In an unsurprising turn of events, the ardent believers of the pseudoscientific theory that an electrical substation was to blame for the rash of 49ers injuries are not convinced by general manager John Lynch calling it “a big nothing burger.”
The Niners reportedly hired a scientist to look into this controversy that picked up steam after San Francisco’s biggest names suffered catastrophic injury after catastrophic injury this past season. Lynch told reporters Sunday that their study found the electromagnetic output by the substation was 400 times below the threshold of “unsafe zones,” like any gym or “normal place of work.” If nothing else, Lynch noted that this never came up as an issue throughout free agency, which the Niners are excelling at this offseason.
But those who gained popularity and attention by talking about this substation were not satisfied with this report. Chase Senior, a Texas-based 49ers (and Eagles) YouTuber who was among the first to push this theory as a talking point, and Peter Cowan, an alternative medicine practitioner whose thread in which he guesstimated the effects of the substation on Niners facilities gained national attention, took issue with the report. Both had the same demand: Show us the report and name the scientist.
Cowan claimed the Niners couldn’t have gotten someone legitimate because he’s “connected to every scientist and forensic engineer actually qualified to do this analysis,” and the team didn’t reach out to them. He noticeably did not name any of these scientists and engineers himself. Senior, meanwhile, asked why the Niners only talked to one scientist, and claimed there had been an uptick in speculation and questions from the general public.
It’s certainly one thing for Cowan, whose origin story is that he replaced a traditional medical treatment plan with sunlight exposure, to focus on the scientists and ignore the salient note that this didn’t upend the Niners’ plans in free agency. He doesn’t talk about sports for a living. Senior, however, does, and yet he followed the same path as his dedication to this crackpot theory continued.
Senior’s post illustrated how he seems to pick and choose when to call the 49ers’ honesty into question. In the same post where he complains that the Niners have not outed the scientist and accompanying research, he easily accepts the organization’s investment in training facilities and staff as a factual, “very positive update.” There are significantly more examples of organizations promising to invest in something but never following through. Where are the demands for documentation that this money will actually go where the team says it will? Where are the cries for the names of these physical therapists, and evidence of their qualifications?
The answer is likely that reporting on finances doesn’t allow one to back out of their accusations by alluding to pseudoscience. When Senior does dabble in questioning medical experts — if it’s not focused on the substation, it’s about the COVID-19 vaccine — he’ll credulously regurgitate a social media post that supports his viewpoint, vaguely reference studies whenever he receives pushback and then go radio silent when that pushback provides actual evidence. In a post where he proudly declared that he didn’t get the COVID vaccine, the post he piggybacked off of referenced the anti-vaccine conspiracy term “turbo cancer.” This raises the question of whether he’d understand any kind of scientific report the Niners published, especially if it wasn’t neatly summarized to him through social media.
Just as likely, however, is that if the Niners did give him what he asked for, it wouldn’t be enough. The team’s perspective is markedly different than Senior’s on this issue. San Francisco’s issue with this substation theory has been obvious since the organization publicly addressed it: It’s a perception issue. If free agents believe that the Niners’ practice fields could harm their careers, they won’t sign there. If Senior, or any other random person on the internet, isn’t convinced, it doesn’t matter since neither he or anyone else from the peanut gallery could fill the roster holes the Niners want to address this offseason. This theory should be dead and gone for no other reason than the fact that, according to Lynch, no free agents asked about the substation, a brief possible reality after a dubious Washington Post article.
The only reason the substation controversy could possibly persist is if there was a financial incentive for someone to do so, such as payouts from a YouTube or Substack page. One way to ensure those go up: Provide a name so that users and readers can know who to question about this ongoing conspiracy.