League of Denial.....

Yes I watched it. If CTE is being caused from just playing football in general then long term football is going to die. It wont be around in 50 years. If they prove it then high schools would have to drop football. If the federal government can stop whole milk in high school, then they can stop football. If football dies in high school then slowly it will catch up to the NFL.

 

At what point do players have to sign waivers to acknowledge they know the repercussions of longterm football. Most players that are sueing the league have said they would still have played football so what does that say of the mindset and the benefits of playing football. It doesn't take science to figure out that repeated blows to the head are bad for your longterm health.

 

game would simply have to evolve...It wont die, but go through a drastic evolution

 

Its ashame the players settled, would have loved to see Goodell and the NFL owners testify under oath about concussion.

 

The league would probably, actually be safer without helmets. Scrum caps, but no helmets. The helmet is used as a weapon not really for protection.

This is modern day gladiators, the players know what they are getting into when they strap on the pads. Smarter athletes play baseball or basketball. Make a ton more money and play a whole lot longer.

 

If anyone was watch francessa show yesterday, a guy who suffered brain damage called in, it was rather startling to hear what his daily day is like. Mood swings, anger, memories of who he used to be and knowing he can never go back, has not gotten more than 4 hours of sleep a night in 20 years. Its never even four hours straight, he says he wakes up multiple times with headaches.

Absolutely horrible. I would lose my sanity if I had to endure that.

 

Couldn't agree more. These players knew exactly what they were getting into. We didn't have the in depth knowledge on concussions back then that we have now. Football isn't going anywhere. There's way too much money involved. It's funny how people are acting shocked about this as if players thought football was going to be all teddy bears and rainbows. There's a reason they make the ridiculously inflated paychecks that they make. Cry about your headaches while your own personal massage therapist tends to your every need, and you can buy anything you ever want. Ask any player if they thought the money was worth the risk and you'd get a pretty solid YES. I doubt any of these guys would give back all of their career earnings if it fixed all their physical issues.

 

I agree with this. Unless you lack common sense you should know that football is not a safe job. Its like a firefighter being suprised that he had to go into a burning building. These football players cant be that stupid and clueless, they know whats at stake.

 

The league obviously informed them that they can get concussions. What they didnt tell the players is what these concussions can potentially lead to.

Should the league have informed the players of the long term effects? Yes

Do they have to though? Im not sure. If they informed them that they can get concussions is that sufficient enough?

I agree it is morally wrong that they didnt explain the long term effects and withheld it but if they informed the players that they could get a concussion, shouldnt the players look into what concussions can lead to?

 

Here's the full documentary for anyone that wants to watch it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/

 

The players made the choice to play, they played high school football, they played college, they played NFL.

1) It was the players choice, they knew they could get injuries including concussions.

2) How do we know these concussions didnt occur elsewhere? like in high school or college? The NFL should not have to cover something that occurred decades earlier with zero evidence that the damage was a result of playing in the NFL. College players get concussions, and another thing, if you watch the documentary. CTE is being caused by not only concussions, but also by minor hits that arent even concussions.

 

The NFL was told they might have a growing problem. They ignored the possible scope of it and minimized it for years. They attacked the science and people behind it. They created its own platform to say that the situation was overblown. There is a reason why people says the NFL's tactics have been compared to tobacco industry. With the high profile suicides, the situation reached a tipping point.

This was supposed to be on ESPN. It ended up on PBS. Read between the lines.

 

"I'm sick of all this concussion B.S. it isn't really that big of a deal"

 

Im not defending the NFL, what they did was morally wrong but you can not put the guilt on the NFL for each individual case. These players played football in high school and college football. Chances are they took hits there. Its possible that those hits are the causes of what they have now. Its impossible to prove.

Its not even a concussion issue either, according to the film, hits in general cause CTE. Large amounts of normal hits are leading to it.

 

You are right. It is hard to prove when it happened. This is why the players settled. The thing is that there is a giant elephant in the room. That elephant is called the NFL.

 

Another thing is that it is silly to lump all players together by bringing up how much money they make. The average football player isn't a multimillionaire when he retires with all the money to throw around for healthcare/massages/etc.

 

I can't find where I read it, but there was an article about how the design of modern day helmets is based on mitigating skull fractures.

Because the helmets are hard, they don't absorb the force of a blow, they just transfer it to the brain.

There are a lot of people studying helmet design, but the feeling is that the league and the players wouldn't go for strapping giant sponges on their heads.