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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

#181

Post by code_duck »

bronson wrote: post #144
code_duck wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a stretch to compare the most normal activity ever, moving your body, to intentionally ingesting poison. For one, if exercise makes you dizzy, nauseous, sweaty, and all your muscles ache, you are either severely out of shape are overdoing it. I smoked for a fair portion of my life. The main motivation for addicts is to relieve the craving for tobacco. It’s pleasurable in some ways other than that, but c…

You're wrong about exercise (ask any water polo player...) > cigarettes did not leave me feeling well most of the time. Sounds like an easy habit to kick!

No, not an easy habit to kick and that’s exactly the issue with cigarettes. Even though they’re not really that pleasant, they chemically trick your body into wanting them.

Extremely vigorous sports is different than your average exercise. I’m still happy to assert that it’s a twisted analogy - If you compare the feeling from exercise to cigarettes, it’s obvious that they are not qualitatively similar, despite the fact that each involves some unpleasant sensations.

Another significant thing to note is that over time, exercise clearly has positive effects on your body – you feel healthier, more muscular, lose weight, breathe easier. Cigarettes do not have a healthy effect on your body over time, and it doesn’t take a doctor to tell or modern medical technology to tell they are staining your teeth, making your breath bad, making you cough, and so forth.

This was not lost on Europeans went tobacco was first introduced.

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

#182

Post by coliveira »

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 is making the bulk of the money and they control the game. Who else should be the obvious group to take action here?

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

#183

Post by code_duck »

wils1245 wrote: post #167
nol13 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet the stereotype of the dumb football jock who's had his head knocked a few too many times has been prevalent as long as I can remember. It's just that previously it was used as a punchline in sitcoms rather than seen as a serious health risk to our children. Except for 'Varsity Blues' (1999) I guess, and I'm sure other examples, where the evil coach telling the kid to play when another head injury could kill h…

That may be so, but the widespread knowledge that most/all football players sustain serious brain damage was not there yet. Big hits that left the opponent slow to get up or unsteady on his feet were celebrated, on the assumption that he’d be able to shake it off after a day or so. That said, I do think the destructiveness of football in knees and backs has long been known. I remember them being detailed when reading…

The scientific knowledge was not there yet, but I feel like it’s not hard to put together that football players and boxers suffer damage from being knocked in the head to dozen times a day for decades. My guess is probably this would have been figured out earlier if there wasn’t such a strong cultural desire to keep playing these sports.

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

#184

Post by slg »

BearGoesChirp wrote: post #179
brightball wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NCAA programs do not make billions of dollars. All NCAA programs combined might have that much total revenue. http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/ Clemson, where I went to school and the current defending champs had a budget of $104,000,000. Of that, they spent $103,000,000. If you'd be so kind as to identify the shareholder who's rolling in that $1 million profit I'd appreciate it. When I was in school around 2…

>Clemson, where I went to school and the current defending champs had a budget of $104,000,000. Of that, they spent $103,000,000. If you'd be so kind as to identify the shareholder who's rolling in that $1 million profit I'd appreciate it. How does one account for the potential of Hollywood accounting when looking as just a few top numbers? If you look at the cost verses income of movies using the same standards, mos…

Because unlike Hollywood the books are open for examination. A large percentage of these schools publish budgets that tell you were the money is going. You are free to look through them and if you find anything suspicious you can file a Freedom of Information Act requests for more details since many of these schools are state universities that receive government money.

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

#185

Post by dragonwriter »

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…

> Football is a sport that is designed to really allow people to showcase the limits of the human body.

Not really; depending on dimension, gymnastics, ballet, marathon, short-distance sprinting, powerlifting, and any number of other sports and physical arts are far better at showcasing the extremes of what the body can do.

> The most impressive athletes in any sport in the world are in the NFL

Well, “impressive” is subjective, and all this really says is that you are particularly prone to being impressed by the kind of display that the NFL provides.

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

#186

Post by slg »

wils1245 wrote: post #169
slg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

I don’t think concussion rate is the right metric. Football’s CTE risk is supposed to be from the incidental head to head contact that happens every play.

You are right, it isn't a perfect metric, but it is the best one we have until further studies are done about sub-concussive hits. Measuring hits like that would change the relative rankings of the each sport (soccer probably becomes more dangerous while baseball less so), but the overall point still stands that most sports involve some risk of head trauma.

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

#187

Post by tome »

powercf wrote: post #97
eru wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though Rugby can still break your spine, I think?

Yes, mostly at amateur level. Rugby (union) also has problems with serious injury, and it shouldn't be considered a better, or safer American football. At national level many teams play a very direct style - smash repetedly into the opposition until you create a hole. I think the IRB should make whatever rule changes are neccessary to encourage more running-rugby, and make "the hit" less important.

> the IRB should make whatever rule changes are neccessary to encourage more running-rugby

Turn it into rugby leage?

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

#188

Post by brightball »

wils1245 wrote: post #165
brightball wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't they, exactly? As earlier stated, they supporting multiple programs with multiple facilities, scholarships, Title IX, coaches, strength programs, trainers/medical support, practice facilities, etc. Of all of those programs, at most schools only 1 or 2 actually MAKE money. At Clemson, the football program supports EVERY other scholarship sport that competes at the D1A level.

Is the profit you’re counting at Clemson including stadium outlays?

As in the cost of building/improving the stadium? Those are usually multi-year projects so I'm not sure how it figures in to the accounting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Stadium_(Clemson)#Con...

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

#189

Post by Cyph0n »

erfgh wrote: post #104
Cyph0n wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not very familiar with football either, but I can say that OP is heavily exaggerating and probably not familiar with sports history at all. Heck, I'm not huge sports fan, I can come up with half a dozen more impressive feats in sport off the top of my head. * Beamon's long jump record in 1968 Olympics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc * Maradona's goal of the century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w…

If you think snooker has even the slightest resemblance to chess then you have never played snooker or chess seriously.

I'm using the term "4D chess" to convey that snooker is an amazingly complex game when played at the highest levels.

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

#190

Post by undersuit »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #100
clort wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a…

>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. I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks. There are likely neighborhoods where people raise families that are less safe than playing in the NFL. And I'm sorry, but 25 year olds are not…

>I think a great deal of them would still choose to play despite knowing the risks.

They would still play even if we took steps to minimize the risks.

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