Very sad. Found to have CTE.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/s...ants-safety-tyler-sash-found-to-have-cte.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/s...ants-safety-tyler-sash-found-to-have-cte.html
Tyler Sash
- Thread starter WestHawk
- Start date
homes
Well-Known Member
I remember that one play where he got blindsided. Sorry to hear he suffered from this - I don't think we can really grasp what it means to be burdened with this, particularly if you've been so in control of your physical well being and fitness until it manifests itself.
Will the popularity of football wane because of CTE? It doesn't seem to be at all right now.
Will the popularity of football wane because of CTE? It doesn't seem to be at all right now.
mopkins
King Kong
I think this is the beginning of the end for football. Not for current generations (people 15-100 years old). Most parents I know wont even let their kids start football now that all of this concussion news is coming to light. Eventually people are going to just look at football as barbaric and something idiots used to do back in the day.
Sadly there's nothing you can change in football to make the head injuries go away. Everyone gets hit in the head constantly in football, there's no other way to play it. The players dont want to wear safer helmets either because they think it slows them down and they think it doesn't make them look as cool
tm3308
Well-Known Member
This. I think that within two generations, football will be will be seen in a very similar light as boxing is today.
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
I agree with this...I think I will live to see the end of amateur football. It might be 45 years from now and I would be 89, but I think that is going to happen.
There are a few reasons why I don't watch the NFL..the most significant being I spend all Saturday on the college game and Sunday is with the family in the fall...but when I do have the NFL on in the background...the game is just much, much faster and more violent than it was when I was younger...the game has never been patty cake...but the amount of energy in the collisions is greater now, as greater mass going at greater speeds equates to much greater collision force...bigger, stronger and faster has a diminishing return...and in the case of head injuries, that is a huge understatement.
I don't have to make the decision on whether or not I push a son away from football...as I do not have sons, or daughters who have any interest in playing...if I did....I do not know what I would do. I loved playing high school football...it taught me a great deal about life, teamwork...just a great experience. But that was in the 1980's, before strength training or personal trainers or things like that had come into vogue. It was a different time.
imported_ankle23
Well-Known Member
i have 3 boys - it's clear to me - football is not good for your long-term health. besides, a sport that you can play/practice long term is a better deal anyway. i am not encouraging my kids to play in organized tackle football.
head to head contact was not good for you in the 80s anymore than it is now.
head to head contact was not good for you in the 80s anymore than it is now.
It may not have been in vogue in the 80's, but we were strength training in davenport starting in the late 70's. I started powerlifting in the early 80's....didn't mean to digress....back to your point about concussions. Some of what I've read is that once you get one, it is easier to get subsequent ones, so why risk letting 'kids' get them. I coached youth football at one time, and I am not a proponent for it. You don't need to slam into each other to learn the 'skills' required to play it at a higher level. Went to a clinic a few years back and Marv Cook was talking about doing away with 'tackle' youth football in IC. He was proposing the kids can still wear pads, but they would wear flags, so the kids could still learn to block, but should just learn correct pursuit and how to square up (head up football) but not have major collisions, just pull the flag. Haven't heard if that's what they did. If you run into him, ask him. I don't think kids need to tackle until 8th grade. Most kids don't even have hair on their peaches till then
These parents that want their kids to kill each other in 5th or 6th grade to satisfy their little egos have ruined the game in my opinion...........I better stop......
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Ironically, better safety gear made the sport more dangerous.
Tackling was replaced by "hitting". 40 years ago, you didn't see defenders dip their heads and T-bone guys...they tackled with their arms and upper body, often going for the legs...not the head.
"Progress" often has unintended consequences. Football may "advance" itself out of existence.
Tackling was replaced by "hitting". 40 years ago, you didn't see defenders dip their heads and T-bone guys...they tackled with their arms and upper body, often going for the legs...not the head.
"Progress" often has unintended consequences. Football may "advance" itself out of existence.
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WestCoastHawk
Well-Known Member
This happened with boxing as well. Once guys started wearing gloves they got hit in the head a lot more.
The big issue with football will be when there are a couple lawsuits filed against school districts because of CTE. The Iowa athletic association in my opinion is not taking the issue serious enough. Look at the school size in 4A! You have schools that have 2000 students competing against teams with less than 700. With this disparity you increase risk factor! Imagine Central college competing with the Hawks. Very dangerous! Jasper
I think you will see a move to practices that are non contact in high school. I think also I could see a move to something like flag football through 8th grade. I have a 1 1/2 year old son and I would let him play contact football but not until 9th grade and it would have to be at a school and with a coaching staff I trusted to have his health as part of their first priority. So much will change in the next 12 years before he would be at that grade level so will have to see how it is then and what research shows. He may have no interest in football anyway so who knows.
The thing that confounds is look at a player like Terry Bradshaw who probably suffered more concussions than anyone could even count and yet he seems fine, but you never know until people come out like Antwan Randel El and let everyone know what is going on. They need to understand why these concussions affect one person so badly and others to a much lesser extent.
