Mark Schlereth agrees with Larry Fedora's comments and expresses his feelings about football's CTE

[Philmonroe]

FLA, ALA and TEX are never giving up football...... basically the South

No offense but and? I never mentioned anything about anybody giving up football lol

 

[Nightman]

No offense but and? I never mentioned anything about anybody giving up football lol

I was agreeing with you chachi......try to keep up

They know there are risks but those Southern boys will never give up the sport

 

[Maxmadden]

They need to determine who doesn't have CTE and work their way back to football to see where it ends and where it starts.
It's not just a football problem.

 

[DFWJC]

I took quite a few blows to the head when I was younger and I'm still the smartest around here.....

Some drink them pretty, some drink them smart
Salud!

 

[DoctorChicken]

The proof is the millions without CTE and ALS vs the dozens/hundreds that suffer from it

What are the rates for non football players?

Keep your ooofs for your chicken patients or are you the Chicken??????

The rates for football, wrestling and boxing are very high. Of course this is all relatively new information in the medical field, but to say that there’s no “definitive proof” is laughable. It’s not just a football problem either.

The people trying to link football and CTE are not “attacking” football. No one with credibility is calling for the banning of football, but people realize it is a violent sport with more negative consequences on the human body than what was known 20 years ago. That is 100% undeniable. And people want to lessen those negative consequences, especially something as awful as CTE.

Everytown, USA

Uh, so do I, and our pools have diving boards.

 

[AbeBeta]

I believe there is a connection between repeated hits to the head and CTE. And the league has to do their best to minimize the risk without turning it into flag football.

But I also know that the NFL has done more to lift poor kids out of slums and made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. The league has allowed these guys to get out of horrible situations growing up and allowed them earn generational wealth. We are talking about thousands of players spanning decades.

So yes, CTE is a terrible thing and needs to be studied more. But overall, the league has done a lot more good than bad for the vast, vast majority of the players who were talented enough and lucky enough to play at that level. Even the 3rd stringers make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

That should be celebrated IMO.

The NFL lifts poor kids out of the slums

No. Those poor kids work incredibly hard to get there. Their families make tons of sacrifices to help put them in a position to succeed. Don't act like the NFL is some sort of savior. These "poor kids" did all the work to get to the NFL. The league did little if anything to help them

 

[Flamma]

I buy him talking about guys losing purpose after football.

I'm a hard sell once he starts talking about what he "believes" about the brain, like he knows anything about how brains work.

No one is saying end football, just that these literal CHILDREN that grow up playing it, and their parents, should know what they're getting into.

Agreed. I kind of laughed when he started talking about the brain.

As far as knowing the risks, I believe they always have. Believing football was a dangerous sport is nothing new. There were always parents that didn't let their kids play, and it wasn't for fear of a sprained ankle either.

 

[Nightman]

The NFL lifts poor kids out of the slums

No. Those poor kids work incredibly hard to get there. Their families make tons of sacrifices to help put them in a position to succeed. Don't act like the NFL is some sort of savior. These "poor kids" did all the work to get to the NFL. The league did little if anything to help them

But would they put in all that work for the game if there was no NFL or similar pro league?

No they wouldn't

 

[gmoney112]

Itll be interesting to see how this plays out. I mean, it's only common sense that with guys getting bigger faster hitting each other at full speed, is probably going to have links to CTE.

Nothings going to happen to the game, but youd like to see the NFL be proactive and use all this crazy tech and science innovation to better understand it and design equipment for it. Instead of just kinda sweeping it under the rug. Doing things in good faith is usually the best way to approach situations like this imo.

And yeah, some parents will keep their kids out of football because of it.

Maybe itll lead to us actually having a good US mens soccer team. I get triggered when I see the world cup and think about what itd look like with our best athletes on the field. We would crush.

 

[rkell87]

@erod

I'm sure colleges will get sued; however, the vast majority of players are legally adults and therefore responsible for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if it's already standard in scholarships to have CYA language for this reason. I believe both the NFL and NCAA will at some point be held somewhat responsible for CTE and pay a drop in the bucket, but from that point on players won't be able to claim ignorance of consequence and things will be pretty much business as usual. They'll Probably just add an hour long seminar for incoming freshmen and a waiver signing at the end.

 

[rkell87]

Itll be interesting to see how this plays out. I mean, it's only common sense that with guys getting bigger faster hitting each other at full speed, is probably going to have links to CTE.

Nothings going to happen to the game, but youd like to see the NFL be proactive and use all this crazy tech and science innovation to better understand it and design equipment for it. Instead of just kinda sweeping it under the rug. Doing things in good faith is usually the best way to approach situations like this imo.

