Report: Junior Seau Dead

[ervinsm84]

So when an alcoholic drives drunk and kills someone, I'll be sure to blame the illness and not the man.

What about those folks who've had multiple concussions who didn't commit suicide? Should I say, "Congratulations! You didn't kill yourself and leave behind all of your crying family members and friends!"

Amazingly, Plummer has decided not to kill himself yet.

My great grandfather smoked 2 packs a day for over 60 years...Lived to 95 before dying of natural causes and never got lung cancer

Amazingly, smoking never killed him. Therefore, smoking must not be dangerous for your health.

Anecdotal evidence is fun

Do you think Todd said that concussions are "not dangerous for your health" or are you stretching things a bit here?

Of course it is. Thought it was obvious but did it to illustrate a point.

With these posts together, I think it may show that better.

[blumj]

A team of independent researchers who did not know they were studying Seau's brain all concluded he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease typically caused by multiple hits to the head.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/junior-seau...ry?id=18171785

[traderumor]

I have a son who really wants to play football, another who is talented and would probably be a running back candidate, perhaps a linebacker. One is 12, the other 11. I have said no and feel like a hypocrite because I love watching football. I know he thinks I am being overprotective.

I read an article several months ago about concussions in young people, and told him that was why I don't think football is safe for his mental development. They talked about the brain damage incurred by young boys playing HS football because they are getting concussions while the brain is still in developmental stages. That's when I decided my sons would not play tackle football. If it keeps them from an athletic scholarship or making millions of dollars in the NFL, so be it.

But then, he is growing up in a middle class white home and will have other opportunities to maintain or improve his situation. What about kids growing up in poverty, who have the talent and see football as perhaps their main opportunity to improve their situation? And they may be right because of our cultural inequities.

I see the big hits and the guys stumble off the field. The safety measures being taken will never be enough. Helmet technology will never dramatically improve the incidence of concussive hits, or so I read. And larger numbers of athletes are able to make bigger and bigger hits with each generation.

I imagine it has gotten to epidemic proportions thanks to the ESPN effect, who call the big hits "plays of the week." I love the sport, have grown up watching it, have my football teams that I follow, but I don't think Plummer is completely exaggerating. You see the guys get up slow, walk to the sidelines after a big hit, walking off the field as if drunk---or getting carted off.

I am feeling more and more comfortable with my decision to not let my boys play football. While it is being protective, I think it is my duty to not let my children get involved in something that will inevitably be harmful to their health, just like I don't let them smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs. They play football outside in the yard, but they are not making vicious hits on each other. While I understand they can get concussions just playing around the house, that doesn't mean I should allow them to be involved in an activity that I KNOW is going to have a high probability of one occurring in the course of playing the game.

The boys are just going to have to be disappointed on this one and stick to basketball and baseball, where this type of injury, esp. in youth leagues, is probably no higher than getting a concussion playing in the yard.

But then I ask the broader question. Will more and more parents take the position I am? Why is football excelling in suburbia, (and forgive my generalization, but I think it has merit), where they are seemingly so concerned about healthy lifestyles, but are putting together football teams that dominate and compete for state championships, at least in Ohio? The evidence is mounting. Will football go the way of boxing as a barbaric, unsafe sport in another generation or two?

[Scrap Irony]

But then I ask the broader question. Will more and more parents take the position I am? Why is football excelling in suburbia, (and forgive my generalization, but I think it has merit), where they are seemingly so concerned about healthy lifestyles, but are putting together football teams that dominate and compete for state championships, at least in Ohio? The evidence is mounting. Will football go the way of boxing as a barbaric, unsafe sport in another generation or two?

I will not allow my son to play football for fear of sustaining a head injury, so I agree with you wholeheartedly. Anecdotally, I see football as struggling to find athletes. Last year, the three best athletes in my small school all decided (or were forced to decide) not to play. This was the reason each child (and their parents) gave. By the end of the season, only 25 kids were on the team.

This year, I switched to a much larger school of about 1500 students. Three of the best football players in the school were not allowed to play this year medically, as each suffered brain injuries (two of which were permanent enough to put the kids on IEPs) while on the field last year. As a result, the football team here also struggled to find players. By the end of the season, only around 40 kids were on the varsity squad. (More-- about 70-- were, to be fair, on the JV squad.)

[Chip R]

I just wonder if it's not just necessarily the concussions that is causing CTE but the cumulative effect of all the hits whether they result in a concussion or not. Maybe 10 hard hits that don't cause a concussion equals 1 concussion. Maybe it's 50 or 100. It could be possible for someone to go through an entire career with a few or no concussions and still end up with CTE. It's a bit frightening to think about.

I applaud the convictions of the parents who won't let their kids play. My nephew is a junior in high school and while he gets hurt a lot, I haven't heard of any head injuries yet. He probably won't play in college but I still worry about that.