If I were the NFL and NCAA I would be dumping boat loads of money into research on this issue so it is at least understood what the risk really is.
I don't watch much NFL either any more. Just too much money in it and players running the show for the most part.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Look at Rugby. That's the answer...tackling, not hitting. Somehow those guys do it without helmets or padding...it's all in the technique.
Sorry for the incoming rant. How it went down for Sash is terrible. But, when will the nation stop pretending that football is the only sport with collision and head injuries. Both women's soccer and wrestling have concussion numbers close to or at the same levels. Additionally, I'd imagine football is more sensitive now to the issue and other sports are under reporting. Football is not the boogie man. Any sport that involves two bodies moving in the same space has chance for head injury.
Robowe
Well-Known Member
Back in the day ...
http://www.history.com/news/how-teddy-roosevelt-saved-football
With little protective equipment, players sustained gruesome injuries—wrenched spinal cords, crushed skulls and broken ribs that pierced their hearts. The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries, mostly among prep school players. Obituaries of young pigskin players ran on a nearly weekly basis during the football season. The carnage appalled America. Newspaper editorials called on colleges and high schools to banish football outright. “The once athletic sport has degenerated into a contest that for brutality is little better than the gladiatorial combats in the arena in ancient Rome,†opined the Beaumont Express. The sport reached such a crisis that one of its biggest boosters—President Theodore Roosevelt—got involved.
http://www.history.com/news/how-teddy-roosevelt-saved-football
With little protective equipment, players sustained gruesome injuries—wrenched spinal cords, crushed skulls and broken ribs that pierced their hearts. The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries, mostly among prep school players. Obituaries of young pigskin players ran on a nearly weekly basis during the football season. The carnage appalled America. Newspaper editorials called on colleges and high schools to banish football outright. “The once athletic sport has degenerated into a contest that for brutality is little better than the gladiatorial combats in the arena in ancient Rome,†opined the Beaumont Express. The sport reached such a crisis that one of its biggest boosters—President Theodore Roosevelt—got involved.
To mopkins above, I don't think the issue is that players do not want to wear safe helmets, but rather helmets have gotten about as safe as we can make them, and it is still a dangerous sport. I do agree with part of your point: players often choose to wear poorly fitted helmets for comfort reasons that then decrease the effectiveness of those helmets. Also, school districts may choose to not go with the safest helmet available for financial reasons.
I strongly agree with outlawing tackle youth football. I don't know exactly what the right age to start is, but 8-9th grade seems about right. Individuals who go on to have long-term success in football do so because of their elite athletic ability, and that ability can be developed whether or not a kid is slamming his head against another kid's head at 8 years old. Freshman football would get sloppier, but that seems a small price to pay for improved health outlooks for thousands of kids.
For those saying that modern helmets have promoted reckless hitting, there is probably something to that. There was an article published in the Journal of Athletic Training recently that compared the season long head impacts for 2 groups of college FB players. One group practiced helmet-less tackling 5 minutes every day. The other group spent those same 5 minutes practicing tackling, but with the helmet on. The group that practiced helmet-less tackling averaged about 30% fewer "Impacts" (controlled for exposure time) than the other group.
I strongly agree with outlawing tackle youth football. I don't know exactly what the right age to start is, but 8-9th grade seems about right. Individuals who go on to have long-term success in football do so because of their elite athletic ability, and that ability can be developed whether or not a kid is slamming his head against another kid's head at 8 years old. Freshman football would get sloppier, but that seems a small price to pay for improved health outlooks for thousands of kids.
For those saying that modern helmets have promoted reckless hitting, there is probably something to that. There was an article published in the Journal of Athletic Training recently that compared the season long head impacts for 2 groups of college FB players. One group practiced helmet-less tackling 5 minutes every day. The other group spent those same 5 minutes practicing tackling, but with the helmet on. The group that practiced helmet-less tackling averaged about 30% fewer "Impacts" (controlled for exposure time) than the other group.
I'm not so sure football is good for short term health either... It's rough. I have an uncle who had an offer to play for Nebraska in the 70s at LB. He told them and other schools no mas. High School was enough for him and he went on to be a grease monkey for heavy equipment in Colorado. The guy was just a broad shouldered Iowa farm boy and could have been a heck of a college LB. He destroyed people in HS my Dad said. My Dad got dinged pretty bad his senior year and had an ambulance ride to the hospital. After that his brother said that was enough for him. Now a days kids are starting younger and just playing more and getting bigger, faster, stronger. No helmet can prevent your brain rattling around in your skull. That's not even mentioning the wear and tear on fingers, hands, all your joints. Guys in their mid 30s have trouble getting up and down a few stairs. I dunno, if I have a son I'll do everything I can to get him into golf and to pitch left handed... Left handed relief pitchers have a pretty good gig I'd say.
eveningnewsteam
Well-Known Member
What about the millions that have played football that have no issues?
It depends upon the data set you use. By most data, wrestling is close to boy's and girl's basketball, in which the incidence is about 50% lower than football. Girl's soccer concussion incidence is at about the same level as football. I believe hockey is usually pretty similar as well.
