This sport is going to be dead in 25 years. Just wait until all the data comes in from the massive amount of research that is now underway looking at the effects of football on cognition. No mom is gonna allow their kid within 100 feet of a football field.

This sport is going to be dead in 25 years. Just wait until all the data comes in from the massive amount of research that is now underway looking at the effects of football on cognition. No mom is gonna allow their kid within 100 feet of a football field.

 

These type of comments always crack me up. As long as scholarships are being awarded by colleges there will be someone wanting that scholarship.

These type of comments always crack me up. As long as scholarships are being awarded by colleges there will be someone wanting that scholarship.

I think you may be underestimating how devastating the results of the data will be on the game. When the results of all this ongoing research show what we all suspect they will show, imagine the lawsuits that will be filed against youth leagues, high schools and colleges. If you think it's silly, just consider the impact trial lawyers and the judicial system have had on big tobacco in America. When the dust settles, no high school will be able to afford the liability insurance necessary to field a team.

I think Football is being used as the scapegoat because they are an easy target. The tests does not confirm it had anything to do with the deaths. Where are the researches on other athletes from other sports. I know I had a few playing soccer. I k ow my daughter has been concussed playing softball and another as a cheerleader.

 

I'm just saying you can get concussed participating in just about any activity. I think it's a serious issue that needs to be looked at but to hear people say they won't let their kids play the game but then allow them to play other sports that they can get even more concussed because of lack of protective gear just doesn't hold a lot of water for me.

 

The article also states that the reason the numbers are so high in the deceased that were tested is because all of the ones tested had already been diagnosed with the symptoms while they were alive so the numbers would be skewed like they were. It would be like doing research on how many people were killed by gun shots by only examining those who were shot in the head. Very bad and misleading title to the article. It makes it sound as if 90% of all football players will have this issue when the numbers are probably not even close to the truth.

Being pinged about the anniversary of Chris Henry's death made me think about this thread. So in the two years following this thread, Boston University (who is the defacto authority on CTE) has discovered additional info about the chemistry that changes in your brain as CTE develops and has been able to determine that all but 1 of the deceased 91 NFL players involved in this original portion of the study were, in fact, suffering from CTE. As of 2017, current numbers for their study showed that 87% of the former football players whose brains were donated for their study tested positive for CTE, and a frightening 99.1%....110 out of 111 deceased NFL players...had brains that tested positive for CTE.

As of 2017, current numbers for their study showed that 87% of the former football players whose brains were donated for their study tested positive for CTE, and a frightening 99.1%....110 out of 111 deceased NFL players...had brains that tested positive for CTE.

 

Here's a partial list of the NFL players who have been diagnosed post-mortem.

 

Jovan Belcher

Forrest Blue

Bill Bryant

Lew Carpenter

Ronnie Caveness

Dwight Clark

Daniel Colchico

Lou Creekmur

Art DeCarlo

Shane Dronett

Dave Duerson

Pete Duranko

Ray Easterling

Frank Gifford

Cookie Gilchrist

John Grimsley

Jason Hairston

Chris Henry

Aaron Hernandez

Wally Hilgenberg

Jim Hudson

Gerry Huth

John Henry Johnson

Tom Keating

Terry Long

Rob Lytle

John Mackey

Ollie Matson

Tom McHale

Earl Morrall

Larry Morris

Paul Oliver

Tommy Nobis

Joe O'Malley

Joe Perry

Mike Pyle

Adrian Robinson

Scott Ross

Tyler Sash

Eric Scoggins

Junior Seau

Bubba Smith

Robert Sowell

Ken Stabler

Justin Strzelczyk

Mosi Tatupu

Daniel Te'o-Nesheim

Kevin Turner

Andre Waters

Mike Webster

Ralph Wenzel

John Wilbur

Here's a partial list of the NFL players who have been diagnosed post-mortem.

