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NFL's actuaries: 1 in 3 future players will get brain trauma

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  • NFL's actuaries: 1 in 3 future players will get brain trauma

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/sp...773522000&_r=0

    I've been torn over whether economically supporting football in the first place is a moral issue but I think it's becoming more and more difficult to argue it's not.
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

  • #2
    That's sad.
    "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

    "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

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    • #3
      I don't watch combat sports for the same reason*.







      *they're both boring
      "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

      There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

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      • #4
        As has been said before: Pro sports is the opiate of America.

        Though it wasn't always thus, and doesn't have to be. How a city treats its pro sports team is often a judgment on how the city treats itself:

        Originally posted by Akinokure
        Does Columbus simply benefit from being located in Ohio / the Midwest rather than North Carolina / the Southeast? Somewhat, but not really. Columbus actually is distinct from the surrounding region in never having jumped on the status-striving bandwagons of one age or another, chanting we're #1 at ____! Nearby Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are all victims of the Rust Belt -- they all grew way too fast and specialized way too much in out-competing the other big cities, back in last heyday of competitiveness during the Gilded Age.

        Columbus never drank the Kool-Aid about growing as big as possible, as fast as possible, and specializing as much as possible in some grand get-rich-quick scheme, whether it was manufacturing or high tech. As a result, it was never over-built, did not fall victim to the Rust Belt collapse, and right up through the current recession it has fared far better than the rest of Ohio and nearby metro areas.

        Not surprisingly, the three big metro areas nearby also show a greater obsession with pro sports. Cleveland has teams in all of the big three leagues, while Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have football and baseball teams. (Pittsburgh also has a hockey team, though that's less important.)

        And, strange as it sounds to link hipsters with pro sports fans, those other areas are much greater targets of hipster colonization. Cleveland, and the broader region including Akron, has long been home to arty bands such as Devo and the Waitresses, as well as Chryssie Hynde from the Pretenders. Pittsburgh has become a local mecca for hipsters -- was it the ironic tribute in the movie Wonder Boys that drew everyone's attention? (Or its sincere portrayal in My So-Called Life?) I can't say about Cincinnati for sure, but my sense is that it isn't quite as bad there (from what I hear / don't hear). Nearby Dayton is fairly hipster-free and pro sports-free, but it's much smaller.

        Transient cultural one-uppers, just as well as folks who derive much of their group identity from affiliating with a pro sports team that is made up of outsider mercenaries, reflect a profound lack of communal bonds that stretch back into the past and will grow on into the future. The relative absence of such groups is a sign of a healthy, self-sustaining city. Looking into the sociology of folk culture not only helps us understand our history, it points us toward better choices regarding the future.
        There may be a lesson there for the Republican elite, given that they seem to be the only ones still interested.

        In a period of rising inequality, such as the Gilded Age or today, lower-class culture drifts toward vice -- saloons, gambling rooms, brothels, sometimes all in the same building. ("That's right gentlemen, step right up to the one-stop shop for all your sinful desires!") We're unaware of how pervasive this culture was in the Gilded Age and early 20th century, but we're indirectly aware of it from our knowledge of the Temperance movement.

        Today the saloon is the liquor store, the cigarette vendor, and the drug dealer; the gambling room is a convenience store that sells lottery tickets; and the brothel is a strip club and internet porn. It's a drop-out culture.

        Being a sports fan requires too much investment in a community setting, so don't expect drop-outs to show much interest. With the bonds of trust severed between classes, and with the elite pursuing ever-more vainglorious hobbies and group activities, why bother trying to join them? Might as well buy a lottery ticket, rub one out to some internet porn, and smoke a cigarette or two before repeating the process over again tomorrow.
        But yes, I suppose people who make millions of dollars per year getting head injuries in the process is pretty sad too.

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        • #5
          Most football players will never make a dime off their play. I am thinking in particular of the thousands of high school players, including one in my town who was taken to the hospital last night for emergency brain surgery (he's stable).
          "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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          • #6
            Correct me if I"m wrong, but hasn't the injury rate increased over the years due to some changes in the game, especially at the professional level?
            "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

            "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

            My Personal Blog

            My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

            Quill Sword

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
              Correct me if I"m wrong, but hasn't the injury rate increased over the years due to some changes in the game, especially at the professional level?
              And the fact that the players have gotten much larger. It wasn't that long ago that William "the Refrigerator" Perry was seen as an abnormality whereas now he would hardly be noticeable.

              I'm always still in trouble again

              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

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              • #8
                Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                Most football players will never make a dime off their play. I am thinking in particular of the thousands of high school players, including one in my town who was taken to the hospital last night for emergency brain surgery (he's stable).
                I got a concussion two years ago and my friend may have gotten a concussion in our Friday game. We know the risks but we still play because we enjoy the game.
                Last edited by Cerealman; 09-14-2014, 11:39 AM.
                "Kahahaha! Let's get lunatic!"-Add LP
                "And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility"-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
                Oh ye of little fiber. Do you not know what I've done for you? You will obey. ~Cerealman for Prez.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Cerealman View Post
                  I got a concussion two years ago and my friend may have gotten a concussion in our Friday game. We know the risks but we still play because we enjoy the game.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Epoetker View Post
                    Amount of caring feelings given:
                    "Kahahaha! Let's get lunatic!"-Add LP
                    "And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility"-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
                    Oh ye of little fiber. Do you not know what I've done for you? You will obey. ~Cerealman for Prez.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Cerealman View Post
                      Amount of caring feelings given:
                      Amount you self-demonstrated the response by glibly evading the resemblance: Over 9000!!!
                      Last edited by Epoetker; 09-14-2014, 06:27 PM.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Epoetker View Post
                        Amount you self-demonstrated the response by glibly evading the resemblance: Over 9000!!!
                        You're the real MVP.
                        "Kahahaha! Let's get lunatic!"-Add LP
                        "And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility"-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
                        Oh ye of little fiber. Do you not know what I've done for you? You will obey. ~Cerealman for Prez.

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                        • #13
                          Just saying, we played football all the time in the army, even in Iraq, we were just more sticklery about the rules than usual due to that whole 'need to be fully capable of violent action at a moment's notice' thing weighing more heavily on our minds than most. Concussions do add up after a while and will inhibit your ability to do other things.

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                          • #14
                            Update: An Ohio State football player, complaining about the mounting toll of concussions, committed suicide in a dumpster last week. It appears there is a link between head trauma and suicide.

                            http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...icidal-impact/
                            "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                              Update: An Ohio State football player, complaining about the mounting toll of concussions, committed suicide in a dumpster last week. It appears there is a link between head trauma and suicide.

                              http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...icidal-impact/
                              I believe this is what happened a few years ago with Jovan Belcher and the Chiefs.
                              Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.--Isaiah 1:17

                              I don't think that all forms o[f] slavery are inherently immoral.--seer

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