Time for the Code to Go Silent

If there was a moment that provided any hope at all in the disturbing aftermath of Minnesota Viking lineman Korey Stringer’s death, it came when teammate Randy Moss put his head down and cried.

He and fellow wide receiver Cris Carter and Viking Coach Dennis Green held a news conference. They couldn’t provide the medical details of how workouts in the summer heat caused Stringer’s body to shut down. They didn’t want to discuss the circumstances that led to the tragedy. They were there to talk, a task that in Moss’ case proved too difficult.

As he tried to describe his now-realized fears that Stringer would leave his 3-year-old son behind, as he recalled Stringer meeting his wife and child in the family lounge after games, he started bawling.

What was good about it? Because it was so contrary to the football code book. Football players aren’t supposed to break down and cry. They aren’t supposed to display emotion or show any sign of weakness. That’s part of the code.

The code needs to change. Elite players should not feel the need to prove themselves by continuing to run drills in ridiculous heat. It should be OK to stop. Because these pointless deaths need to stop.

Reports said that Stringer, 27, pushed himself during the heat and high humidity of Tuesday’s practice because he was disappointed that he could not finish the team’s first practice at training camp Monday morning. He vomited at least three times during Tuesday’s practice but fought all the way through, then summoned a team trainer. Later, he was rushed to the hospital with a body temperature of more than 108 degrees. He was pronounced dead at 1:50 a.m. Wednesday.

Normally football trends--from offensive formations to uniform accessories--start in the pros and work their way down. Unfortunately, death seems to be making its way up.

University of Florida freshman Eraste Autin passed out while walking back to the locker room after practice on July 19 and later died. In February, Florida State freshman Devaughn Darling collapsed and died after a workout. An oft-repeated number in recent days was that 18 high school and college football players have died of heat-related causes since 1995.

You wonder if the number would be lower if players felt free to say they couldn’t go anymore, if they felt they wouldn’t be letting their coaches and teammates down by asking out.

“Players nowadays, they’re so driven,” former NFL running back Darrin Nelson said. “They won’t pull themselves off the field.

“Guys, they’re so dedicated now. If you’re tired and you’re throwing up, that’s not a big deal.

“I would say the best thing to do is, you’ve got to hold guys out longer.”

Nelson is now an associate athletic director at his alma mater, Stanford. He spent nine of his 11 years with the Vikings, he still works on the team’s pregame and postgame shows for Fox Sports Midwest and he knew Stringer.

“He was a great guy,” Nelson said. “It’s just sad.”

Nelson was in town for the Pacific 10 Conference’s annual football media day. Coaches and players didn’t have any real solutions for this deadly problem, other than the obvious: drink lots of water, stay hydrated. There’s not much else the trainers can do.

“You have to practice,” Nelson said.

But you don’t have to die doing it.

Part of it is the mentality.

“It’s a lot of peer pressure, especially during training camp,” Arizona senior safety Brandon Nash said.

When people compare football training camps to military boot camp, it’s not much of an exaggeration. Washington State running back Dave Minnich spent four years in the Marines, and he said: “They’re a little bit the same.

“The coaches, they kind of ask you to do things in the extreme situations. You wake up early in the morning in August. It’s hot, you really don’t want to do anything. But the coaches still ask us to put 100% into practices.

“It’s kind of like what they did at boot camp, except it was a little more extreme. You wake up at 5:30 in the morning at Parris Island [S.C.], it’s already 90 degrees. They want you to run a couple miles and then perform your everyday duties. It’s kind of the same.”

We’ve made progress since 1954, when Bear Bryant took his Texas A&M; team to a town called Junction, Texas, for 10 tortuous days when players weren’t even allowed water on demand.

Oregon Coach Dennis Erickson said he would ease up on the running during the hotter days when he coached at Miami, and he said coaches “probably have to cut back” a little more to prevent further tragedies.

Stand on the sidelines of an NFL or college game, see and hear the collisions up close and you’ll come away shocked that there isn’t a career-ending or life-threatening injury on every play. The hitting is that fierce.

But no one thinks of training camp drills as lethal. Maybe we need to. And not think any worse of players who say they’re too hot to continue, so we won’t have to see players crying over fallen teammates.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.