Michael H put a particularly interest comment on the Junior Seau memorial thread. It goes like this:
Michael Haz said...
I love football, but I'm going to stop watching it if the NFL doesn't quickly do something to end the brain trauma that is hurting so many athletes after they retire.
The NFL needs to, today, issue a rule change the outlaws any hits above the shoulders. Period.
And this rule needs to remain in place until the NFL can definitively solve the problem of how to protect players' brains.
High school and college football programs need to do the same thing. "He got his bell rung; make him sit on the bench for the next series" is no longer a good coaching practice. It never should have been, but that's what is done. That, and a snort of ammonia from the trainer's kit are about all a player gets.
One of my heroes from the Packers' glory era is the late Lionel Aldridge. He was a magnificent athlete who had a personality that lit up any room he was in. He went from being a player to being a Packer's TV analyst, and was wonderful at that.
then there were signs of illness - mental illness that he and others stemmed form head trauma. He lost the TV gig, lost his family, became homeless for a time. Some loyal fans found him and got him into a medical treatment program, then a job working at the Post Office in Milwaukee.
The brain damage was too much and Aldridge, like Junior Seau and other former NFL players, took his own life.
The price it too high. This bullshit about "Hey, it's a violent game, you need a dress??" has to stop.
I really respect Michael H and his opinions but on this I think we have to disagree. Football is a dangerous sport. A dangerous choice for a career. Like coal mining. And being a police officer. The only difference is the tremendous rewards you get for being a football player. At the very least a full scholarship. So if you take that route you are accepting the risk. They can never make it safe enough that these things will never happen. Or that injuries will not accumulate to really fuck you up later in life. Football players get used up. Like Thoroughbred racehorses. Or greyhounds. But unlike those dumb animals they make the choice to take steroids or ped's and other things that shorten their life span. They get the big contracts and the cars and the girls. They must think it is worth it or they would quit while they are ahead.
I guess I am very libertarian on this issue. If we stop them from playing football (or boxing as blake suggests) it is a short slip down the slope to them banning my donuts and pizza because it makes you fat. People should do what they want to do. I wouldn't even outlaw steroids for that matter. If they want to do that they should be free to do so. We have too many rules as it is.
The bottom line is more policeman kill themselves every year than football players. We are not going to change the rules about being a cop.
If watching them with the current rules doesn't work for you than I can respect that. It is one of the reasons I don't watch hockey. All of the fighting is just bullshit. The enjoyment I get from that game is outweighed by my disgust at the rules. But I am not going to tell Hockey or it's fans how to run their game. I think it should be up to them. I don't watch and it doesn't seem to bother them all that much.
So live and let live. I think the game is just fine the way it is. Bad stuff happens. All the time. We can't control everything. It is not an issue of manilness or macho or anything like that. It is a question of choice.
30 comments:
Well, I agree with your stance, politically, but I don't know if Haz was suggesting legal and political remedies.
If they wanted to reduce the injuries, they'd take away the padding and helmets. But they'll never do that. It's for "safety".
Just like in boxing, if they wanted to reduce the injuries, they'd take away the gloves.
Oh I agree blake, Haz is not talking about legal or political remedies. He is just saying he is not going to watch if it doesn't change and I just feel that I will.
These guys make a lot of money and when you do you take your chances with what will happen. To your body. To your mind. To your reputation. You have to own it.
Football is just about the biggest money there is today. It is not going to change no matter how many guys kill themselves. Or how many lawsuits they lose.
Which they won't lose. There is too much money at stake.
Have you told us lately that the Giants won the Super Bowl?
I know.
You would think that Aaron Rodgers would shoot himself since that retard Eli Manning beat him in the big game. Just sayn'
Firstly, While concussions are a big problem there are many others, some of which Trooper mentioned. More importantly, we don't know why this guy killed himself. He has had run ins w/ the law and domestic problems. The body is still warm, let's get the facts.
I've worked some suicide cases. However, I hired a retired homicide detective back in the 80's whose specialty was suicides. As he taught me, they're often more complicated than homicides. The first thing the police look for is alcohol or drugs in the system. The vast majority of people can't do the deed w/o a little help..it's that God given fight we all have in us to live. So..if they find no alcohol or drugs, it raises a red flag. I just gave you a tidbit of what cops look @ in these investigations. Like I said, it's very complicated. Let's be patient. Patience is an increasingly rare quality in our impatient culture.
I am more concerned about the players arms because they are amazing.
Yum.
tits.
Will there be tits on your show?
Send in the tits.
Don't bother....there here.
thank you.
Where did MamaM go?
Did she croak or something?
tits.
What people tend to forget is the troops who are coming home with brain injury are committing suicide at higher rates than they are being killed in battle, this is truly sad and it need to be acknowledged by Americans.
