ERST LESEN! » ury, and Rob Ninkovich is trying to play with a torn

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Former NFL Alumni Association President George Martin told a concussion conference Friday the injury is a scourge in contact sports with long-term consequences still widely underestimated.We need to take off the veil, Martin said. Ive attended far too many funerals lately for teammates and colleagues who have unfortunately succumbed to CTE.Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including concussions.Martin was the keynote speaker at the Ultimate Concussion Conference, a gathering of experts and policymakers in sports administration, law, education and health, including neuroscience and neuropsychology. About 80 people were expected for the three-day event.I always felt there was a lack of communication between disciplines, so I said, `Lets start a meeting that does this, said co-organizer Dr. Don Teig, an expert in sports vision from Ridgefield, Connecticut. A lot of players are so thrilled were doing this, because the subject had been pushed aside and buried. My goal was not to bury it anymore, and build it into something that lets people who are looking to come up with answers share their ideas.The first speaker was Martin, who described the toll he has seen concussions take. Martin played defensive end for the New York Giants from 1975 to 1988.The helmet I wore for the first five years of my career will tell you everything you need to know about concussions in the NFL, he said. If you looked at that helmet, you would be aghast. On the front there are nothing but scars, deep and penetrating. Its absolutely covered with them.Martin said helmets today are much improved, and said he has no criticism of the leagues recent response to concerns about CTE.But Martin said the disease has many players from his era worrying about their health.When I walk into the hospital room of a colleague who is a shell of his former self, I ask myself, is this a prelude to the future for me? he said. You dont know how frightening that question is.Dr. Michael Bergeron, president of Youth Sports of the Americas, told the conference there has been little improvement in understanding concussion risk because, ironically, theres so much data to absorb. Supercomputer software will help process information in the years to come, Bergeron predicted.Its too much for a human being to do, he said. We have to rely on software that can pull it together in an intelligent way. This will help prediction models and prevention.New findings will be presented Saturday by Dr. Tad Seifert, a Louisville neurologist involved in a study of boxers and mixed martial artists. He said the study found headaches increase with the incidence of concussion -- not a surprise, but something previously unsubstantiated.It could be a marker to follow over the arc of an athletes career in helping to identify those who become high-risk and most susceptible to long-term problems, he said.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Steven Wine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Steve-Wine. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/steven-wineNike NFL Jerseys China . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. http://www.cheapchinajerseysnfls.com/ . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. Cheap Jerseys USA . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. China Jerseys Authentic . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding.Which teams have the most?high-end talent? Thats the question I wanted to answer when I set out to rank every team based on its blue-chip players, which is how general managers and personnel directors grade the best in the league. The results were interesting and telling in many?cases.Heres how I came up with my?list: Using the?ESPN #NFLRank?player rankings as a base line, I expanded our top-100 list to look at where the next 100 players ended up. Then, after talking to people across the league, I?added and subtracted several players who I think are better -- and worse -- than where they ended up in the top 200 of #NFLRank. Then I added them all up for each team and put them in order. There were several ties, so I put them in a subjective order based on which rosters I thought were the best. I didnt add kickers or punters because?the difference between the top end and the middle isnt substantial enough.One thing to keep in mind: Just because a player is a blue-chip talent doesnt mean hes a blue-chip player. The perfect example of this is the Texans?Jadeveon Clowney, who hasnt been on the field enough in his first two seasons to warrant being on this list. Theres no doubt the former No. 1 overall pick?has the talent to ascend this season, though. I did, however, include two rookies on my list bbecause I think theyll play so much this season that theyll already be among the top 10 at their position.ddddddddddddLets get to my ranking,?which will?give you an idea of which teams are loaded to compete now, and which will be aiming to compete in the future.1. New England Patriots (11)Offense (5):?Martellus Bennett, TE; Tom Brady, QB; Julian Edelman, WR; Rob Gronkowski, TE; Sebastian Vollmer, OLDefense (6):?Malcolm Butler, CB; Patrick Chung, S; Jamie Collins, LB; Donta Hightower, LB; Devin McCourty, S; Jabaal Sheard, DEWhere they stand:?Bill Belichick has quietly put together a loaded roster, particularly on defense. Imagine how good the defense would be if the Patriots had?kept pass-rusher?Chandler Jones, whom they traded to Arizona. New England is built to win now and down the road. It picked up some steals in?Butler, Sheard and Bennett.What could change:?Bradys four-game suspension and injuries hurt the Patriots Super Bowl chances. Vollmer could miss the season with a shoulder injury, and Rob Ninkovich is trying to play with a torn triceps muscle. The Patriots need?Jimmy Garoppolo to play well to start the season. Their young talent is all represented here.ury, and Rob Ninkovich is trying to play with a torn