Just days into training camp, the Detrot Lions' second-round draft pick, quarterback Drew Stanton, is already hurt having sustained a knee injury while dropping back to pass, that will require arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair damaged cartilage.

Now, there are easy cheap shots to take here, considering it's the beleaguered Lions we're talking about but that's not where I want to go with this.  I was struck by a comment by team president Matt Millen.

Millen is quoted in a story on mlive.com as saying, "The knee is structurally sound; it's not a big deal. It's just a tweak.'' OK, Millen is trying to make the point that the kid will be ready to play in a month, maybe a little more.  But it was how he characterized the injury -- "just a tweak."

That term -- "tweak" -- does that appear in medical journals, somewhere? And I'm not bashing Millen specifically because you hear that word a lot these days in sports circles.

Tweak is the latest sports injury euphemism that has linguistic ancestors such as "charlie horse" and "burner" and "stinger." Those vague catch-words that glibly glossed over what could be serious health problems for the players involved.

This may seem like an off-the-wall rant sparked by a minor injury to a backup player on a team few people care about around here.  But as we learn more and more about the physical price paid by players, particularly retired NFL players, we shouldn't fall into an Orwellian use (and acceptance) of language that subtly disguises a serious reality.