|
Post by mikecubs on Mar 19, 2017 15:45:39 GMT -6
Family of Hall of Famer Gale Sayers discusses his dementiaThe family of former running back Gale Sayers discussed the Hall of Famer's dementia with the Kansas City Star, saying they want to help other families who are going through similar circumstances. When Sayers sued the NFL over concussions in January 2014, it was stated in the lawsuit that he suffered from "loss of memory, dementia, Alzheimer's, neurological disorder, depression, sleep problems and irritability," but his family hadn't publicly discussed his battle. Sayer's wife, Ardie, says that the 73-year-old is still physically strong, but she added that the "brain controls everything, doesn't it?"The newspaper noted that Sayers barely spoke during a seven-hour visit, but his family says that other times he can carry on "halting" conversations. His family must be vigilant about Sayer's safety these days. Ardie Sayers said that her husband tried to wash his hands with carpet cleaner a few days earlier."It keeps you on your toes," she told the newspaper. She said that another wife of a former player told her: "Don't let him out of your sight." The family said that people they trusted took advantage of Sayers' situation. "You have people who have a little less moral stature than you would like to see in society," Sayers' brother Roger told the newspaper in a phone interview. Sayers was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was an All-American at Kansas. He was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1965 and was a four-time Pro Bowler. He once scored six touchdowns in a single game. Yet he's losing touch with all those great achievements."You build memories all your life, and the next thing you know you don't remember anything," Roger Sayers said to the newspaper. "It's just tough." www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18951866/family-hall-famer-gale-sayers-discusses-dementia
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Mar 19, 2017 15:57:16 GMT -6
Former TE Jordan Cameron: 'A lot of guys don't really love this game'The scouting season for free agency and the draft is a time when players are asked a common question: Do you love football? Former Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins tight end Jordan Cameron, who recently announced that he will retire after he incurred four concussions in six seasons, called that "a great question." "I don't think a lot of these guys love football, to be honest," Cameron told ESPN. "A lot of them don't. You play for other reasons, and every guy has their own reason. They know why, and as long as your why is really important, you keep playing without really loving football. "Because really, who loves to get hit in 10-degree weather by a 280-pound person? Really, no one likes that. 'Do you love football?' I couldn't stand when people asked me that." Cameron, who went to the Pro Bowl in 2013, wasn't saying that because of his concussions, though he admitted the constant thought of them changed the way he played. Cameron said he played more timidly because he thought about his concussions. "You're playing physical and you're playing an intense, violent game," Cameron said. "You have to gear yourself up for that, but it's hard to gear yourself up if you're thinking about getting hit or what the implications might be." Cameron said he appreciates what football gave him, and there were facets of it he enjoyed, especially the competition. He also had special thoughts for many of his teammates, with whom he still has a bond. "Some of the best people I have ever met have been football players," Cameron said. "Every single guy talks about the locker room and how that's the thing they will miss. It's so true. Some of the most down-to-earth, intelligent human beings are in there." But though he loved his teammates, he can't look back and say he loved the game. "Do you really love football?" he said. "A lot of guys don't really love it. There's a few guys that love it. Ray Lewis loves football. Peyton Manning. They love it. But a lot of guys don't really love this game, and there are players that will read this who will understand exactly what I'm talking about."www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18895640/former-te-jordan-cameron-lot-guys-really-love-game
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Mar 20, 2017 17:35:42 GMT -6
Former 49ers WR Clark reveals he has ALSDwight Clark revealed Sunday that he has Lou Gehrig's disease and suspects playing football might have caused the illness. Clark announced on Twitter that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that attacks cells that control muscles. The former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver linked to a post on his personal blog detailing his ALS diagnosis, but the site crashed Sunday night, apparently from an overflow of traffic. "I've been asked if playing football caused this," Clark said in the post. "I don't know for sure. But I certainly suspect it did."The 60-year-old Clark wrote that he began experiencing symptoms in September 2015. He's lost significant strength in his left hand and also has weakness in his right hand, midsection, lower back and right leg. "I can't run, play golf or walk any distances," he said. "Picking up anything over 30 pounds is a chore. The one piece of good news is that the disease seems to be progressing more slowly than in some patients." Clark won two Super Bowls with the 49ers during a nine-year career that ended in 1987. He memorably pulled down the winning touchdown pass from Joe Montana in the 1981 NFC Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys, a play remembered simply as "The Catch." Clark, whose No. 87 has been retired by the 49ers, also encouraged the NFL and the players' association to work together in making football safer. San Francisco CEO Jed York said in a statement he was "deeply saddened" by Clark's diagnosis. "Many know Dwight as an iconic figure in 49ers lore, whose accomplishments on the field brought joy to fans around the world," York said. "Our organization is fortunate to know him more intimately as a wonderful man who has given so much of himself as an ambassador to the entire Bay Area. We will stand alongside Dwight and his family as they wage this battle." After his playing career ended, Clark served as general manager of the 49ers and Cleveland Browns. www.tsn.ca/former-49ers-wr-clark-reveals-battle-with-als-1.700723
