HEAT SHIELDS

Two years after the death of Minnesota Viking tackle Korey Stringer -- the only known heatstroke fatality in NFL history -- the football world has sharpened its focus on how to monitor players and how far to push them when temperatures soar.

University of Connecticut football players swallowed heat-sensitive “radio pills” as part of a just-concluded NCAA study that kept track of their core body temperatures before, during and after practices for eight consecutive days. Oklahoma and West Chester (Pa.) College participated in similar studies.

In the Connecticut study, 15 Husky football players swallowed vitamin-sized capsules containing quartz crystals that vibrate according to body temperature. The $40 pill, which remains in a player’s system for about a day, emits a low-frequency radio wave. That signal can be picked up by a researcher holding a device the size of a hand-held computer within a foot of the player.

“The absolute convenience of it is what makes it great,” said Dr. Doug Casa, director of athletic training education at Connecticut. “You don’t have to strip somebody down. You don’t have the awkwardness of taking someone’s clothes off to get a rectal temperature. It’s all right there.”

Casa said he can envision a day when use of the pills is commonplace, especially in the NFL, where teams spend tens of millions of dollars on players, and, by comparison, the cost of the pills and monitoring device is nominal.

“If you have a guy that has had previous issues with heat illness, this is like a safety net,” he said. “And if somebody did have heatstroke, you could monitor them as you were treating them with an ice bath.”

The Connecticut players were divided into three groups of five according to their size -- receivers and defensive backs; linebackers and running backs; and linemen. Not surprisingly, the temperatures of bigger players tended to rise faster. Casa said it was not uncommon for players to run temperatures between 101 and 103 degrees while they were exercising, and some players ran even hotter.

“You feel like you’re on the cutting edge in terms of heat study,” said Connecticut quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who participated in the study, which also involved testing his urine and monitoring his diet.

“I think any way they can make the training safer you’re getting more out of your athletes,” he said. “The more people know their limits, the more they can play right to those limits.”

Meanwhile this summer, three NFL teams -- Philadelphia, Carolina and Chicago -- participated in a study that required players to wear plastic gloves after practices so their sweat could be collected and analyzed.

The Jacksonville Jaguars resorted to less-scientific means of prevention after two 300-pound defensive linemen collapsed in relatively mild conditions during the first week of training camp. Clearly shaken, first-year Coach Jack Del Rio rescheduled some daytime practices for night. Del Rio’s training-camp practices were far more relaxed than those of his predecessor, Tom Coughlin, and several were conducted with the players wearing baseball caps.

“If people think I’m Bear Bryant out here running the Junction Boys, they can say that,” Del Rio told reporters last month. “But it’s not that kind of effort.”

The Jaguars had their third heat-related injury less than two weeks later when receiver Donald Hayes dropped to a knee after a 90-minute session on an 82-degree day. He never lost consciousness but began suffering full-body cramps and was rushed to the hospital.

“I don’t have an answer for it,” Del Rio said.

Kelci Stringer, whose husband died 12 hours after collapsing on the second day of Viking camp in 2001, has been searching for answers ever since. She filed suit against the NFL in U.S. District Court last month, claiming the league fosters a “deadly culture” of abusive exercise that contributed to Korey Stringer’s death. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the NFL, sports equipment maker Riddell, and Dr. John Lombardo, who advises the NFL on health issues and also is the head of the league’s drug program.

Although 15 football players died in the U.S. last season as a direct or indirect result of the game -- five because of severe head injuries, and 10 because of causes provoked by vigorous exercise -- there were no heat-related deaths. That was an anomaly considering 21 players died from heatstroke between 1995 and 2001, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injuries. There have been no heat-related football deaths this summer.

Since Stringer’s death, it has become more newsworthy when a pro or college player sits out of practice because of the heat. On Thursday, UCLA running back Tyler Ebell was sidelined because of exhaustion and underwent tests at the school’s medical center.

The NFL has taken several measures to improve the way teams handle the heat, including a ban on ephedrine, an herbal stimulant that was used by many players and is now believed to contribute to dehydration and heat-related illnesses. There were ephedrine-based products found in Stringer’s locker, although his blood was not tested for the substance. Lawyers representing Stringer’s family say supplements were not a factor in the player’s death and point to a toxicology report that shows he had only a slightly elevated caffeine level.

