Football Has To Change!

[Gary_C]

Mega-lawsuit says NFL hid brain injury links


The stories that are now coming to light are shocking.

Mary Ann Easterling will remain a plaintiff despite the April suicide of her husband, former Atlanta Falcons safety Roy Easterling, who had been a named plaintiff in a suit filed last year.

Easterling, 62, suffered from undiagnosed dementia for many years that left him angry and volatile, his widow said. He acted out of character, behaving oddly at family parties and making risky business decisions that eventually cost them their home. They were married 36 years and had one daughter. She believes the NFL has no idea what families go through.

"I wish I could sit down with (NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell) and share with him the pain. It's not just the spouses, it's the kids, too," Easterling, 59, told The Associated Press from her home in Richmond, Va. "Kids don't understand why Dad is angry all the time."



If I were the parent of a highschool kid now, I would sure have second thoughts about letting one of my kids play football. And even basketball is getting to be a full contact sport though basketball is more theater than contact, sometimes.  :

And I played both. Football in HS and recreational basketball beyond. The coaches in football sure encouraged those hard hits. And those pickup basketball games can sometimes be brutal. 

[doctorb]

So we outlaw boxing, rugby, and soccer too???  Lots of head hits in those three sports.  We could also outlaw long distance running for causing arthritis.

To try to be serious about this for a moment.....all are concerned about the long-term effects of head trauma.  The problem with these suits is that there is no proof whatsoever that relates this behavior (like Junior Seau's suicide) to football and head injury.  Unfortunately, there are a fair number of early dementia patients that behave just like Mr. Easterling who never played in the NFL.  So it's easy to draw a line connecting brain trauma, to some post-mortem findings within the brain and, thus, blame a sport.  Scientifically, this is a very difficult association to make.  I am all for patient safety, and I am not saying that the NFL didn't know something that they kept quiet about.  I am saying that, because of the media attention and the money involved, the assumption that every footballer who goes a little wacko later in life is secondary to head trauma (NFL's fault) is a little over the top, IMO.

[Sprucegum]

We are getting into the same legal quagmire with hockey injuries.

I think they should take away all the protective gear. Most of that protective gear is a weapon hurting the other guy. If you knew the other guy's teeth were going to clamp down on your arm - you might think twice about jamming it in his face  ???

[doctorb]

Oh, yeah.  I forgot to mention outlawing ice hockey. ;)

[Magicman]

Now, if you try to outlaw fishing for whatever reason, you will be going too far.   :-\   

[doctorb]

Magic - I can joke about other sports and forms of recreation, but not about fishing!!!!! ;D

[Gary_C]

It's not about outlawing anything. It's about changing some things to account for the increased risk of these high energy impacts that have the potential to cause these brain injuries. Those large bodies are getting bigger and the training and speed of these athletes has grown too. And then theres the attitudes too.

And as far as hockey, I don't see where there has been any great increase in the violent hits that can cause these serious brain injuries. And I spent some time with a long time NHL Defenseman some years ago and his contention was the violence in Hockey was overrated.

As far as the fishing, those hard hits are also not getting harder as the fish are not getting bigger. It's just the stories that keep getting bigger.  :

[Bandmill Bandit]

I played organized hockey for years. Started in peewee.

At the time I played helmets didn't exist shin pads just eased the pain and elbow pads made sure you could work the next day, goalies didnt have masks and sticks were make of ash for the most part.

You didn't shoot at the goalies face you didn't try to take off and opponents head. A lot of us never wore shoulder pads.

Being a big boy all of my life, my role on the team changed as the years went by to the point where, during my juvenile years I was one of our teams 2 "enforcers". The 2 of us were coached in the art of "legal" charging, boarding, in various ways to "cause as much discomfort and fear on the ice as was physically possible" while keeping time served in the penalty box to a minimum and this was the early 70s. We were coached to play dirty hockey as required, taught how not to get caught and to keep our mouths shut about it all too. I had a very hard slap shot I started shooting at goalies heads at about 14. I have yet to see a single goalie that wont duck if he sees the puck coming. If he gets hit once you will not hit him the second time once he knows you purposely aim for his head. With todays equipment that may be different but in my day if you hit the goalies mask he was pretty much on the ice.   

That was the beginning of the demise of most sports. Why? Basic human dignity and respect for that human dignity has been coached out of sports. All sports have become a gladiator blood sport. Until we return to this basic human dignity and the respect for it in not only sport but all aspects of our society I am not sure we should even call it "sport".

Many parents today are NOT encouraging their kids to participate in these sports. Localy we have gone from keeping 2 ice surfaces booked solid from the end of september to the end of june just 15 years ago to barely being able to fill the front rink time slots and most of that is with adult hockey. The minor hockey association doesn't even have half the teams it did when I pulled my son out of it 17 years ago.

What is starting to happen is kids pick up leagues where the kids show up and get dressed in one dressing room. the coaches take the Jerseys to the bench and the kids drop their sticks at center ice. the ref throws sticks alternately to each blue line and that is the team you are on for the game. skills training is the first half then drills then shinny. The kids are loving it and it is catching on. we may be well down the road to the demise of the NHL and not even se it yet.

I have not seen an NHL hockey game that comes close to the product quality that you will see in over half of the Junior A league games in the regular season. The pros have nothing left to play for, except the "show must go on" IMHO.

