*110
― Old Lynch's Sex Paragraph (Phil D.), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20170808/baltimore-ravens-offensive-lineman-john-urschel-retires-abruptly
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 27 July 2017 15:52 (six years ago) link
must have been a really tough choice, luckily it sounds like he has plenty to fall back on.
In January, Urschel told HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" that his passion for playing football outweighs the risks of suffering head trauma.
― Spottie, Thursday, 27 July 2017 17:21 (six years ago) link
http://deadspin.com/super-bowl-winning-qb-jim-plunkett-my-life-sucks-1797547445
tbf, i suspect a lot of 69-year-olds need a painkiller to play golf. life expectancy for american men was 64.4 when plunkett was born
― mookieproof, Friday, 4 August 2017 20:32 (six years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/the-leading-edge-of-a-much-larger-iceberg-new-jersey-high-school-disbands-football-team/2017/08/22/e13b6516-836e-11e7-82a4-920da1aeb507_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_ams-newjersey500am-1%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.702efbabf4cc
― .oO (silby), Wednesday, 23 August 2017 15:30 (six years ago) link
New Jersey, eh? When the trend reaches high schools in Texas, we will know that American football is in its final death throes.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 23 August 2017 23:26 (six years ago) link
FWIW, the stat/graph with the article indicates that Texas's percentage change is barely there (as opposed to growing or dropping notably).
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 August 2017 23:30 (six years ago) link
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, August 23, 2017 4:26 PM (forty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Sure, but I think the map lends at least some support to the idea that youth football is becoming a more regional thing, as predicted upthread
― .oO (silby), Thursday, 24 August 2017 00:07 (six years ago) link
Obviously a wealthy, heavily-Asian- and Indian-American town in New Jersey isn't home to your median high school football team though.
― .oO (silby), Thursday, 24 August 2017 00:09 (six years ago) link
it's not, but every trend begins with outliers
hang on while I think of another pithy post that is yet more obvious and dumb
― Tarly Noise (El Tomboto), Thursday, 24 August 2017 00:26 (six years ago) link
"we must impeach to save the union"
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 24 August 2017 15:47 (six years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/sports/espn-ed-cunningham-football-concussions.html
“We come back from the break and that guy with the broken leg is gone, and it’s just third-and-8”
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 31 August 2017 00:10 (six years ago) link
And changes to substantially soften the exterior of football helmets, into something more like memory foam, to reduce the weight and its utility as a weapon.
I used to half-joke they should go back to leather helmets. Personally, at this point, I'd be fine with reduced contact. Body sensors, something closer to flag football. Bigger emphasis on speed and offense, but a knee down ends a play. More pushing; less hitting.
― beard papa, Thursday, 31 August 2017 15:38 (six years ago) link
can a britisher tell me if rugby cats have the same concussion issues? the "less padding, less contact" argument is likely to be brought up more seriously again in the next year or two.
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 31 August 2017 15:43 (six years ago) link
this is off topic but I sort of love this quote from Cunningham's former broadcast partner in that nyt article
“The sport is at a crossroads. I love football — college football, pro football, any kind of football. It’s a wonderful sport. But now that I realize what it can do to people, that it can turn 40-, 50-year-old men into walking vegetables, how do you stay silent? Ed was in the vanguard of this. I give him all the credit in the world. And I’m going to be outspoken on it, in part because he led me to that drinking hole.”
vanguard of walking vegetables at a crossroads - to the drinking hole!
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 31 August 2017 17:32 (six years ago) link
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 31 August 2017 15:43 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
It's becoming more and more of a thing, along with discussion of spinal/neck injuries caused in fucks, scrums
― passĂ© aggresif (darraghmac), Thursday, 31 August 2017 17:36 (six years ago) link
Uh..rucks
forkslysses, I think the argument goes more like "less padding, less velocity;" the amount of contact is probably about the same I think. Rugby union (here and elsewhere) has also been explicitly and openly concerned about concussion protocols & proper tackling technique for much, much longer than American football.
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 31 August 2017 17:37 (six years ago) link
addressing / minimizing neck injuries in scrums has been an issue in rugby for like, decades, I thought
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 31 August 2017 17:38 (six years ago) link
Seems to be more direct action advocated recently, partic at underage level etc
― passĂ© aggresif (darraghmac), Thursday, 31 August 2017 17:39 (six years ago) link
when in reference to "fucks, scrums", i certainly hope so!
