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How many more deaths can NFL fans take?
The Kansas City Star ^ | May 2, 2012 | SAM MELLINGER

Posted on 05/05/2012 6:20:18 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican

A gray-haired woman in a green floral dress is screaming the worst moment of her life in front of the entire world. Luisa Seau stands in front of microphones, in front of cameras, on televisions across the country wailing the sometimes incoherent words of every mother’s worst nightmare.

“I pray to God,” she screams, “please take me, take me and leave my son, but it’s too late. Too late.”

You might’ve seen the heartbreaking video already. If you watched television at all Wednesday, or opened up a web browser, it was hard to miss and harder to stomach that Junior Seau, 43 years old, apparently killed himself with a gunshot to the chest.

This is a former NFL Man of the Year not even retired long enough to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame but leaving behind three children and a line of crying teammates.

Police believe his death was a suicide. If so, Seau is the third former football player to shoot himself to death in the last 15 months, and what might be the most serious issue in sports has a new face that a new generation of fans can remember and some painful questions must now be asked.

How much longer can this go? What’s your tolerance for this? How much stamina do you have for the men you cheer today dying tragic and premature deaths in the coming years?

How much longer can you be a fan of a sport that appears to be killing its athletes?

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


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: braininjury; football; juniorseau; nfl; seau
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1 posted on 05/05/2012 6:20:21 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

ISGAS.

I Scarcely Give A SH....er....SmellyOBama.


2 posted on 05/05/2012 6:21:39 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: MinorityRepublican

Football will be replaced with a government run sport.

Bread and circuses, folks.


3 posted on 05/05/2012 6:24:39 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
If you want to look at a population of injured personnel look at the Veterans. Just about every imaginable thing happens to them.
4 posted on 05/05/2012 6:26:14 AM PDT by mountainlion (I am voting for Sarah after getting screwed again by the DC Thugs.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
How many more deaths can NFL fans take?

Adam "Pac-Man" Bernard Jones would be ok with me.

5 posted on 05/05/2012 6:26:55 AM PDT by Mikey_1962 (Obama: The Affirmative Action President.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Sports are the opiates of the inebriated.


6 posted on 05/05/2012 6:27:34 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist ("Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one," Jeremiah 50:31)
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To: MinorityRepublican
I'm not a sports fan, myself.

I read the article, though, and I hardly see how the sport is killing its players. It's not like plenty of people who aren't pro athletes don't commit suicide as well.

One claim made in this article I have a hard time buying: that this particular man shot himself in the chest so that his brain would be preserved; that way it could be examined for signs of football-related trauma which might have caused his depression.

I have a little trouble with someone who is suicidal thinking things through quite that far. If he was capable of that, then why was he not capable of seeking help for the suspected injuries?

I would rather suspect that a gunshot wound to the chest rather than the head would be a vanity thing- I'll be dead but still be a good-looking corpse.

7 posted on 05/05/2012 6:29:51 AM PDT by susannah59
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To: MinorityRepublican
How much longer can you be a fan of a sport that appears to be killing its athletes?

Oh brother.....

Big Oil

Big Tobacco

and now.....Big Football.

8 posted on 05/05/2012 6:29:51 AM PDT by HerrBlucher
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To: MinorityRepublican

Helmets would prevent these tragedies.


9 posted on 05/05/2012 6:32:03 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
A gray-haired woman in a green floral dress is screaming the worst moment of her life in front of the entire world. Luisa Seau stands in front of microphones, in front of cameras, on televisions across the country wailing the sometimes incoherent words of every mother’s worst nightmare.

but not every mother gets to call a press conference to do it.

10 posted on 05/05/2012 6:32:18 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
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To: Erik Latranyi

So you think that this govenment could design a new sport that would catch-on with the masses better than football? Didn’t know that they were that all-powerful.

Roger Goodell is destroying the game by tinkering with the rules and enforcing ad-hoc justice in an attempt to take some of the violence out of the game.

The NFL may decline in popularity, but that’s not the same thing as creating something new to take its place.


11 posted on 05/05/2012 6:35:07 AM PDT by Tallguy (It's all 'Fun and Games' until somebody loses an eye!)
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To: mountainlion
Great point. I live in San Diego county, so the coverage of this event (and that is what it has become now, a media event) is ghoulish and over the top).
I've heard everything from how pro football needs to be regulated more due to Seau's suicide (because the opinion of those not in the know is that he killed himself because of footballrelated brain injuries) to "the NFL should institute programs to help these former players with life after football" because they are so wrapped up in their careers and football persona for so many years that once their careers are over, they can't handle normal life.
12 posted on 05/05/2012 6:37:40 AM PDT by Mrs.Liberty (Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing an idiot.)
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To: susannah59

A prior NFL player who committed suicide shot himself in the chest in the same manner. In his suicide note he asked to have his brain examined to determine the cause of his depression.

