PBS Frontline: League of Denial (brain injuries)

[Hawg73]

I just finished watching the current Frontline documentary and it was a devestating (and fascinating) piece of TV journalism that covered a topic which is of imperative importance to the sport.

We've all watched Roger's moves and seen the recent class-action suit settlement on the topic, so everybody by now knows that it has been proven that football can cause CTE -- chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but this 2 hour special suggests in a compelling way that the issue is much, much worse than is commonly believed and details the almost 20-year long struggle to get the NFL to admit to the problem and deal with it.

I recommend people watch it and form their own opinions, but the gist of it is that at one point 46 brains of former football players -- NFL to High School kids -- had been studied and there was evidence of CTE in 45 of them.

It made me think that football as we have come to know it, will someday soon be either much, much different or cease to exist entirely.

I would guess that across the country there might be thousands of parents who will watch it and decide that their kids will not play football.

Anybody see it?

 

[HarpoonIPA]

Son of a bitch, I totally forgot about it, I hope it on OnDemand.

 

[Beaglebay]

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365093675/

Discovering the truth about the damage which can be caused to the brain by playing football (and sports in general) is one thing, but the steps the NFL took to make such revelations impossible for so long is the real story here.

The hiring of incompetent and unqualified 'experts' to offer opinions while in collusion with the NFL to mask and evade the truth is beyond reprehensible.

How could protecting the assets of the game, the players, be a bad business move? Is it so costly to design more effective equipment that the NFL instead chose to ignore the data? Although equipment alone wouldn't eliminate the problem, the NFL for years showed no interest in developing safer strategies for players, and contracts to helmet suppliers meant more than the health of the men wearing them.

 

[Annihilus]

It actually airs several more times in the upcoming few days on DirecTV (I imagine elsewhere, too). I set my DVR to catch it. Thanks, Hawg.

 

[93North]

It actually airs several more times in the upcoming few days on DirecTV (I imagine elsewhere, too). I set my DVR to catch it. Thanks, Hawg.

Did they discuss Elliott Perlman the former Jets team Doctor who has been ill-advising the NFL for years ?

 

[Annihilus]

Did they discuss Elliott Perlman the former Jets team Doctor who has been ill-advising the NFL for years ?

:shrug: I dunno, haven't watched it yet. That's why I set my DVR

 

[93North]

:shrug: I dunno, haven't watched it yet. That's why I set my DVR

Yea! I quoted the wrong guy! I need to wake up.

Maybe someone that watched it could respond.

From what I heard, Pearlman was the guy who downplayed the severity of the issue within the NFL.... but somehow still remains to advise the NFL on other medical matters. He's got pictures of somebody in the NFL front office

 

[Beaglebay]

You can watch the program here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/front...?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=


And yes, Pellman was one of the subjects covered, as was Casson.

 

[HarpoonIPA]

It's also being repeated on channel 2 Boston @4PM Sunday

 

[midgar8784]

Not to throw a bad light, but if this information had been out 40 years ago.....would players not have played? If its out now....would players not play? I am not saying one way or the other, but I do know living in Texas people are obsessed about football here especially high school, and to be honest, I am not sure any information would slow them down on pushing their kids in this.

 

[Beaglebay]

Not to throw a bad light, but if this information had been out 40 years ago.....would players not have played? If its out now....would players not play? I am not saying one way or the other, but I do know living in Texas people are obsessed about football here especially high school, and to be honest, I am not sure any information would slow them down on pushing their kids in this.

Have you watched the program?

 

[midgar8784]

Have you watched the program?

No, I did not get a chance to see it yet.

 

[Hawg73]

Did they discuss Elliott Perlman the former Jets team Doctor who has been ill-advising the NFL for years ?

Oh, yes. He was one of the original point men for the NFL on the topic of brain injuries even though his specialty was rheumatology. He gets lambasted in the show as unqualified at very least and probably a complete toady for the NFL's interests -- which was to keep the gravy train rolling.

 

[Hawg73]

Not to throw a bad light, but if this information had been out 40 years ago.....would players not have played? If its out now....would players not play? I am not saying one way or the other, but I do know living in Texas people are obsessed about football here especially high school, and to be honest, I am not sure any information would slow them down on pushing their kids in this.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who can't imagine a world without football. Who live and breathe the sport and Texas has a lot of them, for sure.

However, even Texas football nuts would definitely think twice about letting their kid play if they realized that there was a realistic chance that they would almost certainly experience some level of CTE from playing (ok, kickers don't count and so forth) and they cite examples of a couple of young kids who got CTE and ended up dead-- one of them was 21 and had never been diagnosed with a concussion and commited suicide -- which seems to be a common thing amongst CTE victims.

No parent wants their kid's brain injured I don't care how much they love the sport.

45 out of 46 brains studied. That's pretty compelling evidence if not a slam dunk indictment against the game.

