Junior Seau Dead

[winghaz]

I can see them eliminating the three-point stance. It would be a drastic change, but I'd bet it would stop a lot of head cracking.

[Gothamite]

That's one of the easiest things they could do, but the result could be massive. You wouldn't have these linemen pushing off the ground at each other, which is a tremendous impact.

I think it's less drastic and radical a change than eliminating kickoffs entirely, which has been publicly floated...

[dfwabel]

NOTE: This event was scheduled prior to the suicide deaths of Junior Seau and the death of former Falcon Ray Easterling, a main plaintiff on one of the varous class-action suits against the NFL.

Should Colleges Ban Football?

The motion for the debate is ?ban college football.? Playing offense will be the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Friday Night Lights writer Buzz Bissinger and the New Yorker?s Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Bissinger will flag the corruption he sees decaying college football from the inside, while Gladwell will tackle the sport?s medical risks. Meanwhile, Tim Green, a former NFL defensive end and broadcaster, will join Fox sports national columnist Jason Whitlock on defense. They?ll contend that the game needs nothing more than thoughtful reforms.

[pmoehrin]

Should Colleges Ban Football?

The motion for the debate is "ban college football." Playing offense will be the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Friday Night Lights writer Buzz Bissinger and the New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Bissinger will flag the corruption he sees decaying college football from the inside, while Gladwell will tackle the sport's medical risks. Meanwhile, Tim Green, a former NFL defensive end and broadcaster, will join Fox sports national columnist Jason Whitlock on defense. They'll contend that the game needs nothing more than thoughtful reforms.

I've been saying that college football needs to be called before congress for years and not just for the BCS.

There's alot of things I can come up that college football has done that if almost any other institution did it would be grilled for, but because its college football it essentially gets a free pass.

But in alot of ways its an apples and oranges comparison to the NFL. I think the problems in college are much more complex, both the public and government are I feel much more critical of the NFL, and the players at the pro level are much more capable of dending themselves via the NFLPA and the retired players association then they are at the college level where no such orginzations really exist.

[dfwabel]

Should Colleges Ban Football?

The motion for the debate is "ban college football." Playing offense will be the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Friday Night Lights writer Buzz Bissinger and the New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Bissinger will flag the corruption he sees decaying college football from the inside, while Gladwell will tackle the sport's medical risks. Meanwhile, Tim Green, a former NFL defensive end and broadcaster, will join Fox sports national columnist Jason Whitlock on defense. They'll contend that the game needs nothing more than thoughtful reforms.

I've been saying that college football needs to be called before congress for years and not just for the BCS.

There's alot of things I can come up that college football has done that if almost any other institution did it would be grilled for, but because its college football it essentially gets a free pass.

But in alot of ways its an apples and oranges comparison to the NFL. I think the problems in college are much more complex, both the public and government are I feel much more critical of the NFL, and the players at the pro level are much more capable of dending themselves via the NFLPA and the retired players association then they are at the college level where no such orginzations really exist.

However if most FBS colleges incorporate their athletic departments outside of the academic mission of the institution and there is at least one suit against the NCAA and its membership for failure to protect student-athletes, then they have something to worry about even with the potential dollars from a playoff.

[infrared41]

I have been saying the same thing for years around here. People think it sounds crazy when you say football might be safer with less equipment, but I really believe that less equipment would make the players think twice about launching themselves like missiles to make a tackle.

That's not a realistic argument. The helmets and pads are never going to go away, and those hits the pads have afforded are what sells the game internationally and attracts audiences. It's not financially logical to just do away with something universally identified with the game simply because it would be potentially safer.

First off, no, it's not unrealistic. Kevin and I are hardly the only people who have brought up the less equipment argument. I've seen it brought up in the media etc. Second, no one said anything about eliminating pads and helmets. We said "less equipment", not eliminate equipment. That's an important distinction.

Lastly, "those hits" are why we're having this discussion in the first place. (Personally, I think it's kind of sick that people get off on the brutal hits we see every week in the NFL.) Whether it's "financially logical" or not, do you really believe the NFL's postion will be "screw safety, we're making money off these guys beating each other silly. (both figuratively and literally) We'll just keep paying off the lawsuits." And you think my argument is the one that's not realistic.

All I'm saying is there has to be a way to make helmets and pads more about protection while removing the weapon aspect. It's not as out there as you think.

[evanmaldonado]

So I've been wondering why The traumatic brain injuries only seem to happen to football players? I mean hockey's currently going through a concussion problem right now, but their former players aren't developing mental disorders from their hits to the head after playing through concussions. And we all know hockey players (used to, at least) play through multiple concussions and injuries. So why are retired football players the only ones developing CTE? I just don't understand

[BBTV]

I'm aware that this may sound really silly and make no sense, but that's never stopped me from posting my thoughts before.

What if you greased up the helmets, or made them super slick so that when there's helmet-to-helmet contact, they'd just glide right past each other instead of "sticking"? Obviously direct head-on collisions would still be bad (but how many crown-to-crown hits are there really?), but for lineman at least, wouldn't it help at least a little bit? It would seem to me, with my total lack of medical training, that in addition to the initial blow, the post-blow "pushing" probably also has an impact on how it's felt on the brain and / or neck. Reducing that half second to a milisecond might make a difference, no?

[Gothamite]

Honestly, I don't know. That could help with neck injuries, although two heads slipping and sliding on contact might actually cause more of those.

