RIP to the dirty dirty

[stalker]

Could we be looking at the end of an era in football? It was a different game in the old days when players could clothesline a WR and Deacon Jones would headslap OTs into submisson. Now you can get a flag for looking at a quaterback's knees. Probably in the future all hits leading with the helmet will be outlawed (a la the McGahee hit) but I'm not sure what they do beyond that to protect people. They have that new car technology that beeps just before collision and expands airbags, maybe they put that in the RBs helmets.

Ultimately the NFL and the union will probably have to decide between neutering the game or letting the players keep it hard hitting, caveat emptor.

Just get rid of helmets. That will reduce head injuries dramatically

[ice grillin you]

if players are going to be so overpaid they should be able to suffer a little brain trauma

[Rome]

You guys do realize that you're all in agreement but are still arguing, right?

Goddamn CTE injuries.

[QB Eagles]

also, a little piece of data I picked up along the way...average life span for an NFL player?  55 years.

Good data is tough to find. The 55 figure was popularized by an attorney (Hall of Famer Ron Mix) who was representing players trying to get workmen's comp in the 80s. It has its origin in a nonrandom, unscientific survey of 800 players. Basically whoever they could find information on in the papers (which would obviously skew to those who die).

A more comprehensive and statistically valid survey was conducted at the behest of the NFLPA by the federal government's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in 1994. This survey actually found that NFL players had a significantly reduced death rate compared to the general population of males of the same age and race. This survey was based on all players in the NFL pension system... the problem being that the data for players who played before 1972 is reduced and before 1959 is nonexistent. Therefore, most of the players surveyed had not yet reached age 50. It would be surprising, however, if the death rate of NFL players suddenly spikes and surpasses that of the general public after age 50.

The biggest medical difference from the normal population is the sheer size of players such as linemen, virtually all of whom qualify as obese, complete with all the medical problems associated with obesity. Obviously bad knees and similar common sports injuries are more common, as well... but these are rarely life threatening. On the other hand, keep in mind that, compared to the general public, many NFL players are exceptional athletes in top physical condition, and they maintain a  healthy and active lifestyle after leaving the game.

[Diomedes]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4472274

BOSTON -- Three NFL players on Monday joined a growing list of former professional athletes who have agreed to donate their brains after death to a Boston University medical school program that studies sports brain injuries.

Center Matt Birk of the Baltimore Ravens, linebacker Lofa Tatupu of the Seattle Seahawks and receiver Sean Morey of the Arizona Cardinals announced they have donated their brains and spinal cord tissue to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy so researchers can better understand the long-term effects of repeated concussions.

More than 150 former athletes, including 40 retired NFL players, already are in the program's brain donation registry.

"One of the most profound actions I can take personally is to donate my brain to help ensure the safety and welfare of active, retired, and future athletes for decades to come," Morey said.

Doctors see sports-related brain trauma as a growing health crisis due to the discovery of the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a number of athletes who have recently died. The condition is caused by repetitive trauma to the brain.

Sufferers may experience memory loss, emotional instability, erratic behavior, depression and impulse control problems, progressing eventually to full-blown dementia.

As part of the program, the players will be interviewed annually for the rest of their lives so researchers can examine the relationship between clinical symptoms and pathology.

Birk, Tatupu and Morey have all played in the Pro Bowl, making their pledge all the more significant, center co-director Chris Nowinski said.

"These active NFL players have admirably ignored concerns held by many athletes that by participating in this research, they could be perceived as having a concussion history that could negatively affect their career and contract negotiations," he said.

The center was created in 2008 as a collaborative venture between BU Medical School and Sports Legacy Institute.

[SunMo]

nice work on thread combination

A-

[PhillyPhreak54]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLzkBm9Ljhg

Video from The House of Pain Game

Jeff Kemp throws a TD!
Richie Kotite Post Game PC!

"Hopkins and Waters the most persuasive pair of safeties in the NFL"

[RezRob]

DAMN YOU! I didn't read all the way down and unintentionally saw Kotite... DAMN YOU!

[Diomedes]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/sports/14football.html?hp

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A brain autopsy of a University of Pennsylvania football player who killed himself in April has revealed the same trauma-induced disease found in more than 20 deceased National Football League players, raising questions of how young football players may be at risk for the disease.
Owen Thomas, a popular 6-foot-2, 240-pound lineman for Penn with no previous history of depression, hanged himself in his off-campus apartment after what friends and family have described as a sudden and uncharacteristic emotional collapse. Doctors at Boston University subsequently examined Thomas's brain tissue and discovered early stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease linked to depression and impulse control primarily among N.F.L. players, two of whom also committed suicide in the last 10 years.

[PhillyGirl]

But lets send Bradley and Kolb out there!

YAY TEAM!

[ice grillin you]

this is why the players can basically ask for whatever they want in the new cba and id back them

[PhillyPhreak54]

And the Eagles apparently said that Stewie went back in there because they weren't fully aware of it because they were over there dealing with Kolb.

Yeah ok.

[Diomedes]

meh, it's plausible that they didn't realize what was up on the spot.

I'm not gonna be heard killing them over yesterday

[Diomedes]

this is why the players can basically ask for whatever they want in the new cba and id back them

yeah, pretty much end of story for me too.

[ice grillin you]

just awful...

In his battle with ALS, Turner relies on his football toughness
By Mike Jensen

Inquirer Staff Writer

In all his years playing football, at the University of Alabama and then for almost a decade in the NFL with the New England Patriots and Eagles, Kevin Turner prided himself on being hard-nosed.

