Posted on 12/03/2012 10:02:10 PM PST by Alaska Wolf
Researchers at Boston University have discovered 28 new cases of chronic brain damage in deceased football players — including 15 who played in the NFL — more than doubling the number of documented cases connecting football to long-term brain disease.
The NFL players include two Hall of Famers: running back Ollie Matson, who played 14 seasons in the 1950s and 1960s, and Colts tight end John Mackey, who played 10 seasons and once served as the head of the NFL players’ union. Both died last year after suffering from dementia
(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...
Ollie started his career prior to face masks. The helmet of the 50's and 60's had little actual padding. It was a plastic shell with a canvas strap web which kept your head from contacting the inside of the helmet. We also played outside on frozen fields.
Yes, this research deserves attention. Sports can cause all sorts of injuries but there is no reason we can’t minimize the worst, and brain injuries, dementia, are surely some of the worst. Penalties for obvious or deliberate blows to the head can be made more severe, and helmets and neck protection can improve as technology makes protective gear better and lighter over the years. In all sports.
We don’t want bubble wrapped tiddly winks players. We want real athleticism and field “combat” but we can certainly use the information to make sports safer and yet retain excitement and risk.
Well said!
I think we are missing the lead to where this mess is going to head to. All you need is one high school district to take the numbers and deem that high school football cannot be played within a county. Over a year, it’d likely spread to fifty counties throughout the US. Eventually, one state (a no-NFL state) would deem all high school and college football unsafe.
Once you take out the developmental stage of high school and college football....then professional football slides. You can figure that by 2016...one state will have taken football down. By 2025, I don’t anticipate the NFL existing anymore.
Yeah not exactly a good plan you got there
Heading Soccer Ball Linked to Brain Injury
http://www.m.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20111129/heading-soccer-ball-linked-to-brain-injury
Around 2 in the morning a week or so back they had a program on the Science channel about a material that stunt people used, sounded really good to me. They could use it to line helmets. I wish I could remember the particulars, I know it will be on again, I hope I catch it.
No argument, there, many of the best and brightest (with leadership potential) spend their high school years playing football. The research might lead to better concussion protection for our troops as well.
Has anyone asked the question of whether or not these cases are occurring in pro football players at the same rate as they are occurring in the general population? Furthermore, has anyone asked the case as to whether or not these cases could be linked to the kind of people who gravitate toward football in the first place? Just a thought.
Huge nerf helmets the size of large beachballs are needed.
Headbags that deploy upon impact. Hut! (thwoomp)
If rules change, then that’s no different than rules changes in the past.
Folks act as if football hasn’t ever had rules changes before.
Just rule that hitting anyone, anyplace, any situation must be confined to shoulders and lower.
Is that significantly different than requiring a helmet, a facemask on a helmet, pads, etc.? What about the facemask penalty? We accept it without thinking.
Better science is telling us players brains are turning to jelly. Best to fix it with a simple rule change.
I don't know. Those 'headers" in soccer have been identified as a cause of brain damage, also. They might have to eliminate that part.
Apparently, playing football doesn’t prevent brain damage.
Exactly.
I’m sorry I’m too smart for you.
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