Junior Seau Found Dead in Home

#127
#127
Vercingetorix said:
Yep. Studies show that it's not even just games; it's practice too. Linemen under go car crash-level hits every day in practice, and that adds up just like the abuse you take in games does. How do you fix football when even practice damages the brain?

People get angry at Goodell for the pussification of football. What they don't really get is that the NFL completely understands that the writing is on the wall for their sport, and that they're preemptively trying to change it to the point where even a pass-happy low-hitting variation of the sport can survive.
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Yep.

Those saying "football isn't going anywhere" and "Sign a waiver" need to see the same writing.
 
#128
#128
milohimself said:
I think at this point, it's pretty hard to argue against the idea that decades of playing football, especially at positions where head injuries are more likely (RB, LB, SS) can cause long term brain damage. And we know long term brain damage can lead to depression and suicidal tendencies.
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Do you know the ratio of football players to boxers that have that tendency?

I'm sure boxers take more serious and more often blows to the head than football players. Just wondering.
 
#129
#129
Couldn't find any exact number, but a cursory google search said suicide rates among boxers is extremely high as well
 
#130
#130
Got back to my computer and did some more looking, there are tons of stories out there about current and former boxers battling depression and cases of suicides
 
#131
#131
volger said:
Do you know the ratio of football players to boxers that have that tendency?

I'm sure boxers take more serious and more often blows to the head than football players. Just wondering.
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It's probably one of the reasons why boxing is irrelevent today. The best athletes don't fight anymore because the sport couldn't adapt.
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#134
#134
milohimself said:
Couldn't find any exact number, but a cursory google search said suicide rates among boxers is extremely high as well
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If you got paid millions to do what you're talented at yet you had a chance to have 'sucidal thoughts' Would you?
 
#136
#136
And I loved playing football. But I've already got permanent issues with my legs from it. To me, just not worth the toll it takes on my body.
 
#137
#137
rocktopper16 said:
The sport got over-run by UFC my friend.
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If MMA were more than a niche sport, its main events would be broadcast on regular TV like the NFL. Like heavyweight boxing matches were when I was a kid. Boxing's move to PPV wasn't done because they could make more money that way; it was because the general public was done with the sport and they could make more money selling directly to the aficionados than they could get in a TV deal with the networks.
 
#140
#140
I agree with verc on that. I don't think the rise of mma really had anything to do with the fall of boxing. Different time, different audience. Plus I doubt it will ever achieve the same popularity boxing had, even in the 80s.
 
#141
#141
milohimself said:
I agree with verc on that. I don't think the rise of mma really had anything to do with the fall of boxing. Different time, different audience. Plus I doubt it will ever achieve the same popularity boxing had, even in the 80s.
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When I was a kid you could watch a heavyweight title match live on ABC on Saturday afternoon. Boxing was exiled to 11 pm PPV events a decade or two before MMA had any presence in the national awareness at all.
 
#142
#142
Vercingetorix said:
If MMA were more than a niche sport, its main events would be broadcast on regular TV like the NFL. Like heavyweight boxing matches were when I was a kid. Boxing's move to PPV wasn't done because they could make more money that way; it was because the general public was done with the sport and they could make more money selling directly to the aficionados than they could get in a TV deal with the networks.
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UFC is on Fox, my friend.
 
#143
#143
n_huffhines said:
UFC is on Fox, my friend.
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I'm aware of their deal with Fox. Are their title events available for free on Fox now?

If so, is this a recent development? Boxing's main events disappeared from free network TV 30-40 years ago. Hard then to draw a connection that MMA killed boxing, my friend.
 
#144
#144
milohimself said:
The answer is they don't. The rules and the way the game is played is going to have to undergo a shift to the point where it will be almost unrecognizable. I don't see any way around it this point. Thousands of guys out there are undergoing the same physical effect of a car wreck hundreds of times a year over a course of time that can go on for decades. It can't go on.
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As long as there's money to be made, it will.
 
#145
#145
Vercingetorix said:
I'm aware of their deal with Fox. Are their title events available for free on Fox now?

If so, is this a recent development? Boxing's main events disappeared from free network TV 30-40 years ago. Hard then to draw a connection that MMA killed boxing, my friend.
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I didn't comment on the subject of MMA vs boxing.

Dos Santos won the heavyweight title knocking out Velasquez earlier this year on free TV.
 
#146
#146
milohimself said:
I think at this point, it's pretty hard to argue against the idea that decades of playing football, especially at positions where head injuries are more likely (RB, LB, SS) can cause long term brain damage. And we know long term brain damage can lead to depression and suicidal tendencies.
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None of those positions are as protected as WRs and QBs.

The OL and DL do more banging and beating than any other position on the field.

If they want to make a change for safety, they'll do something about the trenches and the RBs taking a pounding.

It's all for show to say you can't hit a QB or "defenseless player" but the guys actually taking a beating are doing the same things they've been doing for the last 50 years, dress it up as concern for player safety and then sell it as such.
 
#147
#147
justingroves said:
The OL and DL do more banging and beating than any other position on the field.
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If we're comparing the positions and the amount of head trauma one would experience, I would have to disagree somewhat with this statement. I agree contact is more common, but the severity of each contact is not nearly as severe. As someone who played multiple positions on the OL, DL, and LB, LBs have much more severe concussive events than linemen. Also, LBs are more likely to play STs than OL and DL. I'd be willing to bet a large sum of money that there are more concussions per play during special teams than during the course of a normal play. Your big boys don't typically run down on kickoffs, although their presence on KO return is a little more common. Punt teams aren't as dangerous, IMO.

Also, LBs are generally faster and hitting with more explosive force than most OL/DL. They also line up around 5 yards off the ball meaning more momentum is generated. Not saying OL/DL aren't explosive, but DL are more concerned with cut blocks than anything.

Just my experience from 12 seasons of playing football. Of course, I'm speaking in broad general terms and realize exceptions do apply.

I predict that there will be no more kickoffs in the NFL in three years. I think it'll be replaced with a punt. WRs cracking back on LBs will be outlawed in short order, too.
 
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#149
#149
508mikey said:
Thats a big number -- I never realized that - who were the others ? (sorry not a Chargers fan )
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By no means a Charger fan, but as a Raider fan I know a little about the Chargers.

-- In 1995, about five months after the Chargers lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, linebacker David Griggs died in a car crash. He was 28.

-- In May 1996, running back Rodney Culver died in a plane crash. He was 26.

-- In July 1998, linebacker Doug Miller died after being struck by lightning while camping. He was 28.

-- In May 2008, center Curtis Whitley was found dead of a drug overdose. He was 39.

-- In October 2008, defensive end Chris Mims died of complications from an enlarged heart. He was 38.

-- In February 2011, defensive tackle Shawn Lee died of a heart attack. He was 44.

-- In December, linebacker Lew Bush died of a heart attack. He was 42.
 
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