Two weeks ago, the hysteria surrounding the concussion suffered by Florida quarterback Tim Tebow peaked when more than one major newspaper shifted coverage from sports page to editorial opinion.

It's bad enough when sportswriters pretend to be sports medicine professionals. At least they regularly interview team medics. But a desk-bound, bow-tied boss weighing in on the playing status of an individual college quarterback?

Worse yet was an opinion in one newspaper which relied on a single, relatively obscure medical journal article. Published a year ago in Archives of Neurology, it was authored by Pace University (N.Y.) neurologist Lester Mayers, MD. In the introduction, he wrote, "a postconcussion return to play interval of at least four weeks is imperative."

However in his summary, Mayers admitted, "No definitive conclusions can be made from this brief review."

One of the studies cited by Mayers -- and the newspaper editorials -- was done at the University of North Carolina and showed an athlete who suffered a concussion was three times more likely to suffer another that same season. Left unmentioned was that 90 percent of those second concussions occurred within 10 days of the first.

Assume for a moment that Mayers' opinion turns out to be definitive and that in the near-future, the minimal standard of care becomes a four-week hiatus.

Assume then also that NO athlete will ever again self-report to an athletic trainer a seemingly minor concussion.

Also cited in the editorials was an NFL-sponsored study at the University of Michigan. Released last month, it showed 1.9 percent of ex-players age 30-49 and 6.1 percent age 50-plus had received a dementia-related diagnosis. Alarming numbers to be sure when compared with the general population.

However, those same numbers show that 90-plus percent of ex-NFL players have received no such diagnosis. Furthermore, those numbers could be the result of past concussion management that can best be described as haphazard. More conservative and research-based standards have been implemented across the NFL only in the last two years.

Clearly, some athletes have a terrible time, short and long term, with concussion. Still, most don't. Preliminary research, also mentioned by Mayers, indicates that there is a genetic component to concussion vulnerability. In the future then, expect a genetic test that will sideline a handful of individuals from contact/collision sports before they ever get to play.

John Doherty is a certified athletic trainer and licensed physical therapist.

This column reflects solely his opinion. Reach him at ptatcsport@sbcglobal.net.