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Is Football the Next Tobacco?

What a joke. They knew the risks. I'm going to sue the Weinstein center next time I roll my ankle
 
predicting law suits in this country is a joke, you have to sue your own family members in order to pay their bills and there are more law suit tv commercials than cell phone ads, a no brainer. the bottom line is we are not getting rid of football and you can whine, complain, get on your high horse or soap box but you will fail. as long as you feel better about yourself, that is really all that counts.
 
My daughter plays on the team and had one last year, pretty scary. One or 2 - 3 girls get them during the year and its serious stuff.
 
think we all realize, finally, how serious it can be and it can happen doing most anything, mine from body surfing and losing to the wave but can come from falls, sailing, mountain climbing, sky diving, driving, biking, walking, running almost any endeavor one wishes to come up with or think about and there are so many activities, dangerous activities, which take place today. it is short-sighted to think we are going to ban america's favorite sport, just not going to happen. yes, there is money there so will be those who attack that and go after that but if you are going to allow your kids to play sports or participate in anything, you have to realize the dangers and decide to lock them in the attic or let them go out and enjoy themselves.
 
"Football's toll on its participants is well established. We know about dozens of former N.F.L. players who were left with severe brain damage from repeated blows to the head. Their stories often contain disturbingly similar details - depression, substance abuse, memory loss, dementia - and their brain damage was always revealed posthumously.

But there are many more former players out there wondering if they are football's next casualties. Most of those players are not famous. Most never made a dime off the game. They are relatively anonymous men who played the sport in college and only later, for some reason or another, have found themselves struggling in life.
Just like their N.F.L. counterparts, Hoffman and those former college players have been left to wonder: Did football do this? Are the hits to the head I took the reason for my decline? Or would I be in this condition even if I'd never played a down? They might never know the answer, because a definitive answer might not exist. Hoffman blames football for scrambling his brain, but at this point it is impossible to disentangle what could be football-related brain injuries from his subsequent drug use and possibly genetic mental illness. He simply cannot be sure. No one can. He and players like him are faced with the same terrifying uncertainty as former pros. Yet none of them will benefit from the $765 million settlement the N.F.L. has agreed to pay to thousands of its former players, and few of them can expect much help.


Spun out of a college football system that makes billions of dollars for the N.C.A.A. and its member universities, these former college athletes are little more than collateral damage. "Those are the players who are being left behind in this whole concussion debate and, unfortunately for some of them, it's a life-or-death issue," said Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, the newly formed college players union. "But even if the N.C.A.A. paid a billion-dollar settlement, it may not be enough to help all the college players suffering right now. There are just too many of them."


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/sports/ncaafootball/ryan-hoffman-a-unc-football-player-two-decades-ago-is-now-homeless.html
 
Boy, its a shame these kids have no other options.

They are literally saying they could be next, but still play. Thats like telling me if I go to Target there is a 20% I get robbed, so I still go Target, get robbed, and bitch and moan about it because no one is helping me.

IF YOU ARE SCARED, DON'T PLAY. If you are scared for others even though they know the risks, you need something to do with your life
 
Injuries in football are nothing new, "over three hundred
players died from football injuries between 1890 and 1904 and many more were
seriously injured. By October 1905, the problem was so acute that President
Roosevelt convened a meeting with the Intercollegiate Rules Committee (Harvard,
Yale, and Princeton). As the meeting began, the President made it clear the
future of the sport was in jeopardy unless something was immediately done about
the violence. The participants said that the football season was just
beginning, but agreed to address the problem at the end of the year. The
violence continued. During the 1905 season, eighteen more college players, as
well as forty-six high-school students, died as a result of football injuries.
But at least, as promised, the Intercollegiate Rules Committee met in December
1905 and formed the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States
(IAAUS) to address the violence." (In 1910 the IAAUS changed its name to the NCAA)




http://www.jetlaw.org/wp-content/journal-pdfs/Maney.pdf

The injuries being suffered today are not as apparent (and not as permanent) as they were in the early 1900's but they are serious nonetheless. The players are bigger and the protective gear for one may act as an assault weapon to another. There is no doubt football players assume the risk of serious injury, but I expect most welcome the attempt to reduce the injuries. Flag football anyone? I've heard it said you could fill up Bryant-Diney stadium for a flag football game between Auburn and Alabama.
 
that joke, flag football in alabama, is just that, a joke. we all have decisions to make in our lives. we can all just sit out, hide in our rooms or we can go out and do what it is that makes us happy, realizing that we can get hurt, killed in any endeavor we pursue. as long as this is a free country, like having options available. damned republican presidents!!
 
