Will brain injury discoveries radically change football?

Huckleberry

All-American
Nov 9, 2004
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I watched Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (yeah, I know he's a jerk, but the show is often worth watching) and they had a segment about brain injuries from playing football. Rather than discuss all of the issues they covered, I thought I'd ask how my fellow Alabama fans feel about this topic as it relates to the future of the sport we love.

Of course, football has always been a contact sport. However, now that coaches, players, and team doctors are so much more aware of the dangers of playing with a concussion, suffering one means you usually don't play again until you're cleared. Regardless, that's not the real issue here.

Rather than the big hits, doctors are now expressing more concern about the number of repetitive hits to the head that players at all levels take, particularly during practice. While a player might go his entire career (whether it ends in high school, college, or the NFL) without suffering a true (or diagnosed) concussion, it's the amount of helmet-to-helmet and helmet-to-ground contact made during practice that is garnering significant attention.

As the data in this area continues to be better understood, there are many people (and not just folks looking to make courtroom cash) who are expressing concerns about the long-term effects of continual hits to the head. I think we're all aware of the research underway concerning a possible relationship between concussions and suicide, brain damage, and diseases of the nervous system in former NFL players. However, if reasonable parents become concerned about their child sustaining permanent brain damage simply from playing in high school, there might be a significant decrease in the number of kids who play football at all. Should that happen, the sport most of us played and/or enjoy watching might face an uncertain future. The solution on Real Sports was less hitting in practice. I'm not sure how realisitic that is. Also, though helmet technology can protect the head and absorb some of the force of the hits, there's nothing that can keep the brain from moving around and making some degree of contact with the skull.

What do you think? Is there a real chance that the sport of football might be very different in two or three decades?
 

Huckleberry

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Nov 9, 2004
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The sport will change as much as the paying fan allows it to change and still pay/watch for the product.
For the most part, I agree with you. Personally, I hope that the research shows that there is no significant danger to to young players (beyond the obvious dangers of which we are all aware). I don't want to even begin to imagine any changes that would radically alter the sport that we all love. I think that it's clear that many NFL players have made and continue to make huge long-term health sacrifices by playing professional football. Those playing today are men who have little excuse for not being aware of the risks they take. However, the tone of the segment I mentioned and others I've read are beginning to show possible problems for young players. I'm just asking if people think this is a valid concern and what they believe might happen if the medical evidence does indicate a significant health risk for the average high school player. I didn't play football past high school, but I know that no amount of research would have kept me off the field. However, it's usually not the decision of the child. How do those who might have children playing now or in the future feel?
 

Bamabuzzard

FB Moderator
Staff member
Aug 15, 2004
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I can tell you that if the continued bad press about football the media keeps putting out it's not going to take long at all before we start seeing football go the way of boxing. I've watched several of these documentaries about football and the long term risks of the players, and I must say the media sure does present a lot of things as facts that the medical community has yet to.

There are still a lot of things we don't know about the long term effects of playing football. As many of the cases (player examples) as the media has trotted out as evidence that football is "too dangerous". There are just as many players who's played football in the NFL who's not shown any signs. So there is still a lot of things we don't know as fact. But if the media continues their full court press on presenting this issue in a biased, slanted view, this sport may prematurely die. Because I can tell you fewer and fewer parents are letting their kids play football. It shows in the youth leagues now days. I coached for six years and saw it myself. Each year we'd have less and less teams in our league. Kids' parents just didn't let them play.
 

Power Eye

All-SEC
Aug 3, 2005
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I think fewer and fewer kids are playing football at levels below high school and alot of that has to do with the popularity of so many other sports (soccer, lacrosse, etc.) as well as the health risks that are so garnering so much attention recently. However, I doubt we will see in the next 10 to 15 years a drop off in talent at the high school level because so many of the highly coveted players come from areas where sports are seen as the only way to a better life.

I do feel bad for some of the older generation of players who unknowingly put themselves at risk. Guys like Mike Webster who played for years and were incapable of functioning in society once their playing days were over. We can bury our heads in the sand on this stuff until sufficient evidence is produced, but I think it's a real danger. Even guys like Junior Seau probably didn't realize the long term effects that football would have. The bottom line is that the selfish part of me doesn't want to see the game I love to watch be diminished, but changes are probably for the best.
 

bama70

3rd Team
Oct 19, 2011
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I have a concern that we are only one legal case away from high schools dropping football. The first time someone successfully sues a high school for damages related to a football injury that results in a large settlement will cause most if not all high schools to evaluate there participation in all sports. Many high schools cannot afford the cost of liability insurance if court cases become common.
 

CapstoneTider

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Dec 6, 2000
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Can you still call yourself (media sponsored) the normal everyday super cool "Soccer Mom" if you take your kid to football practice? No you can't, you're out of style.

