The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "NFL players" ...
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HBO: NCAA Head Games
Five years into football’s concussions crisis, one group of athletes may be in more danger than any other: college football players. That’s because while leagues from the NFL down to Pop Warner have sharply reduced contact in practice to limit the amount of hits to the head, the NCAA has yet to mandate any rules. A six-month Real Sports investigation found that, over the course of a year, the average college football player is exposed to 70% more hits to the head than an NFL player. All these hits can add up and make it harder for the brain to function and do the work of being a student. In other words, young men going to college purportedly to improve their minds are often doing precisely the opposite—they are damaging them. Once these athletes leave college they’re on their own to deal with the potential consequences. The NFL provides long-term medical care for its football players. The NCAA does not.
Tags: broadcast; college football; athletes; concussions; health; NFL; NCAA; medical care
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ESPN, Outside the Lines: Painkiller Misuse Numbs NFL Pain
The story examines the degree to which current and former NFL players used and misused prescription pain medications.
Tags: painkillers; drugs; NFL; football
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Marvin Harrison Investigation
The investigation examines the involvement of former NFL player Marvin Harrison in a shooting on a north Philadelphia street in 2008.
Tags: Marvin Harrison; Philadelphia; NFL; shooting; eyewitness; evidence
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Liabilities
Retired NFL players from the days before the million dollar salary, are being denied disability funds from the NFL. These retirees are "players who are injured and seemingly unable to work," even players who are "considered disabled by the federal government (and receiving social security disability) were (until our piece brought this to light) denied benefits by the NFL." "The main reason is that benefits paid to retired players come out of the same pot of money available for player salaries."
Tags: football; NFL; retirement; players union; salary; retirement board; disability fund
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An Un-American Tragedy
Pat Tillman was a former college football star and NFL player who enlisted in the Army and became an Army Ranger after the events of September 11, 2001. His death in 2004 in Afghanistan was presented by the military as a heroic act, but as more details emerged, it became clear that he died not from the enemy's bullets, but rather was a victim of friendly fire. ESPN.com investigated, interviewing some of the soldiers who witnessed the chaos which led to Tillman's death, and examining whether or not the Army artificially inflated Tillman's battlefield deeds in order to present him as a hero.
Tags: Pat Tillman; Army Rangers; death by friendly fire; fratricide; Silver Star; death coverup
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Tillman's Final Mission
ESPN reveals for the first time how exactly Pat Tillman, a former NFL player, died in Afghanistan under friendly fire.
Tags: Afghanistan; Tillman; NFL; friendly fire; Black Sheep Platoon; 75th Ranger Regiment; 2nd Battalion;
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Performance Enhancing Drugs in the NFL
NFL players were taking humam growth hormone as a performance-enhancing drug because there was no reliable urine test for the drug. Then the HGH was mixed with low levels of steroids that would avoid detection.
Tags: national football leauge; Bob Costas; professional sport; medicine; steroid
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Big Headache; Doctor Yes
This two part investigation examines the National Football League protocol for dealing with concussions. The articles discuss equipment that can dramatically lower chances of getting a concussion, but is not required by the NFL. It also discusses the NFL mentality that makes heroes out of players who play while injured.
Tags: sports; professional athletes; heatlh; head trauma; doctors; sports medicine; sports equipment
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Bloody Sundays
An investigation into the physical toll exacted on professional football players every Sunday.
Tags: football; NFL; injury; health insurance; league rules; sport
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Steroids and the NFL
This investigation exposed steroid and human growth hormone abuse by several professional football players who received prescriptions from a doctor who was subsequently indicted for prescribing them. The NFL drug testing program failed to detect the players' steroid use. This failure exposed loopholes in the NFL's substance abuse policies.
Tags: football; NFL; steroids; drug testing; performance enhancing drugs; human growth hormone