The NFL, concussions, and the importance of Dave Duerson's suicide last Thursday

[RoryN]

I love football but why anyone allows their kids to play is beyond me.

This article came out today as well. Things are escalating quickly.

Former NFLers call for end to tackle football for kids

Several former NFL players called Thursday for an end to tackle football for kids ages 13 and under.

Pro football Hall of Famers Nick Buoniconti and Harry Carson joined four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Phil Villapiano and researchers from Boston University to make the announcement. They're working with the Concussion Legacy Foundation to support a new parent education initiative, Flag Football Under 14, that pushes for no tackle football until the age of 14.

"I beg of you, all parents to please don't let your children play football until high school," said Buoniconti, 77, who has been diagnosed with dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/18/health/nfl-no-tackle-football-kids/index.html

 

[Hypoxia]

Jocks have long been the butt of derision for their mental incapacities.

Now we know why such derision is justified.

But it can be fixed.

 

[RjThoughts]

Jocks have long been the butt of derision for their mental incapacities.

Now we know why such derision is justified.

But it can be fixed.

It's the equivalent to boxing "punch drunk."

 

[OldJourno]

Good Lord, Duerson killed himself again.
He really was brain damaged.

 

[RoryN]

Created this thread in 2011. There have been many changes related to brain damage in football since then, but now the big ones are on their way.

Like I said back then: this game will never be the same.

(And, like a lot of other people, I'm holding back on discussing the potentially game-changing "no leading with the helmet" new rule until I get more details...)

New league will go without kickoffs, and NFL will watch closely

The NFL seems to be moving toward eliminating kickoffs, and leading the way will be the new Alliance of American Football.

That upstart league, which will begin play in 10 months, will not have any kickoffs. The biggest obstacle to the NFL’s desire to eliminate kickoffs has been figuring out what to do about onside kicks, and the new league will allow teams to try to keep the ball after scoring by running one offensive play, needing 10 yards to get the ball.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...-without-kickoffs-and-nfl-will-watch-closely/

 

[BobaFetaCheese]

Created this thread in 2011. There have been many changes related to brain damage in football since then, but now the big ones are on their way.

Like I said back then: this game will never be the same.

(And, like a lot of other people, I'm holding back on discussing the potentially game-changing "no leading with the helmet" new rule until I get more details...)

New league will go without kickoffs, and NFL will watch closely

The NFL seems to be moving toward eliminating kickoffs, and leading the way will be the new Alliance of American Football.

That upstart league, which will begin play in 10 months, will not have any kickoffs. The biggest obstacle to the NFL’s desire to eliminate kickoffs has been figuring out what to do about onside kicks, and the new league will allow teams to try to keep the ball after scoring by running one offensive play, needing 10 yards to get the ball.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...-without-kickoffs-and-nfl-will-watch-closely/

I don't foresee myself being a fan of that 10 yard conversion thing instead of an onside kick. Kicks are hard and rarely work but any decent professional team can convert a 4th and 10 multiple times.

 

[Rightguide]

Yes, pussies and politicians are going to take over football and destroy it as a sport. The good part for liberals, it will be safe for girls and their kind to play.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Yes, pussies and politicians are going to take over football and destroy it as a sport. The good part for liberals, it will be safe for girls and their kind to play.

There's no way you're really this ignorant, vette.

 

[Antryg_Windrose]

New league will go without kickoffs, and NFL will watch closely

I haven't paid attention to NFL-type football for a long time but I missed the linkage here between brain damage and kickoffs. Does kicking cause concussions via shockwaves? Are kickers' brains in their feet? If they stop kicking the ball, do they have to stop calling the sport Football?

 

[RoryN]

I haven't paid attention to NFL-type football for a long time but I missed the linkage here between brain damage and kickoffs. Does kicking cause concussions via shockwaves? Are kickers' brains in their feet? If they stop kicking the ball, do they have to stop calling the sport Football?

Kickoffs involve players moving at their highest speed (generally), directly at one anothe on a straight-line collision course.

