NFL rookie's decision to retire another sign football is doomed

#127
#127
crusse10 said:
let me find it, I've read a bunch of different sites so give me a couple minutes
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I think it's a 2002 article that looked at retired players and claimed they were 4 times more likely to have Alzheimer's.

If so, it's important to remeber that all of these players would have played in a world where anabolic steroids which have been linked to Alzheimer's and dementia, were legal until the 90s. It's highly likely that a large number of NFL players were using the steroids from the 60-90s. Perhaps even earlier.

Also many of those in the study would have played football in the 40s, 50s, and 60s when equipment and coaching in the sport were horrible. And a brain injury was a "bell ringer" that you needed to shake off
 
#128
#128
#130
#130
Vol8188 said:
Also many of those in the study would have played football in the 40s, 50s, and 60s when equipment and coaching in the sport were horrible. And a brain injury was a "bell ringer" that you needed to shake off
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I think that last sentence has played a huge role. I've spent a lot of time on high school sidelines and one time I actually went as far as to get in the ear of a head linesman telling him to watch a kid after hearing a coach tell him on the sideline that his dizziness is due to poor conditioning and put him back in a game.
 
#131
#131
Vol8188 said:
From your article:

"Each of the figures stated in the above paragraph are false, misleading, or incomplete".
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I saw that after the fact, which is why I corrected. One of the stats was 28% so it was "false" because they rounded up to 1/3 instead of rounding down to 1/4.
 
#132
#132
GAVol said:
I think that last sentence has played a huge role. I've spent a lot of time on high school sidelines and one time I actually went as far as to get in the ear of a head linesman after hearing a coach tell a kid on the sideline that his dizziness is due to poor conditioning and put him back in a game.
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I agree there are some horrible coaches out there. All you have to do is watch an episode of Friday night tykes to see that. But overall coaching and equipment are far better than they were previously.
 
#133
#133
crusse10 said:
I saw that after the fact, which is why I corrected. One of the stats was 28% so it was "false" because they rounded up to 1/3 instead of rounding down to 1/4.
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Did you read the rest? That means 1/777 pro football players will die from ALS. While that's above the national average pro football players also live longer than the general population and are less likely to die from cancer or heart disease. Also, the article admits they are slightly higher of risk to develop Alzheimer's, but they also live longer.

It's all a big witch hunt.
 
#134
#134
Vol8188 said:
Did you read the rest? That means 1/777 pro football players will die from ALS. While that's above the national average pro football players also live longer than the general population and are less likely to die from cancer or heart disease. Also, the article admits they are slightly higher of risk to develop Alzheimer's, but they also live longer.

It's all a big witch hunt.
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I'm not arguing between having a kid play football or having him be a lazy sack of sht who gets fat as hell and is diabetic by the time he's 22. I'm talking about having him play a sport with lower risk.
 
#135
#135
Cricket, the game very similar to baseball, has the highest suicide rate of former players in the world.

Feel free to squeeze that into whatever side of the debate it belongs.
 
#136
#136
crusse10 said:
I'm not arguing between having a kid play football or having him be a lazy sack of sht who gets fat as hell and is diabetic by the time he's 22. I'm talking about having him play a sport with lower risk.
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Would you refuse to let your kid play football if he wanted to?
 
#137
#137
hog88 said:
Would you refuse to let your kid play football if he wanted to?
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if they find a way to drastically minimize the concussions, no
if they don't, and that's all that he wanted, I'd at least try to push him toward a position that really limits contact to the head
if it was slot receiver, safety, or nothing, then I'd put my foot down and say no football
 
#138
#138
crusse10 said:
if they find a way to drastically minimize the concussions, no
if they don't, and that's all that he wanted, I'd at least try to push him toward a position that really limits contact to the head
if it was slot receiver, safety, or nothing, then I'd put my foot down and say no football
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NFL games have .43 concussions per game. One can only assume lower levels have even less. In 7 years of coaching high school football we've averaged 1-2 a season.

They're not as prevelant as some want you to believe.
 
#139
#139
crusse10 said:
if they find a way to drastically minimize the concussions, no
if they don't, and that's all that he wanted, I'd at least try to push him toward a position that really limits contact to the head
if it was slot receiver, safety, or nothing, then I'd put my foot down and say no football
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While I diagree with this with every fiber of my being, to each their own. The world needs cheerleaders too.
 
