Three months after House Democrats issued a report concluding that the NFL improperly sought to influence a major government study on football and brain disease, their Republican counterparts called for an independent review into the controversy.In a 21-page letter to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, Republican leaders from the Energy and Commerce Committee requested the review to determine whether proper procedures were followed by officials with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its fundraising arm.The letter suggests that NIH officials engaged representatives from the NFL throughout the process and tried to resolve the conflict by offering a compromise solution -- reinforcing the perception that there was nothing improper about the NFLs actions.The questions and concerns raised by these events are vital to the integrity of research and the grant award decision-making process, concluded the letter, written by Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan, Tim Murphy and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, and Michael Burgess of Texas.In May, Democratic leaders from the committee issued a 91-page report that described a behind-the-scenes campaign by top NFL health officials to strip a $16 million grant from a prominent Boston University researcher who has been critical of the league. The Republican letter provided little new information about the NFLs campaign, but it suggested that the league may have been convinced that its input was welcomed by senior NIH officials who agreed to discuss the matter, in possible violation of NIH regulations.The Democratic report stemmed from interviews with officials at the NIH and the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH) as well as the NFLs top health and safety official. It also cited emails between the parties. The report singled out Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, the co-chair of the NFLs Head, Neck and Spine Committee. Ellenbogen was a co-investigator on a competing grant proposal, which the report said NFL officials tried to convince the NIH to fund. Ellenbogen was a primary example of the conflicts of interest between his role as a researcher and his role as an NFL adviser, according to the report.Ellenbogen, however, was not interviewed by the Democrats, and he denied to the Republicans that he ever had sought to influence the NIH process, as he had previously to Outside the Lines and other media outlets.Ellenbogen, the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Washington, is the subject of an internal investigation at UW over the findings by the Democrats.The Republican letter said the review was necessary because this controversy has tarnished the reputations of some leading brain trauma experts.We stand by our findings that the NFL improperly attempted to influence NIH on its brain injury research, and that FNIH did not adequately fulfill its role of serving as an intermediary between NIH and the NFL, an Energy and Commerce Democratic Committee spokesperson wrote to Outside the Lines.The controversy stems from a $30 million donation the NFL made to the NIH in 2012. At the time, the league described the grant as unrestricted, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell insisted that the league would let NIH make the decisions on how best to spend the money. The first $12 million of that funding was allocated in 2013 to two groups to study the defining characteristics of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain disease that has been found in dozens of deceased NFL players and that experts have linked to repetitive head trauma. However, Outside the Lines reported in December that the NFL had backed out of using most of the remaining funds on a $16 million study that had been awarded to Robert Stern, a prominent Boston University researcher.Soon after, the Democratic committee launched its investigation.The league has said that its officials expressed concerns about Stern but that they did so appropriately. And the Republicans letter suggests that if the NFLs actions were inappropriate, the NIH should have addressed that with the league rather than encouraging ongoing discussion.The NFL issued a statement Thursday afternoon repeating prior comments that it had never wavered in its commitment to advance the science and understanding of concussions and that it looked forward to cooperating in a review.Ellenbogen and three other members of the NFLs Head, Neck and Spine Committee issued their own statement, saying they welcome a fair and balanced review and look forward to engaging fully in the process, a courtesy we were not provided by the committees minority staff.The Republican letter comes one day after the NFL announced a $100 million initiative designed to focus on concussion research and technologies to lessen head trauma. Cheap Basketball Alabama Crimson Tide Jerseys . 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TORONTO -- Patrick Kane was on the verge of tears as the final horn sounded on another American loss to Canada.A 4-2 wipeout eliminated the United States from the World Cup of Hockey on Tuesday night, ending what was perhaps the best chance for this generation of players to win an international competition. Instead, the U.S. flamed out in two games, leaving disappointment, frustration and plenty of questions about the direction of the program.In the aftermath of a dominant, clinical performance by the tournament favorite and a lackluster showing by the U.S., top players were shell-shocked by the early exit.Two games here and youre done, said Kane, who doesnt have a goal in nine consecutive games in a Team USA uniform. Its just amazing. Its crazy the way hockey is. Its definitely frustrating being an American and having these opportunities and have nothing to show for it.A shutout at the hands of Team Europe, a group of players from eight countries, and then a mistake-prone loss to Canada was enough to keep the U.S. from reaching the semifinals. Canada and Europe clinched spots.What Kane called a dud against Europe put the U.S. in a must-win mode against its biggest rival. Regulation victories against Canada and the Czech Republic would have advanced the Americans. And now the final round-robin game between Team USA and Team Czech Republic on Thursday is a matchup of lame-duck teams.U.S. general manager Dean Lombardi said in June that his goal was to build a team that could beat Canada. The American roster, heavy on size and grit and light on speed and skill, was widely panned when it was announced, and it took more hits this week.You guys can beat up the roster all you want, U.S. coach John Tortorella said. You look at some of those players on our roster, there are some pretty good skilled players, and we just simply did not do enough offensively, and we self-inflicted quite a bit in two games.Tortorella said he is still waiting for the U.S. to generate some offense. It got an early goal on Tuesday by defenseman Ryan McDonagh and a late one by T.J. Oshie well after the game had been decided.Forwards Phil Kessel, Paul Stastny and Kyle Okposo, and defensemen Justin Faulk and Kevin Shattenkirk were among the players left off the roster who could have provided more offense.Minutes after the game went final, Kessel tweeted:It was just his third tweet in the past year, one of which was a picture of him raising the Stanley Cup.ddddddddddddAfter mistakes led to two Canada goals by Matt Duchene and one each by Corey Perry and Patrice Bergeron, U.S. players brushed off Kessels tweet and criticism of the roster construction.Everyone that was here deserved it, said captain Joe Pavelski, who like Kane and fellow star Zach Parise struggled to generate scoring chances. Theres decisions made and thats the way they went, and thats the way that group was put together. It doesnt matter who has here or who wasnt. It was a job for us to get it done, and we were not good enough.The U.S. continued to be not good enough against Canada, falling to 1-5 against the worlds top hockey power dating to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. On Tuesday night, Canada was the better team from about the five-minute mark on, getting two goals 14 seconds apart to move past McDonaghs score and benefiting from 34 saves by Carey Price.Prices international shutout streak ended at 228:41, but Canada got the job done.There was times tonight that I didnt think we were even close to being as good as were capable of being, Canada coach Mike Babcock said. We werent as good as were capable of being tonight.The U.S. was not nearly as good as it was capable of, despite the star power left at home. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien left Duchene alone on his first goal, and winger Max Pacioretty failed to clear the puck on his second; they were the kinds of mistakes no team can make against Canada.It was very important that if they were going to get something, they had to earn it, Tortorella said. I thought we had a good start, but we gave them a couple of freebies there, and you just cant do that.Goaltender Jonathan Quick continued his strong international play, stopping 30 shots to keep the score from being even more lopsided. But like Kessel sitting at home with his dog, Quick couldnt get goals at the other end to keep the U.S. from another head-shaking loss.I feel like we let our country down, we let ourselves down, defenseman Ryan Suter said. You come into this not knowing how many more chances youre going to get, and to be out after two games is extremely disappointing. 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