It's one of my favorite parts of the game, but it makes perfect sense why they're considering re-evaluating it, unfortunately.

 

[RoryN]

Wow.

End of days (for kickoffs) are upon us. And, believe me, it'll be a gateway for other changes to the sport.

The beginning of the end: Kickoffs are on their way out of college football

This is only the beginning -- the beginning of the end of kickoffs.

At least that's the opinion of Texas coach Tom Herman after considering the biggest rule change for 2018.

And he is not alone.

"I have told our coaches, 'Before we retire … I firmly believe you're not going to see kickoffs,'" he said.

That prospect seems closer than ever before after the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel this week rubber-stamped a proposal. Beginning this fall, when a player fair catches a kickoff inside the 25-yard line, the result will be a touchback. The ball will be spotted at the 25.


https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ffs-are-on-their-way-out-of-college-football/

 

[RoryN]

Well, that escalated quickly.

New league
College
And now...

Steve Tasker part of group discussing future of kickoffs

Steve Tasker built his NFL career around covering kicks and he’ll be part of a group getting together next month to discuss the future of kickoffs in the league.

Tasker will join “10 special-teams coaches around the NFL and a bunch of old guys like me who used to cover kicks” at a meeting in New York as the league contemplates changes to kickoffs. A rule change calling for touchbacks to come to the 25-yard line was made permanent at this year’s league meetings after two trial years and the tide is moving toward a future without kickoffs.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...-part-of-group-discussing-future-of-kickoffs/

 

[RoryN]

Yikes.

Pivotal report. THIS might be "the straw", folks...

Playing Youth Tackle Football Is Linked to Earlier Symptoms of Brain Disease

Playing football professionally has been linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease. But what happens to children who start the sport early, before they even turn 12?
...
To McKee’s great surprise, however, early exposure to tackle football was not associated with more severe signs of CTE, or other brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. Instead, she found something perhaps even more disturbing. Football players who played tackle football as children suffered the devastating symptoms of brain disease, like cognitive impairment and mood swings, earlier in their lives.

http://time.com/5258406/cte-youth-tackle-football/

 

[wickedpanda]

He will soon.

Around 150 former athletes, including 40 retired NFL players, are already donating their brains to the study of long-term effects by concussions. (Source: AP) Some active players, like Matt Birk & Lofa Tatupu, are also part of this list. (It should be noted that some NHL players are, too.)

The list of retired NFL players and other athletes who are showing symptoms is, well, large to say the least. I didn't have time to comprise a list, but players like Ted Johnson, Wayne Chrebet, and Al Toon are good examples. Others who have recently started talking about their own concussions & long-term effects include Steve Young, Troy Aikman, and Jim McMahon.

A short list of deceased NFL players who apparently suffered "chronic traumatic encephalopathy":

Tom McHale (drug OD)
Mike Webster
Justin Strzelczyk (fleeing from police, crashed. No drugs / alcohol. But his brain = toast.)
Terry Long (suicide)
Andre Waters (suicide)
John Grimsley (self-inflicted gunshot wound to chest, but not called a suicide)

On Thursday, Dave Duerson, an important part of the `85 Bears championship team, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest. Right beforehand, he sent multiple text messages indicating that he wanted his brain donated for concussion research, specifically for the same chronic traumatic encephalopathy study.

I can understand the school of thought being "occupational hazard", especially given the money they make. But there's been pie-in-the-sky talk of eliminating things like the 3 and 4-point stance on the line, which would change the game significantly forever. And, if Duerson is shown to have the exact same brain damage that these other players are showing, his death - and specifically the manner in which he took his life, and his request to be studied - is gonna be bigtime fuel to the fire...

What say you?

Funny how no one talks about European soccer and the head trauma they suffer since they don't use their hands to catch the ball but rather their head, so damn dumb, and the impact it has to the brain and the neck is just ignored as the media and the left wingers that HATE the NFL just keep bring up this brain damage end football nonsense!

All sports have danger in the them just like life so can we just enjoy the sport and end all the emotional hand wringing .

