CTE Facts and Fiction

There are just too many factors to rule out. PED's are pretty prevalent in the NFL and football world. Has anybody tried to link CTE to PED or steroid users? Maybe there is a connection there. Who knows. Seems both started at the same time, the CTE and steroid era's. So, if football is one of the main sports associated with CTE and PED's are quite common among football players, maybe there is a connection. I mean it's a complete crap shoot and may not be anything, but my point is that it could be something else than just brain damage from getting hit.

<<Has anybody tried to link CTE to PED or steroid users?>>

I think Lyle Alzado claimed that HGH and other PEDs were responsible for his brain cancer. Oddly, it doesn't seem much research has been done on it.
 
I am old enough to remember, and I Am fairly certain no one ever said eggs were more dangerous than cigarettes. If you think they did, I would ask that you prove it to me. I think your statement is an over exaggeration for effect, either intentionally or mistakenly.

In this day and age of extremes and wild exaggerations nothing is out of the question.
 
Which came first, the cigarette or the egg?

But seriously, this is a great conversation. All the steroids and pain killers the players were taking in the 70's and 80's, and the newer PED's, had to have something to do with these issues.
Yes, concussions are bad and dangerous, but there's got to be a lot more contributing factors.
 
There's a new vegan documentary on Netflix that is claiming that eating one egg a day is equivalent to smoking 5 cigarettes a day.
Ironically, I've been eating between 3 and 6 eggs every morning for the last 20 years roughly. Still waiting for that smoker's cough, heart disease, and/or diabetes...
 

Sorry, when I hear cigarettes vs eggs I think of carcinogens and I was fairly certain eggs weren't that. Of course if I would have looked at the entire post I would have realized you were on the cholesterol angle. But then we wouldn't have had all of the entertaining back and forth re eggs derailing this thread, and I am still cracking up.

I better leave it at that.
 
Seems pretty obvious to say that constant impact to the head is not good for you, but damn is football fun.

What I always found silly is they equip players with shoulder pads and teach them to lead with their pads. Guess whats attached to your shoulders? Can't lead with your shoulders without your head going with it. Running backs are taught to get their pads low and hit low which is another way of saying to lead with your head. I remember watching Adrian Peterson run and he treated his head like a battering ram and nobody could bring him down.

Makes you wonder how much the game would change if you kept the helmets but removed the shoulder pads completely or else reduced the bulk of them greatly. I'm pretty sure players wouldn't lower their shoulders if they could shatter their collarbone. You watch rugby and they wrap with their arms and keep their heads up. It might ruin the game and make it unrecognizable, but I have a feeling if the status quo doesn't change dramatically football might not survive another 50 years.
 
Interesting to see this at the park while walking the other evening. Flag football for kids where they are wearing shoulder pads and helmets as well. The picture shows it below.

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Today's headline ...



I don't know, man. His father dying had more to do with his destructive path than repeat trauma to his head. And before people come at me I realize his father dying is not an excuse for him ending up, literally being a serial killer.
 
I don't know, man. His father dying had more to do with his destructive path than repeat trauma to his head. And before people come at me I realize his father dying is not an excuse for him ending up, literally being a serial killer.

Concussions lead to impulse control issues. Drugs ease the pain and the emotional pain. Concussions can lead to things like uncontrollable crying.

Though Dean is raising some points of some merit, crashing heads into heads even a helmet or immediate change of direction bangs the brain.

Fact is that we all like football or we wouldn't be here. To varying degrees we are all reluctant to change. Linking the brain injury we are talking about to PEDS isn't the whole answer. I'm going to guess that Dean was one of the one's supporting KFs position of releasing A Rob, when it is more plausible his wacky weed use was related to football injury.

The problem with any of our posturing, modern science is going to get closer each year to the culprit (s). You have to come to the conclusion that you might not like what you hear. It's like when pro abortion advocates arguing when life begins. When modern medicine pretty much spelled out when, then the argument became when is it viable or what is my right in this matter.