Hey Spinner don't get excited I'm not serious about flag football, you assume the risk when you play football. My point (maybe not artfully stated) was that we have come a long way from death being the risk of discussion in football to concussions being the risk of discussion and that attempts can, and should, be made to reduce this risk - maybe even without the intervention of the President of the United States.
 
HA, got it buddy, just that football down here is crazy, people killing trees, giving up their first borns, for their college teams. a completely different animal and probably would give up their guns before they allowed football to be taken away.
 
that is the way in which it should work, individual players making their own life decisions. it should not be meddlers and do-gooders deciding it.
 
Is Chris Borland's retirement the beginning of the end for the NFL?


"The news Monday night was shocking, even at a time in which the NFL has had one shocking headline after another. Chris Borland is quitting one of the most coveted jobs in America, retiring as a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers at 24 because he's concerned about the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma. Now, just weeks before a new crop of college kids are drafted into the league, the NFL finds its offseason dominated by stories about young players who are quitting.
Borland becomes the fourth player at the age of 30 or younger to retire in just the last week, joining Patrick Willis, another 49ers linebacker who quit six days earlier because of pain in his feet. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds is quitting at 27 to do religious work and Jake Locker, a Tennessee Titans quarterback who was an NFL bust, says he "has no burning desire to play."
Last year, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice retired because of his increased awareness of the dangers of concussions, an awareness that was heightened after watching a documentary in which Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer Tony Doresett spoke of his daily battles with deteriorating health brought on by chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In early March, Rice and New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford, announced that they would donate their brains to science research when they die. Rice estimated that he has had eight concussions; Weatherford two. But, as everyone is becoming increasingly aware, small, repetitive hits take their toll, too.
[Will early retirements become more prevalent? ]
That's why playing the game just wasn't worth it for Borland. A third-round draft pick out of Wisconsin, he was one of the top rookies in the NFL last season and was due to make $530,000 in 2015. A history major, Borland made his choice after speaking with concussion experts and former players and will undergo baseline tests to monitor his health and "contribute to the greater research."
"I just honestly want to do what's best for my health," Borland told ESPN's Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru. "From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I don't think it's worth the risk … I feel largely the same, as sharp as I've ever been, for me it's wanting to be proactive. I'm concerned that if you wait 'til you have symptoms, it's too late. … There are a lot of unknowns. I can't claim that 'X' will happen. I just want to live a long healthy life, and I don't want to have any neurological diseases or die younger than I would otherwise."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/03/17/is-chris-borlands-retirement-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-the-nfl/
 
When I saw the announcement I wondered how long with would take our friend to post links to the story. Welcome back.
 
Young Players Walk Away, Football Moves On

"...Perhaps most telling was a Bloomberg Politics poll conducted in December, which found that 62 percent of college-educated parents didn't want their children playing football. Moreover, 62 percent of parents making more than $100,000 a year agreed.
As Will Leitch wrote then, this is why football will never die. Claims about the NFL's death knell largely stem from the rich and the educated who wouldn't put their children at risk in youth football. But as Leitch put it, just because the wealthy don't want their kids to play, "that doesn't mean they don't want someone else's[/I] kids to play." Rather than signaling the end of the sport, concussion concerns signal the continued demographic shift toward players for whom football offers hope of a college scholarship and a potential NFL path from poverty. "Football will have a perpetual renewable recruitment resource in the poor," Leitch wrote.
This view is supported by legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg, the reposted a column from January with this prediction:
The response, Steinberg says, will be that those parents in upper- and middle-class homes will steer their kids toward less injury-prone sports. Ultimately, the pool of football players will be less diverse and full of more desperation. That won't be healthy for anyone, on several levels. And it could seriously harm the game's public appeal.[/QUOTE]
Steinberg terms it "the existential threat to football." A sport that is revered among the elite will become wholeheartedly blue-collar, a factory for players who have no other choice.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-17/chris-borland-walks-away-football-moves-on
 
there are 100s of articles out there on this subject, do you plan on posting all of them? BTW by posting the article rather than the link you do realize you are violating copyright laws, at least I hope you do.
 
