Football Killed Tyler Sash - BHGP

It's a free country. People can become cops firefighters join the military, All sorts of dangerous life threating jobs are being done every day by people. And we are worried about those that get compensated the most for doing a dangerous game? I have no problem if people choose to not let their kids play ball. Nobody is telling me what to do with mine so I sure won't tell others what to do either. I just think that the amount of money that's involved is being overlooked. Everyone is so knee jerk oriented that yes now we are sad and want look at the other extreme of eliminating football to prevent these types of things because the game by it's nature just isn't safe period. Yet we as a society are selfish and greedy. We want to make a lot of money and be entertained. And that'll always take precedence over others health and well being. I doubt that shift in human nature will be shifted either gradually or drastically enough to make a difference that some are predicting.... There is a better chance that the NFL takes a slide due to finances before this. They will out kick their coverage when it comes to building these stadiums and what they charge for tickets etc that there is a bubble there where eventually fans won't be able to afford it. But we haven't hit it yet....
 
Nope. I don't buy it. Tyler Sash killed Tyler Sash. Drugs are a choice and Sash showed he was willing to take them during his football career (adderral, yeah right) and he was willing to take a lot of them after football. Life is about choices. Unfortunately Tyler made very bad ones that cost him his life.
 
This is a knee jerk reaction article for sure. Its terrible what happened to Sash. But lets be real. Jacobi isn't going to stop watching football. People who were close to Sash in the Hawkeye program, they're more torn up about his death than any of these sports writers. Do you think they're all going to quit their careers in football because of this. Just stop.
 
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Mrke1 said:
This is a knee jerk reaction article for sure. Its terrible what happened to Sash. But lets be real. Jacob isn't going to stop watching football. People who were close to Sash in the Hawkeye program, they're more torn up about his death than any of these sports writers. Do you think they're all going to quit their careers in football because of this. Just stop.
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HawkfnnTN mentioned a knee jerk reaction to eliminating football.

How about we eliminate cigarettes and alcohol which kill way more people than football.

Some good point have been made in this thread but people take chances all the time and knowingly take big risks. In the 1950s and 60s Indy car racing was a killer sport but what happened is they made it safer.

We did not let our son play football, my wife was an MD at that time and no way she said.

It would seem using your head as a weapon is much of the problem and it may also turn out that some people are more prone to CTE?
 
uihawk82 said:
How about we eliminate cigarettes and alcohol which kill way more people than football.
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True dat. My parents both smoked in the house for the 19 years i lived there and it did 1,000,000 times more harm than football ever did.

In the 1950s and 60s Indy car racing was a killer sport but what happened is they made it safer.
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Also true but you can't just make football safer without making it a different game. There is no equipment that will make a hit to the head at a combined 30+ mph more safe. None.

Yes, I know it's against the rules but it happens all game long. You change the rules to eliminate hard hits, no one watches anymore. NFL and NCAA don't make any money, no more football. It's a sad fact, but the reason the NFL has become the most popular sport in America is because of the violence and vicious hits. Would anyone watch MMA if punching and kicking were illegal? How bout if we said striking is legal, but try not to do it as hard?

Same way in football. How do you make football interesting if you said players have to tackle without being forceful? Tell running backs not to run as fast? There's no way around it and no way to make football safer. You either take risks and play, or the sport goes away altogether.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it does go away eventually. I love football but there's just no way the sport survives the more we learn about this stuff. Really shouldn't be shocking to anyone because it's like a lot of things. Doctors used to smoke like chimneys, people drove cross country with no seat belts, we put asbestos in our walls, and on and on. Then sometimes we learn that certain things we like are very, very bad for your health, and we stop doing them as a society. Unfortunately football is probably one of those things.
 
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Fryowa said:
True dat. My parents both smoked in the house for the 19 years i lived there and it did 1,000,000 times more harm than football ever did.



Also true but you can't just make football safer without making it a different game. There is no equipment that will make a hit to the head at a combined 30+ mph more safe. None.

Yes, I know it's against the rules but it happens all game long. You change the rules to eliminate hard hits, no one watches anymore. NFL and NCAA don't make any money, no more football. It's a sad fact, but the reason the NFL has become the most popular sport in America is because of the violence and vicious hits. Would anyone watch MMA if punching and kicking were illegal? How bout if we said striking is legal, but try not to do it as hard?

Same way in football. How do you make football interesting if you said players have to tackle without being forceful? Tell running backs not to run as fast? There's no way around it and no way to make football safer. You either take risks and play, or the sport goes away altogether.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it does go away eventually. I love football but there's just no way the sport survives the more we learn about this stuff. Really shouldn't be shocking to anyone because it's like a lot of things. Doctors used to smoke like chimneys, people drove cross country with no seat belts, we put asbestos in our walls, and on and on. Then sometimes we learn that certain things we like are very, very bad for your health, and we stop doing them as a society. Unfortunately football is probably one of those things.
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How about eliminating cars, airplanes, motorcycles, etc. Hell, just eliminate baseball or make the players hit off a tee. No pitchers would greatly eliminate injuries & deaths in baseball. Plus, hockey is more violent than football. It is just politically correct to attack football.
 
