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Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

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Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#71

Post by rifung »

icelancer wrote: post #19
rifung wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most impressive athletes in any sport in the world are in the NFL If you're going make such outrageous claims at least give some explanation? How do you measure how impressive an athlete is?

Context-neutral speed, strength, power metrics would all go to NFL players if you had a worldwide combine of running/jumping/lifting/etc. It would be laughable. See my bio if you think this opinion is subjective.

> Context-neutral speed, strength, power metrics

But if you choose these traits then naturally it's going to benefit those athletes who compete in sports where it's more beneficial to get.. big..

That's like saying tennis/table tennis/badminton players are all mediocre athletes because they aren't able to lift as much weight even though it isn't as beneficial or is even potentially harmful to be very heavy in those sports but of course any serious athlete is going to optimize their training for their sport.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#72

Post by pjc50 »

wdewind wrote: post #6

I didn't grow up playing or really understanding sports. I was one of those guys who joked about "sportsball" and stuff like that. When I started really taking weight training seriously I started having a frame of reference for understanding sports and started really appreciating them. Football is a sport that is designed to really allow people to showcase the limits of the human body. The most impressive athletes in…

Why would the NFL fund this? Then they might actually find the CTE, in people who were still alive to sue. They know that success means the end of their sport in its current form. This is like asking why the cigarette industry doesn't fund cancer research.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#73

Post by mobilefriendly »

golergka wrote: post #70
mobilefriendly wrote: post #68

There's a lot of hate towards the NFL but the NCAA is an even worse actor on CTE. 70,000 college players every year, and they aren't paid professionals like the NFL. But NCAA programs make billions of dollars off of the players (and their coaches millions). Destroying brains for profit, in the context of the education system, is truly evil.

I don't understand these arguments. Are they forcing players to do it? If the players are well aware of health risks and still make decision to play the game, how is the sports organization to blame?

95% of the people playing contact football are minor children. The NFL and NCAA, and their equipment partners, underwrite and promote the youth sport but do little to mitigate the brain injury issue...frankly it is unethical to permit under-18 kids to play contact football.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#74

Post by saboot »

aceofspad3s wrote: post #69
coliveira wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will be the logical thing to do, but you know... money... the NFL doesn't seem to care about anything else.

Why blame the NFL? It's not like the players are doing it for free.

Because the NFL could "easily" change the rules to minimize the effects of CTE. Easily is in quotes because it's easy except for a fear of losing money.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#75

Post by adanto6840 »

golergka wrote: post #70
mobilefriendly wrote: post #68

There's a lot of hate towards the NFL but the NCAA is an even worse actor on CTE. 70,000 college players every year, and they aren't paid professionals like the NFL. But NCAA programs make billions of dollars off of the players (and their coaches millions). Destroying brains for profit, in the context of the education system, is truly evil.

I don't understand these arguments. Are they forcing players to do it? If the players are well aware of health risks and still make decision to play the game, how is the sports organization to blame?

College with $50k+ of debt, if even able/eligible to get in -- versus "free" college. In many cases I suspect it's the "only chance" for some of these kids and, at best, it's extreme exhortation for most all of them.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#76

Post by rjtavares »

golergka wrote: post #70
mobilefriendly wrote: post #68

There's a lot of hate towards the NFL but the NCAA is an even worse actor on CTE. 70,000 college players every year, and they aren't paid professionals like the NFL. But NCAA programs make billions of dollars off of the players (and their coaches millions). Destroying brains for profit, in the context of the education system, is truly evil.

I don't understand these arguments. Are they forcing players to do it? If the players are well aware of health risks and still make decision to play the game, how is the sports organization to blame?

It really depends on where you stand on the freedom vs society protection debate.

Some think that society should protect vulnerable individuals (in this case, mostly poor people that see in football a way to get well-off/rich) from predatory organizations (in this case, a monopolistic organization that has proven to have no regard for the health of its workers).

Notice that most people aren't asking for a ban of the sport - just some rule changes to minimize the health risks.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#77

Post by kakarot »

rurban wrote: post #66

More importantly "110 of the 111 brains of former NFL players examined had CTE". So how stupid can you be? In a healthy society this sport would be forbidden by law.

> In a healthy society this sport would be forbidden by law.

Give me a break.

Are we going to ban football at home, too? Or just at school? What about community leagues?

In a healthy society, the dangers would be well-known, minors would always have a right to refuse and forcing a minor to play would be considered child abuse, and children would have to be old enough to form rational opinions before being eligible for leagues or scholastic play.

It is not the role of law to keep people from being able to do dangerous things. Law exists to keep people safe from others, and to keep people from being a danger themselves, but not from being a danger to themselves. Consciously choosing dangerous behavior in exchange for some reward is an inalienable human right.

Such a draconian law has no place in a healthy society.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#78

Post by clort »

golergka wrote: post #70
mobilefriendly wrote: post #68

There's a lot of hate towards the NFL but the NCAA is an even worse actor on CTE. 70,000 college players every year, and they aren't paid professionals like the NFL. But NCAA programs make billions of dollars off of the players (and their coaches millions). Destroying brains for profit, in the context of the education system, is truly evil.

I don't understand these arguments. Are they forcing players to do it? If the players are well aware of health risks and still make decision to play the game, how is the sports organization to blame?

Your premise is wrong. It sounds as if it should be right, but the framing is awry

The players are not really aware of the health risks, furthermore they are young and foolish and impressionable and are following the path of glamour which has been sold to them as youngsters.

The sports organization is aware of the risks and are using the players to make vast sums for themselves, they are pushing the glamourous path and they are not supporting the discarded players. They are ignoring the debt to society incurred generating their profit and that is not good unless you think that their tax payments should cover it (do they? I don't know..)

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#79

Post by slg »

mobilefriendly wrote: post #63
woolvalley wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it's limited to a small few playing a sport, vs. pretty much every adult.

Well over 1 million American boys and young men play football every year. The game is a rite of passage. Further these studies have implications for head contact that occurs in other sports and in general.

>these studies have implications for head contact that occurs in other sports and in general.

Football is clearly the worst offender, but at the high school level the rate of concussions really isn't that far behind for hockey, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, and basketball. Even a complete non-contact sport like baseball has a concussion rate that is 10% of football's rate. So the question isn't really what percentage of American children play football, it is what percentage play any sport and how can these sports be changed to increase safety.

Re: Concussion doctor says he found CTE in living NFL player

#80

Post by slg »

saboot wrote: post #74
aceofspad3s wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why blame the NFL? It's not like the players are doing it for free.

Because the NFL could "easily" change the rules to minimize the effects of CTE. Easily is in quotes because it's easy except for a fear of losing money.

It really can't. There are many potential smaller changes that could shave a percentage point or two of the risk factor (and the NFL has already made a handful of those type of changes), but the game of football is setup in such a way that head trauma is a guaranteed byproduct. As other pointed out, the cigarette argument is apt. You can make things marginally safer, but there is never going to be such a thing as a "safe cigarette".
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