 

Jovan Belcher

Forrest Blue

Bill Bryant

Lew Carpenter

Ronnie Caveness

Dwight Clark

Daniel Colchico

Lou Creekmur

Art DeCarlo

Shane Dronett

Dave Duerson

Pete Duranko

Ray Easterling

Frank Gifford

Cookie Gilchrist

John Grimsley

Jason Hairston

Chris Henry

Aaron Hernandez

Wally Hilgenberg

Jim Hudson

Gerry Huth

John Henry Johnson

Tom Keating

Terry Long

Rob Lytle

John Mackey

Ollie Matson

Tom McHale

Earl Morrall

Larry Morris

Paul Oliver

Tommy Nobis

Joe O'Malley

Joe Perry

Mike Pyle

Adrian Robinson

Scott Ross

Tyler Sash

Eric Scoggins

Junior Seau

Bubba Smith

Robert Sowell

Ken Stabler

Justin Strzelczyk

Mosi Tatupu

Daniel Te'o-Nesheim

Kevin Turner

Andre Waters

Mike Webster

Ralph Wenzel

John Wilbur

 

My wife and I were recently at the wedding of the granddaughter of former "Dallas Doomsday Defense" end George Andrie. George died last August after suffering from dementia in his later years. I had a long conversation with a couple of his family members at the wedding, and they mentioned that George's brain was donated to Boston University for the study, and he has been added to the list of players who tested positive for CTE.

My wife and I were recently at the wedding of the granddaughter of former "Dallas Doomsday Defense" end George Andrie. George died last August after suffering from dementia in his later years. I had a long conversation with a couple of his family members at the wedding, and they mentioned that George's brain was donated to Boston University for the study, and he has been added to the list of players who tested positive for CTE.

 

I’m still waiting for their to be research on the brains of other players from other sports. People get so worked up about CTE in football. When the reality is I think we would see it high in a lot of sports. Which then changes everything about this research and what’s the cause and how to prevent it if it can even be prevented.

I’m curious what the numbers would be for guys who only played till college and/or high school. I’m certain I had a few concussions playing. Anyone else on here signed up to donate your brain to CTE research?

I’m still waiting for their to be research on the brains of other players from other sports. People get so worked up about CTE in football. When the reality is I think we would see it high in a lot of sports. Which then changes everything about this research and what’s the cause and how to prevent it if it can even be prevented.

 

I didn't really play sports past high school outside of inramurals in college. If I unfortunately passed away today and my brain was donated for research, I'd be shocked if I wasn't tested positive for CTE and I never played football. To many head-to-head collisions in soccer/basketball, head hitting the gym floor, more head balls off goal kicks and goalie punts than I can count. Plus throw in the fire hydrant that I took to the dome at a young age.

I’m curious what the numbers would be for guys who only played till college and/or high school. I’m certain I had a few concussions playing. Anyone else on here signed up to donate your brain to CTE research?

 

I'm sure I'm the exception to the rule (my wife is a pediatric neurologist), but I told her if I go first, she's welcome to donate my brain to the study. They do have a small number of people outside of the NFL who have donated brains to the study - as of 2017, the study included a total of 202 brains, and only 111 of them were from former NFL players. As with most medical science.

The war on football continues.

I’m still waiting for their to be research on the brains of other players from other sports. People get so worked up about CTE in football. When the reality is I think we would see it high in a lot of sports. Which then changes everything about this research and what’s the cause and how to prevent it if it can even be prevented.

 

Agreed. Every good study needs a control group to compare to. We need to know what a "football brain" looks like compared to a "no sports brain" compared to a "soccer brain" and a "rugby brain" and a "basketball brain". It's tough to figure out how to prevent a certain type of cancer by only studying cells that already have the cancer, so similarly, it's tough to study something like preventing CTE if you're only studying on brains that have CTE.

In all seriousness, football is a dangerous game. Every single person who signs up to play, on every level, knows this. If they choose to play, that's on them.

In all seriousness, football is a dangerous game. Every single person who signs up to play, on every level, knows this. If they choose to play, that's on them.

 

With the exception of kids in their single digits signing up to play football, I don't disagree with you at all.

 

I guess what I'm looking for is some positive change to improve a very real problem. "The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist."