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Policing thyself? Tagliabue still undecided on Stringer investigation
Updated: Saturday August 04, 2001 5:20 AM
By Don Banks, Sports Illustrated EDINA, Minn. -- NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Friday did not rule out the league would conduct its own investigation of Korey Stringer's death, and used the occasion of the former Minnesota Vikings' memorial service to underline that the NFL is re-evaluating some of it approaches to dealing with heat-related illnesses. When asked if he was concerned that Minnesota's Occupational Safety and Health Division began looking into Stringer's death owing to complications from heat stroke Wednesday, Tagliabue said: "We're looking at ourselves and how we operate ... and if others want to look at us, I'm confident we'll acquit ourselves very well."
Tagliabue went on to say that the league hasn't decided yet whether to conduct its own review of Stringer's death. "I know the Vikings will look intensively at this, and others will also do it," Tagliabue said. "Whether we can add anything remains to be seen." On Thursday, Tagliabue notified all 31 NFL teams about the dire importance of hydration and asked them to immediately re-evaluate their strategies. "The question is do we need to re-evaluate some of our practices relative to training camp, and I think the answer is yes," Tagliabue said. "We're already doing that. We spent time since we heard about Korey, immediately thinking about what to re-evaluate, what to monitor, what to see if we can improve." But both Tagliabue and NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw, who also attended Stringer's memorial service Friday, said there is only so much the league can do in a situation where the individual player is the most accurate judge of his own health. "I believe we are doing the right things in the NFL right now toward the players' safety and the players' health," Upshaw said. "I'm satisfied with what we're doing. It's unfortunate that it's being highlighted by what's going on here today. But as always, we'll get through it and we'll learn from it. "The players are educated enough to really understand what their body can take. Every player knows his limits and it's really up to the player. The player has to say, 'I can't go anymore. I'm taking a play off. I'm not doing it.' Players do that all the time, and there are ways to take plays off without leaving the field."
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