Fact is they are going to get this figured out likely within 5 years, then you have to make a choice about being a fan in a sport that begins in elementary school and they might find damage even then...

What is acceptable risk? 5 ten year old's a year? 10? 5 NFL suicides a year? 2?

Maybe it's all a soccer federation plot.
 
Concussions lead to impulse control issues. Drugs ease the pain and the emotional pain. Concussions can lead to things like uncontrollable crying.

Though Dean is raising some points of some merit, crashing heads into heads even a helmet or immediate change of direction bangs the brain.

Fact is that we all like football or we wouldn't be here. To varying degrees we are all reluctant to change. Linking the brain injury we are talking about to PEDS isn't the whole answer. I'm going to guess that Dean was one of the one's supporting KFs position of releasing A Rob, when it is more plausible his wacky weed use was related to football injury.

The problem with any of our posturing, modern science is going to get closer each year to the culprit (s). You have to come to the conclusion that you might not like what you hear. It's like when pro abortion advocates arguing when life begins. When modern medicine pretty much spelled out when, then the argument became when is it viable or what is my right in this matter.

Fact is they are going to get this figured out likely within 5 years, then you have to make a choice about being a fan in a sport that begins in elementary school and they might find damage even then...

What is acceptable risk? 5 ten year old's a year? 10? 5 NFL suicides a year? 2?

Maybe it's all a soccer federation plot.
The fact that marijuana is still illegal in most states shows how much humans suck. Even further, the NCAA says protecting a pedophile is ok, but weed use is bad bad bad. Humans are twisted creatures. :)
 
[QUOTE="

I'm also very dubious about the link between increased off the field violence and CTE. The guys who had crappier equipment and played a much more vicious game 30-40 years ago didn't end up this violent that I know about. I wonder what the effect of various painkillers that guys have on this behavior that they may not have taken in the past as well.
[/QUOTE]

The game 30/40 years ago was not much more vicious, players today are bigger,faster,stronger. Also the new equipment is bigger and less flexible effectively weaponizing the players and creating the confidence to launch themselves into the air at full speed leading with their helmet. Ditka said it best that if we want to lower the cases of head injuries in the NFL or football in general don't let them wear helmets.

Science and scientists do get things wrong, also in the era of 24 hour news cycles, needing to be first with information, and needing to create narratives to create content, mistakes are going to be made. Having said that I'll take what evidence we have that slamming your head into things and having it slammed into things is not a good idea over some dude sitting in his house deciding it's not a big deal. Let alone the opinions of people with actual financial interests in the sport.
 
Seems pretty obvious to say that constant impact to the head is not good for you, but damn is football fun.

What I always found silly is they equip players with shoulder pads and teach them to lead with their pads. Guess whats attached to your shoulders? Can't lead with your shoulders without your head going with it. Running backs are taught to get their pads low and hit low which is another way of saying to lead with your head. I remember watching Adrian Peterson run and he treated his head like a battering ram and nobody could bring him down.

Makes you wonder how much the game would change if you kept the helmets but removed the shoulder pads completely or else reduced the bulk of them greatly. I'm pretty sure players wouldn't lower their shoulders if they could shatter their collarbone. You watch rugby and they wrap with their arms and keep their heads up. It might ruin the game and make it unrecognizable, but I have a feeling if the status quo doesn't change dramatically football might not survive another 50 years.

Your comment about fun.... one of my life's fun highlights is my 160 pound self clothes hangering a 250 pound guy who tackled me and the tried to smother me in football and getting away with it.

Dean was that you?
 
Concussions lead to impulse control issues. Drugs ease the pain and the emotional pain. Concussions can lead to things like uncontrollable crying.

Though Dean is raising some points of some merit, crashing heads into heads even a helmet or immediate change of direction bangs the brain.

Fact is that we all like football or we wouldn't be here. To varying degrees we are all reluctant to change. Linking the brain injury we are talking about to PEDS isn't the whole answer. I'm going to guess that Dean was one of the one's supporting KFs position of releasing A Rob, when it is more plausible his wacky weed use was related to football injury.

