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Researchers Discover 28 New Cases of Brain Damage in Deceased Football Players
PBS ^ | December 3, 2012, 12:01 am ET | Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada

Posted on 12/03/2012 10:02:10 PM PST by Alaska Wolf

Researchers at Boston University have discovered 28 new cases of chronic brain damage in deceased football players — including 15 who played in the NFL — more than doubling the number of documented cases connecting football to long-term brain disease.

The NFL players include two Hall of Famers: running back Ollie Matson, who played 14 seasons in the 1950s and 1960s, and Colts tight end John Mackey, who played 10 seasons and once served as the head of the NFL players’ union. Both died last year after suffering from dementia

(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brain; chronic; damage
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To: Alaska Wolf
This is shaping up to be quite a show. These lawsuits are game-changers, so to speak. I believe this will be the end of the NFL as we know it.
21 posted on 12/04/2012 12:12:56 AM PST by Ken H
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
Their helmets weren't as good, but they had less to be protected from.

Ollie started his career prior to face masks. The helmet of the 50's and 60's had little actual padding. It was a plastic shell with a canvas strap web which kept your head from contacting the inside of the helmet. We also played outside on frozen fields.

22 posted on 12/04/2012 12:14:29 AM PST by Alaska Wolf (USA!)
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To: Gene Eric

Yes, this research deserves attention. Sports can cause all sorts of injuries but there is no reason we can’t minimize the worst, and brain injuries, dementia, are surely some of the worst. Penalties for obvious or deliberate blows to the head can be made more severe, and helmets and neck protection can improve as technology makes protective gear better and lighter over the years. In all sports.

We don’t want bubble wrapped tiddly winks players. We want real athleticism and field “combat” but we can certainly use the information to make sports safer and yet retain excitement and risk.


23 posted on 12/04/2012 12:25:03 AM PST by Yaelle
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To: Yaelle

Well said!


24 posted on 12/04/2012 12:52:12 AM PST by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: OKRA2012

I think we are missing the lead to where this mess is going to head to. All you need is one high school district to take the numbers and deem that high school football cannot be played within a county. Over a year, it’d likely spread to fifty counties throughout the US. Eventually, one state (a no-NFL state) would deem all high school and college football unsafe.

Once you take out the developmental stage of high school and college football....then professional football slides. You can figure that by 2016...one state will have taken football down. By 2025, I don’t anticipate the NFL existing anymore.


25 posted on 12/04/2012 1:20:07 AM PST by pepsionice
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Yeah not exactly a good plan you got there

Heading Soccer Ball Linked to Brain Injury

http://www.m.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20111129/heading-soccer-ball-linked-to-brain-injury


26 posted on 12/04/2012 2:34:30 AM PST by Flavius (What hopes for victory, Gaius Crastinus? What grounds for encouragement ?)
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To: Alaska Wolf

Around 2 in the morning a week or so back they had a program on the Science channel about a material that stunt people used, sounded really good to me. They could use it to line helmets. I wish I could remember the particulars, I know it will be on again, I hope I catch it.


27 posted on 12/04/2012 2:50:26 AM PST by tiki
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To: Gene Eric
This issue deserves the research and attention it’s getting.

No argument, there, many of the best and brightest (with leadership potential) spend their high school years playing football. The research might lead to better concussion protection for our troops as well.

28 posted on 12/04/2012 2:52:31 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: Alaska Wolf

Has anyone asked the question of whether or not these cases are occurring in pro football players at the same rate as they are occurring in the general population? Furthermore, has anyone asked the case as to whether or not these cases could be linked to the kind of people who gravitate toward football in the first place? Just a thought.


29 posted on 12/04/2012 3:27:16 AM PST by dbeall
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Huge nerf helmets the size of large beachballs are needed.


30 posted on 12/04/2012 3:36:34 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

Headbags that deploy upon impact. Hut! (thwoomp)


31 posted on 12/04/2012 3:43:58 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: MichaelCorleone

If rules change, then that’s no different than rules changes in the past.

Folks act as if football hasn’t ever had rules changes before.

Just rule that hitting anyone, anyplace, any situation must be confined to shoulders and lower.

Is that significantly different than requiring a helmet, a facemask on a helmet, pads, etc.? What about the facemask penalty? We accept it without thinking.

Better science is telling us players brains are turning to jelly. Best to fix it with a simple rule change.


32 posted on 12/04/2012 3:49:12 AM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True supporters of our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
3) Demise of Football = Rise of Soccer

I don't know. Those 'headers" in soccer have been identified as a cause of brain damage, also. They might have to eliminate that part.

33 posted on 12/04/2012 5:12:55 AM PST by Will88
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To: Alaska Wolf

Apparently, playing football doesn’t prevent brain damage.


34 posted on 12/04/2012 5:48:32 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Hold My Beer and Watch This!)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Exactly.


35 posted on 12/04/2012 12:05:33 PM PST by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: Alaska Wolf
My son, when playing varsity football in highschool got a concussion bad enough to put him in the hospital...for the first 24 hours he was in and out of consciousness, he still does not remember that day at all and that was about 35 years ago. It took 3 days for his memory to come back to almost normal except for that day. He would wake up in the ER and ask where he was. We'd tell him and why he was there (he had the football and the other team took him out, it seems like they all piled on. He then said good we got the ball and phase out of consciousness again. This went on for hours before they admitted him when he got violent. Typical of head injury's....He was not to scrimmage for 6 weeks and was ticked off. I called his coach to inform him cause I knew my son wouldn't. He loved football, and was varsity it the 10th grade...Both of his son's did great in highschool football also, thank God they received no perm. injury...Son's IQ is still above average and spent 9 years in the air force in charge of “fixing broken planes” as he called it...Langley in the middle of the runways where they taxi the fighters that needed “fixing” Thats all he would say about his job...
36 posted on 12/04/2012 9:36:44 PM PST by goat granny
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To: Gene Eric

I’m sorry I’m too smart for you.


37 posted on 12/04/2012 11:01:57 PM PST by EscapedDutch ("Socialism is great until you run out of other people's money" - Lady Margaret Thatcher)
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