Football and CTE

[IceCap]

11 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

It would be, if the NFL hadn’t been working so hard to stymie research.

 

Until the NFL stops trying to direct and control research into CTE, it isn’t possible for anyone to be fully “informed”. 

That’s true, but the truth is breaking through. Eventually the NFL won’t be able to blur the issue. 

[Gothamite]

39 minutes ago, Ice_Cap said:

That’s true, but the truth is breaking through. Eventually the NFL won’t be able to blur the issue. 

 

That’s true.  But we’re not there yet, not by a long way.  

[dfwabel]

54 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

Universities already tell those legal adults what to do with codes of conduct and the like.  

 

More importantly, though, watch insurance companies stop covering universities, and see how long the sport lasts then. 

 

In 2017, General American, the insurance subsidiary of FC Cincinnati's Carl Linder's American Financial Group, sued the Big Ten to remove football injuries from their coverage. 

I cannot find if they were successful or if the case is still pending.

 

The full lawsuit can be found HERE.

 

EDIT:  To add, the NCAA has taken the NFL/Tobacco defense themselves.

Quote

“The allegations made by the plaintiffs in these lawsuits remain very much in dispute and we vehemently deny the allegations and claims,” Stacey Osburn, the NCAA’s public relations director, told Bloomberg Law recently.

 

 

 

 

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, dfwabel said:

EDIT:  To add, the NCAA has taken the NFL/Tobacco defense themselves.

 

Yeah, pretty sure we called that a while back.

 

The only way one can defend the game today is to adopt the “both sides of the science!” position. 

[DnBronc]

Ken Reed of League of Fans has a new entry about youth football:

 

http://www.leagueoffans.org/2019/03/05/usa-today-time-to-ban-tackle-football-for-children/

 

 

[dfwabel]

That op-ed comes a week after Pop Warner made new rules for their three youngest age groups.

 

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LANGHORNE, Pa. (AP) — Pop Warner will become the first national football program at any level to eliminate the three-point stance in further efforts to make the sport safer for young players.

 

The nation’s longest-serving youth football organization said Thursday the ban will be introduced in Pop Warner’s three youngest divisions this season. It’s aimed at changing how offensive and defensive linemen engage in contact when the ball is snapped.

 

Under the new rule, players in Tiny Mite (5 to 7 years old), Mitey Mite (7 to 9) and Junior Pee Wee (8 to 10) will not be allowed to position themselves on the line with their hand on the ground before the snap. Instead, they must either be upright or in a modified squat position with their hands on their legs.

 

 

 

WTF are they still doing with Tiny Mite?

[Gothamite]

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Tiny Mite (5 to 7 years old), Mitey Mite (7 to 9) and Junior Pee Wee (8 to 10)

 

That's ing child abuse, each one of those.

[SFGiants58]

6 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

That's ing child abuse, each one of those.

 

It’s like reading the age ranges for sexual initiation in the Children of God/Family of Love/The Family International cult. It doesn’t matter how you stratify it, each category is egregious child abuse. 

 

Yes, I’m fully aware that I’m comparing pee wee football to child sexual initiation (with sex between children and with adults molesting children). Given that both have long-last physical and psychological impacts, I think it’s appropriate.

[walkerws]

On 3/5/2019 at 4:19 PM, SFGiants58 said:

 

It’s like reading the age ranges for sexual initiation in the Children of God/Family of Love/The Family International cult. It doesn’t matter how you stratify it, each category is egregious child abuse. 

 

Yes, I’m fully aware that I’m comparing pee wee football to child sexual initiation (with sex between children and with adults molesting children). Given that both have long-last physical and psychological impacts, I think it’s appropriate.

You might think that way but it is not.  They don't compare and it's just gross that you see them as equal. 

[Gothamite]

They’re not nearly as far off as we once thought, though. 

[dfwabel]

Minimum age for tackle football in Maine?

 

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AUGUSTA — A legislative panel heard public testimony Wednesday on a bill to create a commission to study and recommend a minimum age for participating in tackle football.

 

“I think that fairly soon we will have enough evidence that will lead us toward setting, or looking at, age limits,” said Rep. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, the bill’s sponsor. “What we’re seeing across the country is a decline in participation and parents are, in fact, setting that limit.”

 

The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee heard testimony in support of forming such a commission. Representatives from the Maine Principals’ Association and the Maine Athletic Trainers Association and two physicians were among those who supported the idea. No one spoke in opposition, though some lawmakers on the committee did question whether the issue warranted legislation.

 

Six states have introduced legislation calling for a tackle football age limit since 2018, though none of the bills has been passed into law.

 

“What we know today is different from what we knew 10 years ago, and what we know 10 years in the future might tell us that acting now was the right thing to do,” Brennan said.

 

 

[Gothamite]

Step in the right direction.  Then bumping the age up to 18 should be the next step. 

[IceCap]

Yeah. High school years are a very important time in the developmental cycle of a human brain. Tackle football should not be a thing we expect kids of that age group to partake in.

 

18 seems to be the age we as a society have deemed the beginning of adulthood, so if someone 18 or older wants to play tackle football? And they have the facts laid before them? All the power to them. That's their call. Kids though? No. We shouldn't encourage kids to smash their heads into each other. Not while, as @the admiral once said, we're also trying to teach them math.

[The_Admiral]

Like I've been saying, football will drop off piecemeal in areas that aren't cradles of the game. Maine, perfect example. Insurance will also play a major part in it.

[Gothamite]

I think the NASCAR comparison might end up being a good one; a regional sport, followed where it's followed and virtually unheard of in other parts of the country.

 

That presumes, however, that players and teams in Texas will still be able to find an insurance company willing to cover them.  Which might actually be tough. 

[The_Admiral]

There will always be insurance companies to insure them, but will there always be school boards willing to pay what it costs?

 

I assume you mean high school football will be a regional sport, by the way. There will always be an NFL in some powerful form, but eventually, no, I don't think we're gonna see any Friday Night Lights stuff on the North Shore of Chicagoland or in back-of-beyond rural districts.

[Gothamite]

I’m not actually sure high school football will even exist in fifteen years.  I certainly hope that it doesn’t.  

[The_Admiral]

I'm so looking forward to a public relations firm doing cynical idpol like "if you're so liberal, why would you deny young black men, the most marginalized group in America, the opportunity to access generational wealth?" 

[dfwabel]

Mike Florio is carrying Merrill Hoge's/Big Football's water with the following:

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Regardless of whether CTE fears were a factor in Gronk’s decision-making process (I’d heard over a year ago that family members were pushing Gronk to quit due to concussion concerns, possibly fear stoked by the likes of Dr. McKee), Dr. McKee believes that players have begun to consider CTE when deciding whether to call it quits.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/03/30/gronks-retirement-becomes-a-flashpoint-in-cte-debate/

[Gothamite]

Disgusting.