Osler's Razor

So very sad.

I do not watch football, haven't for many years but I have these questions:
Has the evolution of the helmut, into something apparently suitable for a crash test dummy, contributed to this problem?

A false belief that the modern equipment will keep them safe?
 

Is football analogous to cigarettes? Football is a multi-billion dollar industry, which is in itself a positive thing (multi-billion dollar industries are very good). We have a deep psychological attachment to football and enjoy it immensely. But it is also something that does demonstrable damage to our society. What to do?
 

One would have thought that with the courageous refusal of Muhammed Ali to stay out of public view and thus expose the shaking and other visible symptoms of his maladies related to boxing,we would be further ahead in dealing with the full ramifications of head trauma,including mental illness,but we have not. Interesting/ominous that these men have chosen to shoot themselves in the chest so that their brains can be studied and so that something can be done.Finally. They are sacrificing themselves as they have in the game. Excruciatingly tragic.The Adonises,the perfect specimens,are not allowed to become imperfect with illness,especially mental illness.I suppose the knowledge that your mind is on a continuum of deterioration and that you will have to quit a sport that is your raison d'etre is so grief-producing that death seems a good alternative. Unfortunately,like cancer and other medical conundrums,funding for study takes a back-seat to the economy and expenditures for war. It ought to be assumed from the outset that these men will have the propensity towards suicide and they ought never to be left alone. Difficult and impossible. Frustrating,Professor,frustrating. Are we responsible? Hell,yes.
 

First Osler takes shots at football, and then Waco Farmer takes shots at smoking?? Color me upset.

The only appropriate comparison between football and smoking is that both are awesome. And American. And about freedom.
 

I'm more interested in how the Hunger Games payed for IPLawGuy's ski trip.
 

He's their IP lawyer!
 

First of all I would like to finally get a reasonable explanation as to why American football is called FOOTball. The ball is mostly in play while being held or passed, both actions involving HANDS. Aside from the impressive gear and macho mannerisms, the game stops every two minutes: not very impressive. Well, unless someone gets the ball passed to them, holds it with their hands (again no foot involved) and runs with it: okay, impressive but not by far. In any case I think the game should be banned, all rules changed to look more like a sport and less like a sissy gladiator parody and of course renamed.
It is always very sad to hear a story like that of someone like Junior Seau who looks like they lost their way in a dream come true that must have ended up not making any sense for no apparent reason. But the other NFL related story I saw on the news last night was one even more unsettling. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed up a former Rutgers player who held huge promise before he got paralyzed from the neck down during a game. My question is what will be his role on field? “Guilt” ended up grossly misspelled “publicity stunt” with a very cruel bend and NFL a very lame acronym.
 

Wow,Marta! I was afraid to go as far as you have here,but am in complete agreement.Indeed! Last sentence...dynamite. Good,incisive writing. I was glad that my son did not play football,for this very reason.And the sport has always been too violent for me to enjoy. Even a full suit of armor would not be enough. I like baseball.
 

Marta:

American football is called "football" because it shares its origin with European football and more specifically "rugby football," which all grew out of the same unorganized game. Thus, while it may share nothing with modern European football, and limited characteristics with modern rugby, all three games grew out of the same sport, and at one time shared the common name "football."
 

By the way, the paralyzed kid (Eric LeGrand) was signed by his former college coach, who is now the coach at Tampa Bay. And here is what the kid had to say about it:

"I always wanted to go to the NFL. It may not be the circumstances that I wanted, but I’m there. I had no idea, no idea, this was going to happen. Honestly, it’s amazing. It is. It really is.”

He describes what has been called here a "publicity stunt" as "amazing" and the fulfillment of a dream for him. And it was done by the coach that recruited him to college, coached him in college, was there the day he got hurt, and that still talks to him weekly since he got hurt.

All I'm saying is, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge things. And maybe we shouldn't be so quick to devalue things that may mean a whole lot to the people involved, whether we understand them or not.
 

RRL I take your slap in stride because I may be too quick to judge something that I’ve stated from the beginning I don’t quite understand. But often times the quick judgment is the one that comes from the core. And the core is, American football is a sport that can have dire consequences for those fascinated by it, lured by its modern gladiator aura. Of course the paralyzed kid is genuinely moved and amazed and his recruitment is mainly the work of his longtime coach and mentor. But his mentor didn’t act alone in signing Eric LeGrand and the symbolic gesture was not so symbolic if it made the national news and for that reason I penned it to an NFL stunt done in poor taste. Poor taste at least for those of us who in quick judgment tend to reach for the undercurrents of “feel good” moments.
 

As long as Tim Tebow is playing, how can any good Christian not like Football?
 

Just to explain why I raise this-- I love to watch football, remain a staunch Baylor fan, but do wonder about the damaging effects on the bodies of the millions of children and young men who over the years have played this sport.
 

I haven't followed the football story you're talking about, but when I read "The Hunger Games" (and the book is wonderful and much darker than the movie), I immediately thought of sports--high school and college.
 

Will "IPLawguy" appear in the credits?
 

This is a complicated issue for lots of reasons.

One of those reasons is that it is easy for this mostly white and fairly affluent group of commenters (of which I am one on both accounts) to talk about the effects of football on the players, but the thing we haven't discussed is who a lot of these kids are. They are the opposite. Mostly minority, mostly poor. And for them, sports like boxing and football represent a way to a better life. And it reeks of a certain paternalistic attitude for us to talk about "banning" football or changing the game for the protection of these people as if they do not recognize the dangers inherent in their sport, and yet choose to play anyways because of the opportunities it offers them. Football players generally grow up poor, it does not mean they grow up dumb or incapable of making their own choices. And just like smoking, yes it is dumb, but I sadly still believe in an America where I am free to make dumb choices. You may think they are stupid for playing, but isn't that something that should be up to them.

