NFL says a quarter of players will end up with brain problems

Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2014-09-15 06:03

Article here.  Excerpt:

'About one in four National Football League players are likely to end up suffering dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or other cognitive impairments during their lifetime, according to a report filed in court by the league's lawyers.

The NFL submitted the summary of the findings of an actuarial study it had commissioned in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania on Friday as part of the ongoing litigation between former players and the league.

The study by the Segal Group, based in New York City, used a database of the medical history of retired players as part of its method.

The report appears to be the most definitive statement the NFL has yet made on the dangers of the sometimes violent sport, where players can develop concussions as they butt helmeted heads with those of other players.

The report said 28 percent of the "overall player population" and a third of the 5,000 plaintiffs who sued the league, will be diagnosed with cognitive impairment during their lifetime, according to the court filings.'

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Comments

Not much different from cigarette manufacturers just plain admitting what everyone else already knew. Not an act of contrition, far from it. Just dropping the ludicrous pretense.

I hope boys and their parents now playing or considering playing football pay attention to this admission. Like boxing, pro wrestling, and MMA, there will of course still be takers, but perhaps fewer than otherwise. Boxing used to be a big sport in the US, until the obviousness of its effects became patently undeniable. Fewer and fewer boys took it up. While boxing is still a pro sport, it is not today nearly as big as it once was.

For the sake of current and what would have been future football players, I'm glad this admission's finally been made. Maybe the rules/mechanics of football can be modified to reduce substantially the risks of these and other kinds of serious injuries. Either way, I hope this gets the ball rolling.

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Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2014-09-15 06:17

On the one hand, I am appaled that the focus of the news is NOT how football is bad for men, but how it is bad for women(what with the current focus on how Rice hit his wife while ignoring how Solange hit JayZ).

But so it goes in sexist America.

Anyway, Matt, you are correct: the football culture is detrimental to men.

Not only is it the focus of college sport spending (which, as a result of title 9, leaves much less for non professional men's sports) but it produces a malignant definition of masculinity.

In time, though, it is all going to die. Just time, now.

The death will come from the health insurance rates that high schools will soon pay to support this game. Yes, the NFL will try to offset this, but the cost of playing high school football will grow.

While I do blame feminism for many of society's ills, I place the blame for this, squarely on men. It really is time to abandon this preposterous and exaggerated manifestation of masculinity and return to tennis, track and field (I love watching runners), basketball, baseball and so on...

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Submitted by ThomasI on Mon, 2014-09-15 13:11