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As a doctor who treats concussions and a lifelong fan, I now believe pro football is unethical
The Washington Post ^ | January 16, 2016 | Joseph A. Annibali

Posted on 01/19/2016 8:45:34 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

Have you noticed just how violent professional football is? Does it strike you as odd that so many are excited about a game in which players are knocked senseless and many are maimed?

The players strike each other with such force that the collision sounds can be heard high in the stands and on TV. The quarterback position is acknowledged as the most important, but rare is the quarterback who is able to play a whole season without significant injuries.

More important than the broken clavicles, the shoulder dislocations, and even the gruesome orthopedic disasters like the career-ending injury of star quarterback Joe Theisman, are the injuries to the brain. Yes, to the brain.

It is now crystal clear that high speed collisions even when protected by a helmet and other gear that would make a gladiator proud do very bad things to the brain. The recent Concussion movie helped bring the hard facts of traumatic brain injuries in football to the forefront.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: football; headinjuries; nfl
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1 posted on 01/19/2016 8:45:34 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

I realize the NFL has a ‘draft’, but I don’t seem to recall anybody ever being forced to go play the game


2 posted on 01/19/2016 8:48:26 PM PST by digger48
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To: MinorityRepublican

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another pajama boy weights in.


3 posted on 01/19/2016 8:49:41 PM PST by fso301
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To: MinorityRepublican

Nobody is forced to play the game. You are offered big bucks and you take your chances. Sometimes you are the bug, sometimes your are the windshield.


4 posted on 01/19/2016 8:50:01 PM PST by doc1019 (Cruz)
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To: MinorityRepublican
thoroughly expel the use of HGH's and roids and every other concoction that adds unnatural muscle/testosterone/aggression to the players and the wickedness of the hits would be practically stopped....

football is now so violent because we've allowed the players to bulk up beyond comprehension and we reward them one way or another....

its like added weight to a boxing glove....

5 posted on 01/19/2016 8:50:11 PM PST by cherry
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To: cherry

Sure, they are all roided up, but I guess that is part of the appeal. Knowing what we know now, it is kind of in the same realm as cage fighting. Don’t get me wrong, not a football or cage fighting fan but I do enjoy watching boxing. I think reports on this and articles and papers on this are good so people go into this stuff with their eye open.


6 posted on 01/19/2016 8:52:56 PM PST by rey
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To: MinorityRepublican

I wish all of these media outlets, that want to get rid of football, would put up or shut up. Stop covering football in your papers and television programs. Stop profiting off other people’s suffering/brain injuries.


7 posted on 01/19/2016 8:55:01 PM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: BookmanTheJanitor
Maybe the NFL should consider uniform changes


8 posted on 01/19/2016 8:56:54 PM PST by The Iceman Cometh (Trumpbots Vs. Cruznadians - the struggle is real.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

I guess they’ll start begging donations on television for “Wounded Football Warriors”. With your donation you get a blanket that’s designed with an x-ray. Call today.


9 posted on 01/19/2016 8:58:03 PM PST by windcliff
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To: MinorityRepublican

There is no question. Football players are gladiators. They illicit the same emotions in modern Americans that were elicited in ancient Rome. Boxing, MMA. NASCAR are much the same. Despite the risks and waivers there is no shortage of young men more than willing to sacrifice their well being to participate at all levels of the “sport”. The height of hypocrisy are college presidents who so frightened that the students may hear “offensive speech” but send their student mercenaries on the football fields to suffer lifelong disabling injuries all for a few bucks.


10 posted on 01/19/2016 8:58:24 PM PST by allendale
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To: MinorityRepublican

Start over and go back to leather helmets.


11 posted on 01/19/2016 9:02:50 PM PST by Exit148 ((Loose Chnge Club founder) Put yours aside for the next Freepathon!)
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To: MinorityRepublican
I suppose it goes without saying that this doctor thinks boxing is unethical as well, inasmuch as the primary objective of the sport is to give one's opponent a concussion.

Well, it's a free country, doc. Live it, learn it, love it...

12 posted on 01/19/2016 9:03:28 PM PST by sargon
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To: allendale

As stated - Liberalism is a mental disorder.


13 posted on 01/19/2016 9:04:42 PM PST by Digger
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To: allendale

Colleges are indeed the worst.
Most of those boys are students in name only. This is not a pastime for the students or meant to promote physical fitness and good character. These aren’t the playing fields of Eton.
At some point, very long ago, the early 1950’s probably, in the big universities alumni, fans and schools lost the plot and as you say started hiring gladiators.
I don’t see a way to reform it into a game for real students after so many decades.


14 posted on 01/19/2016 9:08:54 PM PST by buwaya
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To: MinorityRepublican

Get rid of the helmets. And teach people how to tackle. Rugby players know how to tackle. All the helmet does is make people think its a weapon.


15 posted on 01/19/2016 9:10:31 PM PST by inchworm
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To: sargon

Boxing has gone in and out of favor over the last 200 years. Early on it was indeed looked down on as brutally immoral. It was rescued to a degree by safety equipment and rules. It is indeed gladiatorial combat like too many sports. Where to draw the line between the sweet science and the return of the murmilliones and retiarii?


16 posted on 01/19/2016 9:14:28 PM PST by buwaya
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To: The Iceman Cometh

Ever heard of Ovarian Slam Syndrome?


17 posted on 01/19/2016 9:14:50 PM PST by Cyman
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To: Cyman
Ever heard of Ovarian Slam Syndrome?

Oh, boy....should I google that?

18 posted on 01/19/2016 9:16:17 PM PST by The Iceman Cometh (Trumpbots Vs. Cruznadians - the struggle is real.)
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To: inchworm
Get rid of the helmets. And teach people how to tackle. Rugby players know how to tackle. All the helmet does is make people think its a weapon.

This, x100.

Although a lightweight helmet would still be appropriate, as long as its specified as for falling and not hitting.

19 posted on 01/19/2016 9:17:53 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

“star quarterback Joe Theisman”

Huh? Journeyman, at best.


20 posted on 01/19/2016 9:21:06 PM PST by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian, political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I?)
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