Chad Kelly suffered concussion during East Final

[paulwoods13]

I don't see the Argos getting in any kind of trouble. They have said explicitly that none of their staff were ever made aware of a possible concussion. If a player feels he suffered any kind of injury but tells no one, why should the team be held accountable. We will never know if he actually suffered a concussion. He apparently self-diagnosed and then didn't tell anyone for three days. And then told one interviewer yet neglected to say anything similar to another interviewer. If he did in fact suffer a concussion, he dealt with it the wrong way by not reporting symptoms or anything of that sort. If he thinks in retrospect that he must have been concussed because of how his head felt messed up during the game, I guess that is possible, but it's also possible that it is a convenient explanation for something that would otherwise seem inexplicable to him.

[kellynjk]

You may be right that the Argos aren't in trouble over this, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone from the CFL asks Argo management if they educate their players about the proper concussion protocol, because Kelly obviously didn't follow any of it.

I guess my point was that Kelly's behaviour and comments make the Argo organization look bad as I have no doubt that they have talked to players over the season about the concussion risks, symptoms, the role of the spotter, the importance of speaking up etc. And Kelly ignores all of this - looks like a cowboy - decides to self-diagnose that he had a concussion, didn't bother to share his concerns with anyone on the team during the game or afterwards (or at least until he did his interview saying he had a concussion) and determines that he is the only one that is able to take the team to a win, so he stays in the game, even though he wasn't feeling 100%. It demonstrates bad judgment, arrogance and immaturity. I hope someone in the organization quietly pulls Kelly aside and talks to him about all of this, cause it clearly isn't appropriate.

[paulwoods13]

You may be right that the Argos aren't in trouble over this, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone from the CFL asks Argo management if they educate their players about the proper concussion protocol, because Kelly obviously didn't follow any of it.

That would be true only if he felt during the game that he had suffered a concussion. Given that he told no one during the game, or in the days that followed, until the fateful interview, it stands to reason he did not actually feel during the game that he had suffered a concussion, but came up with that as an explanation sometime over the ensuing three days. It might have been in his mind before the interview, but the fact he did not make similar comments to Simmons could lead one to conclude that it popped into his head somewhat spontaneously and he blurted it out without giving it much thought (and possibly without much evidence, given that he had apparently worked out two or three times in the days following the game). Given all of the possibilities here, and after hearing the clip, I am not as inclined to give Kelly the benefit of the doubt on this as I originally was.

Having now watched the full, eight-minute interview, I have only one serious issue with 3DN. They neglected to seek any corroboration for his claim of a concussion. They at minimum should have asked, "did you tell any of your teammates or anyone else with the team at the time?" If they weren't able to come up with that question on the spot (as sometimes happens when unexpected information is presented to you during an interview), they should have held the story until they had a second chance to talk to Kelly. And the team should have been asked immediately for comment, before the story was published. Doing both of those things would have been appropriate journalistic practice, but we live in an age where appropriate journalistic practice is becoming rarer.

[kellynjk]

Well I would say that he did say he didn't feel right during the game. Kelly also goes on to say that he has had a concussion before, so he knows what it feels like and he certainly implies that it was a feeling similar to that, but worse. Either way, if "he didn't feel right" during the game, he should have said something to someone.

You might be right that he mentioned having a concussion without thinking about it - I personally think he was embarrassed by his performance in the Eastern Final and was looking for an excuse, other than the fact that he simply played a bad game (which can happen to the best of athletes). If that was the case, then Kelly needs to grow up and think before he speaks, especially as he is "one of the faces of the Argos". It is irresponsible on his part to claim he had a concussion (self-diagnosed) and just ignored it and continued to play. As I mentioned in a previous post, in my past job I worked on projects promoting concussion prevention, awareness and education in the province and across the country, so it really doesn't help the cause to have a high-profile local athlete trivialize concussions and present some macho-shit that he just played through it. That's why I said that I hope someone in the Argos organization privately talks to him about the whole episode. And Kelly needs to shut up - the more he talks about it, the more ridiculous he looks!!

I do agree with you that I wished 3DN had pushed him more about the comment. Like when did it happen, why didn't you tell anyone about it or are you saying that it might not have been a concussion, but something certainly felt off... etc . It might have given Kelly a chance to backtrack or give a more thorough response.