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 26, 2017 0:17:11 GMT -6
CTE was nearly ubiquitous among former NFL players who donated their brains to sciencen a group of more than 100 professional football players whose brains were examined after their death, new research has found that virtually all suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition likely brought on by repeated blows to the head. At a Boston University program that investigates the trauma-linked brain disease, researchers found that, of 111 former players for the National Football League who donated their brains for post-mortem examination, 110 bore the distinctive tangles, plaques and protein clumps now recognized as the neural hallmarks of CTE. In life, all had suffered at least one of a range of behavioral symptoms — from mood instability and impulsiveness to substance abuse and aggression — that appeared to vary according to an athlete’s age at death, duration of participation in football and level of play. And the loved ones of the majority of the study’s participants told researchers that symptoms of CTE had worsened over the course of the participant’s life. In nearly 9 out of 10 of those professional athletes — 86% — researchers found the telltale brain abnormalities of CTE were extensive, varied and scattered throughout the brain. The report, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, relates the accumulated findings from researchers’ post-mortem examinations of 202 brains, all donated by former football players or their families. Of those, researchers found clear evidence of CTE in 177, or 87.6%, of the brains they examined.On average, those 177 athletes had played football for 15 years. From kitchen tables to NFL owners’ boxes, the new report is likely to raise new concerns about the costs to players of a sport that, at its highest levels, has been a showcase for violent hits. As parents have fled the sidelines of youth football, taking their children with them, the NFL has changed rules in a bid to make the game safer, and has acknowledged a link between repeated concussions and players’ impairment. Payouts in a long-running suit by injured players against the NFL were approved last month. In a statement issued Tuesday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said “we appreciate the work done by Dr. McKee and her colleagues.” The study leaves “many unanswered questions relating to the cause, incidence and prevalence of long-term effects of head trauma,” he added. But the NFL “is committed to supporting scientific research into CTE and advancing progress in the prevention and treatment of head injuries,” he said, citing the League’s commitment in 2016 to spend $100 million to support medical research and engineering advancements on brain science n a group of more than 100 professional football players whose brains were examined after their death, new research has found that virtually all suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition likely brought on by repeated blows to the head. At a Boston University program that investigates the trauma-linked brain disease, researchers found that, of 111 former players for the National Football League who donated their brains for post-mortem examination, 110 bore the distinctive tangles, plaques and protein clumps now recognized as the neural hallmarks of CTE. In life, all had suffered at least one of a range of behavioral symptoms — from mood instability and impulsiveness to substance abuse and aggression — that appeared to vary according to an athlete’s age at death, duration of participation in football and level of play. And the loved ones of the majority of the study’s participants told researchers that symptoms of CTE had worsened over the course of the participant’s life. In nearly 9 out of 10 of those professional athletes — 86% — researchers found the telltale brain abnormalities of CTE were extensive, varied and scattered throughout the brain. The report, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, relates the accumulated findings from researchers’ post-mortem examinations of 202 brains, all donated by former football players or their families. Of those, researchers found clear evidence of CTE in 177, or 87.6%, of the brains they examined.On average, those 177 athletes had played football for 15 years. From kitchen tables to NFL owners’ boxes, the new report is likely to raise new concerns about the costs to players of a sport that, at its highest levels, has been a showcase for violent hits. As parents have fled the sidelines of youth football, taking their children with them, the NFL has changed rules in a bid to make the game safer, and has acknowledged a link between repeated concussions and players’ impairment. Payouts in a long-running suit by injured players against the NFL were approved last month. In a statement issued Tuesday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said “we appreciate the work done by Dr. McKee and her colleagues.” The study leaves “many unanswered questions relating to the cause, incidence and prevalence of long-term effects of head trauma,” he added. But the NFL “is committed to supporting scientific research into CTE and advancing progress in the prevention and treatment of head injuries,” he said, citing the League’s commitment in 2016 to spend $100 million to support medical research and engineering advancements on brain science www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-football-cte-brain-20170725-story.html
