League of Denial - The NFL's Concussion Crisis

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/


I have not seen this yet, but it was a major discussion on local sports radio all day around here.

Will hopefully get to see it all tonight.

Recorded it and watched it today. Hope the UCLA disclosure I just saw about being able to detect CTE in living players turns out to be possible. The argument of causation is the leg that the NFL is trying to stand on, since you cannot tell when the disease has taken hold. The 18 yr old who was found to have it makes you wonder what actually causes it. The rates in dead NFL players seems pretty obvious that somehow being involved in a contact sport like football can lead to this. But the counterpoint by the NFL Drs are most of these guys had mental issues or drinking issues, which they don't want to draw a line to being caused by having their brains scrambled.

The detection of CTE in folks made me think of The Walking Dead, except for zombies we have demented players walking around killing themselves or losing their minds.

Interesting documentary. Makes it hard to imagine players staying past 30 and could see the day you can only play in the NFL for a brief period of time before being forced to quit. How much time is too long and will they limit how soon a kid could start playing the sport?

I don't see how the NFL or any sport can avoid future restrictions once the scientist completely understand how this disease works. What about rugby, soccer or other contact sports?

Cyborg sports, coming your way some day soon.

Good watch. A lot of stuff I didn't know before

That's the thing DrDiags, with some people we don't know when it started or what caused it. Especially with those that do drugs or drink. I'm guilty of passing out at the wheel and hitting a telephone pole, wrecking a snowmachine and motorcycle and being in multiple collisions playing other sports. And young men are really bad about being careless with their bodies, they think their bulletproof (I know I used to) and are always trying to outdo each other as we see on Youtube all the time. "Let's jump off the roof" or "Ride our skateboards down a long stairway railing."

Hopefully they will be able to come up with ways to mitigate the damage. One thing is for sure, some of the money coming out of the lawsuit settlement is going to studies and that will help all people in all walks of life who get concussions because this isn't just an NFL issue. CTE effects a lot of people from different walks of life such as our soldiers. All the focus is on the NFL because it's such a popular sport and because they have deep pockets, but make no mistake, CTE is present in many walks of life, so the benefits should extend to them also.

Just finished it and I learned a lot. Like kids under 14, their brains move more in the skull and are more susceptible than adults. The minor concussion thing with the 21 year old who hung himself. The player plays threw it and doesn't show signs of a full concussion but those minor head blows add up and caused him CTE. How the NFL basically used doctors to fight this CTE problem for years, yet did research surveys and found an unusually high rate of retired players with dementia and alzheimers.

With the bigger, stronger, faster generation of players over the last 20 years who used their helmets as weapons and using their bodies as missiles...I think it will be something almost common in retired players for quite awhile and it may never slow down. Take a young guy like Jahvid Best.....remember him, high draft pick from the Lions who had concussion problems going back to his days at Cal and maybe prior to that. What does his brain look like now or even when he was a teenager at Cal?

We all knew the NFL hid this for awhile, but now we know relatively how long they did. We still know little about CTE and if we can detect it prior to its onset. So many questions about this topic still remain.

I read a recent tweet leading to an article about some international scientists and they are still saying there is not cause and effect yet known for CTE. Scientist move much slower than most folks. They have to be meticulous with their analysis and the methodology has to be sound and based on the highest standards.

If this is constrained to athletics, then it will be good to know and then discover some type of early detection method. There will be less people playing football until this is understood but I don't know if the disease will kill the sport. Sort of like smoking. You can warn folks about the hazard but free will lets them make a choice. Big time College and Pro football has too much money involved, the scare will not shut them down. Would take a few years before folks would start to shun the sport or the popularity to take a big dive.

Interesting times coming down the line. Hope there is a way to curtail this without making the game flag football.

At the 4th International Conference on Concussion in Sport, which had recently taken place in Zurich, world experts gathered to discuss the state of head-trauma science. At the end of the conference, a consensus statement was released that said the following: "A cause and effect relationship has not as yet been demonstrated between CTE and concussions or exposure to contact sports."

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http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-hidden-victims-of-the-nfls-concussion-crisis-1443101890

Gap Filler":3janfb0j said:

With the bigger, stronger, faster generation of players over the last 20 years who used their helmets as weapons and using their bodies as missiles...I think it will be something almost common in retired players for quite awhile
.

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THIS

I have been saying this and am honestly surprised that nobody made a bigger point about that. The majority (not all like Seau is an exception) of issues right now are older players that played more like 25 years ago. The next generation up through the next 5-10 years (pre-NFL injuries) will probably have even more sever sympthoms and much higher rates of long term damage. It is one thing for most NFL players to say I am going to live with those injuries but if they see 30% of former players drooling on TV and committing sucide they may start to think twice. I think the issue will get significantly worse and magnified over the next 10 years and the NFL is going to be very happy they settled when they did.

As a wrestling and MMA fan I've have known about CTE for several years now thanks to the coverage by Dave Meltzer. This is something I've struggled with as a fan, and continue to struggle with. I really feel that if you're going to ask these guys to play you owe it to them as a fan to watch this documentary and learn what exactly what it is you're asking them to do. In high school health and college freshmen psychology you often learn of Phineas Gage and the complete personality change he had after a lobotomy. Granted these guys aren't experiencing a lobotomy, but you can see with guys like Chris Benoit what someone with brain damage is capable of doing that NONE of their friends would think is possible or matching to their personality. Junior Seau was a great player because of the way he played, but would fans really ask that of him if he were to start his career again knowing what the result is? He turned from being this loveable family man to a distant jerk. Sacrificing your knees and your physical comfort for today's glory is one thing, I don't know if I feel comfortable asking someone to sacrifice who they are as a person for a game with a ball made from pig skin.

mikeak":198q9s49 said:

Gap Filler":198q9s49 said:

With the bigger, stronger, faster generation of players over the last 20 years who used their helmets as weapons and using their bodies as missiles...I think it will be something almost common in retired players for quite awhile
.

Click to expand...

THIS

I have been saying this and am honestly surprised that nobody made a bigger point about that. The majority (not all like Seau is an exception) of issues right now are older players that played more like 25 years ago. The next generation up through the next 5-10 years (pre-NFL injuries) will probably have even more sever sympthoms and much higher rates of long term damage. It is one thing for most NFL players to say I am going to live with those injuries but if they see 30% of former players drooling on TV and committing sucide they may start to think twice. I think the issue will get significantly worse and magnified over the next 10 years and the NFL is going to be very happy they settled when they did.

Click to expand...

You can see it something as simple as how guys tackle. If you watch footage from the 60's everyone tackles with their arms, pulling the opponent down. Everyone loves that Kam Chancellor to Vernon Davis hit, but you just didn't see tackles like that as often 40 years ago when guys like Mike Webster played.