"I never wanted to miss a snap," said the former fullback, who retired in 1999 after five seasons in Philadelphia. "I didn't want to miss anything in practice. It's one of the things that made me the player I was. I was dependable."

Turner says that with some regret.

This summer, the 41-year-old was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

"Here recently, my hands just don't work," Turner said in a telephone interview as he was driving home from his job as a medical sales representative. "I can still grab a steering wheel. But at a restaurant or something, I take a drink of iced tea, I need two hands to grab my cup, kind of like a 2-year-old with a sippy cup. My kids thought I was joking around. It's hard to tell them I can't hold it with one hand."

Several years ago, before his diagnosis, Turner had contacted researchers at Boston University studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It's possible that, instead of ALS, Turner has this disease, which mirrors ALS.

It's also quite possible that his former profession caused his present condition.

For the study, Turner agreed to donate his brain and spinal column to be examined after his death. It's the same group that determined that former Penn linebacker Owen Thomas had early stages of CTE when he committed suicide in April.

Turner's agreement is "very important," said Robert Stern, codirector of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Boston University School of Medicine.

"By being able to study someone like Kevin throughout his life, to get information from things like brain scans, cognitive assessments, from spinal fluid, and then study their brain after they pass away is really critical," Stern said.

Turner didn't see Sunday's Eagles game. He had gotten a text message, however, from a friend with a link to an article about the concussions suffered by Kevin Kolb and Stewart Bradley. It brought back memories.

Turner's first thought: "That's got to be tough on coaches. It's tough on players. You feel like you're fine. At least I did most of the time. You go through a period, and, after a couple of days, I would always feel fine, even after the worst of what I consider head injuries."

That reminded Turner of a story that once may have sounded funny.

"A '97 game against Green Bay, I had a huge collision with a guy, on the wedge, on the kickoff," Turner said. "I always heard the saying, 'knocked out on his feet.' I guess that was what it was. I couldn't recall being out there. I ran my plays, did everything - just what I was supposed to do. But I finally came over and asked [Eagles teammate] Bobby Hoying, 'Are we in Green Bay or are we in Philly?' I could tell you what I was supposed to do, but I couldn't tell you where we were. Later that week, I felt fine."

Turner experienced some serious injuries in his career. He had back surgery and nerve damage in his spine. He suffered several concussions. The end came after a series of "stingers," or injuries to the nerve supply. He already had become concerned about his neck. Late in his career, he was told by one doctor that everyone has a certain amount of area in the spinal column so that the spinal cord will not be severed if a person suffers a broken neck. Turner was told he had less than half what was considered the normal area.

"I didn't know why - whether it was hereditary or from inflammation," Turner said. "That's kind of why I retired. It got so every time I hit somebody and my neck bent one way or the other, I'd have pain like you wouldn't believe shooting down my arm - like somebody putting a blowtorch to your arm, from your neck to your fingers. . . . It started to get more severe and going farther down my arm. It used to be primarily my left side. In '99, for the first time in my career, it went down my right side. That's really the play, when I had both arms sitting there limp and burning. That was my last play."

Turner thought he was prepared more than most players for life after football. He had a college degree, "plenty of money" and a planned career, "a beautiful wife and a couple of beautiful kids."

Instead, Turner said, he suffered "bouts of depression." He became addicted to painkillers. It was probably six years before a doctor told him how head trauma can change behavior and bring on depression.

"I had a time enjoying the things I used to enjoy on a regular basis," Turner said. "It's hard to say what caused what. Maybe it was just getting out of football, something I'd done all my life. . . . Some guys deal with it a lot better than others. I was one of those guys who had gotten my degree from Alabama. I wasn't a hell-raiser or anything like that. I had a good family."

Something was just missing.

"My wife would just say, 'You're not the same person,' " Turner said. "I was never really mean-spirited to her or my kids. I have a great relationship with all of them. I felt like I was never content, never really happy with what I was doing. When I heard about that [Boston University] study, I wondered if it had some merit to it."

Turner doesn't want the researchers to tell him about life spans. He hasn't gotten a good answer to that yet.

"I want their successors to be the ones who look at my brain," he said. "I don't want them to get too eager."

Turner has three children now: one son in seventh grade and another in first grade, and a daughter in fourth grade. Both boys are playing football.

"I worry about them. All this kind of hit me right in July," Turner said, referring to the ALS diagnosis. "They're already tuned up on playing football. It worries me all the time. My oldest is playing junior-high ball. My youngest, he's playing [youth] league. It's full contact."

If his children continue to play, it won't be at his old position.

"Fullback and linebacker, you're usually a good 5 yards away," Turner said. "You get up a pretty good head of steam. It makes for a different type of collision."

These are hard issues, Turner said.

"These are kids who love athletics, not just football," Turner said. "My daughter is involved in gymnastics. I've seen more injuries in gymnastics than I have in football with my two boys."

Turner talked for almost an hour and fumbled for an answer only once, when asked whether he would do it all again.

"That's such a tough, tough question," he said. "Knowing what I know now, gosh, it's very hard to answer. I guess if somebody would have told me, 'Hey, if you play professional football for a certain amount of time and get a hit to the head, and it raises your chances of dying at an early age - like being in your 40s when you're 20-something - it's hard to tell anybody that."

Turner still is working, selling medical devices. He had spent Monday in Dalton, Ga., and had a 21/2-hour drive home to Birmingham, Ala.

"I can drive, no problem," Turner said as he drove. "But certain things I just can't do. Sometimes it's very hard to turn the ignition in my truck. I need two hands. My hands just don't have any strength."