Aaron Hernandez had CTE

[zinfamous]

Soccer has a lot of it due to heading the ball. I still would much, much prefer my kids play soccer (they do) than football.

The league my kids play in has outlawed heading before age 13. This is just a rec league mind you, not sure if this is across the board in other leagues and places.

I hope your kids aren't girls, though.

http://www.traumaticbraininjury.net...-players-are-at-highest-risk-for-concussions/

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

fuck the nfl. they give zero fucks about the damage these players are doing, a lot of lip service though. Not much different than what big tobacco did to silence their opposition.

I don't give a fuck about the players either. People watch for entertainment, it's like saying we need a game of touch-sensitive MMA fighting. They know the risks they were taking for the money they were receiving. Fuck em.

Unless you want an even more boring sports game - whatever, I don't even watch sports anymore because the pussification level has been multiplied exponentially.

 

[Zorba]

I don't give a fuck about the players either. People watch for entertainment, it's like saying we need a game of touch-sensitive MMA fighting. They know the risks they were taking for the money they were receiving. Fuck em.

Unless you want an even more boring sports game - whatever, I don't even watch sports anymore because the pussification level has been multiplied exponentially.

I can agree that I don't care that much about NFL players. At this point, they know what they are getting into and they are willing making that trade for money/fame.

However, below the NFL in college, HS and peewee I feel a lot different. In college everyone else is making millions why they suffer potentially lifelong consequences. In HS and peewee the individual players don't have the knowledge or maturity to make a well informed decision for themselves.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I can agree that I don't care that much about NFL players. At this point, they know what they are getting into and they are willing making that trade for money/fame.

However, below the NFL in college, HS and peewee I feel a lot different. In college everyone else is making millions why they suffer potentially lifelong consequences. In HS and peewee the individual players don't have the knowledge or maturity to make a well informed decision for themselves.

Won't disagree with you there, that's definitely a more complicated issue especially because parents might be a large determining factor if they push them to play or not.

 

[interchange]

I can agree that I don't care that much about NFL players. At this point, they know what they are getting into and they are willing making that trade for money/fame.

However, below the NFL in college, HS and peewee I feel a lot different. In college everyone else is making millions why they suffer potentially lifelong consequences. In HS and peewee the individual players don't have the knowledge or maturity to make a well informed decision for themselves.

It's exceptionally rare for someone to pick up football in high school and make it to the NFL down the line regardless of athletic ability. We can't have one without the other.

 

[zinfamous]

I don't give a fuck about the players either. People watch for entertainment, it's like saying we need a game of touch-sensitive MMA fighting. They know the risks they were taking for the money they were receiving. Fuck em.

Unless you want an even more boring sports game - whatever, I don't even watch sports anymore because the pussification level has been multiplied exponentially.

I understand and somewhat appreciate this sentiment, but I think it is largely misdirected. The problem with he NFL is that I believe it was shown a year or so ago, that they had produced and had access to a ton of seriously awful data regarding brain damage in their vets and current players, and intentionally kept this away from the public and away from their players.

This was going on for years. It is completely analogous to what Big Tobacco was hammered for regarding their internal studies that were intentionally squashed for decades, to make sure they could keep selling their highly addictive poison sticks (and, I believe, that they specifically used this data to increase the nicotine doses--on other words, insure that their customers would suffer far greater health risks, because only profit matters).

This is a huge, huge problem for the NFL, whether or not we, as fans like it. Obviously something will have to change, but it could certainly affect the game so much that many will stop watching it. I love the game, but honestly, I wouldn't give a shit if it were gone in 5 years, and no one else would, either-as fans. Humans are remarkably resilient at finding other entertainment avenues with which to waste their time.

 

[Phokus]

No way in hell i'd ever let my kids play football, and i love watching football

 

[SMOGZINN]

We are not going to change our gladiatorial games. They are simply too popular, make too much money, and lets face it, no one is under the illusion that it is actually safe. We want blood. People watch NASCAR for the wrecks not to see a car go around in a circle for a half hour. People want the big hits in football. They play up the sound of them smacking into each other. They show thrill clips of the worst hits. This is what people want from the games. This is a problem a old as humanity. Gladiators get injured. That is what they are paid to do. Football players, Boxers, MMA fighters, all are modern day gladiators.

 

[Ajay]

Steroids are less about getting big and strong, and more about speeding up recovery.

In endurance sports, they help with recovery. I power sports, they give strength and add to bulk muscle to a point.

 

[Ajay]

No way in hell i'd ever let my kids play football, and i love watching football

I experience a similar dilemma. I love watching football, but don't donate to youth leagues anymore out of concern for their health. I may need to start loving Soccer (though I wish they'd do something about the low amount of scoring).

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Nope but he's sure more intelligent than you. And been more of an activist than you, idiot.

Why would you expect me to agree with the political posturings of a brain damaged fskhole like Kaepernick? Quite frankly he's doing more harm to the left and Democrats in general than any conservative you can name.

 

[zinfamous]

Why would you expect me to agree with the political posturings of a brain damaged fskhole like Kaepernick? Quite frankly he's doing more harm to the left and Democrats in general than any conservative you can name.

how so? please explain. Or is this another one of your "I wish it to be so, therefore I claim it is" moments?

 

[imported_tajmahal]

how so? please explain. Or is this another one of your "I wish it to be so, therefore I claim it is" moments?

Do you really think his stance on disrespecting the United States flag and polarizing the NFL and their fan base is a benefit to the left and Democrats as a whole? I don't, I think it's a pretty large negative.

 

[realibrad]

In endurance sports, they help with recovery. I power sports, they give strength and add to bulk muscle to a point.

Steroids do not build muscle. Steroids allow you to heal faster after a workout which means you get more gains during a workout. If you take steroids and stop working out, you will lose muscle.

