Vincent Jackson! (1 Viewer)

[NWSaint]

Unreal.. well actually very real..

Ex-NFL WR Vincent Jackson diagnosed with Stage 2 CTE following death at age 38

Jackson, who played for the Bucs and Chargers, was found dead in a hotel room in February.

sports.yahoo.com

I know he passed back in Feb.. but still.. the results coming out now..

.. the NFL has got to get this together , and fast!

38 years old.. smh.. damn..

Makes me wonder how many others are gonna' drop over the next few years..

Jackson never had a diagnosed concussion during his 12-year NFL career, something he said was "fortunate." But while diagnosed concussions are contributors to CTE, less severe but repeated hits can also cause damage. According to the CTE Center at Boston University, around 20 percent of people who are diagnosed with CTE never had a diagnosed concussion.

Prayers for his family..



NW.

 

[sammymvpknight]

Unreal.. well actually very real..

Ex-NFL WR Vincent Jackson diagnosed with Stage 2 CTE following death at age 38

Jackson, who played for the Bucs and Chargers, was found dead in a hotel room in February.

sports.yahoo.com

I know he passed back in Feb.. but still.. the results coming out now..

.. the NFL has got to get this together , and fast!

38 years old.. smh.. damn..

Makes me wonder how many others are gonna' drop over the next few years..

Prayers for his family..



NW.

I honestly would like another center conducting these studies. Boston University is a CTE center. Pretty specific for what is considered a relatively uncommon problem. Their study showed that 99% of the brains the looked at had CTE. That’s a big number. I’m not saying that it’s BS…just that it’s a really big number, so big and unexpected that it makes be question how the studies are being conducted. And as Boston University is the only player…we are at significant risk of misinterpretation. Research can show literally anything you want it to show. That’s why it’s important to have multi center analysis to reduce the chance of bias.

 

[Cooganfootball]

Great post, SKMVP

 

[woohoosaint]

I've been saying for a while now that helmet technology hasn't caught up to bigger, stronger, faster players.

 

[sammymvpknight]

Largest study finds CTE in 6% of athletes and non-athletes

Nearly 6% of athletes and non-athletes were found to have the neurodegenerative disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the largest, and broadest, study conducted of the disease to date.

www.news-medical.net

This article talks about a blind study done on both athletes of various sports and non athletes in the general population. They determined that 6% had CTE compared to the more than 80% in pro football players.

I’m no scientist, but that seems pretty damning for football.

Sort of but I wouldn't say it's conclusive. First...there was a study conducted on military personnel and it found that the significant majority of the military has concussions...and very few of them are involved in the line of duty. Why? There is a theory that those in the military are personality types that would get concussions even if they weren't in the military. I say that with nothing but respect for those in the military...I was a military guy...I love military folks. But I think that there is some truth to that. I do think that the personality type of an NFL athlete is different than non-athletes and people who play other sports. That's point #1.

Point #2. And I think that this is very relevant to parents. The most respected Pediatric Sports Medicine physician that I know lets his children play football. Why? There have been some studies that have shown that those that play non-collegiate/professional football have a lower rate of all cause mortality than non-footballers. Why? Football players are at lower risk for depression/suicide than the general population in high school. Also, football is pretty much the only sport one can play for certain individuals. If you are 6' 300 lbs...it may be your only real option for competitive athletics, and exercise is GOOD. The risk of concussion is very likely significantly outweighed by the risk of mental illness and long-term cardiovascular effects in that group of individuals. Lastly, there was a study conducted by Mayo Clinic that looked at the relationship between high school football and neurological disease. They found that there was either no difference or REDUCED risk of neurological disease at long-term follow-up. It was a huge study, and a well conducted study. https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(12)00264-9/fulltext.

 

[Kegger]

I've been saying for a while now that helmet technology hasn't caught up to bigger, stronger, faster players.

Maybe they should play without helmets, or bust out those old school leather helmets

 

[El Caliente]

I was thinking about this story this morning, and my mind went in 40 different directions.

1) the NFL is a joke. When a guy like Taysom can get his bell rung, and the guy who does it doesn’t get a slap on the wrist, what are you really doing?
2) I hate when we (or any other team) gets called for a roughing penalty (that isn’t a roughing penalty), but I also get upset when a real roughing penalty is called and it negatively impacts the team. If I myself want to take things more seriously about CTE, I need to accept that those are bad hits. And coaches/players really should remove those hits from their repertoire, as it only harms the cause they are fighting for.

 

[No2DC]

Largest study finds CTE in 6% of athletes and non-athletes

Nearly 6% of athletes and non-athletes were found to have the neurodegenerative disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the largest, and broadest, study conducted of the disease to date.

www.news-medical.net

This article talks about a blind study done on both athletes of various sports and non athletes in the general population. They determined that 6% had CTE compared to the more than 80% in pro football players.

