Ravens star, 26, who is also pursuing a PhD in math at MIT, RETIRES abruptly after shock study ...

DailyMail.com ^ | 27 July 2017 | James Wilkinson

[Rockitz]

Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel has quit the NFL just days after the world's biggest study into a degenerative brain disease showed that it affects 99 per cent of players.

The study, which was announced on Tuesday, found that out 111 NFL players' brains examined by Boston University, 110 showed signs of damage due to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

That news so shook Urschel - who is studying for a mathematics PhD at MIT in the off-season - that he quit on Thursday, a friend told ESPN.

Urschel, who is 26, is studying spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra and machine learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He has already published six peer-reviewed mathematics papers and has three more that have yet to be reviewed. He's also an avid - and talented - chess player.

The player has previously complained of having his mathematical skills impaired by concussion, but until now he has maintained that he loves the sport too much to quit.

But on Thursday, just before practice, he turned in his notice without making a statement. He had been expected to compete at training camp for the position of starting center.

A friend told ESPN his decision was linked to the report.

'This morning John Urschel informed me of his decision to retire from football,' coach John Harbaugh said in a statement.

'We respect John and respect his decision. We appreciate his efforts over the past three years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.'

[BfloGuy]

I question the sample in this study.

And you're right to!

The sample, as you mentioned, is very, very small. And it was not randomly chosen -- it was self-selected.

It certainly points to a potential problem, but it doesn't prove one.

[Mr.Unique]

He made fun of the little car he drives.

It looks like he made fun of the big trucks his teammates drive.

[central_va]

It's harder to get chicks as a mathematician than as a football player. He will find out that he has lost most all clout with the babes.

Being an NFL player, even a lineman, is a real leg opener.

[Right Wing Assault]

Soccer.

https://www.wired.com/story/brain-trauma-scientists-turn-their-attention-to-soccer/

I know of a kid who was hit in the head by a thrown basketball who got a concussion and had amnesia for several days. Hits to the head are not a great idea. As light as those balls are, at 50 mi/h they can ding the head pretty good.

[HamiltonJay]

Did you read the rest of what I wrote? Or the very and ever imports and word “if” in my statements? Since tha sample set is self selective no doubt the rate is higher than the norm in the set, but that doesn’t make a counter case that CTE is rare.

The NFL knew, knew before CTE was ever discovered that about 30% of former players would have cognitive and other issues later in life and covered it up and lied about it for years.

[Impy]

Smaller gloves appears to be a factor in MMA having fewer concussions than boxing, of course there is also less head striking due to the availability of other techniques.

[usconservative]

I’ll predict that football is outlawed at high school and college level in at least one state within four years. Within a decade....at least six states will have it outlawed. It’s only going to be roughly twenty years left in the sport.

I don't think it'll take that long. We have park districts and travel leagues that are already cancelling their seasons because they can't get enough players anymore. I even read of a high school football team that disbanded for the same reason.

Parents are pulling their kids out of football because of the CTE issue. The supply line to the NFL is already drying up.

[Teacher317]

shock study shows 99% of NFL players' brains are affected

Without the figure for non-football playing young adult males, this number is useless.

[Osage Orange]

I guess....I’m in big trouble for banging my head against the wall...for 50 years.

[lurked_for_a_decade]

Anyone stupid enough to play the game probably had brain damage to begin with. I hope the whole sport dies along with basketball and other “professional” sports.

Far to many parents push their children into sports in the hope that their child will be talented enough to get a scholarship to college. Not all but many of those kids never graduate. It’s a complete waste of time. Their time would be better spent hitting the books.

I gave up on collegiate and professional sports when I saw in 1981, first hand, the massive cheating and corruption within the ACC to keep functional illiterates eligible for play with bogus classes and falsified grades. The school used atheletes like Kleenex to make money and then discarded them when they are no longer useful.

REAL men. Whatever! Monosyllabic and steroid riddled out retards are not what I’d call real men. John Urschel is the exception, not the rule.

I met one starter for my Alma mater’s football team who got a bachelors in mechanical engineering and a masters in ME. The rest never graduated. I respected him.

I’d rather see games played by real student athletes.

While sports programs die they should also kill off the bogus paper (degree) mills and return to classic western civ. liberal arts or STEM majors and get the .gov out of student loans.

[NorthMountain]

When they abolish Football, they'll replace it with Rollerball. Nobody will live long enough to worry about TBI ...

[Walmartian]

No more kick-off returns. No more punt returns.

And get rid of the helmets.