San Jose Bills Fan Posted August 21, 2012 Posted August 21, 2012 Yes, the anti-cholesterol thing is pretty amazing… as is the general demonizing of fats instead of sugars.
Malazan Posted August 21, 2012 Posted August 21, 2012 Thank you both. It may not have been CTE but that conclusion has yet to be drawn. Yes, it could have been non-CTE induced depression. "Invent a craze like brain damage." Incredible. While it's unfortunate that you chose to purposely take the wording out of context. The point of 'health crazes' and 'invented panics' are all too real. Instead of harping on one factor, which the research is woefully underdone at this point and hammering home, "IT'S BRAIN DAMAGE!". That is obviously only one facet why NFL players commit suicide and struggle after leaving the game. The other side of the coin is that plenty of players who experience brain damage don't kill themselves. My point is, it's irresponsible to just keep yelling "BRAIN DAMAGE" when the research on it is still in its infancy. Brain Damage is an easy copout. If it is Brain Damage then what is the solution? More Research? Waiting on the 'cure for brain damage'? Maybe, there is some awesome helmet that will prevent it completely...funny that players opted not to use helmets that are considered 'safer'. If it isn't Brain Damage, then what is the solution? No one talks about that because it is so much easier if it is Brain Damage. Again, to make it abundantly clear. I'm not saying that Brain Damage isn't a factor, but that it is the easy way out versus the longer harder road.
DC Tom Posted August 21, 2012 Posted August 21, 2012 maybe he suffered from depression and went into a manic psychotic state "Manic psychotic" state? Is there anything you don't not know anything about? Like hula hoops, pet rocks, and the Macarena, the brain damage craze is sweeping the nation! I'm at a complete loss of words here. GO BILLS!!! Poor wording...accurate in principle, though. There's a certain "popularity" to CTE that biases people to conclude that - even professionals (basically an "awareness leads to increased diagnosis interpreted as an increase in prevalence" thing.) You could as easily say there's an "autism craze" currently, too...in principle accurate, if silly wording.
transient Posted August 22, 2012 Posted August 22, 2012 I guarantee when that poor guy's brain makes it to Boston, they are going to find the CTE. In fact, i'm sure they are typing up the positive finding on the report already. Unfortunately WEO, I think you're right. I am hoping that they don't find evidence of CTE in Seau's brain, but that is essentially hoping that they don't find signs of aging, to an extent. The fact that he shot himself in the chest instead of the head is, IMO, a bad sign of things to come. One last grasp at the spotlight for faded, depressed athletes who may be suffering from delayed effects of repeated head trauma, or may be suffering from much more common entities of depression or dementia. While it's unfortunate that you chose to purposely take the wording out of context. The point of 'health crazes' and 'invented panics' are all too real. Instead of harping on one factor, which the research is woefully underdone at this point and hammering home, "IT'S BRAIN DAMAGE!". That is obviously only one facet why NFL players commit suicide and struggle after leaving the game. The other side of the coin is that plenty of players who experience brain damage don't kill themselves. My point is, it's irresponsible to just keep yelling "BRAIN DAMAGE" when the research on it is still in its infancy. Brain Damage is an easy copout. If it is Brain Damage then what is the solution? More Research? Waiting on the 'cure for brain damage'? Maybe, there is some awesome helmet that will prevent it completely...funny that players opted not to use helmets that are considered 'safer'. If it isn't Brain Damage, then what is the solution? No one talks about that because it is so much easier if it is Brain Damage. Again, to make it abundantly clear. I'm not saying that Brain Damage isn't a factor, but that it is the easy way out versus the longer harder road. J2020, while I, and a number of posters in this thread, agree with you about the media and the scientific community shouting brain damage too soon from the standpoint of not knowing how to interpret the anatomical findings that are coming to light with CTE in relation to the clinical situation, you use as your source an article that does the exact same thing only from the opposing viewpoint. The author of the article clearly didn't know what he was writing about, or he wouldn't have drawn the conclusions that he did using evidence he does to support it.
Tcali Posted August 22, 2012 Posted August 22, 2012 "Manic psychotic" state? Is there anything you don't not know anything about? Poor wording...accurate in principle, though. There's a certain "popularity" to CTE that biases people to conclude that - even professionals (basically an "awareness leads to increased diagnosis interpreted as an increase in prevalence" thing.) You could as easily say there's an "autism craze" currently, too...in principle accurate, if silly wording. what was once 'weird' is now high functioning aspbergers
K-9 Posted August 22, 2012 Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) "Manic psychotic" state? Is there anything you don't not know anything about? Poor wording...accurate in principle, though. There's a certain "popularity" to CTE that biases people to conclude that - even professionals (basically an "awareness leads to increased diagnosis interpreted as an increase in prevalence" thing.) You could as easily say there's an "autism craze" currently, too...in principle accurate, if silly wording. Fair enough. And after Jeremy further explained above, I have a better understanding of what he was driving at. Not sure what happened there but I wanted to add that even though there are times when certain diagnoses become popular we can't afford to become desensitized to the very real cases that led to that popular diagnosis in the first place. We tend to get cynical and we need to guard against that. Edited August 22, 2012 by K-9
Sisyphean Bills Posted August 22, 2012 Posted August 22, 2012 "Manic psychotic" state? Is there anything you don't not know anything about? Subtle use of the double negative here.