The problem with any of our posturing, modern science is going to get closer each year to the culprit (s). You have to come to the conclusion that you might not like what you hear. It's like when pro abortion advocates arguing when life begins. When modern medicine pretty much spelled out when, then the argument became when is it viable or what is my right in this matter.

Fact is they are going to get this figured out likely within 5 years, then you have to make a choice about being a fan in a sport that begins in elementary school and they might find damage even then...We have NO way of knowing that.

What is acceptable risk? 5 ten year old's a year? 10? 5 NFL suicides a year? 2?

Maybe it's all a soccer federation plot.
 
What a shocker- Hernandez' attorney is suing the nfl.

Judge: "Did the nfl force him to play?" "No"

Judge: "Does everybody know football causes the head to get banged around?" "Yes"

Judge: "Should any adult need somebody else to tell them the head getting banged around is bad and could lead to problems?" "No"

Bang! "Case dismissed!"

Also, more specifically to the Hernandez case, the guy's been a thug since at least college, so you can't say the nfl put him on that path.
 
What a shocker- Hernandez' attorney is suing the nfl.

Judge: "Did the nfl force him to play?" "No"

Judge: "Does everybody know football causes the head to get banged around?" "Yes"

Judge: "Should any adult need somebody else to tell them the head getting banged around is bad and could lead to problems?" "No"

Bang! "Case dismissed!"

Also, more specifically to the Hernandez case, the guy's been a thug since at least college, so you can't say the nfl put him on that path.

A sportswriter I heard speak at lunch today said thusly: "Hernandez showed up at Florida with a gun. Football didn't make him a thug. He came to Gainesville that way".
 
A sportswriter I heard speak at lunch today said thusly: "Hernandez showed up at Florida with a gun. Football didn't make him a thug. He came to Gainesville that way".

He did play football in high school. In most everything legal including car accidents, it's about the degree of contribution. To that we don't know These photos are of his brain. They don't compare it to a "normal" brain.

However, Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the CTE Center at Boston University, examined his brain and said in a statement that Mr. Hernandez had “early brain atrophy” and “large perforations in the septum pellucidum, a central membrane” of the brain. The slides also showed what she called “classic features of C.T.E. in the brain,” including deposits of tau protein in the front lobes of the brain in nerve cells around small blood vessels.
22hernandez-brain-master675.jpg
 
What a shocker- Hernandez' attorney is suing the nfl.

Judge: "Did the nfl force him to play?" "No"

Judge: "Does everybody know football causes the head to get banged around?" "Yes"

Judge: "Should any adult need somebody else to tell them the head getting banged around is bad and could lead to problems?" "No"

Bang! "Case dismissed!"

Also, more specifically to the Hernandez case, the guy's been a thug since at least college, so you can't say the nfl put him on that path.

My thoughts exactly! While I feel for his family, why are they shunning accountability for many years of playing football onto one team (Patriots)? In all likelihood he played youth football & we know he played HS and college - likely receiving multiple concussions through out his career... I understand they are going where the $ is - but to me, some accountability still has to reside with the player/family that understands football is a contact sport and injuries are much more likely to happen - including to your head! Trust me, I struggle with the information around CTE daily - I have twin boys playing their 1st year of tackle football (they love it) - is it worth it? On the other hand, they played flag football prior to this and each received a goose egg to the noggin & mild concussion in flag so from that standpoint, I appreciate the helmet...
 
He did play football in high school. In most everything legal including car accidents, it's about the degree of contribution. To that we don't know These photos are of his brain. They don't compare it to a "normal" brain.

However, Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the CTE Center at Boston University, examined his brain and said in a statement that Mr. Hernandez had “early brain atrophy” and “large perforations in the septum pellucidum, a central membrane” of the brain. The slides also showed what she called “classic features of C.T.E. in the brain,” including deposits of tau protein in the front lobes of the brain in nerve cells around small blood vessels.
22hernandez-brain-master675.jpg

Dude, that's for the lawsuit, not this discussion.

Aaron Hernandez, like it or not, football or not, was a thug.
 

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