 

[midgar8784]

I'm sure there are a lot of people who can't imagine a world without football. Who live and breathe the sport and Texas has a lot of them, for sure.

However, even Texas football nuts would definitely think twice about letting their kid play if they realized that there was a realistic chance that they would almost certainly experience some level of CTE from playing (ok, kickers don't count and so forth) and they cite examples of a couple of young kids who got CTE and ended up dead-- one of them was 21 and had never been diagnosed with a concussion and commited suicide -- which seems to be a common thing amongst CTE victims.

No parent wants their kid's brain injured I don't care how much they love the sport.

45 out of 46 brains studied. That's pretty compelling evidence if not a slam dunk indictment against the game.

Oh for sure. I just think even players at that age do not think about things that could affect them years down the road. I could be wrong, but even with the information we have now, there are still guys like Collie trying to get back and play as much as they can. I am really not sure the info will have a huge effect. I mean people still smoke. I dont know I might be talking out of my ass here. Just a thought.

 

[93North]

I'm sure there are a lot of people who can't imagine a world without football. Who live and breathe the sport and Texas has a lot of them, for sure.

However, even Texas football nuts would definitely think twice about letting their kid play if they realized that there was a realistic chance that they would almost certainly experience some level of CTE from playing (ok, kickers don't count and so forth) and they cite examples of a couple of young kids who got CTE and ended up dead-- one of them was 21 and had never been diagnosed with a concussion and commited suicide -- which seems to be a common thing amongst CTE victims.

No parent wants their kid's brain injured I don't care how much they love the sport.

45 out of 46 brains studied. That's pretty compelling evidence if not a slam dunk indictment against the game.

As much as I love football, I talkedall my three boys out of playing HS Football.

They are now loving crew and ultimate frisbee... and hopefully, their brains remain healthy.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Oh for sure. I just think even players at that age do not think about things that could affect them years down the road. I could be wrong, but even with the information we have now, there are still guys like Collie trying to get back and play as much as they can. I am really not sure the info will have a huge effect. I mean people still smoke. I dont know I might be talking out of my ass here. Just a thought.

Let's face it, pro players make dumb decisions because this is all they know and it is the thing they've worked towards their entires lives.

I think the point of the OP was that parents may step in at an early age thereby limiting the number of kids playing football in favor of less physical sports like basketball, baseball, etc.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I'd let my kid play tackle football. Would definitely need to think it over.

 

[93North]

Oh for sure. I just think even players at that age do not think about things that could affect them years down the road. I could be wrong, but even with the information we have now, there are still guys like Collie trying to get back and play as much as they can. I am really not sure the info will have a huge effect. I mean people still smoke. I dont know I might be talking out of my ass here. Just a thought.

I don't know Collie's situation, but for many of these guys they have no other skills that they can fall back upon to earn a living.

The other day, Boston.com ran a slide-show of former Patriot players "Where are they now?". I was shocked to see the number of guys that were with us recently, that are no longer in the NFL. They cling to the highest wages they will ever make by a thread.

and you know the transition from player to non-player has to be difficult.

 

[Beaglebay]

All of us here obviously love football, but had this type of cover-up occurred in any other industry, it would have self-destructed.

That the NFL denied and kept hidden, both publicly and privately, the likely probability of the severe health hazard players faced in playing football, and chose not to conduct a bona fide scientific investigation, is negligence of the highest order, IMO.

It just reminds me that while watching a sport I love, there is a high level of iniquity and greed which drives the game, and that I do not love, at all.

 

[Hawg73]

Oh for sure. I just think even players at that age do not think about things that could affect them years down the road. I could be wrong, but even with the information we have now, there are still guys like Collie trying to get back and play as much as they can. I am really not sure the info will have a huge effect. I mean people still smoke. I dont know I might be talking out of my ass here. Just a thought.

Oh, I get your point and it is a valid one.

I'm not saying that this show spells doom for the NFL. It's a multi-billion dollar industry that is hugely popular and there are substantial interests in seeing it continue.

Interesting that you brought up smoking because that was one of the points brought up by a California congresswoman in her grilling of Goodell a few years ago. That the NFL reminded her of big tobacco in their denials of the seriousness of the consequences of playing.

Fact is that you can still buy cigarettes but that game had to change drastically and no doubt football will, too. The question is how and how much.

I suppose one analogy would be that not every smoker gets cancer-- or even experiences significant health issues from smoking, but CTE research is starting to look like everybody's brain pays a price for hitting and as studies continue it could look even worse than it does now.

A smoking gun, so to speak and the lawyers will be circling like the NFL buzzards on a carcass. Fighting for scraps.

It's no wonder that Roger has tried to de-emphasize kickoffs and change rules and medical clearance for head injuries and so forth. He knows that if he doesn't act now and continue to explore ways to at least make it look like he's trying to make the players safer then his league will pay a giant financial price. In fact, it may be too late but that is for legal folks to decide.