bbb Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 And, now Joe D. is saying he wouldn't play again if he knew what he knows now...........I've heard him say before that he was totally fine and he was only fighting for the other players who weren't: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-08-16/nfl-concussions-report-brain-damage-effects-former-retired-part-iii?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl23|sec1_lnk1%26pLid%3D195970
Tcali Posted August 25, 2012 Posted August 25, 2012 And, now Joe D. is saying he wouldn't play again if he knew what he knows now...........I've heard him say before that he was totally fine and he was only fighting for the other players who weren't: http://aol.sportingn...nk1&pLid=195970 thats one of the symptoms--contradicting oneself.
Logical Reasoning Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 After the death of Junior Seau, the assumption was that the cte conditions that had plagued other NFL players who had passed away early in life like Dave Duerson were eerily similar. The recent results verified that a relationship between his death and post concussion/cte issues did not exist which leads me to something that seems obvious but no one seems to discuss. The tremendous degree of reinforcement and pressure that goes along with the skills and talent of the child prodigy is something that is hard to understand. I grew up in East Aurora and live in East Amherst which are fairly priveleged places when you compare them with South Central LA or ghetto areas in Alabama and Mississippi. I never had to be a star athlete to 'get out', but alot of these kids have entire towns and communities riding on their backs and the pressure to hold up a town/city or more importantly is beyond measurable. If the superstar is able to handle this and compete at a super level, the accolades start to come and their life becomes based on how bright the lights are on them. I think that there are guys like Favre, Rice, Seau, and maybe to a degree our own Jim Kelly (although his support group keeps him very grounded) who aren't afraid of retiring as much as transitioning into their next phase of life where there are no lights and they are just regular guys that aren't asked for autographs and can't move to the front of the line at the grocery store. I truly believe this is a bigger deal than concussions and cte . Providing transitional help via financial and/or emotional counseling would be beneficial.
Playoff Bound Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 This is an interesting viewpoint and I think it has merit. There will be cases which are tied back to concussions and cte but this will not always be the case. There is pressure to perform. I also think that Seau loved football and being in the limelight so much that it became his identity. I don't mean any disrespect to him either. He lived to perform in the big game, to be the difference maker. When he retired that void didn't get filled.
MattM Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 I think what you're saying is "what happens to Junior Seau when he isn't "Junior Seau" anymore?". I suspect that a lot of pro athletes go through this--they've almost never been "normal people" and for some (many? most?) the letdown is unbearable, particularly when combined with (a) the loss of income/cash if they haven't planned well for life after football which at least sometimes results in (b) the loss of the affections of loved one/spouse, particularly if they haven't chosen wisely in that arena (read gold digger who isn't interested in sticking around with a " has been".) From what I've read Junior may have suffered from all of this, being under both reported financial strain and having gone through a messy divorce earlier and another incident in which folks thought he may have been suicidal after a fight with a girlfriend. Not sure what one can do about this other than the people around him trying to keep an athlete grounded on the way up so that the way "down" isn't quite so hard....
swkeith Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 I think he just wanted to die. Life after football was tough. Its a cruel world out there when you have nothing but a huge bag of money.
TakeYouToTasker Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 There has been no CTE study done on Junior Seau's brain to date, only an autopsy which doesn't test for, and can't detect CTE. It is far to early for these sorts of threads.
Boludo Posted August 29, 2012 Posted August 29, 2012 the problem is people dont all retire at the same time with rookies you can bring em all in and have chris carter give em some words of wisdom players retire at all different times and a lot of players only play a short period i mean how do you judge who is famous enough to need help? hopefully they have surrounded themselves with quality people that can help them with the transition but really these are grown men not kids and if they need some help they can reach out for it
NoSaint Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 No link but discussion this morning on espn that the tests do show CTE As always, may or may not have been a factor - not trying to push an angle
infernus Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 link: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8830344/study-junior-seau-brain-shows-chronic-brain-damage-found-other-nfl-football-players
Wayne Cubed Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 No link but discussion this morning on espn that the tests do show CTE As always, may or may not have been a factor - not trying to push an angle It was in the Buffalo paper this morning, from an AP article: http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130110/SPORTS/130119952/1004
Max997 Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 people are always looking for someone or something to blame
T master Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 http://www.latimes.c...0,1438253.story Per ESPN Doctors: Seau's brain tests positive for CTE
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