It appears (on the surface) Mr. Seau did it the same way . . .


13 posted on 05/05/2012 6:39:15 AM PDT by BraveMan
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To: MinorityRepublican

Why not just limit all the players to five years of playing time and then cut them. Ungrateful jerks! If you have a problem, go see your doctor and get it figured out. Don’t be a coward and kill yourself.


14 posted on 05/05/2012 6:42:01 AM PDT by rabidralph
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To: MinorityRepublican

The nation needs “Bread and Circuses” to keep the gun toting, bible thumping rabble at bay.


15 posted on 05/05/2012 6:42:09 AM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: MinorityRepublican

Simple solution ... no pads. Without them, they’ll stop launching themselves like cruise missiles and just tackle in the old-school manner.


16 posted on 05/05/2012 6:45:50 AM PDT by al_c (http://www.blowoutcongress.com)
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To: susannah59
I have a little trouble with someone who is suicidal thinking things through quite that far. If he was capable of that, then why was he not capable of seeking help for the suspected injuries?

Speaking as somebody who has had to deal with that level of depression in the past, people in the middle of depression don't think that way.

17 posted on 05/05/2012 6:47:09 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Rush has been saying for quite a while now that the pansy libs are coming after football incrementally just like they did smoking, SUVs, etc.

So, what occupations actually have the highest suicide rate?

Dear Straight Dope:

Do you know which occupation has the highest suicide rate? Is it prison guards, by any chance? Or psychiatrists?

There is an urban legend, recently repeated on Seinfeld, that dentists have the highest suicide rate of any profession. This is false. I recently spoke with a public affairs representative at the American Dental Association. They actually did a study on the subject, and found the rate among dentists is about the same as the population as a whole.

Prison guards seem to be a likely candidate, since they exist in a rather depressing environment. So do psychiatrists, since as a group, they seem to border on insanity. So which is the correct choice?

Well, it hasn't been easy to track this one, and I'm not sure I've got a definitive answer. Let's start by noting that suicide statistics are questionable at best. Many suicides are classified as "accident" to spare the family from publicity. So the statistics are only a rough indication.

I easily found statistics on the Internet about suicides by age, region, gender, and race, but very little about occupation. Actually, since suicide is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. among those age 15 to 24, probably the answer is "student", but I don' t think that's what you're looking for.

I called the library of the Society of Actuaries, thinking they'd know. The librarian said she used to work at a large psychiatric library, and that about 8 years ago, the answer was psychiatrists/psychologists/related. However, she couldnt quote me a source or cite a statistic, except what she says she knew.

A study of 24 states reported data on causes of death by occupation, for people ages 20 to 64, from 1984 to 1988, and came up with physicians, health aides, and "food batchmakers" as the three highest. Food batchmakers are at the top but only by a small (statistically insignificant) margin. Psychiatrists weren't reported separately from other physicians. I'm not sure exactly what the numbers below mean, perhaps suicides per million of active population:

Food batchmakers (241)

Physicians (222) and health aides (excluding nursing) (221)

Lathe and turning machine operators (199)

Biological, life and medical scientists (188)

Social scientists and urban planners (171)

Dentists (165)

Lawyers and Judges (140)

Guards/sales occupations were tied at 139

Tool and die makers (126)

Police, public servants (118)

So, I'd say, it's still pretty ambiguous.


18 posted on 05/05/2012 6:51:58 AM PDT by Amagi (I challenge Barack Obama to call this Tea Party Patriot a "tea bagger" to my face.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

There are different kinds of depression. The onset of dementia likely caused Seau’s depression. Losing your ability to think clearly or remember simple things is too much for some people. At age 43, it must be overwhelming.


19 posted on 05/05/2012 6:58:36 AM PDT by JimSEA
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To: MinorityRepublican

I find it hard to care about pampered millionaire athletes with celebrity status. His death is no more or less tragic than any other’s. So now it is the NFL’s fault? Some lawyer must be smelling money.


20 posted on 05/05/2012 7:05:31 AM PDT by wrencher
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