NYTimes Why hasn't concussions hurt the NFL

ivotuk

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Interesting article. The problem I have with All the focus on concussions being in the NFL, is that it gives the impression that only football players get them, and only in the NFL.

I've seen construction workers get them, people in car accidents, kids on bicycles, kids rough housing, it happens alot, and it happens in All walks of life.

So who can the average Joe sue for their concussion? Bicycle manufacturers? Or are football players injuries more important than those of the average American? Are their lives more valuable?


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/magazine/roger-goodells-unstoppable-football-machine.html?_r=0
 

mikeak

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Link didn't work for me so here it is for anyone else with that issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/magaz ... chine.html

My only objection to "it happens a lot" is in which one of those situations is it designed so that it happens continuously to the same people?

Which car is designed to give you concussions over and over again? Which construction site allows for it?

And as it relates to people in employement that gets them - when it impacts their ability to work they can get workers compensation.

The fact that the NFL tried to hide these issues is the biggest thing but they settled on that. Today people know what they are getting into, but is it fair to say that for kids - their parents puts them into the sport and the kids don't really have a voice in this. Parents make all kinds of decisions for their kids. I do however expect that we will see a large number of middle class parents not allow their kids to play football (at least not until later in life). It will be a sport that is more and more made up of lower class kids as a way to a better life (that has already been going on for awhile but I think the concussion issue will push this even further).
 
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ivotuk

ivotuk

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mikeak":2o2l6myv said:
Link didn't work for me so here it is for anyone else with that issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/magaz ... chine.html

My only objection to "it happens a lot" is in which one of those situations is it designed so that it happens continuously to the same people?

Which car is designed to give you concussions over and over again? Which construction site allows for it?

And as it relates to people in employement that gets them - when it impacts their ability to work they can get workers compensation.

The fact that the NFL tried to hide these issues is the biggest thing but they settled on that. Today people know what they are getting into, but is it fair to say that for kids - their parents puts them into the sport and the kids don't really have a voice in this. Parents make all kinds of decisions for their kids. I do however expect that we will see a large number of middle class parents not allow their kids to play football (at least not until later in life). It will be a sport that is more and more made up of lower class kids as a way to a better life (that has already been going on for awhile but I think the concussion issue will push this even further).

Workers compensation is a joke! I know, I got screwed by it. Even when I was on it, I might as well have been on welfare and social security. The insurance companies that pay out for Workers compensation have huge legal teams and I've watched friends and strangers get screwed every time because it doesn't go through a court of law, but a panel, with former Worker Compensation employees on them. So don't bring up that argument.

Football isn't designed to cause concussions, it's a by product of a rough game. Yet players like Edelman lie about a concussion in a game to keep on playing.

And what about the college football game? High School? We don't hear squat about them. Why? Because there's no money in it for reporters.

This article has good spots and bad spots, especially where he complains about Roger Goodell trying to screw over Tom Brady. He's an admitted Patriot fan, but there was zero objectivity in those statements.

Then he makes this bonehead statement: "And yet the number of concussions throughout the league is actually up this season."

Gee, then that must mean that the number of concussions was down 10 years ago.

Apparently they number of reported concussions this year has nothing to do with the increased focus on concussions, doctors on the sidelines, and now adding more because Edelman didn't come out of the Superbowl when he got concussed.

I saw a video interview of Edelman and the reporter said "You got clocked pretty hard here by Chancellor and looked wobbly, didn't you get a concussoin there?"

Edelman smile and asks "What's a concussion?"

My orthopedic surgeon worked for the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s as an intern, and he said every time Troy Aikman walked in the locker room and said "These lights seem awfully bright," they rushed him in to get an MRI. So they've been addressing concussions for a while now, but just for QBs.


Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they've increased the focus on Concussions, but let's "spread the wealth" here. Let's not act like it's all NFL and only NFL just because they have the deepest pockets, and big corporations and rich people make easy targets. And that's what many reporters do, it's lazy and asinine. They need to broaden the picture.
 

joeseahawks

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Even people who don't smoke get lung cancer. Why in smoking banned in public places, airplanes, offices, ... etc?
 

IndyHawk

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Why watch anything but tennis,track and golf?Ban everything that isn't safe..Lets start with automobiles,way too many unsafe idiots out there who have no idea what a turn signal is for one..
 
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ivotuk

ivotuk

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I'm pretty passionate about this topic because I got injured on the job working at a local University and I got the shaft. Now I've lived a pretty hard life, and some of my deterioration is my own fault, much like part of an NFL players deterioration comes from starting football at a young age.

Yet when it comes to the University, and having student employees carry 4 drawer file cabinets up a flight of stairs, it's no big deal. And now I'm struggling with chronic pain, and debt.

Yet NFL players who make hundreds of thousands to millions, and who have all of their medical taken care of while in the league, and get injury settlements, are coddled by the media and made out to be as complete victims. I have ZERO sympathy. I've had friends devastated in car accidents where the other driver was on the phone, yet they have no insurance, and the victim is in the wheel chair for the rest of their life, drowning in medical debt.

Reporters are lazy because they don't go past the money. What about High School kids that get injured or die on the field? What about College kids that get hurt? All the reporters will do is say "They need to get paid for playing colleges!" Again, no real concern for the person, but "let's go after the deepest pockets and see if we can get a victim/protagonist story here!"

Why aren't they researching kids who got long term injuries in College and what their quality of life is like? And who's footing the bill? THAT is a real story and takes time to research. But these guys would rather grab the low hanging fruit, and thereby adding nothing to benefit football players at all levels. It's pathetic.

Anyway, I probably shared more about my life than I should have, but this shit pisses me off. Everytime I go to the pain clinic I see real victims, a lot of them military, lined up, hoping for some kind of relief in their life. And every time I do, despite my issues, I feel fortunate that I am not in their position.
 

mrt144

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Football is only one of the most visible forms of concussion likely entertainment. I get where you're coming from in terms of the impact on well paid people vs. The common man but it's instantly accessible and an inflection point for how society deals with obvious harm.
 

mikeak

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If the argument is other people get screwed so these guys should get screwed as well then I don't see a place to start the discussion

Secondly ignoring that only today's NFL players and not the ones in the past makes millions is very convenient in this debate.

CTE is real
 

kf3339

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It still amazes me that anyone thinks these players were not well aware that injuries can and do happen in football. The issue with concussions has been well known for at least 40 years that I have been around and followed the game. I was in meetings where coaches would talk about getting your "Bell rung" in high school and college. The expressions of being "punch drunk" was even described by coaches and players when discussing head injuries.

The players have always known the risks of this game, and just made the decision to take the risk. Now everyone wants to make such a big deal out of an old issue. Lawyers and this doctor trying to claim that the league knew and purposely withheld the information from the players. Those same players who if you really got to speak with them off camera know full well that this risk was in the past and still is in the present.

So some of you may want to make a big deal out of this, but I am just going to laugh it off. It's an old issue. Nothing more.
 

mikeak

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Can you send me a link to the article from 10-15 years ago that goes into the long term risks of multiple concussions?
 
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