And yeah, some parents will keep their kids out of football because of it.

Maybe itll lead to us actually having a good US mens soccer team. I get triggered when I see the world cup and think about what itd look like with our best athletes on the field. We would crush.

Personally I'm glad our best athletes don't waste their time on boring sports and choose exciting and difficult activities.

 

[AbeBeta]

But would they put in all that work for the game if there was no NFL or similar pro league?

No they wouldn't

There wouldn't be a successful league without these players. You'd have another CFL. Players make the league

 

[lockster]

I still say make players sign waivers to play in the league. Acknowledge it is a violent sport and all manners of injuries both known and unknown can occur by participating. Players are paid handsomely and should assume all the risks when they sign up. Yes, the league can do things to try and reduce concussions but they should not even think about fundamentally changing the game because some outside groups see a cause to continue their fake outrage campaigns.

glad somebody understands personal responsibility. This nation No longer subscribed to this in the legal system, hence the destruction of not only football but all kinds of endeavors.

 

[lockster]

I still say make players sign waivers to play in the league. Acknowledge it is a violent sport and all manners of injuries both known and unknown can occur by participating. Players are paid handsomely and should assume all the risks when they sign up. Yes, the league can do things to try and reduce concussions but they should not even think about fundamentally changing the game because some outside groups see a cause to continue their fake outrage campaigns.

glad somebody understands personal responsibility. This nation No longer subscribed to this in the legal system, hence the destruction of not only football but all kinds of endeavors.

 

[TWOK11]

I mean, he's welcome to hold that opinion. He's wrong but it's his right.

The scientific link between CTE and football is so overwhelming that to deny it at this point is no less absurd than claiming vaccines cause autism.

 

[DandyDon1722]

The brain works crazy, man!

Gimmee - exactly right. Why, just look at your brain when you talk about Romo - it truly is crazy.

 

[AmericanCowboy]

I mean, he's welcome to hold that opinion. He's wrong but it's his right.

The scientific link between CTE and football is so overwhelming that to deny it at this point is no less absurd than claiming vaccines cause autism.

I wish I could dislike this post for many reasons.

There are many examples of times when the scientific community has taken and twisted data to fit a certain narrative. CTE studies all have specifically chosen focus groups and are run by people who have implicit bias.

Obviously hitting your head over and over again isn’t great. No one is disputing that.

The fact is if you give me a set of data, allow me to pick the specific people to study, I can make data say whatever I want it to say.

 

[AmericanCowboy]

The NFL lifts poor kids out of the slums

No. Those poor kids work incredibly hard to get there. Their families make tons of sacrifices to help put them in a position to succeed. Don't act like the NFL is some sort of savior. These "poor kids" did all the work to get to the NFL. The league did little if anything to help them

Do the poor kids work incredibly hard to get there, or are they blessed with natural, God given abilities that regular people like you and me can only dream about? Maybe it’s a combination?

Ever seen what goes on in a high school for a star football player? Ever read about the corruption starting in middle school for players who are able to dominate in sports?

I work in a high school that has sent about 7 or 8 players to the NFL over the last 15 years. I have seen it first hand- everything literally handed to them by the time they were 13 years old. Sure they work hard in football, but many frequently neglect everything else, including school work and even school attendance.

This narrative you push about the families making a ton of sacrifices to put them in a position to succeed is mostly not true. Maybe in some cases- overwhelmingly it is not.

 

[Hadenough]

I believe there is a connection between repeated hits to the head and CTE. And the league has to do their best to minimize the risk without turning it into flag football.

But I also know that the NFL has done more to lift poor kids out of slums and made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. The league has allowed these guys to get out of horrible situations growing up and allowed them earn generational wealth. We are talking about thousands of players spanning decades.

So yes, CTE is a terrible thing and needs to be studied more. But overall, the league has done a lot more good than bad for the vast, vast majority of the players who were talented enough and lucky enough to play at that level. Even the 3rd stringers make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

That should be celebrated IMO.

Exactly! Football is a risky business but so is working on an oil rig or commercial buildings or crab fishing or heck living in the city crossing the street. Nobody had their arm twisted and was told to play football. Getting paid to do something they love is not a bad thing and the player can choose to walk away at anytime!

 

[TheCount]

They need to determine who doesn't have CTE and work their way back to football to see where it ends and where it starts.
It's not just a football problem.

Huh? Not sure I understand what you mean.

Isn't that like saying find people that don't have AIDS and work your way back to find the source of AIDS.