If you're wondering why Jerry Jones' baffling comments on brain injuries in the NFL got more play nationally than around here, it's probably because we've become somewhat immune to him. But on further review, Jones took it to another level when he claimed there wasn't enough evidence to link playing football to a degenerative brain disorder known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

"No, that's absurd," Jones said when a reporter asked him to clarify. "There's no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There's no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving. I grew up being told that aspirin was not good. I'm told that one a day is good for you.... I'm saying that changed over the years as we've had more research and knowledge."

Jones attempted to clean up his mess Wednesday by clarifying that he was simply saying the NFL hasn't changed its stance on the link between football and CTE. And for decades, he would've been right. But only eight days before Jones arrived in Boca Raton, Fla., for the owners' meeting, the league's top medical officer testified in front of a Congressional committee that there was "certainly" a link between the two. Even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the link Wednesday, so it appears that Jerry has wandered out on his own fantasy island. Maybe he hadn't updated former commissioner Paul Tagliabue's talking points.

It's scary that a man of Jones' standing in the league could be so far in the dark. We've seen him spend some time in the NFL personnel wilderness, but this is actually life and death. I've covered the man on a regular basis since 2003 and most of us in the local media have sort of a "that's just Jerry" approach. But the man needs to find religion when it comes to brain injuries. When former NFL players are taking their own lives in their 40s, it's time for everyone to be more forthcoming.

The film "Concussion" was based on a book by Mark Fainaru-Wada and his brother, Steve Fainaru, called "League of Denial."On Wednesday, Steve Fainaru joined "The Afternoon Show with Cowlishaw & Mosley" on 103.3 FM ESPN to respond to Jones' comments.

"Where that's coming from, I have no idea," Fainaru said. "I think he's saying that there's no evidence that connects football to CTE. That's just patently absurd. I mean, there's a wealth of evidence out there that connects football to this disease, starting with the 90 NFL players who have been diagnosed postmortem of having the disease.

"The NIH last year designated CTE as a distinct neurodegenerative disease that has only been associated with repeated head trauma. Most of the people who have been diagnosed with this disease are former NFL players. Then, more recently, the Mayo Clinic did a study in which they combed their brain bank using the definition of CTE, and they found that one-third of the people who had played contact sports had the disease, and none of the people who had not played contact sports had the disease. So for him to make a statement like that is really kind of perplexing."

It's also really embarrassing. Former Cowboys Hall of Famers such as Rayfield Wright and Tony Dorsett have both experienced severe memory loss that they believe is a result of brain injuries suffered playing football. For Jones to sound this out of touch makes a mockery of everything those and other former players are facing. And Fainaru believes Jones' comments could have another unintended consequence.

"If I'm a parent and I'm really trying to find out what is the reality of what's out there and what is the debate. When you have Jerry Jones out there saying that there's no evidence at all, I just think it does a disservice to people who are really trying to get useful information that will help them make decisions around issues such as 'do I want my kid to play football, is that a risk I'm willing to take for my family?' And to athletes too, 'do I want to continue to play football?' These are all really legitimate questions at this point, and people fall on different sides of that debate and I think that's all perfectly fine and normal, given kind of what the different information that's out there right now. But for Jones to be out there saying that there's no evidence, it's just crazy."

Yeah, welcome to our world, pal.