Fryowa said:
True dat. My parents both smoked in the house for the 19 years i lived there and it did 1,000,000 times more harm than football ever did.



Also true but you can't just make football safer without making it a different game. There is no equipment that will make a hit to the head at a combined 30+ mph more safe. None.

Yes, I know it's against the rules but it happens all game long. You change the rules to eliminate hard hits, no one watches anymore. NFL and NCAA don't make any money, no more football. It's a sad fact, but the reason the NFL has become the most popular sport in America is because of the violence and vicious hits. Would anyone watch MMA if punching and kicking were illegal? How bout if we said striking is legal, but try not to do it as hard?

Same way in football. How do you make football interesting if you said players have to tackle without being forceful? Tell running backs not to run as fast? There's no way around it and no way to make football safer. You either take risks and play, or the sport goes away altogether.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it does go away eventually. I love football but there's just no way the sport survives the more we learn about this stuff. Really shouldn't be shocking to anyone because it's like a lot of things. Doctors used to smoke like chimneys, people drove cross country with no seat belts, we put asbestos in our walls, and on and on. Then sometimes we learn that certain things we like are very, very bad for your health, and we stop doing them as a society. Unfortunately football is probably one of those things.
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They can't get rid of smoking. Hell they've made pot legal all over now. I don't see football going away any time soon... Sure if the 20 somethings of today don't let their kids play football through HS that'd pretty much do it. But I don't see that even happening. HS football is big money too... And a lot of dads played ball and want their kids to. It's just not as simple as that. Money and greed of individuals will trump how anyone feels about others. Always has always will. It's why smoking/drinking is around. There are enough individuals that love it to have there be a market for it. There is enough money in it for the companies to bribe(lobbyists) law makers to keep it/regulate it. Regardless of how it's terrible for your health I think those things and football will be around till financially the businesses screw themselves up. Not due to a lack of consumers and or participants.
 
There are enough people in the world as it is. People die young and people die old. It's just the way it is. The point in life is to enjoy it while you're here, not avoid all risk so you can live to be as old as possible. That said, I really hope my kids don't play football, or go skydiving, or drive motorcycles, or go hunting, or have unprotected sex, or text and drive, or walk across the street without looking both ways.
 
theboat said:
Nope. I don't buy it. Tyler Sash killed Tyler Sash. Drugs are a choice and Sash showed he was willing to take them during his football career (adderral, yeah right) and he was willing to take a lot of them after football. Life is about choices. Unfortunately Tyler made very bad ones that cost him his life.
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Football was the proximate cause.
 
theboat said:
Nope. I don't buy it. Tyler Sash killed Tyler Sash. Drugs are a choice and Sash showed he was willing to take them during his football career (adderral, yeah right) and he was willing to take a lot of them after football. Life is about choices. Unfortunately Tyler made very bad ones that cost him his life.
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What about when the part of your brain that you use to make choices is damaged? It's not a big leap to think maybe his bad decisions were because of the damage that was done.
 
theboat said:
Nope. I don't buy it. Tyler Sash killed Tyler Sash. Drugs are a choice and Sash showed he was willing to take them during his football career (adderral, yeah right) and he was willing to take a lot of them after football. Life is about choices. Unfortunately Tyler made very bad ones that cost him his life.
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I hear ya, boat...I'm a big believer in owning your choices. (god knows there's far too little of it today) But i tend to agree with Thunder. Here's why

Once you have a brain injury...all bets are off. If affects everything. If Sash chose to take adderal, yes that's his choice. (if you're inferring something bigger like roids had a role, I'd reserve that unless there's proof) But there are bigger factors in his death..chronic brain injury supercedes most everything. And it was clearly at the center of his early passing. It's pretty clear that at some point, something happened to him that changed him. All that knew him best, say he wasn't himself.

Considering that, I'm not about to stomp on his grave.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
I hear ya, boat...I'm a big believer in owning your choices. (god knows there's far too little of it today) But i tend to agree with Thunder. Here's why

Once you have a brain injury...all bets are off. If affects everything. If Sash chose to take adderal, yes that's his choice. (if you're inferring something bigger like roids had a role, I'd reserve that unless there's proof) But there are bigger factors in his death..chronic brain injury supercedes most everything. And it was clearly at the center of his early passing. It's pretty clear that at some point, something happened to him that changed him. All that knew him best, say he wasn't himself.