Football players are paid extremely well, our troops sacrifice themselves for little pay and are pretty much forgotten by many Americans. I do understand the concern and dismay though.
I don't know how many times I've heard "Oh I thought they all came home" some people don't even know there is still a war being fought in Afghanistan.
Titus said...
Where did MamaM go?
This worries me too. I miss MamaM.
That's a very good point I've seen you make before, Allie.
Safety conditions are the kind of issue where a union can possibly be useful.
It's conceivable that the players would like the NFL to adopt safer rules and equipment, even if that ended up reducing their pay. But the rules have to be set for the league as a whole--they don't get negotiated on a player-by-player case.
No government regulator knows that, of course, but the players' union reps should.
Back in my martial arts days we used to talk about safety equipment all the time, so my reactions have nothing to do with the current spate of suicides.
And I absolutely respect (in the formal sense) the choice to shorten your life in pursuit of something. It's not for me to decide whether anyone should have the right to bash each others' heads in, take drugs or steroids or just flat out kill themselves, for whatever reason.
But I don't have to watch.
But on the other hand it is fun to bet.
Your boy Mariano just went down hard shagging fly balls during bp in KC. It didn't look good.
Interesting discussion.
I wonder why someone who wants to kill themselves would shoot themselves in the chest? Not saying I doubt his intention. It's just interesting. In a very sad way, of course.
Darce, part of the issue with football suicides has to do with potential huge lawsuits against the NFL with regards to brain damage and depression in former players. If a player kills himself in that way his brain can be autopsied and a correlation can be created linking professional football with gridiron dementia, well, there is a huge pot money which can be looted and spread around.
Have at it, you unscrupulous ambulance chasers - there is gold in them thar ills.
Darcy,
Actually, a shot to the heart is probably the most sure way to kill yourself. You can live with a bullet in your brain. You can't live without blood.
That said, I think the head is the most common target.
The other side of the depression is simply recognizing that your time is up, right? Can't play any more--what else do some of these guys have?
OK, I'm going to out myself as a total pussy here, but I've lost about a third of my vocal range in the past year. (Not a third, but, like, a major third, i.e., three notes at the top.)
I'm a computer geek, and a lousy singer, and I have a zillion other interests—and this depresses me greatly, =even counting the possibility I can get that back.
Some of these guys have done nothing but football for 20 years. Training, playing, waiting for the next training, etc.
The guys who seem to do well post-career are the ones who have a future lined up.
I can't help but think that for a while, a shot to the heart would hurt like a son of a bitch. In theory, a shot to the brain would be less painful.
I'll skip both, thanks. Life is too rich to exit without a fight.
For a few seconds, yeah.
Weighed against being a vegetable for 20 years?
Not saying I could do either, mind you.
Aim for the brain stem, eh? Disconnect that sumbitch and you're good. Er, bad. Well, if you were good you wouldn't be takin' a .38 caliber aspirin, right?
Meh, terrible topic. I have lost a number of friends and acquaintances to suicide and I sure wish that was not the case.
Yeah, pretty grim stuff.
Junior was really hot. His bod was amazing. He had many more loads to shoot and this is what makes this most sad.
His tits and bis were fucking incredible and he had so much cum to shoot.
so sad.
tits.
Okay, maybe I'll accept the libertarian aspect of pro football.
Maybe. Although I think pro football is at the beginning of what boxing went through, how it deteriorated when the game turned into "beat the other man's brains until he collapses." Do youloke how the magnificent Muhammad Ali turned out after his head got clobbered? Or Sugar Ray Leonard?
If you're watching boxing or football to see how some guy gets knocked out, you're a sick fuck.
In thre area where I live, it isn't unusual to read about a high school or college athlete who suffered one or more concussions playing football. Some have permanent IQ reductions. What the hell is wrong wioth parents, and with schools that let this happen. And don't kid yourself, every coach tells his kids to hit as hard as they can and use their heads as weapons.
I can't believe that any true fan wants to see an Eli Manning or Aaron Rodgers or any other player suffer lifetime injuries. To be blase about it, to say that it's okay because they got paid well is ridiculous.
Even the rednecks who run NASCAR know that you can't keep the ratings if your sport kills or maims its athletes.
Motorcycle jumping is evel
The thing is injuries happen in sports. The more violent the sport the worse the injury. But you can't legislate all the risk out of the game. Look at baseball. Guys still get hit in the noggin. They don't outlaw pitching inside. So occasionally someone gets hit. That's the way it goes.
To say money has nothing to do with it is silly. It says everything about it. It is the reason football exists on every level.
Otherwise people would be watching lacrosse or soccer or some shit like that there.
Injuries happen in Lacrosse too, my daughters nephew just had his collarbone broken.
Injuries happen in any human endeavor. Kind of amusingly, I never had a serious injury while studying martial arts, unlike all the baseball players, runners and dancers I knew....
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