I’m no scientist, but that seems pretty damning for football.

Any sport that involves repeated blows to the head is potentially very dangerous for one's mental health and cognitive ability: Boxing, yep. MMA, yep. Football, yep. We all love the game but the risks should be clear to everyone.

 

[HouseCall]

I've been saying for a while now that helmet technology hasn't caught up to bigger, stronger, faster players.

a big hurdle with the protective equipment is that as the equipment becomes lighter and more advanced, players will naturally and often unconsciously be more risky with their bodies in the belief that the equipment is protecting them.

Leather helmets would all but eliminate head-to-head contact because who would want to take that risk as a tackler?

 

[Waymer]

.. the NFL has got to get this together , and fast!

I was thinking about this story this morning, and my mind went in 40 different directions.

1) the NFL is a joke. When a guy like Taysom can get his bell rung, and the guy who does it doesn’t get a slap on the wrist, what are you really doing?
2) I hate when we (or any other team) gets called for a roughing penalty (that isn’t a roughing penalty), but I also get upset when a real roughing penalty is called and it negatively impacts the team. If I myself want to take things more seriously about CTE, I need to accept that those are bad hits. And coaches/players really should remove those hits from their repertoire, as it only harms the cause they are fighting for.

Certainly the NFL has an issue on its hand that it needs to work to address. Doing so benefits the players and the league in the long run, and is the right thing to do.

But there's certainly other things to consider as well. Many of these talented players started playing when they were 6-8 years old. They've taken hits for literally decades. While there are better protocols in place from top to bottom now, I'm sure more can still be done. But to be fair we are (in some cases/areas) seeing less and less contact at young ages, which is good. But those benefits won't be seen by the current generation of retiring players who grew up in the older model of youth, college, and NFL football. We're still a generation away from seeing if that helps. It will be interesting to see if in 15 years if the rate of CTE is still the same, or if an improvement has been made, even marginally. Yes, unfortunately that is too late for the Vincent Jackson's of the world, but it may not be for the coming draft classes.

But to be clear, I think we should be reaching the point where there is no question about the possible long-term effects about football and the NFL. There is an inherent risk involved. Viewers and participants both need to be clear and cognizant of the possibilities of physical issues, including brain damage. We as viewers need to be reminded and educated about this as well. But if at that point a player wishes to put their health on the line, then so be it, as long as the awareness is there and considered. In that vein it is similar to any job. Crabbers and fisherman, for example, know that each trip brings not just the high probability of physical injury, but of potential death as well. Of course it brings the chance for quicker income as well. So that becomes a choice they make. And if we eat that product, then we also make a choice to be a part of that cycle. We all have decisions to make in other words. It doesn't mean we don't stop working on safety improvements and medical treatments, but we must all acknowledge by now the risk that is present in so many professions, including the NFL.

 

[meily]

I don't think the NFL is responsible for CTE considering these men have been playing football since they were in Junior High School, at what point is the NCAA not apart of the class action suit as they sent these amateur athletes over to the pro side as part of a partnership, a farming system if you will.

This is a violent sport and maybe the NFL needs to protect itself by adding a disclosure in their contracts stating they know and acknowledge the dangers of playing the sport as they for the most part are well compensated especially in this day and age if they perform well.

 

[Tony1Saintfan]

I've been saying for a while now that helmet technology hasn't caught up to bigger, stronger, faster players.

I’ve said the same thing for years. With the money at the college and NFL levels you would think they would have established a lab working on development of a helmet or helmet system that protects the players better.

 

[Snakehead]

The NFL does not care. It's all lip service. If the game did not have hard hits it would not generate the money it does now and they don't want to lose money.

 

[jboss]

I don't think the NFL is responsible for CTE considering these men have been playing football since they were in Junior High School, at what point is the NCAA not apart of the class action suit as they sent these amateur athletes over to the pro side as part of a partnership, a farming system if you will.

This is a violent sport and maybe the NFL needs to protect itself by adding a disclosure in their contracts stating they know and acknowledge the dangers of playing the sport as they for the most part are well compensated especially in this day and age if they perform well.

Both should be held accountable. It's astonishingly arcahic how much exploitation the NCAA gets away with across the board. All the people and institutions making money of the athletes just to leave em rode hard and put up wet.

 

[jboss]

Maybe they should play without helmets, or bust out those old school leather helmets

I've thought for a while now the helmets should actually be smaller. They should be strong enough to prevent a head injury, but thin enough to where it's at least very uncomfortable to get hit in the head. That's a huge part of the problem. These guys have no reservations throwing themselves head first into contact because most of the time they don't even feel it, even though their brain is still repeatedly smashing around in their skull. Even if they don't get an obvious concussion, that repeated impact over several years adds up.

I know the players would likely fight against it, but making helmets uncomfortable on impact is IMO the most likely way to greatly reduce incidents of CTE.