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Mike Tice Named In Painkiller Lawsuit Against NFL

By Dan Zinski

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Former Vikings head coach Mike Tice is among several ex-NFL coaches who have been named in a lawsuit brought against the NFL alleging that the league conspired to push painkillers on players without regard for possible long-term health effects.

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Via AP:

"The new lawsuit…claims that several former head coaches and assistants — among them, Don Shula, Howard Schnellenberger, Wayne Fontes, Mike Holmgren and Mike Tice — warned players they would be cut from their teams unless they took painkillers and returned to the field."

The widow of deceased former Vikings fullback Charles Evans is among those named as plaintiffs in the suit. Evans played for Minnesota from 1993 to 1998, during the time Tice was a position coach. Evans passed away from heart failure at age 41.

With his mantra of “keep battling and keep battling” and his known love for “tough guy” football, Mike Tice embodied the old school “rub dirt on it and go back out there” mentality. Could that mentality have pushed Tice to bully and threaten players who had the audacity to put their health above football?

Tice certainly was not the only tough guy football coach out there possibly going to extreme lengths in order to get his players out on the field. According to the new lawsuit and an earlier one:

"Both lawsuits contend NFL teams and their medical staffs withheld information from players about the nature and seriousness of their injuries, while at the same time handing out prescription painkillers, anti-inflammatories and other dangerous drugs to mask pain and minimize lost playing time. Among other claims, the players contend prescriptions were filled out in their names without their knowledge."

I imagine there are plenty of fans who would like to tell these ex-players and their loved ones to suck it up, that’s just the nature of football, you gotta go out there and just keep battling like Mike Tice said.

A lot of people buy into the stuff folks like Mike Tice preach, and don’t want to hear about lawsuits and people seeking compensation for long-term injury and death. To them football is sacred and pain and injury and even death are just part of the deal.

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