Posted on 04/13/2011 6:45:48 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
CHOUDRANT -- Terry Bradshaw, the Shreveport native and Hall of Fame quarterback, said Monday he is feeling the mental effects of numerous concussions he suffered during his NFL career. Bradshaw, 62, said he has been having short-term memory loss as well as loss of hand-eye coordination. He said he is undergoing rehabilitation for those ailments. Bradshaw said he believes the condition is a direct result of numerous concussions he suffered during his playing days with the Pittsburgh Steelers. "I forgot the numbers. It's pretty staggering; if you play in the NFL and start for 10 years, it's not good. It is not good," Bradshaw said at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, where he was in town for a fundraiser for his alma mater, Louisiana Tech University. The normally animated Bradshaw was sober as he told reporters of his condition...
(Excerpt) Read more at ktbs.com ...
Apparently Thomas (Hollywood) Henderson was right after all
“I forgot the numbers. It’s pretty staggering;
That is sadly funny and illustrates his point.
Something is going to have to change in football. Changing societal standards and a longer life expectancy have caught up with the game. It is no longer acceptable to be creating so many players with long-term disabilities.
The problem is, how do you prevent it? Do you improve padding and protection or eliminate it? Do you install accelerometers in helmets and enforce medical evaluation and rest periods whenever a certain G-force is exceeded?
Of do we go back to watching baseball?
Nobody forces them to play football. Have you noticed that a good deal of the players on the Steelers from the late 70s/early 80s have already died?
and IMO if TPTB would actually test aggressively for steroids and HGH and ban players, you wouldn't have these 280 pound robots out there....
When football was first played, the rugby style ‘scrum’ was in vogue. Wonder if this would help ?
Nobody forces them to play football but there is enormous pressure in many areas to let your young men play, especially if they have developed their bodies. Fortunately we were overseas when my son was in high school and so I didn’t have to face this. But, noticing the high number of long-term debilitating injuries and how the young men do NOT really receive the care they need (sacrifice all for the team!), I decided not to let my son play football if the opportunity ever presented itself. It just isn’t worth it in the long run.
Nobody forces them to work in a coal mine.
Nobody forces them to install asbestos.
Nobody forces them to work the high steel.
Etc...
No industry is permitted to permanently injure the bulk of their workers.
Don't make it worse by making the season longer. Look at how long the season already is for teams that go thru the playoffs and to the Super Bowl.
Have a number of years for eligibility just like the college teams.
"Five years to play four" or something close to it. That's plenty of time on the NFL minimum salary for a guy to get set for life and take care of his mom too.
When playing football at any level, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get your “bell rung”, as it’s a collision sport.
Upgrades to helmet design to prevent concussions have been happening since the 70’s and so have rule changes may, such as the “helmet to helmet” rules and teaching players from Pop Warner football on up to NOT lead with their helmets on tackles and blocks.
Alot of the big hits to the head are now coming from the ground, so improvements in artificial turf may be the next step. I've designed both football and baseball fields...and the rubber used in the baseball field is deliberately mixed with sand, to slow down the ball, if it hits the ground, to make it more ‘natural’. I've always thought that if sand were added to the football fields, it would 1) Slow down the players, and reduce the energy when they hit each other 2) Absorb more energy from a helmet, instead of elastically ‘bouncing’ the helmet back off the turf.
Slowing down the game might annoy wide receivers and some fans; but, I think it would help alot.
There is a problem now with more and more players weighing over 300 pounds.
The most bizarre death (as of yet) had to have been Steve Courson:
I think I forgot a comma in there.
Nice video...
Was he the one who said Bradshaw was so dumb he couldn't spell "cat" if you spotted him the "c" and "a"?
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