Twitter: TD is suffering from CTE

[JoeKing]

I hope you mean technology that will provide safety prevention from incurring certain life debilitating or life threatening injuries. All physical organized activities or sports carries some degree of injury related risk. I do agree with you somewhat but I try looking at the practical side. Football is a highly popular sport with a long history of non-CTE related injuries that have permanently scarred and even killed players. Even the threat of something as vile as CTE will not be enough to ban the sport in my opinion.

My commentary about banning the sport has nothing to do with the likelihood of it actually happening. Full contact football is brutal at every level it is played. Surely we can at least save our young ones from it's hazards until at least high school and even then it's violent nature should be far more regulated. I understand the big money that the college a pro game generates makes the game near impossible to ban. Human life is not yet valued enough to do so.

 

[DallasEast]

My commentary about banning the sport has nothing to do with the likelihood of it actually happening. Full contact football is brutal at every level it is played. Surely we can at least save our young ones from it's hazards until at least high school and even then it's violent nature should be far more regulated. I understand the big money that the college a pro game generates makes the game near impossible to ban. Human life is not yet valued enough to do so.

You'll get no disagreement from me about the value of life. Football has safeguards in place right now that would help prevent more injuries or possibility even a small percentage of CTE injuries but some coaches and players dislike strictly adhering to some precautions as simple as fundamental tackling techniques.

 

[pugilist]

prayers to the Dorsett fam

 

[TheHerd]

If I could go back, I'd never play football. To this day, I have major knee problems because of football.

I know very few people who played football through college who don't have some damage from the sport.

 

[Robbieac]

My commentary about banning the sport has nothing to do with the likelihood of it actually happening. Full contact football is brutal at every level it is played. Surely we can at least save our young ones from it's hazards until at least high school and even then it's violent nature should be far more regulated. I understand the big money that the college a pro game generates makes the game near impossible to ban. Human life is not yet valued enough to do so.

Remind me.....are people forced to play football, or is it their choice? Do people not know the inherrent risks at this point?

If we are going to ban full contact sports because of the potential risks/injuries, let's not stop there....
Lets ban smoking, drinking, sodas, driving automobiles, and sex before marriage just for starters....because thise things cause a whole lot more heartache, diseases, and death than full contact sports do.

Or do you not "value human life enough" to also want those things banned?

 

[cowboy_ron]

Dorsett is the reason I'm a cowboy fan. After That 99 yard TD run against Minnesota I was hooked.

99 1/2...don't cheat him..haha

 

[Jake]

If I could go back, I'd never play football. To this day, I have major knee problems because of football.

You're not the first guy I've seen/heard say that. I guess I was fortunate in that I wasn't good enough to play the game at a high level. I was out after high school.

 

[Ranching]

I probably watched every Dorsett carry in his pro career and i cant remember him ever taking a bad hit, he was that elusive. Sad to hear that he is suffering from CTE.

 

[Word Mofo]

Take away helmets and pads and people will stop using their heads as a weapon or battering ram. Make it more like rugby

 

[haleyrules]

Too bad. Great Cowboy and one of my all time favourites.

 

[haleyrules]

I am an enormous combat sports fan (both boxing and MMA).

Meldrick Taylor is one of the saddest cases EVER.

Yep. So many of the old time fighters were badly damaged. l have known many and most would say if it weren't for boxing they would have been nothing or dead or in jail and still believed in the Sweet Science and would have done it over again.

 

[JoeKing]

Remind me.....are people forced to play football, or is it their choice? Do people not know the inherrent risks at this point?

If we are going to ban full contact sports because of the potential risks/injuries, let's not stop there....
Lets ban smoking, drinking, sodas, driving automobiles, and sex before marriage just for starters....because thise things cause a whole lot more heartache, diseases, and death than full contact sports do.

Or do you not "value human life enough" to also want those things banned?

Our kids that play football are not fully aware of the risks and they are not all coached properly. College and pros do for the most part play knowing the risk but medical science is just now finding evidence of just how damaging the sport really is. There are many retired players that say they wish they had known when they starting playing what a toll the sport would take so they could make a better informed decision on whether to play or not.

 

[DandyDon52]

Well they could come up with a way to counter or eliminate the tau proteins.

Everything has a price, Racecar drivers get killed so have airline pilots and so on.
I think players should be informed of the possible outcomes, and then they can make a choice.

At dorsetts age, many other things could go wrong with his body too.
He still had a good life.

If you sign up for something dangerous, but has high pay, it is your choice.

The other issue is the players are not just affected by NFL football , it is pee wee thru HS and then college too.
Some have had many blows to the head over all those years.
Then add in drug use , steroid use, alcohol use, poor eating or sleeping habits, and all those things can factor in on
a persons health in old age and the CTE

Some players like Aikman have had concussions, but is still ok 20 years after retiring, so there are other things
that factor into it.
Some players are affected worse than others, so you would have to examine their life carefully to determine why.

Even people who dont play football wind up with various mental issues once in the 60's and beyond.

 

[Ranching]

Our kids that play football are not fully aware of the risks and they are not all coached properly. College and pros do for the most part play knowing the risk but medical science is just now finding evidence of just how damaging the sport really is. There are many retired players that say they wish they had known when they starting playing what a toll the sport would take so they could make a better informed decision on whether to play or not.

I am a football coach, but i really don't think kids should play tackle football in elementary school. Lack of quality coaching and being too young are my main concerns. Just my opinion

 

[jobberone]

So, so sad to hear he is worsening. I had hoped his disease would progress so slowly as to be of small consequence. We all must cease to draw breath and so say final farewells. But to do it so diminished hurts my heart. Remember it is not just football and CTE but all forms of dementia which rob us of who and what we are. My prayers for him and his loved ones.

 

[Raneiron#31]

Take away helmets and pads and people will stop using their heads as a weapon or battering ram. Make it more like rugby

Was wondering when somebody was going to suggest this, Rugby has no pads and I know they take just as much muscle and ligament damage any other sport but they do not have the CTE issue like NFL does and it is because they know how to tackle without using their heads as weapons. It makes a lot of sense to take away the false security that is helmets and pads.

 

[Hardline]

To be honest I struggle with this information. I too love Pro Football.
I stopped watching boxing because of the damage it does to young men.
I grow up in a boxing family my father was a pro middle weight in the golden age of boxing.

What was his name?

 

[Hardline]

Has there ever been a study on CTE since the redesigned helmets came out?

 

[The Quest for Six]

Full contact football should be banned. CTE is rampant throughout the sport.

Some recent studies are showing people who have never played sports have CTE....

 

[JoeKing]

Some recent studies are showing people who have never played sports have CTE....

Studies show some people who get lung cancer, never smoked. That doesn't make the tobacco industry less liable, to the billions it has killed.