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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

#241

Post by wavefunction »

cookiecaper wrote: post #134
paulddraper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> after tax is 7 figures but still not a lot What exactly is "a lot of money" (and how much do you think MIT professors are paid)? I think point #6 is more relevant than point #5.

"A lot of money" is also known as "Fuck you money". Enough money that you can say "fuck you" to anyone without worrying about the consequences. $1M is not even close to that, especially not for a young guy who has to pay for the next 60 years of his and his family's existence. Don't get me wrong, it's a good starting point, and you can definitely be reasonably secure on it if you invest wisely and continue to work (e…

Some folks can say "fuck you" on a budget.

I imagine this guy can, given his uncomplicated expectations of life.

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

#242

Post by maxxxxx »

fgonzag wrote: post #235
maxxxxx wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Over three years he "only" earned ~$1.8m http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/baltimore-ravens/john-urschel-145... . - which after tax is 7 figures but still not a lot" For a lot of us this would be FU money if you don't have the desire to live big. Plus he gets the pension.

At least in the USA it is in no way FU money unless you are over 60 or something. Assuming you invested it all and didn't spend a single cent, that's 12K a year from interest (generous 7%). You can probably spend 30-40K for 30 years if you decide to dip into the principal. But if you are young, you will have to get a main income source.

You probably can't live on it solely but together with the pension it gives you the freedom to find a job you like even if it's low pay.

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

#243

Post by jotux »

camiller wrote: post #204
raverbashing wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love how some misinformed fact like that appears out of thin air, then becomes "truth"

Would you be ok with "nearly as bad" "Based on the national estimate, the majority of concussions resulted from participation in football (40.5%, n = 55 007), followed by girls' soccer (21.5%, n = 29 167), boys' soccer (15.4%, n = 20 929),..." So 40.5% of concussions in football and 36.9% in combined boys/girls soccer. source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2140075/

>"Based on the national estimate, the majority of concussions resulted from participation in football (40.5%, n = 55 007), followed by girls' soccer (21.5%, n = 29 167), boys' soccer (15.4%, n = 20 929),..."

>So 40.5% of concussions in football and 36.9% in combined boys/girls soccer.

If 21.5% of girls (~6270) and 15.4% of boys (~3223) get concussions then 9493 (6270 + 3223) received concussions out of 50096 (20929 + 29167) total participants. 18.9% (9493 / 50096) for soccer vs 40.5% for football.

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

#244

Post by maxerickson »

nshelly wrote: post #197
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's set for life if he keeps his expenses at $25k/yr. $1.8MM / $25k = 72. Even if he loses half to taxes, that's still 36 years worth of expenses in assets. If I had that much, I'd retire in a heartbeat.

On the cumulative salary of $1.8m over three years he's looking at an effective rate of around 35%. But he definitely won't lose half of his pension to taxes. That's one of the main advantages is that is spread out over a number of years. The NFL, with all its faults in neglecting players health, was wise to set players up with pensions.

Does anybody know the history?

I would sort of expect that the NFL Players Association had something to do with establishing it.

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

#245

Post by ssalazar »

camiller wrote: post #204
raverbashing wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love how some misinformed fact like that appears out of thin air, then becomes "truth"

Would you be ok with "nearly as bad" "Based on the national estimate, the majority of concussions resulted from participation in football (40.5%, n = 55 007), followed by girls' soccer (21.5%, n = 29 167), boys' soccer (15.4%, n = 20 929),..." So 40.5% of concussions in football and 36.9% in combined boys/girls soccer. source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2140075/

I dont think you understand how percentages work, but don't let that get in the way of your axe to grind.

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

#246

Post by noxToken »

cjbprime wrote: post #48
Azkar wrote: 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…

> Does that mean the NFL should shut down? Probably not. > Should they continue to operate as normal? No. > Can you make the game "more safe" without drastically changing the game? Depends what you mean by drastic. Removing helmets from the game seems like one possibility, bringing it closer to rugby. I don't know if there have been CTE examinations of rugby players, but the intuition is that people won't collide hea…

> Yes, I'd say so without changes. Malcolm Gladwell in 2009 wrote that watching football is starting to feel like watching dogfighting. It seemed ridiculous at the time and is not ridiculous now.

But now the players know. It would be different if we kept the player locked underground with no contact to the outside world. The fact is that they're making the choice to play even though the risks have been outlined.

I don't watch football. I follow stats (which is like watching without watching) though. I don't feel bad, because now they're adults making an informed decision.

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

#247

Post by nikofeyn »

jaredtobin wrote: post #203
nikofeyn wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "i ... live on less than $25k a year." there's no way i can believe that. my rent alone is $24,000.

It's not that hard to believe. Here [1] is a somewhat e-famous example of a three-person family whose annual spending is around ~$25k. [1]: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/01/16/exposed-the-mmm-fa...

that's an extreme case you linked. he specifically called out it wasn't because he was frugal.

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

#248

Post by wbl »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #212
pnathan wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard for me to say, as I live in Seattle, but American football love is definitely non-partisan here. But certain sports carry too high a risk for me to support my child getting into them before 16ish. They must have a glimmering of a perspective on what life means before choosing to engage in activities that are significantly likely to permanently damage themselves for life. Particularly for football , there are bra…

> skiing, running, or mountain biking, that is fine Perhaps it's not a red or blue split, but those sports you listed are definitely on one side of a major class divide. Basketball and football are moving towards the other. And while I understand that a competition between some farm hicks and big-city boys can bring two groups together, access to sports like skiing is fairly exclusive.

In the West yes. In the East a lot of small slopes are pretty accessible and cheap. New York even has a state run one not too far from NYC.

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

#249

Post by scott_karana »

dragontamer wrote: post #138
learc83 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Boxing, MMA The biggest difference is that most parents don't sign their kids up for Boxing in kindergarten. I was a big kid (I'm 6'5" now), and I live in the south, so of course my parents signed me up to play football at 6. In other sports where kids start very young, like soccer, the contact injuries are usually a result of accidents. You aren't trying to slam into people at full speed.

Its pretty common to use your head to physically stop or even change the direction of the ball in Soccer. There are accidents of course, but the standard norms of Soccer still don't seem very healthy for the brain. I'm aware of the "Football towns" across USA. Basketball is bigger in my area though, which might be why I hear more about Basketball-related injuries.

I'll gladly hit a 450 gram[1] ball with my head, rather than a 110 kilogram linebacker[2][4].

Sure, the velocity of the ball is faster (average professional level is ~27 m/s [3]) and the relation with that variable is squared (E = ½mv²), but linebackers still run at 7.6 m/s [4]

  Soccer ball kinetic energy:  164 Joules
  Linebacker  kinetic energy: 3176 Joules
That's already an order of magnitude difference, while not even counting the momentum and impulse: soccer balls are pretty elastic, compared to linebackers...

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_(association_football)

2 https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/2/22/5427038/nfl-combine-2...

3 https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-average-speed-of-a-soccer-...

4 https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/2/22/8085379/2015-nfl-comb...

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

#250

Post by wott »

nikofeyn wrote: post #191
brandall10 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth reading his 2015 article "Why I Still Play Football": https://www.theplayerstribune.com/why-i-play-football/ . Regarding mathematics as a career and his outlook on the financial issue - "I have a bright career ahead of me in mathematics. Beyond that, I have the means to make a good living and provide for my family, without playing football. I have no desire to try to accumulate $10 million in the bank; I a…

> "i ... live on less than $25k a year." there's no way i can believe that. my rent alone is $24,000.

And yet you believe that this is even remotely normal:

> my rent alone is $24,000.

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