328 replies to this topic

[SammyBirdland]

Frontline:  League of Denial

 

Did anyone watch this episode on PBS? Reactions?

[KWebz]

Recorded it and look forward to watching. Frontline is a great program

[You Play to Win the Game]

Forgot to DVR it... I'll have to find it elsewhere. I'm interested in this for sure.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Sports on Earth: League of Denial: Five Takeaways
http://therotation.s...five-takeaways/

[Miller192]

I watched it and it ended my kids' football career.  He won't play football again.

[SammyBirdland]

I watched it and it ended my kids' football career.  He won't play football again.

 

The "mini concussions" thing really got me.   We all know how dangerous a nasty concussion is, but what about the hits that happen every play that don't register as concussions?   Our brains aren't meant to take that kind of abuse.  And our athletes are getting bigger,stronger, and faster all the time.

 

And from a business perspective, the NFL came out looking like Satan in all of this.

[Miller192]

The "mini concussions" thing really got me.   We all know how dangerous a nasty concussion is, but what about the hits that happen every play that don't register as concussions?   Our brains aren't meant to take that kind of abuse.  And our athletes are getting bigger,stronger, and faster all the time.

 

And from a business perspective, the NFL came out looking like Satan in all of this.

 

Exactly.  The cumulative effect of those mini concussions really scared the hell out of me.  

 

We're finishing out the season and then we're done.  It's somewhat sad because my son really turned things around and now loves it but we won't take the risk.

[KWebz]

Recorded it and look forward to watching. Frontline is a great program

It should be up on videos.pbs.org shortly after airing.

[McNulty]

Exactly.  The cumulative effect of those mini concussions really scared the hell out of me.  

 

We're finishing out the season and then we're done.  It's somewhat sad because my son really turned things around and now loves it but we won't take the risk.

 

Honestly I'm worried from the hits that I've taken.  I'm a hypochondriac by nature but I do feel like my brain is in much worse shape than when I was younger.  I forget things all the time.  Sometimes I'll get up to do something and complete forget when I get to the other room why or what I was doing.

 

Then again, everyone has this to some degree so who knows.  But the amount of hits I've taken have to be .001% compared to these guys.

[mweb08]

I watched it and it ended my kids' football career.  He won't play football again.

I think that's wise.

[Markus]

Watched it and thought it was really good.  Amazing and stunning piece. 

 

Really amazing that the NFL keeps trying to push this issue off until further down the road.  I think the doctor said that out of the 46 NFL brains they got, 45 had CTE, while a small sample size, is pretty damning.  And the mini-concussions, everyday-practice-hits and how that may all play into it is definitely something not many considered.

 

On the flip-side, as I was watching it I knew that come Sunday it'd almost be business as usual for me.  I'm fairly certain that come Sunday I'll be rooting for the Redskins to whoop up on Tony Romo and the Cowgirls, rooting for my fantasy guys, millions of people will be rooting for their favorite team/fantasy team, etc., etc. Which, I don't want to say is kinda sad, but just speaks to the uphill battle these doctors face in getting this issue more on the forefront of peoples minds.  For the past few years on PTI, Wilbon's always been like "My kid won't ever be playing football" and even I've kinda scoffed that off and been like "C'mon Wilbon, it's not that bad."  But after watching last night, if I did have a kid, he/she definitely wouldn't be playing football.

 

I also wonder how this piece would've looked had the NFL not essentially pressured ESPN to backing out of it.

[SammyBirdland]

It should be up on videos.pbs.org shortly after airing.

 

You're right:

 

http://www.pbs.org/w...ague-of-denial/

[mweb08]

I had already heard a fair amount of this info, but hearing/seeing it all once was jarring. This is a huge issue for the NFL and its players, but beyond that, for all levels of football. I already had the stance that if I had a son, he wouldn't be allowed to play tackle football, but I'm wondering if tackle football should even exist below high school, and then one could argue why have a cutoff and totally abolish it, which wouldn't be unreasonable from a medical/safety perspective, but I'm not willing to go that far. One day I don't think that opinion will be considered so outlandish, though. 

[BSLChrisStoner]

Sports on Earth: Seen the movie? You still need to read the book.
http://www.sportsone...ticle/63460058/

[SportsGuy]

I want to see this...but I had already decided that if I have a son, that he won't be allowed to play football, at least this type of football.

 

I think seeing this will just reinforce that idea.

[You Play to Win the Game]

I had already heard a fair amount of this info, but hearing/seeing it all once was jarring. This is a huge issue for the NFL and its players, but beyond that, for all levels of football. I already had the stance that if I had a son, he wouldn't be allowed to play tackle football, but I'm wondering if tackle football should even exist below high school, and then one could argue why have a cutoff and totally abolish it, which wouldn't be unreasonable from a medical/safety perspective, but I'm not willing to go that far. One day I don't think that opinion will be considered so outlandish, though. 

 

We'll see what medical advances can be made over the years to help mitigate this... as well as how the players embrace a new style of football to help eliminate head shots from the game. 

 

Like you, this was definitely sobering to watch for me. It honestly made me sick. It makes me not want to ever buy any NFL apparel, and mostly stick to my team in terms of following it. It sucks - I love football, but the NFL deserves to pay, and pay dearly for going to such great length's to keep CTE a secret. It's just disgusting, yet not at all surprising. 

 

One thing I'll say is that I don't necessarily think it's right to alleviate all blame from a guy, CTE or not, turning abusive/leaving his family/getting into drugs/taking his own life. I would like to see more research done around that to see just how strong the link is between that type of behavior and CTE - and I don't want to sound ignorant here - but I don't think that A+B=C 100% of the time as it relates to CTE for former NFL Player = Abusive/suicidal/bad family man, etc. Sometimes, famous people, once out of the spotlight, go a little crazy. Not just in football, but in other areas too. 

 

Also, I know you've probably seen this, but for others, SI's MMQB web-site has a section dedicated to the concussion issue in the NFL - it's a great resource.- http://mmqb.si.com/t...special-report/

[You Play to Win the Game]

ESPN: Dorsett, Others Show Signs of CTE

http://espn.go.com/e...all-concussions

 

Very sad.

[You Play to Win the Game]

ESPN: OTL: Signs of CTE in Ex-Dolphins WR Duper

http://espn.go.com/e...shows-signs-cte

[You Play to Win the Game]

ESPN: HS Football Player Dies from Brain Injury

http://espn.go.com/h...y-suffered-game

 

Very sad. Interesting tidbit from the story:

 

The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council two weeks ago called for a national system to track sports-related concussions and answer questions about youth concussions.

 

The report said 250,000 people age 19 and younger were treated in emergency rooms for concussions and other sports- or recreation-related brain injuries in the country in 2009. That was an increase from 150,000 in 2001.

[Mackus]

The long term effects of playing football in HS and college are really what need to be investigated.

 

The NFL has a problem amongst their members, but really, that's only 2,000 men each year playing in the league.  That's a drop in the bucket compared to the exponentially higher number of kids playing in college, high school, and youth league football every year.  That number has to be into the millions, a thousand-fold increase over the number of players in the NFL.  What are the impacts of playing just for a few years or up to maybe 10 or 15 years if you play all the way from the youngest pee wee leagues through high school or college