     

No it is not showing in the ranks of the professional teams yet but wit hin the next 20 year I think we will see a very serious decline in the available talent, starting with hockey that the NHL will not be able to staff the teams and will shrink significantly as a result. May be back to the 6 Teams??         
   

[Kansas]

I fully agree that the NFL needs to study and work more to help protect players from long term trauma. A lot more attention needs to be paid attention to a player that sustains a concussion when it happens. That being said........

How many of us have engaged in risky behavior in our lives, either from job related or what we do for play. You pick up a chainsaw, you head to the timber, you put your life at  risk every time. Get on a motocross bike or into a car on the dirt track, you run risk. The list would be endless. We aren't exactly a bunch of wall flowers on here. If most of the rest of you are like me, you avoid going to the doctor like the plague. (apologies to doctor B). It is who we are. We choose what we want to do. The NFL players do as well. I do think the NFL is waking up to the problem. Colleges, high schools, and other sports need to do the same. Got a feeling a fair number of us have had concussions here as well. Maybe that "shake the cobwebs off and go on" attitude ought to change.

[sparky1]

I grew up playing football, Its all that mattered to me when in high school! Now Im a dad, a fairly new one. One of the first things that crossed my mind was if my son would play football, and I hope he doesnt get hurt... I have quite a few years before hes to that level, but no one wants to see their little ones hurt. 

On the way the NFL is trying to stop the concussions and bad hits. To me they need to look more to the equipment manufactures not so much the players.  Bad hits will happen and I think they already protect certin players too much. Its a game where the lowest player is getting paid I think over 400 thousand a year. These guys know exactly what they are gettin into. I do feel bad for certin stories you hear, but then the blame need to shift to the doctors that allow player to continue after many many concussions.

[beenthere]

but then the blame need to shift to the doctors that allow player to continue after many many concussions.

I don't see it as a doctors' responsibility. Give the player the information and send him home, and let him make the decision if he is going to get back in the game. Not the NFL or the Dr's responsibility beyond offering as much information as possible, and making the rules as clean as possible.
And for certain (IMO), with the players making big money, 'tis not the Owners' liability if they lose their brain for some reason later in their life.
The rest of us don't have any one to sue when we lose ours.  8)

[sparky1]

the doctors Im refering too is the team doctors. their getting paid good money too.. They ultimately have more power on the teams than the coaches to keep some one out of games... Your right the over all responsibility comes back to the players, but not if their not in their right minds after being jolted good.. This is where the docs can hold someone out..

I remember playin and my buddy got rocked pretty good, he came back to the huddle and asked where he was.. The next play we handed the ball off to him again...    we were 18 at the time. we didnt know any better.. Kinda where alot of these players are. They are young and I dont think they know better... sure their rich, doesnt make them smart though!!!

[WildDog]

1st off I have no qualms and fully understand peoples concerns re: full contact sports (especially mothers)however without meaning to sound hard I believe contact sport has benefits that outway the possibility of serious injury.

Our code of Rugby league is full contact and aside from the choice of shoulder pads and padded head gear there is little protection. I played untill I was 25yrs and apart from breaking my nose a couple of times, the usuall concussions and a broken tibia/fibia I got through fine. My 20yr old son snapped his crucial ligament 3yrs ago (during training) and was laid up for 12months, he lived for football and not being able to play was more detrimental to him mentally than anything else he encounted, he is back playing now although is off with a slight achilies tear. Dad played longer than I and never suffered any major injuries. Sure there is some unfortunate casualties along the way but in my view contact sports set players up to deal with the knocks life deals out not just injury,but bully's, lifes setbacks and the likes + there is no better feeling or way of burning off steam for young blokes than going into a regulated "battle" legitametly with your mates.

The scars on my head look like a road map and all from non regulated activities eg dragged by a horse, getting to close to a blasting site, hit with a frozen bottle of water, dog attack and recently had a stag break my eye socket and nose with a kick, at least in sport there is others looking out for you.

[sandhills]

Dang WildDog!  Sounds to me like you need an office job  :D :D :D  Yeah right huh?  I only got 1 concussion in football, never broke anything but screwed up a knee pretty good (probably should've had that looked at) which still bothers me some if I'm working down on my knees a lot, but like you said most things that are lingering were self inflicted/work related/animal induced injuries.  I would like to hear more about the stag incedent though.

[WildDog]

I would like to hear more about the stag incedent though.

Sandhills, soley my own fault, I'm guessing about 3 yrs ago my son and I were spotlighting deer, a stag took off and I went for a quartering shot and was off the mark getting him in the gut :( he ran into a fallen tree head, instead of finishing him off with a further .243 shot I went in to cut his throat and break his neck, as I stuck the knife in he brought a hind leg up and kicked my face. I instantly couldn't see with the right eye and there was a fair bit of blood, I asked Tim "where's the blood coming from?" he said out of your eye. Needless to say it was a fast 2 miles back to house on a quad bike and then to hospital. They were going to send me to the city hospital that night but a visiting chinese Dr  came in had a trick up his sleeve and opened my swollen eye lids with a big paper clip. I never bleed a deer now without putting my leg in front of its hind leg. I had another stag break my knuckle one night when he came up out of the long grass at me, but thats another story. ;)