Russ Romano, head trainer at USC, said many dietary supplements have been an unwelcome addition to the sports landscape.

“If a kid is taking creatine or ephedra, or something we don’t even know about yet, it could really throw us off,” he said. “We don’t advocate any supplement use with our athletes. We don’t want our athletes taking things, and neither does the NCAA.”

Many pro and college players still use dietary supplements they feel boost their performance, even if those supplements are free of banned substances. Some players use a powdered drink mix called “Spark,” which has about as much caffeine in an eight-ounce serving as three cans of Coca-Cola.

“It gives you a little bit of juice,” New Orleans Saint center Jerry Fontenot said. “From day to day you wake up and feel flat. You need something to get you going.”

The NFL conducted a conference call with coaches before training camps began and stressed the importance of preparing for the heat. Players are routinely weighed before and after every practice. Several teams have cooling tents located just off the practice fields and ambulances parked nearby. Many teams have indoor facilities where they move practice when the weather conditions are too extreme.

The Saints finished construction on a $10-million practice bubble during the off-season, and this summer they staged an occasional practice indoors. Those sessions are not as common as players might like, though, because the outdoor practices can accommodate far more fans.

“It’s kind of a battle between the players and the marketing department,” Fontenot said.

Fontenot, along with Saint tight end Ernie Conwell and St. Louis tackle Kyle Turley, met with NFL Players Assn. representatives during the off-season and asked that the union conduct a study on the long-term effects of practicing in extreme heat and humidity. The players were told the union would look into their suggestion but have yet to hear anything more.

Fontenot, in his 15th NFL season, played his first eight in Chicago, where the temperature dipped well below zero for many Bear practices. He said he prefers bitter cold over scorching heat.

“You can bundle up in the cold,” he said. “There’s no way to escape the heat. I don’t even think nude would help.”

As for testing his physical limits?

“I don’t know if I’ve felt like I was looking at death’s door,” he said. “But you certainly ask yourself, ‘What am I doing?’ Now I’m no longer thinking about getting better and my technique, I’m thinking about surviving.”

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the world is getting hotter by the year. The group, a special science agency of the United Nations, released a study last month that concluded the world is experiencing a record number of extreme weather events. An analysis of the data for the Northern Hemisphere showed the increase in temperature in the 20th century was likely to have been the largest in any century during the past 1,000 years. Global average land and sea surface temperatures in May 2003 were the second highest since records began in 1880.

No need to quote those statistics to Tampa Bay General Manager Rich McKay. He knows about heat and the importance of stressing conditioning to his players, not only during training camp but in the months leading up to it. He said some of the problems players around the country have had this summer might have more to do with their lack of conditioning than the weather.

“The guys just have to understand that if you’re going to play at 320, you’d better be a real 320, an in-shape 320,” he said. “You just can’t be coming in and expect to survive in the Florida heat. You’re going to have issues.”

The sweat test administered by the Panthers, Bears and Eagles and studied by researchers at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte measured sodium and electrolyte loss. Sweat was collected from the hands of 15 randomly selected players 10 times during camp.

The Miami Dolphins have a urine-shade chart in their locker room so players can self-diagnose dehydration. The lighter their urine, the better. As in other camps, players are encouraged to take frequent water breaks and make use of the available ice towels.

The way many Dolphin players see it, the heat is their friend, especially when they are playing home games early in the season against visiting players from cooler climes.

“Sometimes I’m out there [in a game] and I’m a little tired myself,” said Jamie Nails, a 335-pound Dolphin guard. “I know if I’m tired, they’re tired. Because I’m practicing in this stuff all the time.”

Nails said he and his teammates have been especially sensitive to heat issues in the past two years.

“Since all this stuff has gone down with Korey Stringer, college kids, all those people collapsing, guys are starting to look at it a little differently now. Whereas before when I’d feel a little funny I wouldn’t tell anyone, now I’ll tell the trainer, ‘Hey, I’m feeling dizzy.’ Now coaches know too. They’ll say, ‘You’d better come out.’

“You can only push yourself so far. Then you’ve got to be smart about it.”