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 26, 2017 0:24:57 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 26, 2017 0:33:48 GMT -6
Borges: Evidence keeps building that football breaks players’ brainsThe news keeps coming and it is seldom good when the subject is the connection between playing football and losing your mind. There may be more delicate ways to explain the effects of football on the brain but breaking it seems the most concise and the most accurate. This was reconfirmed yesterday by the largest study yet done on the subject, whose results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. There are still doubters because there will always be doubters when people have either a vested or a visceral interest in the subject. But it is becoming increasingly more difficult to argue against the numbers. In fact, even the NFL seems to have given up after more than a billion dollars was spent on legal expenses and a settlement that some critics view as hush money.Whatever the truth of that, one truth is clear: You play football at the risk of breaking your brain. The latest study done by the Boston University School of Medicine diagnosed CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — in 177 of 202 former football players. That is an astounding 87 percent. And the numbers worsen the longer you play. CTE Report The disease — which causes memory loss, cognitive issues, suicidal thoughts, rage, impulsivity and worse — was found in 110 of 111 former NFL players (that’s 99 percent, folks) and seven of eight former CFL players. It was found in nine of 14 semi-pro players and 48 of 53 college players. The latter is a 91 percent incident rate. For players who did not play beyond high school, however, the numbers tumbled to only three cases in 14 brains examined, and no cases were found in two pre-high school players, which is a relief if nothing else. There is no question all who play football do not experience the clusters of tau protein in the brain that result in CTE, and surely if a study was done of everyone who ever played, common sense argues the percentages would go down some. But as longtime researcher in the field Dr. Ann McKee said, “It’s impossible to ignore anymore.” One can argue the college study wasn’t broad enough, but 48 out of 53 is broad enough to tell me something’s going on.So understand the choice you make when you send Johnny off with helmet in hand. Through high school, it would appear, the odds lessen greatly. Perhaps that’s because the size and speed of players increase as the competition level does and hence the deleterious effects of the constant head-cracking that is so much a required part of the “game” does as well. That we do not know. In fact, as the game’s apologists continue to argue, there is much we do not know about the effect of concussive, sub-concussive and repetitive blows to the head. But where each one of these studies leads is to the same conclusion: you play football at your peril and you play pro football with almost a guarantee that at some point in life you’re going to look in the mirror and have no idea who is looking back at you. Some critics contend this study may be looking at outdated data, claiming they were done on players prior to recent equipment alterations, rules changes and the adoption of less contact in practice. While those things are true and may to a degree lessen the carnage, anyone who has ever put on a football helmet and used it to batter another person’s head like a mountain goat understands the limitations of such changes if football is to remain football.T he use of the head as a weapon and a targeting agent is as basic to the game as the ball itself. When that is not the case, the game becomes rugby. Rugby is a tough game, to be sure. But it’s not football. And it’s certainly not NFL football. So you can apologize all you want for what the game is. You can argue the growing pile of studies all reaching the same conclusion have flaws or aren’t widespread enough if you want. After all, it’s a free country (for now at least). There are people who don’t believe the earth is warming and maybe even a few who still think it’s flat. That’s up to you. So if you’re trying to decide whether your son should play football or not, factor all those questions and doubts in if you want but then factor in the numbers: 87 percent of all players, 99 percent of NFL players, 91 percent of college players studied all came away with their brains dented. You like those odds? Then send little Johnny on out there. www.bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/ron_borges/2017/07/borges_evidence_keeps_building_that_football_breaks_players
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 27, 2017 0:06:57 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Aug 7, 2017 22:25:04 GMT -6
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins believes he already has CTERight now, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins can’t feel any major physiological effects from devoting almost all of his life to football. His bones don’t ache. His thoughts aren’t elusive. His intellect and memory aren’t any less keen than they were last year or the year before. From a body standpoint I feel good,” he said Wednesday, “and that’s the one thing that’s the most concerning about brain injuries — we don’t know until down the road.” Jenkins is aware of the recent New York Times report that detailed the chilling findings from a renowned neuropathologist who examined the brains of 113 deceased former NFL players and found that 112 exhibited signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease known as CTE. Jenkins is entering his ninth season. Like most of his NFL brethren, Jenkins’ football career started long before he played his first professional snap and even before he won multiple high school championships. Because of the NYT report, he figures that he and almost all of the teammates who share the locker room with him have already suffered some form of irreparable brain damage.
