he took the second-most snaps of any defensive lineman other than Carter. Now that Albert Haynesworth has made it interesting — instead of continuing to play Everybody’s Favorite Sloth to Pick On — this is squarely, if surprisingly, on Mike Shanahan. Is the coach now willing to put
his ego aside for the betterment of the franchise?
wisem@washpost.com
ing to Los Angeles after summer league before his agent, B.J. Armstrong, informed him that USA Basketball wanted him to try out for the team. “They just want everybody to come out here and play hard and they’ll select who they want to select,” he said. “I just feel more confi- dent and more aggressive than I was the past two summers.” The remaining 19 players au- ditioning for the team — which is headlined by District native Kevin Durant and includes all- stars Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo — will play an intrasquad exhibition Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV. There will be another minicamp in three weeks in New York, where the final roster will be set. McGee is competing for a spot against Los Angeles Lakers for- ward Lamar Odom, New Jersey center Brook Lopez, Minnesota forward Kevin Love and Dallas center Tyson Chandler. “Well, he’s here, he’s practicing and certainly he has a shot,” Colan- gelo said ofMcGee. “And I think, when we go to New York, that will probably have to be one of the areas that we have to make a decision on that might come lat- er rather than sooner. And that’s on the bigs.” Mike Krzyzewski, the coach of
the U.S. team, did not want to evaluate individual players this early on, but said this week that McGee has “done a good job.” “He’s a shot-blocker. He pro-
tects the basket really well and he’s seven feet tall,” the Duke men’s basketball coach said. “He
and a nifty behind-the-back dribble and driving layup that continues to surprise him. “I definitely wasn’t planning
to go behind the back,” McGee said. “I’m glad it went in, be- cause I know I would’ve been taken out if I would’ve missed it.”
LAURA RAUCH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
JaVale McGee, dunking, averaged 19.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in summer league.
brings more height, jumping ability and shot-blocking.” McGee is the least accom- plished player in Las Vegas this week. He has averaged 6.5 points with 4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while starting just 33 games in his first two seasons in Washington. McGee didn’t enter the regular rotation, let alone the starting lineup, with the Wizards last season until after Brendan Haywood was dealt to Dallas at the trade deadline. Although he finished the year as a high-energy reserve, McGee has showed considerable growth since the end of the reg- ular season. He added about seven pounds of muscle and now stands 7 feet 11
⁄4 inches af-
ter growing another inch. In four summer league games for the Wizards, all wins, McGee av- eraged 19.5 points and 9.3 re- bounds and had several high- light plays — a rock-the-cradle fast-break dunk, an incredible one-handed jam over New Or- leans forward Kyle Hines in which he was so high he felt “like the rim was at my waist”
McGee also formed a nice chemistry with the Wizards No. 1 overall pick John Wall, who wasn’t shy about looking to McGee for alley-oop lobs and keeping him involved in the of- fense. “It’s a great opportunity for both of us, for him to get ex- posure as an assist player and not just a scorer, and for me to get opportune shots and be- come more of a consistent play- er,” McGee said. “So both of us together is a great combination.” Wall was not invited to try out for the U.S. team.
Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld said the greatest im- provement he saw in McGee wasn’t just his sustained inten- sity and consistency, but his pa- tience.
“I think the experience of last year really helped him,” Grun- feld said. “He’s slowed his game down. He’s taking his time. He’s picking his spots and he’s show- ing that he’s a great athlete, ob- viously, but he’s letting the game come to him more and he’s not in a hurry to do things, as he was before. He’s improved his foot- work and now he has to transfer what he’s doing with USA Bas- ketball into the regular season.” McGee still has work to do
with Team USA, an experience that he said has not been over- whelming despite the talent sur- rounding him. “I never was a player or person to be a fan to where I’m like, ‘I’m in awe,’ ” he said. “I don’t really model myself after anybody. I’m really just try- ing to come into my own and be- come my own player.”
leeem@washpost.com
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