rolling American football death spiral thread

these ppl are so caught in their own damn web

https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awx350/4815697

These results indicate that closed-head impact injuries, independent of concussive signs, can induce traumatic brain injury as well as early pathologies and functional sequelae associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/01/18/a-new-study-shows-that-hits-to-the-head-not-concussions-cause-cte/

Here's every concussion in the NFL this year pic.twitter.com/zyzwciboSj

— Josh Begley (@joshbegley) February 1, 2018

Aside from the concussion issue
as a fan of football, I think there's something to the fact that football on NFL and college level for the past decade have been dominated by Belechik/Patriots and Saban/Alabama, who are really two of the most anti-charismatic/joyless operations in the history of sports....just grim hyper competence....just comparing it to say guys like Steve Kerr or Popovich in the NBA who seem like really cool, smart guys

also like...the Cleveland Indians are not handling their team name and mascot issue particularly well but they're moving a bit forward and MLB is pressuring them, which is SOMETHING, whereas in the NFL Goodell is just standing w/Snyder and that terrible team's inarguably racist name. They should be contracted.

i really don't have much positive to say about the league or sport or most of its prominent players tbh.

RIP football

No one on Jeopardy knew anything about football 😂 pic.twitter.com/EomJWawkWF

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 2, 2018

i coulda won a lot of money

lmao

Then there's this piece

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/opinion/sunday/nfl-cte-brain-damage.html

bananas

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/05/22/anthem-rules-kneeling-penalties-home-team-stay-locker-room-roger-goodell

if both teams kneel, the penalties offset and they'll replay the anthem

lol

the crowd should kneel

https://media.giphy.com/media/24yUvz2kSe2Dm/source.gif

*refs start breakdancing*

ATLANTA -- NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer, it was announced Wednesday.

The new policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons. Those teams will also have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction.

"This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room until after the Anthem has been performed.

"We believe today's decision will keep our focus on the game and the extraordinary athletes who play it -- and on our fans who enjoy it."

A vote took place at the conclusion of the league's spring meetings and was approved by all 32 owners.

creepy af

forced patriotism is the best patriotism

also, any student who doesn't stand for the pledge of allegiance gets detention

Now it will be even more of a protest when they kneel, good job you dickheads

everyone should kneel

NFLPA not happy: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/389018-nfl-players-association-criticizes-new-league-policy-on-kneeling

donate $130,000 per kneel to planned parenthood or gtfo

Do you think they'd be fined for kneeling AND praying?

nfl in screwing up really badly again shocker.

I wonder what happens if the NFL players figure out a way to protest while standing up. pic.twitter.com/tXLZisJ5qO

— Neuro Polarbear (@NeuroPolarbear) May 23, 2018

heh

middle finger salute?

players shd tackle the owners to death just spitballin

Fans should kick themselves in the nuts

Repeatedly until they bleed out

Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz try to return from knee injuries, Andrew Luck from a shoulder injury, Kirk Cousins debuts for Vikings and Jon Gruden returns to Oakland...yet the biggest week 1 storyline is shaping up to be who stands for anthem and who stays in locker room.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 24, 2018

Larry Fedora: “Our game is under attack ... I fear that the game will be pushed so far from what we know that we won’t recognize it 10 years from now. And if it does, our country will go down, too.”

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) July 18, 2018

north carolina coach goes lolverboard

fedora? jesus christ.

and his name is Fedora

xpost lol

it sounds likes hes saying those wld be bad things

well at least he's in lockstep with the political views of his community, which is *checks notes* Chapel Hill.

Apparently they’re doing better business than ever on the TV revenue front. God, fuck this sport.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22344060

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/aug/19/college-football-deaths-offseason-workouts

While Maryland’s institutional mea culpa was unusual, McNair’s death was not. University of Maine defensive back Darius Minor collapsed and died of a heart condition in July during an informal team workout. According to Anderson’s research, 33 NCAA football players died playing the sport between 2000 and 2016, an average of two per season. Six of those deaths were traumatic, the result of injuries caused by collisions. The rest were non-traumatic, the result of intense exercise. All but one of the non-traumatic deaths occurred during the offseason.

To put things another way: college players are four and a half times more likely to die training for football than actually practicing or playing it.

fuck this atavistic bullshit sport and fuck you for watching it

Sally Jenkins of all people lays out how fucked up that is

Hatcats no longer popular

https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/10/09/health/dylan-thomas-georgia-high-school-football-cause-of-death/index.html

Pike County Coach Brad Webber said officials are not sure when or how Dylan was injured. Coaches reviewed video of the game to try to pinpoint what happened -- whether he had taken a hit to the head, for example -- but nothing stuck out, he said.

Video of Dylan's final game was released by Pike County High School. The footage does not show any traumatic or catastrophic hits to his head. At one point in the second quarter, he is seen in the video being hit by two players on a running play and is slow to get up. He continues playing.

This is why the transition from football player to civilian life is so difficult. In addition to trying to learn some new skill after “retiring” (football players retire the way JFK retired from politics), we must now do alone what it used to take a village of highly trained specialists to accomplish—and even they had trouble. To manage the deterioration without daily access to a single system of care—an umbrella with an orthopedist, a physician, a gastroenterologist, a joint-surgeon, a nutritionist, a psychologist, a neurologist, dentist, acupuncturist, yoga instructor, etc.—is difficult. Add to that the paperwork it takes to do it, and we simply can’t manage it. Not because we’re stupid, but because they kept us away from books. They kept us away from the Language of Life, because it was a “distraction”, and now a simple form may take an hour or two to comprehend. Especially with these headaches.

https://deadspin.com/the-nfl-broke-former-players-like-me-heres-one-way-to-1829914431

those Nate Jackson articles are excellent. they always make me a bit nauseated.

this by his former teammate is also good: https://theundefeated.com/features/former-nfl-player-domonique-foxworth-big-questions-after-end-of-career

nate jackson's memoir was great imo

i have not watched a snap of football this season, and i didnt even try

Bears QB Mitch Troobinski threw six TDs in one game and I felt no joy

one time i turned on a chargers home game just to see how many road fans were there. answer: a lot

i've legitimately only seen a couple people wearing Chargers gear in L.A., and tbh i don't see many in Rams gear either. Not compared to how many I see in Dodgers/Lakers/Kings gear.