The CTE Diaries, Zac Easter, Indianola

First of all, wow. 2nd, as a parent of boys who had sports concussions, wow.

There is a lot of players using the head as a weapon. Iowa seems to me to do it a lot. PSU of all places not so much (proper tackling if there is such a thing).

One of my sons got screamed at several times in football way beyond normal. Once as a receiver he didn't know which side of the center to line up on. He got his first concussion several plays before. I didn't intervene. Another son I could tell he didn't know what he was doing and I did intervene. Coaches and trainers don't like it when parents question things.

This article:
In fact, in the 10 conferences and the independents, coaching staffs and media outlets only reported 192 concussions at all among more than 10,000 players, according to data compiled from early August 2013 to Dec. 27, 2013, in the America Tonight Concussion Map. That's an average of fewer than two reported concussions per team.

“One-hundred and ninety-two seems pretty low for us,” says Thomas Dompier, president of the Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention, which conducts the NCAA’s Injury Surveillance Program. “I’d expect a lot more, to tell you the truth.”

The actual number is difficult to guess, but it’s estimated to be in the thousands. The NCAA’s Injury Surveillance Program found that there are now about 4,000 concussion cases a year throughout all levels of college football, Dompier says.

“We are getting a very skewed representation of how much concussions are out there,” says Robert Cantu, co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute and co-director of the Boston University Center for Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just reality.”

My recollection is that Iowa reported only 1 or 2 concussions for a season. BS.
 
HawkGold said:
First of all, wow. 2nd, as a parent of boys who had sports concussions, wow.

There is a lot of players using the head as a weapon. Iowa seems to me to do it a lot. PSU of all places not so much (proper tackling if there is such a thing).

One of my sons got screamed at several times in football way beyond normal. Once as a receiver he didn't know which side of the center to line up on. He got his first concussion several plays before. I didn't intervene. Another son I could tell he didn't know what he was doing and I did intervene. Coaches and trainers don't like it when parents question things.

This article:
In fact, in the 10 conferences and the independents, coaching staffs and media outlets only reported 192 concussions at all among more than 10,000 players, according to data compiled from early August 2013 to Dec. 27, 2013, in the America Tonight Concussion Map. That's an average of fewer than two reported concussions per team.

“One-hundred and ninety-two seems pretty low for us,” says Thomas Dompier, president of the Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention, which conducts the NCAA’s Injury Surveillance Program. “I’d expect a lot more, to tell you the truth.”

The actual number is difficult to guess, but it’s estimated to be in the thousands. The NCAA’s Injury Surveillance Program found that there are now about 4,000 concussion cases a year throughout all levels of college football, Dompier says.

“We are getting a very skewed representation of how much concussions are out there,” says Robert Cantu, co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute and co-director of the Boston University Center for Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just reality.”

My recollection is that Iowa reported only 1 or 2 concussions for a season. BS.
Click to expand...
I think it's also worth mentioning that there is no sharp cutoff line as far as what constitutes a brain injury. Obviously there are testing standards that we've established to determine what we call a concussion, but that doesn't mean that someone who takes a shot to the head but can still remember his address hasn't suffered damage. It's like anything else biological...there is no black and white.

Studies have also shown that proportionally (not just because there are more of them), offensive lineman suffer a higher rate of CTE than linebackers and safeties, and most of them without ever having sustained a concussion. They smash heads 60 to 70 times a game and the small blows add up over time. Granted, the sample size is small because up until recently you had to be dead to get a diagnosis, but I think you're going to see more and more of it as time goes on. It's no different than how an alcoholic can die slowly over 20 years from cirrhosis, or can die from six hours of Jager bombs and beer bongs.
 
I've been waiting for this article to get published. I'll read it today.

One thing to remember is that CTE isn't caused by just concussions. Repeated blows to the head, sub-concussive hits are mostly to blame. Avoiding concussions doesn't mean you are avoiding CTE.

Such a tragic story.
 
Wow. Just wow. I have 10 yr old twin boys who love sports including football. What do I do as they itch to move up from flag football to tackle. Wow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top