However, the flip side of that coin is that the organizations that run American football, from pop warner all the way to the NFL, have not been good stewards of their game. Concussions and head trauma have been issues for decades, but only in the last 5 years have the NFL and NCAA made any serious attempt to do anything about it. They are now making an effort, but what took so long? Why is it now clear that the NFL knew they had a problem long before now but chose to do nothing about it? That is unacceptable.

The good news is that players are now getting more information, which will allow them to make better choices. They are also getting more help from organizations like the NCAA and the NFL in mandating certain procedures when a player gets a concussion or other head injury, protections that did not exist when Troy Aikman was routinely sent back into the game immediately after suffering a concussion. We can do better. We should do better. We are doing better.

We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
 

The only other thought I have is on the issue of bloodlust, or this idea that we view football players as modern day gladiators.

I don't ever want to see a player get hurt. I don't care if they play for my team or the opposing team. For me, and for the majority of football fans, the point is not to injure the opposing team. The point is to win the game. The point is to score more points than the other team. Violence is a means to that end, but I can promise you I have never walked out of a game that Baylor lost and thought, "well, at least we hurt some of their guys." That would offer me no solace.

This is why the comparison to the hunger games isn't apt. The hunger games (I think, because I'm not a tween girl, so I haven't read the book or seen the movie) is about a dystopic society that takes pleasure in watching children kill each other. Well, that ain't football. Anybody that is taking pleasure in the death of Junior Seau or any other football player is a sick individual with an extremely messed up head, but they don't represent football fandom.

There have been great strides to make the game safer. More penalties for late hits, more penalties for unprotected hits, more penalties for hits on certain parts of the body, and more medical precautions for players exhibiting signs of injury. Is it perfect? No. Will it always be dangerous? Yes. But if the fictitious motivations of the people in the hunger games were the same motivations as football fans then none of these steps would be taken or embraced. Football is not a byproduct of a society that is driven to watch people destroy themselves and their bodies. Football is a game that people find entertainment in for the same reasons they enjoy European football, baseball, basketball, or any other sport...escapism, tribalism, delusions of grandeur, and its just plain fun.

And if you really believe America's bloodlust is what makes football popular then removing the blood from football identifies the symptom but not the disease, and they will just go somewhere else to get their fix. So, seems like if you honestly believe that football is a byproduct of a general American predilection towards violence and destruction, then talking about football is just scapegoating.
 

No, sadly, I do not appear in the credits. But I do get paid.

Washington, D.C. is a huge football town. Who knows why, but it just is. The newspapers reporters, broadcast journalists and bloggers who cover The Redskins are considered to have more important jobs, and are better compensated, than their brethren who cover Congress and the Supreme Court.

RGIII is in the papers and on TV EVERY DAY here. It's nuts.

And during the 70's and 80's when the Redskins were good and going to the Super Bowl often I was a big fan. Not over the top, but a fan. Most of the players just looked like large men or guys in great shape. Today though, they've gotten bigger and more outsized... and more dangerous.

I don't know what can be done, but its really a violent sport. The beating takes its toll and very few of the guys who play it for a living can do it for very long.
 

Here's a way the two are similar, Walter Umphrey (as in Umphrey Law Center) is representing the victims of both...
http://www.provostumphrey.com/NFL-Concussion-Litigation/
 

RRL--

The problem with the "choices" argument is that we are talking about children who are doing this. We don't trust them to make choices about, say, smoking, the same way we do adults.
 

one, tampa bay's signing of eric legrand was a genuine, touching gesture.

two, all this banter about football and its inherent dangers (which players, coaches and fans are aware of) reminds me of vincent (al pacino) in the movie "heat," saying, "you could get killed walking your doggie!"
 

I think people are much more aware of the inherent dangers of football when they are 45 than when they are 15, though.
 

there are studies that show repeated heading of the soccer ball over the course of years can cause permanent damage.
hockey players have been paralyzed on the ice. worse yet, hockey players have died on the ice.
some basketball players' knees are so shot by they're done playing that they can barely walk by the time they're 50.
jockeys have been killed on the racetrack. horses have been killed on the racetrack.
baseball players have suffered permanently debilitating injuries while playing their sport.
a norwegian swimmer favored to win an olympic gold medal just died days ago, moments after completing a workout.
it looks like it's time to end all sports. or at least not allow anyone to play any sport until they are 18, when they are free to choose for themselves.

oh, and did i mention you people have gotten killed walking the doggie?
 

forgive me-- that last sentence should read: "did i mention people have gotten killed walking the doggie?"
of course, you people were not, and i am thankful for that.
 

The assumption that seems to underlie much of the conversation here is that Junior Seau killed himself due to his exposure to football and, perhaps, multiple head injuries.

For sure, no one knows that as we type.

But from multiple accounts, his family life was in a state of disarray, which perhaps contributed far more to his mental state at death than the fact he played football.

There is value in having a discussion about football and whether it is safe to play, but to assume that the Seau death and football are directly related is a stretch, at this point.

Back to the main point--would football remain as popular if it were played by flag football rules, in shorts and without helmets. Do rugby players suffer from a proportional number of head injuries?
 

I think all lineman should get swords and that running backs and receivers should be on horses. Actual stabbing would not be penalized, although killing an opponent would be a five yard penalty. Too harsh?
 

I went to my psychiatrist yesterday for a check-up and we talked about this tragedy. She said that the part of the brain which governs inhibitions is located in the front of the brain,the area that would naturally be damaged in football injuries to the head. And that the kind of damage that occurs is nerve damage...nerves being shredded,an injury that does not show up on an MRI. If your inhibitions were lessened,it would impair the ability to resist the impulse to kill oneself.