This singling out of a sport or a hobby people like by a self appoint great good group is just social engineering no one ask for or wants.

 

[RoryN]

Funny how no one talks about European soccer and the head trauma they suffer since they don't use their hands to catch the ball but rather their head, so damn dumb, and the impact it has to the brain and the neck is just ignored as the media and the left wingers that HATE the NFL just keep bring up this brain damage end football nonsense!

All sports have danger in the them just like life so can we just enjoy the sport and end all the emotional hand wringing .

This singling out of a sport or a hobby people like by a self appoint great good group is just social engineering no one ask for or wants.

240 posts in this thread, and yours is the dumbest one, by far.

The amount of stupid is staggering.

Poor cupcake.

 

[RjThoughts]

Funny how no one talks about European soccer and the head trauma they suffer since they don't use their hands to catch the ball but rather their head, so damn dumb, and the impact it has to the brain and the neck is just ignored as the media and the left wingers that HATE the NFL just keep bring up this brain damage end football nonsense!

All sports have danger in the them just like life so can we just enjoy the sport and end all the emotional hand wringing .

This singling out of a sport or a hobby people like by a self appoint great good group is just social engineering no one ask for or wants.

Most football head trans is caused by line play and poor tackling techniques.

Yes, we get it: you're a Football is sacred religious nut.

 

[Hypoxia]

Encourage young people to play head-trauma sports. But first, show them vids of the drooling morons er I mean tragic sufferers they WILL become. (Cf Cassius Clay.) Those proto-morons choosing brain damage won't get insurance, of course, but they'll have plenty of glory and babes and drugs. While they last.

How to put them out to pasture later? Probably need an AA (Athletic Affairs) bureau to stash them in mothballed VA hospitals and mental institutions. How to pay for that? Maybe with a tariff on Chinese-made sports shoes. So your Nikes cost more, so what? It's for a good cause.

 

[RoryN]

Say farewell to the three-point stance
Mike Florio

At a time when football fans finally are waking up to the demise of the kickoff, another football staple is about the go the way of the Stegosaurus. And a game that many regard as a dinosaur could soon be extinct, at least as we know it.

With the NFL finally admitting what some suspected for the past two months — the new helmet rule does apply to offensive and defensive linemen — the three-point stance inevitably will be gone. And the NFL will have gotten rid of it without actually getting rid of it.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/05/22/say-farewell-to-the-three-point-stance/amp/

 

[IG_88]

The kickoff rules are less drastic that I expected and don't see how it really changes the game much.
The helmet rule might tho. Wait and see.

 

[RoryN]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids...lights-start-dim-high-school-football-n902886

The Friday night lights start to dim on high school football
Kids are turning to other sports, and the heartland of high school football is not immune.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas — New numbers show a decline in participation in high school football across the country, and a dimmer future even in the state where the Friday night lights burn brightest — Texas.

 

[Ann_Tagonist]

Who Posted?
Total Posts: 245
User Name Posts
RoryN 96
RjThoughts 24
eyer 15

 

[Rightguide]

Say goodbye to making your own decisions in life and hello to liberal group think. Soon the left will demand major league Nerf Ball, NASCAR bumper cars, and rubber floors for the NBA..

 

[RjThoughts]

Say goodbye to making your own decisions in life and hello to liberal group think. Soon the left will demand major league Nerf Ball, NASCAR bumper cars, and rubber floors for the NBA..

Wow, so when health and safety enters into your religion, err sport, you blame it on liberals.

We know: Football is our religion and needs to be left alone!

 

[Rightguide]

Wow, so when health and safety enters into your religion, err sport, you blame it on liberals.

We know: Football is our religion and needs to be left alone!

It's dangerous to walk across the street. Do you need a crossing guard?

 

[RjThoughts]

It's dangerous to walk across the street. Do you need a crossing guard?

Crosswalks make it safer.
Lights make it safer.

We get it, we can't talk about making a game safer, because Neanderthals and knuckle-draggers like seeing their players be handicapped in the future. Gotcha!