This crap belongs in Off Topic.Tired of it.If he can't talk about UR football.CAA,FCS,game strategy,recruitng,move him off line where he can play with himself there.Next we will see articles about eye damage caused by elbows in basketball.Move the water boy off line.Time for a fly swatter.
 
respect chris' decision which i am sure he researched and made his mind up and that is as it should be. your prob ben, there are 100 guys who want to take his place and that will continue.
 
"...before we go any further on this topic: Can we just agree that it is simultaneously possible to genuinely enjoy the game of football and worry about football? There's this maddening suggestion that those two opinions are in conflict, that you can't be concerned about the future of something you love, which, if true, must also mean that you can't have children, buy a home, work in media or even think about shopping for a boat. I am pretty sure Chris Borland-a well-regarded young linebacker who got a vote for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year-liked football. Loved football. And he grew worried about it, too."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-it-means-to-leave-football-early-1426626490
 
there is a difference in being aware, concerned, attempting to make things safer and cheering for it to disappear, look at the "subject" you used to start this thread. the thing about it, our legislators know what tobacco is, does and yet, they continue to allow it to be sold, used........WHY?? think we both know the answer to that one
 
$ money $

Yet money, in the form of lawsuit settlements/damage awards, could do football in if those in charge don't make safety changes.


Pop Warner Football Lawsuit: Is Kids' Football An Abnormally Dangerous Activity?


"Is youth football an "abnormally dangerous activity"? And if so, should kids be allowed to play it? The first of those questions is raised in announced his retirement after his rookie year.) Briefing on the case should be completed this week, and then the court will decide whether the claim can proceed."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/03/pop_warner_football_lawsuit_is_kids_football_an_abnormally_dangerous_activity.html
 
attorneys can destroy anything........not a personal attack on my buds who practice but think there are more lawsuit commercials on my tv than cell phone or car insurance ads. ben, people can be hurt playing football, a given, either let your kids or yourself play or not, let them ride their skateboard or not, their bike or not, ride in a car or not. in our country, we sue our own parents for gosh sakes, we will sue anything. no argument that attorneys will go after anything that has money so the nfl will have to protect itself and maybe colleges and maybe pop warner but football will win out because people want to play it and people want to watch it, bottom line. heck, there are idiots still smoking and that is worse than playing football.....
 
Ankle injuries happen in football as well

Ankle sprains are graded 1-3, based on severity. The less severe sprains are often easily managed and athletes can return to play within several days to weeks. Football players can also sustain "high ankle sprains", also referred to as "syndesmotic sprains"; these are more severe and require casting for a short period of time. To reduce swelling and discomfort in your ankle, cryotherapy is a great option.

This is something to watch out for as well.
 
and vandy, like UR, probably has 4-6 guys ready to take his place. again, great that guys can make their own decisions, based on their own individual health, free country.
 
ben, go to the rodeo a couple of times each year, is here for 20 days, if you really want to see individuals throwing themselves into very tough, scary situations, attend one. again, we cannot and should not, legislate or sue away our freedoms because someone could get hurt or killed. certainly hope we come to our senses on this, calmer minds prevail.
 
WebSpinner: Good point about rodeos, but UR doesn't host, promote or pay for a rodeo team (and will never do so). Allowing individuals the freedom to participate in risky activities is fine and protected in our country, as it should be. Yet UR would not field a boxing team, skydiving team or other similarly risky activity. If students want to do these activities, it's solely up to them and their willingness to pay for it. UR won't finance, provide scholarships for or officially sponsor them.

Michigan's Jack Miller is walking away from the game: "Former Michigan starting center he would not play his senior season and on Wednesday he told ESPN concern about the long-term impact from past and possible future concussions was a factor in the decision. "I know I've had a few and it's nice walking away before things could've gotten worse," Miller said. "And yes, multiple schools have reached out. But I'm ready to walk away from it. My health and happiness is more important than a game."

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/12555518/jack-miller-michigan-wolverines-quit-due-concussion-fears
 
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