OT: brain damage in football article

[Gummee]

Saw this on the google feed and thought about how many $$ football brings in yearly to these schools vs the long-term effect of dain bramage on the players.

I never played football in school (not American football anyway) so don't have an understanding of the head trauma involved. I DO have an idea of how it affects me 'cause I've had a few concussions over the years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/s...=pocket-newtab

M

[unterhausen]

do you have lasting effects from your concussions?

[kingpin75s]

Interesting topic and less clear cut than it would seem on the surface as you look at all levels of the sport.

Doctor Uzma Samadani, who as an aside helped save my father's life or quality thereof in 2016, is at the center of much of the research locally and has a son who plays football.

I think some of her considerations are captured in this article by a student who worked in her Brain Injury Research Lab for a summer:

https://aansneurosurgeon.org/feature...-brain-injury/

[Red Tornado]

Slight drift here.
If I only knew then what I know now....

My youngest son played football, youth all the way through high school, linebacker/running back. He took an intentional (on the other kid's part) helmet-to-helmet in 6th grade and blacked out for about 10-15 seconds. 2nd time got knocked unconscious (out for close to 2-3 minutes) as a freshman carrying the ball up the middle - as did the kid that hit him. One of the longest 2-3 minutes that my wife & I can remember. Both times late season so no major playing time lost - that's how we looked at it at the time. No telling how many hits to the head he took that didn't get him a short trip to the sideline. Usually took 2-3 kids to bring him down when he carried the ball and he trucked his share of kids on D. Took pride in how well he could "bring the pain" as he put it. Looking back, the way he liked to play should have given us some pause to consider what was happening. Most of it is probably on me since I played the same way in the early 80's, and took pride in how he could dish out punishment.

Fortunately, he's never shown any lasting negative effects of his football "career" and we hope it stays that way. I shudder to think what could have happened if he chose to play college ball, and he had the chance but wanted to get on with other things thank goodness.

[RFC]

Head trauma from contact sports is very real and should be taken seriously. Four years ago, the ASU Center for Law, Science and Innovation conducted an international symposium on head trauma. The panelists included a wide variety of MD and PhD researchers, as well a number of ex pros who talked about their struggles.

I was particularly impressed by a neuroscientist who had conducted MRI's of all entering freshmen athletes at University of New Mexico. Among those in contact sports, 55% already had some brain damage.

The NFL recently settled for huge dollars a case brought by retired players claiming that the NFL ignored the issue.

Right now, the big helmet companies are racing to find better designs. The one that wins will control the equipment market at all levels of organized football.

Many high school and college football programs are having trouble finding or affording liability insurance.

I think it is safe to say that football will decline in participation at many, if not all, levels.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by RFC

Many high school and college football programs are having trouble finding or affording liability insurance.

This is the new battleground. When the insurance companies begin to see the red, programs will cease.

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by Gummee

Saw this on the google feed and thought about how many $$ football brings in yearly to these schools vs the long-term effect of dain bramage on the players.

I never played football in school (not American football anyway) so don't have an understanding of the head trauma involved. I DO have an idea of how it affects me 'cause I've had a few concussions over the years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/s...=pocket-newtab

M

You may have this backwards. A few big programs make money and everything is then consumed by the athletic department in other sports. The only big time school I know of which contributes to the general fund is Notre Dame.

A better way to look at it is football is a business hiding in the non-profit status of the school which allows them to pay coaches and athletic directors more.

Outside of the biggest schools, I think the rest are probably subsidized by the university.
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/compare/confirm

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/s...gtype=Homepage

BOULDER, Colo. — The University of Colorado hired a new football coach in December, and as coaches are wont to do, he talked tough.

“Our team, we will be physical,” Coach Mel Tucker said at his introductory news conference. “My dad always told me the name of the game is hit, hit, H-I-T. There is always a place on the field for someone who will hit.”

