SB Nation Minnesota: Is football too dangerous to be played?

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://minnesota.sbnation.com/2010/6/30/1545999/is-football-too-dangerous-to-be

By Jon Marthaler - Assistant Editor

READ MORE: traumatic brain injury, Chris Henry (WR - CIN)

New brain research - including an examination of Chris Henry following his tragic death - shows that football may be causing much more prevalent brain damage than previously thought. Many are starting to wonder - is football too dangerous to be allowed?

Jun 30, 2010 - I love most sports, but football is first among equals. I love watching it, I loved playing it, and I've defended it as a positive experience for young males. It taught me about doing things that I didn't want to do because others were depending on me - great training for being a man.

This is part of the reason why I'm so worried about the latest news about the damage that football can inflict. Researchers at West Virginia University's Brain Injury Research Institute examined the brain of former NFL wide receiver Chris Henry, who died tragically last December after falling from the back of a pickup truck. The researchers found that Henry's brain showed evidence that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degeneration of the brain that has now been found in more than 50 deceased athletes.

CTE, also known as pugilistic dementia, is caused by repeated blows to the head. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University has all of the background information, but in short: since the 1920s, scientists have known that getting repeatedly whacked in the noggin can cause people to, later in life, experience memory loss, confusion, paranoia, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, depression, and dementia. This has long been associated with boxers - hence the name "pugilistic dementia" - but has only recently come to be associated with football as well. This may have peaked with an October 2009 New Yorker article by Malcom Gladwell, provacatively titled, "Offensive Play: How different are dogfighting and football?"

The shocking part of the Chris Henry findings, however, is that Henry was exceptionally young, and played an exceptionally contact-free position. CTE had been found in ten-year offensive line veterans and long-term strong safties and professional wrestlers before, but Henry was only in the NFL for four years, playing wideout, where he got hit in the head less than any other position on the field. And yet, his brain was damaged in the same way that an Alzheimer's patient's brain would be damaged.

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[GhostofSparta]

First of all, didn't Chris Henry die from brain damage as the result of a fall from a moving vehicle? And second, when they ban boxing I'll know they're serious about football injuries.

[SkinsHokieFan]

First of all, didn't Chris Henry die from brain damage as the result of a fall from a moving vehicle? And second, when they ban boxing I'll know they're serious about football injuries.

Yes he did. They are just saying, based on the catscan of his brain after passing, that he already had serious brain issues from 4 years in the NFL

[GhostofSparta]

Yes he did. They are just saying, based on the catscan of his brain after passing, that he already had serious brain issues from 4 years in the NFL

It's probably because I'm not a doctor, but wouldn't massive head damage like he recieved from the fall (you know, massive enough to kill him) skew those results just a tad?

[SkinsHokieFan]

It's probably because I'm not a doctor, but wouldn't massive head damage like he recieved from the fall (you know, massive enough to kill him) skew those results just a tad?

I am sure that was taken into account by the doctors and scientists who have studied this and do this for a living

[Destino]

It's probably because I'm not a doctor, but wouldn't massive head damage like he recieved from the fall (you know, massive enough to kill him) skew those results just a tad?

No. If you get whacked on the head with a hammer and die the autopsy doesn't come back with "was this guy a boxer?!"

This problem in football isn't going to go away on it's own. As athletes get larger and faster (something they've been doing for a while) and the money (incentive) gets bigger... the hits will get more and more damaging. I don't think this is a NFL issue exclusively. Henry played in the NFL for just 4 years which hints that much of this damage is coming in high school and college.

Think about this people, Chris Henry had a retired boxers brain after 4 years in the league in his mid twenties! At least he got paid for it. I wonder how many college players that will never made one red cent from the game have also left the game with massive irreversible brain damage.

Obviously I don't think football needs to be banned but this issue can't just be ignored. The changes need to be instituted at every level be it children, high school, college, or pros.

[Bang]

I love watching football, but I am very glad my son decided to be a baseball player instead.

~Bang

[jpillian]

No. If you get whacked on the head with a hammer and die the autopsy doesn't come back with "was this guy a boxer?!"

This problem in football isn't going to go away on it's own. As athletes get larger and faster (something they've been doing for a while) and the money (incentive) gets bigger... the hits will get more and more damaging. I don't think this is a NFL issue exclusively. Henry played in the NFL for just 4 years which hints that much of this damage is coming in high school and college.

Think about this people, Chris Henry had a retired boxers brain after 4 years in the league in his mid twenties! At least he got paid for it. I wonder how many college players that will never made one red cent from the game have also left the game with massive irreversible brain damage.

Obviously I don't think football needs to be banned but this issue can't just be ignored. The changes need to be instituted at every level be it children, high school, college, or pros.

Seconded. I think more research is probably needed, but it seems to me that change is needed and definitely coming to the sport.