So I've been wondering why The traumatic brain injuries only seem to happen to football players? I mean hockey's currently going through a concussion problem right now, but their former players aren't developing mental disorders from their hits to the head after playing through concussions. And we all know hockey players (used to, at least) play through multiple concussions and injuries. So why are retired football players the only ones developing CTE? I just don't understand

Because this is not about concussions. That can't be repeated often enough. This is not about concussions. The NFL would like you to think concussions are the danger. So would the helmet companies, and the players themselves. Because if this was really about concussions, we could get a better handle on preventing CTE.

Yes, concussions are a contributing factor, but we're seeing CTE in players who have never been diagnosed with a concussion.

The real culprit appears to be the smaller hits, hits at the line, that happen dozens of times in a game. The brain sloshes around, striking the skull, not hard enough to cause a concussion but just enough to suffer minor brain damage. Do that again and again and again over the course of a 15- or 20-year career playing the game at all levels, and that's what seems to cause CTE.

And that's why football is uniquely threatened by CTE. Other sports have hard hits that can lead to concussions, but no other sport relies on the series of small collisions as an intrgal part of the game. Football's very nature appears to cause CTE, so this isn't a concussion problem that we can innovate our way out of with a shiny new concussion-proof helmet design.

[Viper]

The real culprit appears to be the smaller hits, hits at the line, that happen dozens of times in a game. The brain sloshes around, striking the skull, not hard enough to cause a concussion but just enough to suffer minor brain damage. Do that again and again and again over the course of a 15- or 20-year career playing the game at all levels, and that's what seems to cause CTE.

And that's why football is uniquely threatened by CTE. Other sports have hard hits that can lead to concussions, but no other sport relies on the series of small collisions as an intrgal part of the game. Football's very nature appears to cause CTE, so this isn't a concussion problem that we can innovate our way out of with a shiny new concussion-proof helmet design.

I'd say ice hockey is threatened just as much. Even though it doesn't have quite as many collisions per game as football, keep in mind that NHL teams play five times as many regular-season games as NFL teams per year, and anywhere from four to nine times as many playoff games.

[Kevin W.]

The real culprit appears to be the smaller hits, hits at the line, that happen dozens of times in a game. The brain sloshes around, striking the skull, not hard enough to cause a concussion but just enough to suffer minor brain damage. Do that again and again and again over the course of a 15- or 20-year career playing the game at all levels, and that's what seems to cause CTE.

And that's why football is uniquely threatened by CTE. Other sports have hard hits that can lead to concussions, but no other sport relies on the series of small collisions as an intrgal part of the game. Football's very nature appears to cause CTE, so this isn't a concussion problem that we can innovate our way out of with a shiny new concussion-proof helmet design.

I'd say ice hockey is threatened just as much. Even though it doesn't have quite as many collisions per game as football, keep in mind that NHL teams play five times as many regular-season games as NFL teams per year, and anywhere from four to nine times as many playoff games.

Also, baseball, soccer and basketball don't have nearly as many of the full-contact hits that hockey and football do, which also goes back to the fact that players in baseball, soccer and basketball don't wear all of those armored pads.

[Gothamite]

Okay, I'll admit my ignorance here, not having followed a hockey team in 20 years.

If hockey players do suffer dozens of solid hits to their helmets every game, then we should see them in the CTE mix as we learn more.

[Kevin W.]

Okay, I'll admit my ignorance here, not having followed a hockey team in 20 years.

If hockey players do suffer dozens of solid hits to their helmets every game, then we should see them in the CTE mix as we learn more.

It hasn't been confirmed but it's speculated that Wade Belak committed suicide. Derek Boogaard was found to have CTE with significant brain damage after his death, though his death was due to an accidental overdose. Rick Rypien also committed suicide, but I don't know if he had CTE.

[Viper]

Okay, I'll admit my ignorance here, not having followed a hockey team in 20 years.

If hockey players do suffer dozens of solid hits to their helmets every game, then we should see them in the CTE mix as we learn more.

It hasn't been confirmed but it's speculated that Wade Belak committed suicide. Derek Boogaard was found to have CTE with significant brain damage after his death, though his death was due to an accidental overdose. Rick Rypien also committed suicide, but I don't know if he had CTE.

Also, as I mentioned farther up the thread, a hit need not even be directly to your head or helmet in order to jostle your brain against the inside of your skull. Pretty much any hit that causes your neck or upper spine to suddenly lurch forward or to one side would have the same effect, and there are plenty of those kinds of hits in hockey as well as in football.

That's what's so scary and potentially earth-shattering about this issue. Not only are concussions not the real issue, but even head shots aren't the real issue. They are just the lowest-hanging fruit.

[winghaz]

Boy, and to think, we're not that terribly far removed from the time when hockey players didn't wear helmets.

[The_Admiral]

Let's hope last unhelmeted man standing Craig MacTavish doesn't lose it and kill anyone.

again

[dfwabel]

Bumping as Jill Steeg of Union-Tribune San Diego wrote who Sunday stories on Seau post his death. These stories are long and include interviews with his children. They are also somewhat voyeuristic. You think of a problems/addictions you could have...Seau apparently had them all and killed himself as a result as he thought he had no place to turn.

Link 1: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/14/junior-seau-real-story/?print&page=all

Link 2: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/21/bitter-endgame/?print&page=all