Malcolm Gladwell

#4
#4
Gladwell wrote what is thus far the definitive article about football and head injuries. You don't have to agree with any of his conclusions, but it should be required reading for anybody who's interested in the sport of football.

It will never be banned outright. But unfortunately it's going to change radically. Time to get used to offense-first, high-scoring "pussy football," because in 15 or 20 years that's all there's going to be.
 
#8
#8
CountVolcula said:
Wimps taking over everything

Next, baseballs are too hard
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So having serious brain injuries and severely declining health after a career is being a whimp now?


We just had a class long discussion on concussions in sport, mainly football, and we all agreed there would be some big changes.

Also, an interesting point that was brought up is that in soccer, there are a ton of concussive events that take place when heading the ball. That could be eliminated some day.
 
#10
#10
Unfortunately, Gladwell may end up achieving his goal. There are other articles that speak to the increase in diagnosed concussions in football and the increasing insurance costs associated with high school football. Major universities can deal with the rising insurance costs for their football programs, as their football programs are revenue generators. For most high schools, specifically most public high schools, football does not generate revenue and when it does it usually is not enough to cover the forecasted costs of insurance. Football might end up being dropped by many public high schools less for concern for their student-athletes than for financial reason; but, dropping football is dropping football. The result might be that less and less American kids will play and understand football; the talent pool will drop; college football will become less interesting for many and, as a result, revenue from college football will drop.

This is of course a worst-case hypothetical scenario; however, as kids get bigger, stronger, and faster and as the protective equipment fails to keep pace, then the likelihood of this scenario increases. The sport of football definitely has major issues that it must deal with right now; and, if they connect the Seau suicide with previous head trauma, then it only makes it worse.
 
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#11
#11
Vercingetorix said:
Yeah, Mike Webster was a wimp. He ended up living on the floor in a train station.
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So they didnt know running full speed and hitting another object running at full speed might be detrimental to the body?

As far as wimps, it wasnt aimed at the players, but the people influencing the players. The ones behind the scenes
 
#12
#12
#1ArencibiaFan said:
So having serious brain injuries and severely declining health after a career is being a whimp now?


We just had a class long discussion on concussions in sport, mainly football, and we all agreed there would be some big changes.

Also, an interesting point that was brought up is that in soccer, there are a ton of concussive events that take place when heading the ball. That could be eliminated some day.
Click to expand...

Again, not aimed at all the players

Its just like everything else in America, we have created a culture that will not do anything unless they are completely assured that they wont be hurt in the slightest.

Every job you do, there is a chance of serious injury. You get up in the morning, you get in your car, and you head for work, school, etc. At that moment, you are looking at the possibility of serious injury

Are we going to get to a point where we do nothing because we are afraid we might get hurt?

Also, no one makes these guys play? Some do it because they love it. Most play for the millions they make. Others, because they couldnt do anything else

America has become one big litigation. Everyone wants something for nothing
 
#15
#15
Football won't be banned. But when High Schools start losing million dollar lawsuits in the next few years I could see HS programs slowly disappearing.
 
#16
#16
CountVolcula said:
So they didnt know running full speed and hitting another object running at full speed might be detrimental to the body?

As far as wimps, it wasnt aimed at the players, but the people influencing the players. The ones behind the scenes
Click to expand...

Everyone has always known that it's detrimental to the body. The thing that's new is the science that shows what it does to the brain. This is a sport that apparently causes widespread dementia in people in their 40s and 50s. Their minds are gone, their behavior is bizarre, their relationships are destroyed, and sometimes they kill themselves. This isn't just "well, you might get hurt if you play and everyone understands that." It's "well, you might up being Chris Benoit" (whose brain showed exactly the same kind of damage that many NFL players' brains have).

If you don't understand how that moves beyond ordinary risk and into the territory of something that civilized society might find unacceptable, then there's really no point discussing it with you.

I don't think anyone would disagree that this is something that grown men who make money can choose to do. Just like boxing. What about high school? What about unpaid college players? How's the NFL going to survive when its feeder system starts drying up?
 
#17
#17
Vercingetorix said:
Everyone has always known that it's detrimental to the body. The thing that's new is the science that shows what it does to the brain. This is a sport that apparently causes widespread dementia in people in their 40s and 50s. Their minds are gone, their behavior is bizarre, their relationships are destroyed, and sometimes they kill themselves. This isn't just "well, you might get hurt if you play and everyone understands that." It's "well, you might up being Chris Benoit" (whose brain showed exactly the same kind of damage that many NFL players' brains have).

If you don't understand how that moves beyond ordinary risk and into the territory of something that civilized society might find unacceptable, then there's really no point discussing it with you.

I don't think anyone would disagree that this is something that grown men who make money can choose to do. Just like boxing. What about high school? What about unpaid college players? How's the NFL going to survive when its feeder system starts drying up?
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The popularity decline in boxing has been due in large part to the fact that the best athletes no longer go into boxing. They see a guy like Muhammad Ali -- and I'm a big Ali fan, but he is a walking anti-advertisement for boxing -- and they decide to take their talents to football or basketball.

Well, when the data shows that football is no safer than boxing, parents won't push/allow them to go in that direction, and the sport will begin to shrink from the inside-out.

Good article here: Jonah Lehrer on concussions in adolescents and the future of football - Grantland
 
#18
#18
CountVolcula said:
So they didnt know running full speed and hitting another object running at full speed might be detrimental to the body?

As far as wimps, it wasnt aimed at the players, but the people influencing the players. The ones behind the scenes
Click to expand...

Translation: I don't care about player safety and will spin the issue in any way to make myself not feel guilty about it.
 
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#19
#19
My bro had some bad concussions in high school and college football, he worries sometimes about what may happen.
 
#22
#22
Vercingetorix said:
Gladwell wrote what is thus far the definitive article about football and head injuries. You don't have to agree with any of his conclusions, but it should be required reading for anybody who's interested in the sport of football.

It will never be banned outright. But unfortunately it's going to change radically. Time to get used to offense-first, high-scoring "pussy football," because in 15 or 20 years that's all there's going to be.
Click to expand...

I would be more impressed if they actually studied the brains of players that lived long healthy productive lives instead of just the ones that had emotional breaks.
 
#24
#24
kidbourbon said:
The popularity decline in boxing has been due in large part to the fact that the best athletes no longer go into boxing. They see a guy like Muhammad Ali -- and I'm a big Ali fan, but he is a walking anti-advertisement for boxing -- and they decide to take their talents to football or basketball.

Well, when the data shows that football is no safer than boxing, parents won't push/allow them to go in that direction, and the sport will begin to shrink from the inside-out.

Good article here: Jonah Lehrer on concussions in adolescents and the future of football - Grantland
Click to expand...

Ali had parkinsons disease..... Boxing is the scapegoat.....there is no verifiable proof it caused him to have parkinsons......Michael j fox has the same disease at around the same age.....maybe they should look into the dangers of acting.
 
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