Considering that, I'm not about to stomp on his grave.
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I'm a big believer of owning up to your choices too. But when an autopsy says the decision making part of his brain was damaged, it's hard to argue that the injury wasn't the cause. If it was someone who grew up making terrible decisions it would be different.
 
This is such a polarizing debate. I'll start by saying that hearing of Tyler Sash's death bothered me more than I would have thought, and still does. He was a Hawk through and through, grew up 15 minutes from my hometown in a place where I've spent a lot of time, and his play on the gridiron brought us all a significant amount of joy. While not at the same level, I also played football collegiately and can relate to his obvious passion for the game. His death was tragic and would not have been any less so regardless of the cause.

Brain injuries and the less prominent, but perhaps more prevalent, issue of chronic pain and how to manage it safely (which in my opinion is the 9 ton elephant in the room that no one is talking about now due to the posthumous diagnosis of CTE for Tyler Sash) are serious issues for the game of football to manage. That being said, I fail to see why we are so quick to decide to stop living life as soon as we realize there is an element of risk involved. Out of the thousands of individuals that have played the game for any significant amount of time, a very small percentage of those have been diagnosed with CTE. Of those who have been diagnosed, that I am aware of, they all played the game for a significant period of time during which concussion protocols were not nearly as strict as they are today. Do you put yourself at risk by playing the game...absolutely (though I would be more worried about needing a knee replacement when you are 50 than I would be about ultimately losing your life because of a brain injury). Being involved in the game of football shaped my life in too many positive ways to possibly count. I HIGHLY doubt my life would even resemble what it is today without having fallen in love with this game (and no, picking up another sport would not have provided those same opportunities). I'll educate my son about the dangers of playing the game, but I certainly won't discourage him. Just like I'll educate him about the potential dangers of putting his vehicle in drive and driving down the road, talking to strangers, crossing the street, eating a cheeseburger, drinking a beer, traveling abroad, etc. (all experiences that could take your life in the blink of an eye, but are worthwhile endeavors that could bring you a significant amount of joy, especially if you know how to mitigate the risks). By all means, educate yourself and your loved ones about the dangers of the game before they make the final decision to buckle that chin strap, but at least consider that CTE is probably not a likely outcome for anyone that has the average football career, and that the benefits of being involved might outweigh the risk.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
They can't get rid of smoking. Hell they've made pot legal all over now. I don't see football going away any time soon... Sure if the 20 somethings of today don't let their kids play football through HS that'd pretty much do it. But I don't see that even happening. HS football is big money too... And a lot of dads played ball and want their kids to. It's just not as simple as that. Money and greed of individuals will trump how anyone feels about others. Always has always will. It's why smoking/drinking is around. There are enough individuals that love it to have there be a market for it. There is enough money in it for the companies to bribe(lobbyists) law makers to keep it/regulate it. Regardless of how it's terrible for your health I think those things and football will be around till financially the businesses screw themselves up. Not due to a lack of consumers and or participants.
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I'm fully aware that smoking isn't going anywhere, I was just using it to illustrate a point.

As far as football, I don't think it's going to stay the way it is for long. It just can't. This is one issue I'm completely torn on. I loved playing football, my son plays, and I love watching it. On the other hand, if I'm honest with myself I know there's a good chance that someone who either plays a long time or takes a lot of big shots will end up with dementia. But come this fall I'll be right there with everyone else forking over money to watch it.

I really think Bernie Kosar should be just as much of a wakeup call to the NFL as the player deaths. His speech is barely English anymore and what you can understand makes zero sense. He's broke and probably just a few years away from ending up like Muhammad Ali, only he won't have an army of caretakers to watch over him.

Referencing an earlier poster, what I think it will take is someone winning a lawsuit and then others following precedent. As more and more of these stories and studies come out, there will eventually be a judge or jury that will side with a plaintiff. That's the only thing I see being big enough to take down the NFL.

I'm not saying that's what I want (because it isn't), but it's what I think will someday happen.
 
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It's like no one realizes that football players aren't slaves that are forced to play. They choose to play because they love it. Anyone who thinks it's risky to play football should watch an episode of Nitro Circus.
 
PCHawk said:
It's like no one realizes that football players aren't slaves that are forced to play. They choose to play because they love it. Anyone who thinks it's risky to play football should watch an episode of Nitro Circus.
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I understand they weren't forced to play but were they really aware of how dangerous or what the consequences could be?

I would argue probably not. It's situations like Tyler's that are raising awareness of the dangers/consequences.
 
ibahawkeye said:
I understand they weren't forced to play but were they really aware of how dangerous or what the consequences could be?

I would argue probably not. It's situations like Tyler's that are raising awareness of the dangers/consequences.
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Kids are invincible so it will only matter to the parents.
 
I am so tired of Jacobi and his agenda everything he write has an agenda its so obvious its his agenda to promote his agenda.
 
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