#140
#140
hog88 said:
While I disagree with this with every fiber of my being, to each their own. The world needs cheerleaders too.
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What is it that you're against? Wanting them to revolutionize the protection of the brain? Or acting in your child's future's best interests by protecting them from themselves?
 
#141
#141
Vol8188 said:
NFL games have .43 concussions per game. One can only assume lower levels have even less. In 7 years of coaching high school football we've averaged 1-2 a season.

They're not as prevelant as some want you to believe.
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I still don't necessarily believe that lower levels have less. True, the game moves slower, but the brain isn't fully developed. Medical staffs are nowhere near as highly trained. There aren't as many eyes on every single player throughout not only every game, but every practice. Equipment isn't as high-tech as the NFL. And this part I'm only assuming, but I can't imagine that the concussion protocol is as stringent as the NFL.
 
#142
#142
crusse10 said:
What is it that you're against? Wanting them to revolutionize the protection of the brain? Or acting in your child's future's best interests by protecting them from themselves?
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Revolutionize the protection of the brain? Hell the only sports concussions I ever suffered were in baseball and basketball. If you take into account all of the kids from peewee to HS playing the game, the % of catastrophic injuries is very low. Could technique coaching be better at the youth and HS level? Of course but it is getting better.

Boys will be boys and will get hurt doing something. Might as well let them play the greatest game ever conceived.
 
#143
#143
hog88 said:
Revolutionize the protection of the brain? Hell the only sports concussions I ever suffered were in baseball and basketball. If you take into account all of the kids from peewee to HS playing the game, the % of catastrophic injuries is very low. Could technique coaching be better at the youth and HS level? Of course but it is getting better.

Boys will be boys and will get hurt doing something. Might as well let them play the greatest game ever conceived.
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Last year the MLB had something like 20 players go on the DL for concussions. I'd rather have my kid play that great game.
 
#144
#144
crusse10 said:
Last year the MLB had something like 20 players go on the DL for concussions. I'd rather have my kid play that great game.
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And I have no argument with WANTING your kid to play a specific sport, minus soccer of course. My problem is with parents who will not LET their kids play and use the fear of getting hurt excuse.

I've seen some great athletes in my time around youth and HS ball who's talents were wasted because mom wouldn't let them play.
 
#145
#145
hog88 said:
And I have no argument with WANTING your kid to play a specific sport, minus soccer of course. My problem is with parents who will not LET their kids play and use the fear of getting hurt excuse.

I've seen some great athletes in my time around youth and HS ball who's talents were wasted because mom wouldn't let them play.
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if that parent's decision ended up turning a real injury into nothing but a hypothetical, then the parent protected their child

there is nothing wrong with that

also baseball/softball is a great sport and the sport I'd most want my child to play
 
#146
#146
crusse10 said:
if that parent's decision ended up turning a real injury into nothing but a hypothetical, then the parent protected their child

there is nothing wrong with that

also baseball/softball is a great sport and the sport I'd most want my child to play
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A piece of advice. One of the worst things you can do to your kid is be overprotective and limit your kids activities due to your fears. Talk about building resentment.

I agree baseball is a great game my son played elite travel ball, HS ball and was being recruited by a few small schools until he slipped a disk his senor year. He even stopped playing football to concentrate on baseball with my full support.
 
#147
#147
hog88 said:
A piece of advice. One of the worst things you can do to your kid is be overprotective and limit your kids activities due to your fears. Talk about building resentment.

I agree baseball is a great game my son played elite travel ball, HS ball and was being recruited by a few small schools until he slipped a disk his senor year. He even stopped playing football to concentrate on baseball with my full support.
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I don't resent my parents for not letting me play football. But then again, that decision had been made before they started putting me in sports. Not once did I think "why am I not playing football?" I love football, but they never even had to tell me no because it was never a decision that came up. If you raise your child focusing on specific things, it's possible to almost avoid something by simply refocusing that attention. Growing up I played soccer, basketball, and baseball. From there, I grew to love baseball and dropped the others before my knees turned to sht (I was a catcher and didn't have coaches who could teach me how to properly squat).

If your child is already participating in something, whether it be a sport or dance or music or anything, and that time coincides with football season, the likelihood that the kid will be upset that he/she isn't doing that too drops significantly
 
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