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Posted (edited)

You really have to wonder about the future of the sport. More and more parents will not let their kids play as stuff like this comes out.

 

I expect there will a fatality on the NFL field within a few years. That will cause a fracturing of fan support.

Edited by row_33
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Posted

You really have to wonder about the future of the sport. More and more parents will not let their kids play as stuff like this comes out.

Already happening in parts of the country. My wife is a nurse and we have a neighbor who is a concussion researcher for a major local teaching hospital. My sons never had a chance of playing anything but flag football. For the record, I agreed with the decision. The risks are simply far too great for a sport, particularly when there are so many more to choose from.

Posted

FWIW, I watched Concussion last night on a flight - fantastic movie! Definitely a must watch for NFL fans.

 

It's a real shame what many players go through as they start to age. And while it's real easy to say "players know the risks", I'm not sure they really realize what long-term damage can be done.

 

I'm not sure what the solve if (or even if there is one), but that flick definitely changed the way I look at the game a bit...

I had the same reaction. I would strongly suggest that anybody who has not yet seen this movie should watch it asap.

 

And I strongly agree with you last sentence. It also changed the way I look at the game but I'm not even sure how, or what can be done about it. These guys are lightening fast genetic mutants and they are going to continue to get injured.

 

And you know, Jim Kiick should not be living in squalor. :(

Posted

Didn't like the movie, I'm kinda used to people destroying themselves through sports or drugs, at least these guys made money and bought a house.

Posted

You cannot stop it with padded helmets. Padding will help prevent breaking the skull itself. The damage to the brain occurs when a sudden stop makes the brain hit the inside of the skull. The only way to stop that is to stop hitting things with your head.

 

That is one of reasons to go to padded helmets - removes use as weapon.

Posted

Damage occurs thousands of times for a lineman with head slaps, forearm shivers, helmet collision, getting kicked, sometimes innocuous hits cause it.

Posted

 

What causes the damage is the jostling of the brain as it hits the skull. No amount of padding can protect against that.

 

 

It's the sudden stop that causes that. I haven't studied it, but if the shell of the helmet has soft padding it could in theory reduce how hard the head stops. Possibly mitigating the brain jostling around.

 

Like those Sumo Wrestling suits people wear. Not to that extreme but it helps illustrate my point

Posted

for some reason when i was a little grade schooler my favorite team was the dolphins. dropped on my head i guess. nick b was my favorite, i used to have posters of him and mercury morris in my bedroom. good luck nick

Posted

...kind of sad....always liked the guy....terrible his son took that hit in college as is a quadriplegic...........Nick was a member of the "Killer B's"...............

He was a member of the no name defense young un..,
Posted (edited)

 

That is one of reasons to go to padded helmets - removes use as weapon.

I don't care how much padding you put on it. These guys are so fast and strong it will still be used as a weapon. A rule change would do it, but that alters the game by taking so much of the violence out of it no one would like that change.

 

Right now, if you let your kid play you as the parent are assuming that responsibility. The cumulative effects of all the hits to the head are well established now. More and more parents are choosing to opt their kids out of the game.

Edited by CodeMonkey
Guest NeckBeard
Posted

Ummmm ... the title of this thread is "Nick Buoniconti - CTE".

 

Ah yes. Too much clicking today. Deleted my thingy. Back to my ~1 post / day average, I guess.

Posted

I don't care how much padding you put on it. These guys are so fast and strong it will still be used as a weapon. A rule change would do it, but that alters the game by taking so much of the violence out of it no one would like that change.

 

Not necessarily. If you make helmets which have to be replaced after collusions which can be done with ceramics some of the impact is absorbed and distributed and should reduce about of damage inside the skull. It could be made with a frame so just the plates damaged would be replaced.

Posted

You really have to wonder about the future of the sport. More and more parents will not let their kids play as stuff like this comes out.

Very true. No way my kid would ever play football. We live in Taiwan, so it is not a big probability anyway, but any sport that involves blows to the head is in peril. He was a bit if a taekwando prodigy when he was six, so they promptly started matching him with ten year olds. Saw him get kicked in the twice at practice and said that is it for taekwando. His coach is a cool guy who comes into my bar, maybe 50 years old, out of his gourd though. Repeats himself, forgets he ordered things, introduces friends of his to me when I have met ten times. This is pre-booze.

Posted (edited)

 

Not necessarily. If you make helmets which have to be replaced after collusions which can be done with ceramics some of the impact is absorbed and distributed and should reduce about of damage inside the skull. It could be made with a frame so just the plates damaged would be replaced.

They can make improvements certainly that would help. But the fact of the matter is, the sudden stop injures the brain. They can make it less of a sudden stop, but they cannot eliminate the damage so long as routine head collisions are part of the game. Either you accept that as a player or parent of a player, or you do not.

Edited by CodeMonkey
Posted

 

cte is to sports science what global warming is to climatology science.

 

 

You're ironically right, in that you are 180 degrees from the truth.

Posted (edited)

An article in Sports Illustrated claims that Jim Kiick has "holes in his brain." I am not going to pretend that I know what this means but it sure sounds bad. :(

Edited by Bill from NYC
Posted

An article in Sports Illustrated claims that Jim Kiick has "holes in his brain." I am not going to pretend that I know what this means but it sure sounds bad. :(

 

Boxing has taught us what repeated hits to the head can do. Don't need an autopsy to get a decent conclusion.

Posted

A return to padded leather helmets with no facemask, and lacrosse style shoulder pads is the answer.

 

Take away a player's willingness to use his head and shoulders as a weapon will minimize "knock out" type hits, and will lead to body tackling like in rugby.

 

 

 

right on the money. ive thought this for years.

i think we cann all agree---well anyone with common sense---that head battering from age 7 up to age 40 will cause brain damage.

 

but we also have to ponder the reasons for the much higher rates of alz in the normal public. there are reasons for it. and i think the answer

 

lies somewhere in the pharmaceutical industry.

 

I understand your guys reason for thinking, but that only applies to a specific part of the game. What about accidental collisions that could not be avoided? Say perhaps two defenders going after a ball carrier from different sides accidentally going head to head? Or a defender tackling low and getting kneed in the head? How would having less padding affect those situations?

Posted (edited)

 

 

 

I understand your guys reason for thinking, but that only applies to a specific part of the game. What about accidental collisions that could not be avoided? Say perhaps two defenders going after a ball carrier from different sides accidentally going head to head? Or a defender tackling low and getting kneed in the head? How would having less padding affect those situations?

It applies to the overwhelming majority of the game.

Edited by TakeYouToTasker
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