Sports world already has moved on from past concern for athletes health

The “Never Forget” vow is tossed around quite a bit.But the shelf life of “never” depends on how long it takes to forget to remember.

It can take decades, years, months and weeks to fade then vanish. In sports, however, it takes minutes — until the next pitch, punt or power play. Late last week there was great solemn national attention devoted to Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa after he left Thursday’s game with his third on-the-job concussion.Calls for him to quit lest he suffer lifelong neurological impairment — if it isn’t too late — were shouted from mountaintops and echoed in the valleys. Say it with me: “This puts everything into perspective!” Yeah, sure. Sunday, during the Jets and Giants games, no fewer than six head-hits were seen — only one flagged — to the silence of CBS and Fox broadcasters and studio commentators. But what else is new? Don’t want to upset Roger Goodell, whose concern for the mental and physical health and welfare of NFL players can be found in his persistent advocacy of playing more regular season games for more TV money and partnered, bad-odds gambling operators. So, what we missed — couldn’t miss without thinking of Tagovailoa’s plight, three days prior — was, at best, ignored.

Next! Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center continues to report the suicides of NHL pugilists who became invalids after taking too many league-approved shots to the head, yet this past season local media and fans quickly adopted the Rangers’ one-trick Matt Rempe as their BFFN — best friend, for now. At the same time Rempe was being embraced and celebrated as a pug, ex-Ranger Chris Simon, cheered for his professional eagerness to take and land punches to the head, committed suicide at age 52, his last act, having suffered the inability to live with brain damage, CTE. So never forget! Just don’t bring it up if you happen to remember. The mindless prattle from the NFL’s joined-at-the-...