[Predicto]

I love watching football, but I am very glad my son decided to be a baseball player instead.

~Bang

Same here.

I probably would have loved gladiator fights in Ancient Rome. Doesn't mean they were reasonably safe.

[Hubbs]

Hold on. I've read plenty of stories about aging ex-players, especially runningbacks, whose bodies are really broken down because of the pounding they took. I've seen interviews with ex-players who had permanent injuries or who had memory problems because of too many concussions. But I've never seen a former player who looks like Muhammad Ali. I've never seen a former player who talks like some former boxers talk (sometimes unintelligible, very sad).

Shouldn't there be tons of those players if the article is correct?

[GhostofSparta]

Well, I've been put in my place. I really had no idea how much 1 major injury would skew it, but what you guys said makes a lot of sense.

Now, how do they solve this problem? Do they pad the outside of the helmets for more protection, and if so, would that lead to more leads with the head as a result? How about going old-school and eliminating the helmet, would that lead to more superficial injuries (cuts, bruises, broken noses, missing teeth) but prevent the types of massive head injuries we see now due to a more cautious and technique-driven approach, and would that in result make the games more or less exciting? Do we do nothing on the logic that "Well, sure there may be some damage to kids by the end of college, but the ones that make it to the pros and do it longer for a living make more than enough money to take care of it"? Does the NFL need to start suspending players, perhaps some permanently, who lead with the head or trend toward aiming for the head? Do we as fans just take the hypocritical approach of "I love the NFL, but I'm not letting my kid play football ever. Just let those kids in Texas/California/(insert state here) play so I can continue to watch college/NFL football without MY kids being in and danger"?

There seem to be plenty of options for reducing head injury and brain damage....but each of them also has its own drawbacks. :whoknows:

[jpillian]

Hold on. I've read plenty of stories about aging ex-players, especially runningbacks, whose bodies are really broken down because of the pounding they took. I've seen interviews with ex-players who had permanent injuries or who had memory problems because of too many concussions. But I've never seen a former player who looks like Muhammad Ali. I've never seen a former player who talks like some former boxers talk (sometimes unintelligible, very sad).

Shouldn't there be tons of those players if the article is correct?

That's a good point as well. I'm thinking of guys like Russ Grimm and Mike Singletary; high-profile former players who seem to have suffered no ill-effects.

OTOH, I believe that's what's referred to as anecdotal evidence, as opposed to the mounting scientific evidence from these studies.

Which leads us to the question: if it isn't something that effects all players, how great of a proportion of players need to be effected before the fanbase/players demand that action is taken?

[TheDoyler23]

I know there are a lot of former football players that "Seem just fine" several years after they've retired, but there is certainly a cumulative effect to all those hits. Not just the direct blows to the head, but the violent movement of the head when being hit elsewhere on the body.

I bet a lot of those guys who are "fine" would get a very different opinion from a Neurologist, a Neuropsychologist and/or a Speech and Language Pathologist.

Football players who have been trained to be "tough." Forget about the dysnomia, the aphasia, mood disorder, sensory issues, and so forth.

The NFL is just now starting to get ahead of the issue of brain injuries. Hopefully more research and testing will lead to better helmets and less injuries.

[Destino]

Hold on. I've read plenty of stories about aging ex-players, especially runningbacks, whose bodies are really broken down because of the pounding they took. I've seen interviews with ex-players who had permanent injuries or who had memory problems because of too many concussions. But I've never seen a former player who looks like Muhammad Ali. I've never seen a former player who talks like some former boxers talk (sometimes unintelligible, very sad).

Shouldn't there be tons of those players if the article is correct?

Ali has Parkinson's. Completely different.

This is going to sound like a smart ass comment but there are a lot of players and ex players that are barely intelligible when they speak. The problem is how do you tell which ones talk like that because of blows to the head from the ones that well... just talk like that.

Were any of you able to understand Fred Smoot or worse Rod Gardner?

[DCSaints_fan]

Same here.

I probably would have loved gladiator fights in Ancient Rome. Doesn't mean they were reasonably safe.

So OK for other people's kids, but not for yours? Isn't that somewhat hypocritical?

[GhostofSparta]

Were any of you able to understand Fred Smoot or worse Rod Gardner?

Or the king of unintelligible football speak, Mr. Emmitt Smith himself?

[Predicto]

So OK for other people's kids, but not for yours? Isn't that somewhat hypocritical?

Actually, it's totally hypocritical.

I no longer follow boxing for this reason, but I can't seem to give up watching football. I'm an addict.

[KDawg]

I wonder how much of this brain damage was from drugs/alcohol as well.

Football is a dangerous sport, for sure. But let's not forget that alot of these pro athletes, although in shape, don't care of themselves worth a darn.