Wes Welker’s concussions inspire words of warning

Some holiday-season stocking stuffers:

—The Wes Welker situation is now officially serious. The Denver Broncos wide receiver suffered a concussion Nov. 17 against the Kansas City Chiefs. He played the next Sunday.

Last Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, he took a shot coming over the middle from Bernard Pollard and suffered another concussion. The Broncos play host to the San Diego Chargers on Thursday night. Thank God they had the sense not to let Welker play in that game. The question is: Should he ever play again?

We are not the only voice screaming.

Benjamin Hochman, Denver Post: “The Broncos could very well win the Super Bowl. Will Wes Welker remember it?... He is no longer a football player. He is a roulette player.”

Jeff Pearlman, longtime sportswriter and nationally known author, wrote on his website, in an open letter to Welker, that he ought to retire immediately: “You keep coming back. I don’t think you’re courageous. Or tough. I think you are stupid.”

—The shock of the severe spinal injury to Corona Santiago High linebacker Jordan Walker on Nov. 22 has not totally worn off. Nor has community caring.

There will be a fundraiser Wednesday in Corona, at a go-kart facility called Pole Position. Santiago’s coach, Jeff Steinberg, said that the goal of the function, besides helping with medical bills, is to “create an awareness of what Jordan is going through.”

What he is going through, of course, is paralysis. Steinberg said that doctors hoped to get him off a ventilating breathing system by this weekend, and that he has had some feeling return in his lower chest area.

The week after the accident, Upland, the team that beat Santiago, played another playoff game. Before that game, members of the Upland and Santiago teams, as well as Upland’s opponent, Centennial, knelt on the field to pay respects to Walker. The Upland player who was carrying the ball when the collision occurred, freshman Nathan Tilford, was encircled and hugged by people including Walker’s best friend, Austin Cervantes, his girlfriend, Brooke Smith, and his sister, Hunter.

—Bowl time, baby. As Dick Vitale might say. Loudly.

There are 35 total, 30 of them on ESPN. The Rose Bowl, of course, has the Rose Bowl game and the national championship game. The Rose Bowl game is Stanford vs. Michigan State on Jan. 1 and the BCS title game, Auburn vs. Florida State, on Jan. 6.

Those are probably the two best games from several standpoints, including competitiveness and general fan appeal. If you pay attention only to those two, it’s OK, even though you will not be contributing your fullest to ESPN’s desire to take over the world.

USC will indirectly worship at the altar of the ESPN television deity by playing its bowl game on ABC, which is part of the same cuddly Disney-ESPN media family. UCLA will play in the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl against Virginia Tech on CBS.

USC’s game against Fresno State on Dec. 21, in something called the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl, brings to mind the disdain many Trojans backers have for these postseason, made-for-TV, non-Rose Bowl exercises.

The late Mal Florence was a proud ‘SC alum and a veteran Times sportswriter. He covered the Trojans for a while but was on a different assignment in 1992 when the Trojans were left with a Freedom Bowl engagement in Anaheim against Fresno State.

He was asked if he would go to the game. He responded indignantly.

“Good Lord, no,” he said. “Somebody might see me there.”

USC lost. Coach Larry Smith spoke after the game of the increasing parity in the sport, a concept that USC fans were not then, nor now, interested in. Smith departed shortly thereafter and Florence always maintained that he had no memory of the game actually taking place.

—Additional bowl thoughts:

Minnesota’s Jerry Kill, who suffered through a season of tension and anguish while battling epileptic seizures, held things together so well that his Golden Gophers finished 8-4 and will play Syracuse in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27.

Then there is Washington State, which hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2003. Coach Mike Leach brought the ideal feisty attitude the Cougars needed and now they will take their 6-6 record against Colorado State into the Dec. 21 New Mexico Bowl.

Worth remembering is the score and opponent in the Cougars’ opening game this season: Auburn 31, Washington State 24. Yes, that Auburn.

—Alabama’s AJ McCarron should get the Heisman Trophy. He’s a senior, has been a rock for arguably the best team in the country the last three years, and should not be personally penalized for one stunning Auburn play .… Indications that horse racing remains viable, despite its struggles, include Santa Anita raising the Santa Anita Derby purse to $1 million for 2014 and Los Alamitos carrying on with its annual huge purse in the $2-million Futurity on Sunday night .…The greatest name in golf today is Canadian Ryan Yipp .… The name that will emerge as a huge star in boxing next year is Gennady Golovkin. Write it down .… A sad thing about the Clippers’ needing to go to a risky pickup in Stephen Jackson is that it could have been Lamar Odom’s big chance, but he apparently wasn’t ready .… The true sign that the apocalypse is upon us in college football is Alabama playing Chattanooga in November.

—We will end as we began, with the Welker story, and give the Denver Post’s Hochman the last word. He wrote: “Welker’s mind is fine in 2013. What about 2033?”

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

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