“At this point based on that study, CTE is probably inevitable,” he said. “I probably already have it. Although it’s scary because it’s new information and … it’s one of those things that everybody is focusing on, it’s easy to kind of get freaked out about, but at the end of the day it’s there, it’s unavoidable and it’s something we can’t measure.”Still, Jenkins doesn’t regret his decision to pursue football professionally nor, he said, would he steer his children away from the sport. Many of his teammates echoed similar sentiments, unabashed in their decision to continue strapping on the helmet and pads for another training camp and upcoming season, yet also struggling to reconcile the newfound data. “It’s a scary thought,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “It is. It’s the elephant in the room that a lot of people don’t want to talk about. But I’ve thought about it enough. It is what it is at this point. Some of me is saying I’ll be fine and some of me is saying, hey, you played this game, you’re body is, eventually, something is gonna happen where the consequences are going to come out. It’s worth it for me. I can’t speak for everybody else.” Jenkins said he has always aspired to play 10 NFL seasons and then evaluate whether his performance remained stellar enough to proceed further. Now, based on the information he now knows about brain trauma, he said his decision will also be based on health, preservation and post-career comfort. He’s careful, though, not to overreact to headlines and peripheral data. If stats suggest that almost all NFL players suffer from eventual head trauma, but only the worst cases are the ones garnering most of the media attention, Jenkins said perhaps the panic might be overstated. “You hear CTE and we’ve heard so much and learned so much about it that we always see the extreme cases where somebody has either lost their mind, killed themselves or kind of had some really tough times post-career,” he said. “But then there’s plenty of people who had normal lives and done well. So there’s that balance. “ Nobody can say definitively right now that the NFL will be negatively impacted by the swarm of information that has come out about CTE or if there won’t be future data or treatment that indicates improved safety conditions that can lessen head trauma and alleviate concerns about playing the game. But it’s fair to assume that parents, especially single moms and dads and those who lack better financial resources, might be more inclined to steer their kids away from football and toward perceived safer sports where the money is equal or better, like basketball and baseball. Graham said his mother probably would have encouraged him to pursue baseball if head trauma stories and reports had surfaced when he was younger. But he’s not exactly sure that he wouldn’t have eventually landed back in a football jersey. “I probably would have played baseball,” he said. “I probably would have thought about it a little bit. I don’t know. The way my attitude is, the way I like hitting people and going out there, it’s hard to tell. I try not to worry about it too much. At this point I’m eight years in [as an Eagle]. I’ve been playing since I was 7, so I’ll just deal with it when it comes.” www.fanragsports.com/nfl/eagles/eagles-safety-malcolm-jenkins-believes-already-cte/
|
|
|
Post by TheDeuce on Aug 8, 2017 6:55:30 GMT -6
That study where 110 of 111 players showed signs of CTE has been badly misrepresented as demonstrating that 99% of football players have or will experience CTE. Here's the flaw in that inference:
1. Those who had donated their brain were experiencing CTE in life. The sample wasn't representative of all football players, only those with CTE symptoms. It's like saying 99% of people have cancer because 99 out of 100 people who have black growths on their skin were found to have cancer.
2. The players studied all started the game years ago when a lot of stupidity ruled. They would have drills where the only thing they did was crash into each other, tackling technique saw a lot of head first work, no care was taken if a concussion was suspected. It was a very different game 20+ years ago.
Today players are being taught, right from the get go, about safer tackling techniques. Practices don't involve moronic head bashing. Every coach, right down to the Cruncher level, takes part in the Safe Contact program.
As the players who are being taught these innovations make their way up to the pros I suspect we'll see a drop off of CTE in football. At least let's hope. There are a lot of old school coaches in the universities who've been at it since the 1970's who ain't gonna change.
m.
|
|
|
Post by TheDeuce on Aug 8, 2017 7:04:31 GMT -6
And we as fans need to stop glamorizing the big hit. Do a search on Youtube of "football big hits" and you get 5.5 million results. Search for "football clean hits" and you get 1.2 million results - thoroughly polluted with the same videos you get with the big hits search.
m.