 

[thilanliyan]

Do you really think his stance on disrespecting the United States flag and polarizing the NFL and their fan base is a benefit to the left and Democrats as a whole? I don't, I think it's a pretty large negative.

Was his intent to support the "left"? I thought it was to bring awareness to police officers using lethal force against black people?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

So now anyone who is a gangster who played peewee football can blame it on that.

Therein lies a problem. Because obviously Hernandez was a criminal thug long before he got into the NFL and it takes an incredible leap of logic to assume that CTE had anything to do with his choices in life. And while this is probably going to be the start of every criminal that ever played football playing the CTE victim card, maybe, just maybe, some of them really are not in their right minds and are committing crimes due to CTE.

Can anyone make the case that somebody like O.J. Simpson wasn't at least partially brain damaged when he killed Nicole and Ron Goldman? Just because CTE doesn't turn everyone into a violent criminal and just because some people are violent criminals all on their own it's possible that there is a valid link between the aberrant behavior in some retired NFL players and brain injuries suffered while playing ball.

 

[woolfe9998]

Sadly the human body cannot take the punishments we see in football. The sport really only has a few years left and rules will change it to the point where many will stop watching. You simply cannot do that to a body with what we know it does to the person.

Whatever happened to the notion that people can freely take risks, so long as they are informed of said risks?

Most NFL players don't end up with serious brain damage. But a decent percentage do. Yet they are paid mega-bucks to play. Would you take a 15% chance of death or serious disability for a $3 million a year salary? Some would; some wouldn't. It's a risk-benefit for the individual.

I agree they should take precautions, but I don't agree that they should water down the rules to the point where no one wants to watch any more.

 

[woolfe9998]

As to the wrongful death lawsuit his family purportedly filed against the NFL, which is discussed in a CNN article I read yesterday, it's a BS suit. They'll never be able to prove it's more likely than not that the CTE caused his criminal behavior, hence his incarceration, and hence his suicide. For one thing, Hernandez didn't claim mental infirmity in his defense. He claimed actual innocence.

The NFL may settle to avoid bad publicity, but it isn't really a winnable suit.

 

[realibrad]

Whatever happened to the notion that people can freely take risks, so long as they are informed of said risks?

Most NFL players don't end up with serious brain damage. But a decent percentage do. Yet they are paid mega-bucks to play. Would you take a 15% chance of death or serious disability for a $3 million a year salary? Some would; some wouldn't. It's a risk-benefit for the individual.

I agree they should take precautions, but I don't agree that they should water down the rules to the point where no one wants to watch any more.

Because the data shows it far worse than that. The average life expectancy of a NFL player is 53-59. Further, the damage is not just shortened lives, but diminished quality. As this information gets out parents will stop letting their children play. The quality will drop and people will stop watching in the numbers they do.

I agree that adults should be allowed to choose, but you don't turn 18 and start football.

 

[jackstar7]

Whatever happened to the notion that people can freely take risks, so long as they are informed of said risks?

Most NFL players don't end up with serious brain damage. But a decent percentage do. Yet they are paid mega-bucks to play. Would you take a 15% chance of death or serious disability for a $3 million a year salary? Some would; some wouldn't. It's a risk-benefit for the individual.

I agree they should take precautions, but I don't agree that they should water down the rules to the point where no one wants to watch any more.

Base salary is $450k/yr. And those are the guys most likely knocking their heads together.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Whatever happened to the notion that people can freely take risks, so long as they are informed of said risks?

The NFL seems to have been aware of said risks long before they let the players in on the data.

 

[woolfe9998]

Because the data shows it far worse than that. The average life expectancy of a NFL player is 53-59. Further, the damage is not just shortened lives, but diminished quality. As this information gets out parents will stop letting their children play. The quality will drop and people will stop watching in the numbers they do.

I agree that adults should be allowed to choose, but you don't turn 18 and start football.

The bolded portion didn't seem right to me, so I checked. It's a myth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_player#Life_expectancy

The average life expectancy or lifespan of an American football NFL player has been reported to be extremely low, only 53 to 59 years depending on playing position.[18] However, a 2012 study reported that retired NFL players have a lower death rate than men in the general population.[19] An oft-cited life expectancy of 58 years has been claimed by Sports Illustrated to be based on a myth.[20] According to a 2007 study, which also claims that little supporting data is available, retired American football players had "long and fulfilling careers with no apparent long-term detrimental effects on physical or mental health scores despite a high prevalence of arthritis".[21] One explanation is that "life expectancy" is ambiguous: it may in some contexts refer to the expected age of death of a player, and in other contexts to the expected remaining number of life years.

One thing you're right about is that parents won't let their kids play, particularly if these kinds of exaggerations become commonly held beliefs.

 

[woolfe9998]

The NFL seems to have been aware of said risks long before they let the players in on the data.

That may be, and if so, they could be subject to liability from some players with bad health outcomes. Which has nothing to do with whether they ought to water down the rules to the point where the game becomes a bore.

 

[woolfe9998]

Base salary is $450k/yr. And those are the guys most likely knocking their heads together.

Yeah, I was throwing out a number in between what the biggest stars make and the lower end people. Yet it remains a risk-benefit. A given person may decide it wouldn't be worth the risk for $450K but would be for say $2 million. It's an individual choice.

 

[realibrad]

The bolded portion didn't seem right to me, so I checked. It's a myth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_player#Life_expectancy



One thing you're right about is that parents won't let their kids play, particularly if these kinds of exaggerations become commonly held beliefs.

Interesting, seems I was wrong.

That said, the other parts stand. The damage to the person will be enough that the league will change the rules and each change will make the sport less popular. The guys are simply too big and too fast to hit each other the way they do now. When Football was created people were much smaller and thinner.