[SunDeck]

It will never come up, but if it did I would not allow my son to play football. It's a great sport and I do like to watch it, but this concussion thing is becoming a line over which I don't think responsible parents should cross.

My late father in law played football in college back in the mid fifties. I remember very clearly a discussion I had with him over twenty years ago in which he decried the modern game because the equipment had turned athletes into (his phrase) "human missiles". He said back in his day you couldn't afford to launch yourself at an opposing player, nor could you use a leather helmet as a projectile because you would knock yourself out of the game. You had to drag a guy down or hit them with your chest and wrap them up. I have heard for years of the value of putting your head down when you are about to get hit, but I never asked him about this, and I'm sure plenty of guys in leather helmets got their bells rung pretty good, but it's always struck me that a guy from an earlier era of the game made this observation a generation ago. I wonder how accurate he really was now.

[traderumor]

Sun Deck,

I think there is that false sense of security with equipment technology that allows guys to sacrifice their bodies. The article I read pointed that out. Its the same dynamic that causes safety features in vehicles to have the opposite effect on drivers than is intended, whereby there is a tendency to drive more aggressively because of the security that safety features will prevent serious injury. The same thing goes on the in head of a football player.

[Hoosier Red]

I agree Traderumor,

I've also been interested in finding examples of players "back in the day" who wouldn't take advantage of a "concussed" player or would otherwise not push the envelope on hits to the head.
Much like Baseball and Hockey's unwritten rules, I wonder if football players had unwritten rules to take care of their own. As safety equipment progressed and you weren't seeing stars after every time a guy hit you, I wonder if the players became desensitized to the effects.

[Stray]

This isn't about Junior Seau, but still about how things were in the NFL at the time. There needs to be a better way of handling injuries, and it needs to happen soon. We saw it with RG3, we see it with concussions every week, and we see the long term effects it can have in guys like Junior Seau. It's a brutal game I know, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to make it safer.

I hate the defenseless receiver rules, but at the same time I understand what the league is trying to do.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/1...lors-pain.html

[RedsBaron]

Sun Deck,

I think there is that false sense of security with equipment technology that allows guys to sacrifice their bodies. The article I read pointed that out. Its the same dynamic that causes safety features in vehicles to have the opposite effect on drivers than is intended, whereby there is a tendency to drive more aggressively because of the security that safety features will prevent serious injury. The same thing goes on the in head of a football player.

I agree. Years ago I was involved in litigation started by a high school senior who was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a tackle he made. To me the game film looked as if he had lead with his head and made a spearing tackle, although a major college football coach with whom I consulted disagreed. Anyway during the course of that litigation I learned quite a bit about the limits to the protection even the best football helmets could provide.
With misgivings I allowed my middle son to play high school football and thankfully he suffered no major injuries and no concussions. In many ways football was a positive development for him. I was still glad his two brothers didn't want to play, and after all that has come out about concussions in recent years I wonder if I would have still let him play if I had the decision to make again. It is tough because football is so big here, with the high school my sons attend or attended having won three state titles since 2006.

[RedsBaron]

NM

[traderumor]

I agree. Years ago I was involved in litigation started by a high school senior who was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a tackle he made. To me the game film looked as if he had lead with his head and made a spearing tackle, although a major college football coach with whom I consulted disagreed. Anyway during the course of that litigation I learned quite a bit about the limits to the protection even the best football helmets could provide.
With misgivings I allowed my middle son to play high school football and thankfully he suffered no major injuries and no concussions. In many ways football was a positive development for him. I was still glad his two brothers didn't want to play, and after all that has come out about concussions in recent years I wonder if I would have still let him play if I had the decision to make again. It is tough because football is so big here, with the high school my sons attend or attended having won three state titles since 2006.

Sadly, it will probably take a National TV audience watch a guy die on the field before the sport will take a serious hit. But it will probably happen. As for me and my house, we will sort through the hypocrisy issue, but no child of mine will get my signature on a permission slip.

[MWM]

I was an accomplished high school player there in Cincinnati and have a 10 year old son. He will not be playing football for this very reason. I have some other friends who feel the same. I really do think it will affect the sport in the very long run..... will take some time, but it will have an impact.

If there's any silver lining for me, this could mean some of these athletes switch to soccer.

[MWM]

Sadly, it will probably take a National TV audience watch a guy die on the field before the sport will take a serious hit. But it will probably happen. As for me and my house, we will sort through the hypocrisy issue, but no child of mine will get my signature on a permission slip.

It's just a matter of time until it happens. The massive egos of the bozos playing in the NFL will never let it change.

[Chip R]

Sadly, it will probably take a National TV audience watch a guy die on the field before the sport will take a serious hit. But it will probably happen. As for me and my house, we will sort through the hypocrisy issue, but no child of mine will get my signature on a permission slip.

It may not have to be so tragic. If insurance companies stop insuring these players because it's too great a risk, that may spell the end of youth football as we know it.