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Aug 8, 2017 11:26:29 GMT -6
That study where 110 of 111 players showed signs of CTE has been badly misrepresented as demonstrating that 99% of football players have or will experience CTE. Here's the flaw in that inference: 1. Those who had donated their brain were experiencing CTE in life. The sample wasn't representative of all football players, only those with CTE symptoms. It's like saying 99% of people have cancer because 99 out of 100 people who have black growths on their skin were found to have cancer. 2. The players studied all started the game years ago when a lot of stupidity ruled. They would have drills where the only thing they did was crash into each other, tackling technique saw a lot of head first work, no care was taken if a concussion was suspected. It was a very different game 20+ years ago. Today players are being taught, right from the get go, about safer tackling techniques. Practices don't involve moronic head bashing. Every coach, right down to the Cruncher level, takes part in the Safe Contact program. As the players who are being taught these innovations make their way up to the pros I suspect we'll see a drop off of CTE in football. At least let's hope. There are a lot of old school coaches in the universities who've been at it since the 1970's who ain't gonna change. m. This is absolutely 100% true. The sample was flawed. Dr Ann Mckee admitted this. But I've read that even if these were the only guys that died who had CTE it still makes up 9% of all players who died if no other player got CTE which is unlikely. Keep in mind the NFL itself admitted 1/3rd of former players will get a neurological disorder. So while 99% is sensationalist even if it's 1/3rd and maybe reduced to 1/4th in time with safer measures(new rules) football still has a major problem. Also while football has improved rules than in the past the players are a LOT bigger/stronger than in the past. Look at the size of the 85 bears compare to players of today. snip-In 1970, only one N.F.L. player weighed as much as 300 pounds, according to a survey conducted by The Associated Press. That number has expanded like players’ waistlines from three 300-pounders in 1980 to 94 in 1990, 301 in 2000, 394 in 2009 and 532 as training camps began in 2010. www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/sports/football/29weight.html?pagewanted=all As far as number 2 I agree the game is safer than it rules wise/pracice wise(less contact in training camps for example). But the problem is you have 250-350+lbs who are very very fast playing a violent game gladiator game with a ton of plays per game. The problem isn't just the monster hits the league/fans used to glorify it's the sub concussive hits where linemen for example hit heads on every play/regular hits that add up over time. I think you meant the heads up program instead of safe contact program? The studies on it's safety/making a differece were flawed. www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/sports/football/nfl-concussions-youth-program-heads-up-football.html?ref=sports&_r=0I HATE to say this but rule changes, less hitting in practice/new helmets etc... aren't going to save the game only make minor differences and buy some time for the game. What happens in 20 years when the current players have a large amount of CTE and the rules changes didn't make enough difference? Football is too inherently violent. The only thing that will save the game is science/a magic CTE pill.
|
|
|
Post by TheDeuce on Aug 8, 2017 12:11:50 GMT -6
No I meant Safe Contact. I did the Heads Up program too and it was pretty pointless. Safe Contact was a different story - it involved actual work on the field with demonstrations and participation, the teaching of visual cues to look for if a player is tackling unsafely, and hands on techniques to play drag down football.
Gang tackling is a beautiful thing. I really believe that the game will change as these youngsters move up through the ranks and the dinosaurs head off to the old age home.
m.
|
|
|
Post by TheDeuce on Aug 8, 2017 12:12:45 GMT -6
Incidentally the Safe Contact program addressed safe blocking as well.
m.
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Aug 8, 2017 13:16:38 GMT -6
This is better than nothing and I agree the football will be a hell of a lot better off without the old dinosaurs. But even with this it's still a violent contact game brains will get rattled, there will still be sub concussive hits on every play(linemen hitting heads on every snap). On the safe contact sites it says it will make football safer NOT safe. With football that's the best you can do safer NOT safe. After all these programs/rules changes still a very large amount of the players are going to get brain damage at the elite levels like NFL. There's good reason Roger Goodall said last week in Jets camp we are trying to make the game safer. Notice he didn't use safe.
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Aug 8, 2017 13:35:20 GMT -6
Something else that is coming to football too is the banning of tackle football up until high school which will no doubt help some, less hits per the life of a football player, younger brains are the most fragile etc...
|
|