Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 396 posts

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#61

Post by emodendroket »

beachy wrote: post #17

Speaking as someone from a rugby-playing nation, where mostly players wear no protection except mouthguards and shin pads, American Football is spectacular but insane. Wearing protective helmets just ups the ante as players launch into each other with full force. In rugby, you don't tackle someone like that as you'll hurt yourself, and fail to stop the opponent. Rugby is a plenty violent sport, and has its own health…

They started using that stuff because people were sustaining spectacular injuries (like cracking their heads open). I'm not sure it is so simple.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#62

Post by scott_s »

komali2 wrote: post #37
beachy wrote: post #17

Speaking as someone from a rugby-playing nation, where mostly players wear no protection except mouthguards and shin pads, American Football is spectacular but insane. Wearing protective helmets just ups the ante as players launch into each other with full force. In rugby, you don't tackle someone like that as you'll hurt yourself, and fail to stop the opponent. Rugby is a plenty violent sport, and has its own health…

This is how I feel about boxing vs MMA. Boxing gloves are huge and massively padded, meaning you take hit after hit after hit, bouncing your brain around like a ball. MMA gloves are only padded enough to maybe prevent you from breaking your knuckles, and maybe prevent your knuckles from breaking someone's jaw. If you threw the kind of punches people throw in boxing with MMA gloves on, you'd wreck your hands. That one…

> If you threw the kind of punches people throw in boxing with MMA gloves on, you'd wreck your hands.

MMA fighters often wreck their hands during fights. They are in no way pulling their punches; they throw as hard as they can, just as boxers do.

I find it plausible that MMA fights tend to end with less concussions and serious head trauma than boxing. But I doubt it's significantly safer. That ignores training, where fighters spend much more time, and still receive many, many sub-concussive hits.

I have trained BJJ for over 13 years. During that time, I have also trained MMA. I have helped training partners for MMA matches. I have cornered training partners for MMA matches. I follow professional MMA. But I am finding myself more and more unable to justify even paying attention to it because of the evidence that even repeated sub-concussive hits cause brain damage.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#63

Post by LesZedCB »

TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #6

What about the sponsorship of daredevil sports like free climbing, wing suits, etc., by consumer companies like GoPro and Redbull. I feel that we are supporting these companies with our purchases, and then they in turn create social media spectacles by giving these people an incentive to do dangerous stunts. Recently a wingsuit daredevil died while livestreaming on Facebook, watched by his young daughter and wife. It…

Here's [1] a recent post about climbers and sponsorships that discusses a little bit about Red Bull vs Red Bull Media House.

[1] https://www.thebmc.co.uk/sweet-dreams-why-do-big-brands-crav...

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#64

Post by technologyvault »

As much as I loved playing football and now love watching, the risk/reward balance seems to be moving so much towards too much risk.

The backup plan for my five boys, for now, is to have them become really solid kickers so they can be part of the sport without having the risk of head, neck, knee, and other injuries I've had to deal with over the years.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#65

Post by kpwags »

cdolan wrote: post #48
kpwags wrote: post #24

Good for him. I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS. If I'm at the bar or something and it happens to be on, I might passively watch it, but I haven't sought it out since. I just can't support the NFL. I do feel torn though because I love hockey. I know they're dealing with similar controversies. My justification, however flimsy it might be is that I don't like the fighting (I might be i…

Fellow hockey fan here. Can you share some information about Hockey's concussion risks? I was not aware it is "dealing with similar controversies". There are certainly head injuries in Hockey, but I was not aware that people had the same life-altering issues brought on by years of head trauma from football.

There's currently a lawsuit alleging the NHL hid the risks to the players, much like the NFL lawsuit.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/05/nhl-concussion...

And the rates of CTE in former NHL players aren't exactly low. 9 of 16 (albeit a small sample) showed signs of CTE.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/20498726/nhl-players-relu...

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#66

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

Pxtl wrote: post #50
kpwags wrote: post #24

Good for him. I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS. If I'm at the bar or something and it happens to be on, I might passively watch it, but I haven't sought it out since. I just can't support the NFL. I do feel torn though because I love hockey. I know they're dealing with similar controversies. My justification, however flimsy it might be is that I don't like the fighting (I might be i…

Hockey has the advantage that the sport could we reworked into something less violent. Hockey could survive a change to the rules that would reduce blows to the head. Football is such an intrinsically contact sport that I don't think a safer game would even be recognizable. Actually, that might be worse... If hockey turns out to have as bad a concussion problem, the leadership of the sport is likely even more culpabl…

American football is also obsessively measured. The difference of a few yards at any point in time can be the difference of a game. Players are also obsessively measured for their performance, so every second counts towards a professional player's career - and their compensation.

Players are highly incentivized to "give it their all", and that's how people end up getting injured or receive massive head trauma.

Hockey can be just as violent, but it's a much more fluid sport, so the pressure isn't on as much for the extra exceptional effort.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#68

Post by maxerickson »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #47
kpwags wrote: post #24

Good for him. I stopped following football after watching League of Denial on PBS. If I'm at the bar or something and it happens to be on, I might passively watch it, but I haven't sought it out since. I just can't support the NFL. I do feel torn though because I love hockey. I know they're dealing with similar controversies. My justification, however flimsy it might be is that I don't like the fighting (I might be i…

1. Willingly plays 5 years in the league, makes $10,000,000, has 50% chance of reduced health in the future. 2. Willingly works 5 years in the factory, makes $10,000, has 50% chance of reduced health in the future. Why does the first situation bother us so much more than the second? Most products we use are built via the second, but you're probably still using those products. The NFL seems like better employment than…

We directly spend billions of dollars on occupational safety.

And people raise issues with buying goods from countries with lower standards all the time.

I would say it is at least as big an issue in the public consciousness as the danger to the players of professional sports.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#69

Post by agumonkey »

komali2 wrote: post #37
beachy wrote: post #17

Speaking as someone from a rugby-playing nation, where mostly players wear no protection except mouthguards and shin pads, American Football is spectacular but insane. Wearing protective helmets just ups the ante as players launch into each other with full force. In rugby, you don't tackle someone like that as you'll hurt yourself, and fail to stop the opponent. Rugby is a plenty violent sport, and has its own health…

This is how I feel about boxing vs MMA. Boxing gloves are huge and massively padded, meaning you take hit after hit after hit, bouncing your brain around like a ball. MMA gloves are only padded enough to maybe prevent you from breaking your knuckles, and maybe prevent your knuckles from breaking someone's jaw. If you threw the kind of punches people throw in boxing with MMA gloves on, you'd wreck your hands. That one…

Well the irony is that boxing gloves were introduced because hands are so fragile compared to skull that fights would be too short. It wasn't a noble reason.

Re: ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field

#70

Post by agumonkey »

beachy wrote: post #17

Speaking as someone from a rugby-playing nation, where mostly players wear no protection except mouthguards and shin pads, American Football is spectacular but insane. Wearing protective helmets just ups the ante as players launch into each other with full force. In rugby, you don't tackle someone like that as you'll hurt yourself, and fail to stop the opponent. Rugby is a plenty violent sport, and has its own health…

Reminds me of roads without trees on the side. People drive faster with guardrails and accident are as bad if not worse than before.
Post reply on HN