He was preaching that old-style pigskin religion. Unfortunately, Tucker, who came from the University of Georgia, runs a football program that has produced at least a half-dozen players — including several who played in the N.F.L. — who have killed themselves. Other former players are alive but afflicted by severe post-concussion problems.

Two university regents, dissenters from the Church of Hit, Hit and Hit, read Tucker’s remarks and shook their heads. A few days later, these heretics voted against his five-year, $14.75 million contract. They could not block the contract, but another cannon had been fired in the football concussion wars.

[ZeKGB]

Originally Posted by Red Tornado

Slight drift here.
If I only knew then what I know now....

My youngest son played football, youth all the way through high school, linebacker/running back. He took an intentional (on the other kid's part) helmet-to-helmet in 6th grade and blacked out for about 10-15 seconds. 2nd time got knocked unconscious (out for close to 2-3 minutes) as a freshman carrying the ball up the middle - as did the kid that hit him. One of the longest 2-3 minutes that my wife & I can remember. Both times late season so no major playing time lost - that's how we looked at it at the time. No telling how many hits to the head he took that didn't get him a short trip to the sideline. Usually took 2-3 kids to bring him down when he carried the ball and he trucked his share of kids on D. Took pride in how well he could "bring the pain" as he put it. Looking back, the way he liked to play should have given us some pause to consider what was happening. Most of it is probably on me since I played the same way in the early 80's, and took pride in how he could dish out punishment.

Fortunately, he's never shown any lasting negative effects of his football "career" and we hope it stays that way. I shudder to think what could have happened if he chose to play college ball, and he had the chance but wanted to get on with other things thank goodness.

Same story here, sophomore in his first varsity game goes helmet to helmet with the running back on the goal line on literally the last play of a game they had already lost. Couldn't state his name or his address for an hour, had to be strapped on a backboard for a ride to the hospital. A week later he played again, thankfully he didn't have any more serious concussions but he says today he had a few bell ringing episodes that he now realizes were worse than he let on.

We were definitely idiots to let that happen.

[Louis]

I don't come from a "football is awesome" background, which probably explains what I'm about to say, but I don't understand how responsible parents who care about their children can allow them to play full-contact football.

On the other hand, I bet lots of those same parents are the same ones who ask me "How can you ride your bicycle out on the roads like that, with all the cars out there?

So I suppose the risk is all relative.

[paredown]

Topical from today's NYTimes, "At Colorado, a Breach in Football’s Wall" talking about those regents that voted against the new head coach who has coached a physical game, and whose proteges have killed themselves (including NFL players):
"...the University of Colorado has come closer than most institutions to wrestling with an urgent question: Is running a college football program unconscionable?"

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/s...sultPosition=4

[unterhausen]

I really love to watch football. I'm lucky that I never was any good at it. I feel very conflicted about watching it because of the head injuries. I don't know why there isn't more of an attempt to stop the injuries through officiating.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

do you have lasting effects from your concussions?

Not like say Ms Twigg or this guy. No.

I do tend to feel impacts from hitting a bump just wrong when riding more road than some and am very careful about things coming towards my head. ...like feet and other heads when I'm playing underwater hockey

M

[Mikej]

https://college.lovetoknow.com/campu...all-make-money

It’s a sham - but people love it

[AngryScientist]

I’ve never watched a full game of football in my life; just no interest personally.

I hope none of my kids show any interest in playing; it’s too risky for young kids to take hits like that. Another concern for young people in not well funded communities how good are the helmets they play in? Sometimes very old and I’ll fitting from what I have seen locally; that doesn’t help.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Mikej

https://college.lovetoknow.com/campu...all-make-money

It’s a sham - but people love it

Many colleges see a football program as a mark of prestige. Subsidizing the football program is seen as an investment to raise the image of the entire college. This is similar to the thinking of cities that subsidize professional sports teams.

In a previous discussion on college costs, it was mentioned that many colleges are spending money on non-education related expenses like luxury student housing and other campus amenities. Subsidizing the football program goes along with all that.