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Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

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Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#71

"Urschel is pursuing his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the offseason, focusing on spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra and machine learning." This guy has a back-up plan. Good man.

Holy schniekes. What a Renaissance man this guy is. Good for him, he's still only 26.

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#72
post #58
post #28

So what's the big picture here? We've suspected for years that football leads to brain trauma. Does that mean the NFL should shut down? Should they continue to operate as normal? There have been efforts recently to make the game safer for players, but the amount of concussions and injuries seen every season don't seem to be decreasing. Can you make the game "more safe" without drastically changing the game? Any game…

The evolution of boxing presents a template of how football will go. Boxing today is a rather fringe sport in school. Few parents put their kids in boxing enthusiastically. Similarly, boxing matches, although viewed by millions, are rather fringe in being grand and occasional pay-per-views. Football will go the same way, but perhaps much more slowly, given the cultural inertia. I firmly believe that these things evol…

>Already many parents are hesitant in putting their kids in football in school.

That is what will change football. In 10 years or so, high schools will have a hard time fielding a football team. Then a few years after that colleges won't have them, and so on.

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#73

Has "whether you let your kids play football" joined the long, long list of boolean values that separate members of the Red Tribe from the Blue Tribe? If not, I think it's inevitable that it will. Someone will try to get their school to close its football program, someone else will complain that the health dangers are exaggerated by the liberal media because football is a red-state passtime, and pretty soon it'll be…

Football is hardly part of the culture wars.

Computer games, sci-fi and atheism has/is part of the culture wars (at least on the internets).

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#74

Has "whether you let your kids play football" joined the long, long list of boolean values that separate members of the Red Tribe from the Blue Tribe? If not, I think it's inevitable that it will. Someone will try to get their school to close its football program, someone else will complain that the health dangers are exaggerated by the liberal media because football is a red-state passtime, and pretty soon it'll be…

It already has been for 20+ years. Look at the HS football stadiums in TX, vs the amount parents will spend on travel soccer in NJ.

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#75

Football may get a lot of study recently, because its one of the most popular sports. But Basketball injuries can ruin you for life as well. I have a cousin who has severe amnesia after getting knocked out during a Basketball match. Its like years of his life were wiped away after his concussion. He was a straight-A student too, these sorts of things are severely damaging to your student career. Brain injuries exist…

I think football is categorically different than other dangerous sports:

* Far, far, far more people participating at high levels (just based on team size).

* Impact is less obvious/direct, so youth and young adults have a harder time recognizing the danger: CTE tends to manifest long after players are out of the spotlight.

* The NFL has actively tried to cover up the danger of concussions; I'm not aware of any other governing body working so hard to harm those it should be protecting.

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#77

Has "whether you let your kids play football" joined the long, long list of boolean values that separate members of the Red Tribe from the Blue Tribe? If not, I think it's inevitable that it will. Someone will try to get their school to close its football program, someone else will complain that the health dangers are exaggerated by the liberal media because football is a red-state passtime, and pretty soon it'll be…

Football is hardly part of the culture wars.

Not today; but I think it will start to happen. Maybe it will be generational too. I love football but it's getting harder to justify the damage it does to the people doing it.

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#78
post #28

So what's the big picture here? We've suspected for years that football leads to brain trauma. Does that mean the NFL should shut down? Should they continue to operate as normal? There have been efforts recently to make the game safer for players, but the amount of concussions and injuries seen every season don't seem to be decreasing. Can you make the game "more safe" without drastically changing the game? Any game…

I think weight limits would be a good start. Do we really need 400 pound linemen?

I also think game play would improve with lighter, faster players.

Re: Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, retires abruptly, two days after CTE study

#80
post #63

Has "whether you let your kids play football" joined the long, long list of boolean values that separate members of the Red Tribe from the Blue Tribe? If not, I think it's inevitable that it will. Someone will try to get their school to close its football program, someone else will complain that the health dangers are exaggerated by the liberal media because football is a red-state passtime, and pretty soon it'll be…

There's already plenty of red state soccer moms that refuse to let their kids play football.

Which has worse concussion problems.
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