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 31 August 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link
Ah the nineties
― passĂ© aggresif (darraghmac), Thursday, 31 August 2017 18:24 (six years ago) link
Baez: #AaronHernandez had one of the most severe cases of CTE that BU researchers had seen for someone his age.— Bob McGovern (@BobMcGovernJr) September 21, 2017
― mookieproof, Thursday, 21 September 2017 20:27 (six years ago) link
looking forward to hearing the NFL's awesome plans to move a team to London when they can't even get butts in seats in Los Angeles
― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Thursday, 21 September 2017 20:58 (six years ago) link
wasn't there a thing about how OJ Simpson was showing a lot of symptoms of cognitive decline and dementia before the murders?
― frogbs, Thursday, 21 September 2017 20:58 (six years ago) link
really not eager for all the shitty things these guys have done to be pinned on their CTE
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:03 (six years ago) link
indeed
― mookieproof, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:06 (six years ago) link
well they are also assholes of course but the CTE contributes
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:09 (six years ago) link
does it
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:10 (six years ago) link
Doesn't excuse him, but does having severe brain damage cause people to make bad decisions? Probably.
― Moodles, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:12 (six years ago) link
ok guess i'll get ready for literally every single ex-football player ever to start beating women and murdering people
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:18 (six years ago) link
do you have advanced cte my man?
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link
it's p much the medical consensus that it causes aggression and impulsive behaviour in sufferers. might this contribute to them committing violent crime? all signs point to yes. would it necessarily lead to violent crime, especially in pleasant people who haven't had a pattern of behaviour of physically harming others? no.
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:20 (six years ago) link
I'm not sure where this is going but it seems ridiculous and CF-ish. nobody is absolving anyone of their fucking crimes
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:20 (six years ago) link
Don't think anyone is saying CTE always causes people to do violent things, but it's hard not to see it as a contributing factor in a case like this.
― Moodles, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:21 (six years ago) link
I doubt it's gonna hold up as a legal defense if that's what you're worried about
after watching a few OJ docs you can clearly see a difference in the dude's demeanor and speech between the 70's and the 90's. a think a lot of ex-NFLers have talked about CTE making them more prone to violence or "losing their mind" or whatever. obviously not *excusing* any of that but I feel like it's at least as much a factor in stuff like this as say, alcohol often is
― frogbs, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:25 (six years ago) link
saying cte is a contributing factor or causes aggression and impulsive behavior in sufferers is like halfway to absolving them of their crimes. otherwise why would you be mentioning it? or are you saying that they had physical conditions that lead to violent behavior but that they are nevertheless 100 percent responsible for their crimes
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:25 (six years ago) link
NA making the classic error of mistaking an explanation for an excuse.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:27 (six years ago) link
if you don't think this is going to be turned into an excuse you're kidding yourself
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:27 (six years ago) link
man, I don't know how to answer questions like that. nobody absolves drunk people for doing things that they otherwise would never have done sober.
― frogbs, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:27 (six years ago) link
i am completely perplexed by your line of thinking. do you not believe in the ability for brain disorders to affect people's behaviour? are you mad at reality?
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:28 (six years ago) link
Yes, someone impaired by brain damage bears less culpability for doing a murder than someone not impaired by brain damage. I don't see the issue there. They can still be culpable enough to jail for six months until they hang themselves in their cell because every day is a waking nightmare.
― .oO (silby), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:28 (six years ago) link
I'm now retrospectively mad at my grandmother because she acted like an asshole sometimes when she had alzheimer's
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:30 (six years ago) link
― na (NA), Thursday, September 21, 2017 4:03 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this is literally all i have to say about this, i don't know why i'm bothering with any of the rest of it. the nfl is garbage, if you watch it you're complicit, have fun, bye
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:30 (six years ago) link
otherwise why would you be mentioning it?
because it is of interest on a thread where we discuss why this sport should not continue to exist in its current form. one of the reasons being that it helps create murderers by selecting people who may already be inclined to violent aggression and then paying them to hit their heads repeatedly until they are insensate, over a course of several years.
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:31 (six years ago) link
i'm willing to give bad people a few percentage points of theoretical absolution if i can in turn pin them on the league
― mookieproof, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:34 (six years ago) link
i can't really even watch the game anymore, I just follow some of the stories like this and occasionally check boxscores. it's mostly CTE-related but also just the culture around the entire league in this day and age seems more and more garbage.
― nomar, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:52 (six years ago) link
four of the ten people in our office talk about pro football way too damn much, really hoping this whole death spiral picks up speed
― sleeve, Thursday, 21 September 2017 21:57 (six years ago) link
There are already so many reasons to stop watching the NFL. I don't need "CTE might make 'em murder people". "CTE might make 'em commit suicide to figure out why their brain won't stop screaming" was plenty.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 21 September 2017 22:23 (six years ago) link
The couple guys who shot themselves in the chest to make sure their brains could be examined is just the most devastating detail of all this to me
― .oO (silby), Thursday, 21 September 2017 22:47 (six years ago) link