I have not seen stats but I bet that football is declining by income level, having more access to alternative sports like soccer and education level. It will be seen as a gladiator sport one day. Soccer is global and corporations could make a lot more money off of soccer if it was to ever become the dominate sport. I could see soccer being shoved at us through television. Coercion through television shows like Gumbels.
 

gmart74

Hall of Fame
Oct 9, 2005
12,344
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I've always wondered about toddlers constantly falling down and hitting their head on the floor. I wonder how many TBI's are happening at such a young age when the brain is still developing. Maybe we should stop walking.
 

tidefanbeezer

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Sep 25, 2006
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It is interesting to see how the media has run with the concussion issue.

This is a sport that was popularized due in part to the violence on the field. It's like watching modern day gladiators. There should be little surprise that there would be lasting damage to the body as a whole (not just the brain) when grown men run full speed into each other. But I guess that's the way the media works.

My hope is that the equipment technology advances enough to mitigate concussions and keep the spirit of the game. It would be a shame if they legislate the game into obscurity.
 

Im_on_dsp

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Oct 10, 2007
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I've always wondered about toddlers constantly falling down and hitting their head on the floor. I wonder how many TBI's are happening at such a young age when the brain is still developing. Maybe we should stop walking.
I realize you are saying this in jest but you don't really believe this do you? Your kids must be "balance challenged" because none of mine ever constantly fell and hit their head. I can't ever remember a single incident when any of my children fell AND hit their head. My wife couldn't remember any either. Nevertheless, I get your point that brain injuries can happen doing do to day activities. There just aren't that many such activities that cause humans to crash into each other numerous times a day.
 

CapstoneTider

Suspended
Dec 6, 2000
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For those who played or coach, can't you minimize the exposure to being concussed by proper technique and equipment?
Yes, go back to fundamental tackling, which was to put your helmet to either side of the runner, wrap your arms around them and then use your weight to help bring them down. Maybe the ESPN highlight is to blame, but there is too much spearing going on.
 

GulfCoastTider

Hall of Fame
Yes, go back to fundamental tackling, which was to put your helmet to either side of the runner, wrap your arms around them and then use your weight to help bring them down. Maybe the ESPN highlight is to blame, but there is too much spearing going on.
Form tackling is becoming a lost art. It is not a difficult technique to learn or put into practice. If there were some well though-out rules changes put into place to encourage better technique, a lot of the violent impact tackles would go away.

Also, ask any former NFL player this question: "If going into this game, you knew the risks of brain injury and the possible long term effects, would you still have played and would you have played any differently?"

My bet is that the vast majority will answer yes to the first part and no to the second.
 

Sabine Free Sta

BamaNation Citizen
Jul 3, 2012
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If the impact of helmet to helmet contact along the line of scrimage needs to be reduced, eliminate the 3 point stance (and the more archaic 4 point stance) and eliminate cleats and the excessive traction they produce. Eliminating cleats would probably also greatly reduce catastrophic knee injuries at all positions. Different game?...sure but a game still worth watching.
 

Jon

Hall of Fame
Feb 22, 2002
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I watched the Real Sports too. And I must say I agree with the position that limiting contact in practice to 1 day a week is a very reasonable step. No college coach will do this as it will make their team soft versus the competition. But if the NCAA mandated all do it they would have no choice. Would it affect the game? Probably but IMO not in a very meaningful way
 

gmart74

Hall of Fame
Oct 9, 2005
12,344
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Baltimore, Md
I realize you are saying this in jest but you don't really believe this do you? Your kids must be "balance challenged" because none of mine ever constantly fell and hit their head. I can't ever remember a single incident when any of my children fell AND hit their head. My wife couldn't remember any either. Nevertheless, I get your point that brain injuries can happen doing do to day activities. There just aren't that many such activities that cause humans to crash into each other numerous times a day.
then you have magical kids bc i always see toddlers faceplanting.

back to the original question. i think we need to ban facemasks from helmets and make them soft again (well, somewhat soft like leather). the problem with helmets isnt that they dont protect enough. the problem is that they protect way too much. go back to old style helmets and i guarantee you people will stop having head to head collisions. it will simply be too painful to go head to head and people will modify their technique. watch a rugby game- incredibly violent, but you dont typically see anyone cracking heads together.
 

dWarriors88

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Jan 4, 2009
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You sign multiple waivers to play football, these players know the risks they take when they step on that field and strap that helmet on. And technology is making it easier to treat these injuries.
 

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
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Oct 13, 1999
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I watched the Real Sports too. And I must say I agree with the position that limiting contact in practice to 1 day a week is a very reasonable step. No college coach will do this as it will make their team soft versus the competition. But if the NCAA mandated all do it they would have no choice. Would it affect the game? Probably but IMO not in a very meaningful way
Bama actually does limit contact to some degree. Saban uses the "thud" method in practice - not tackling to the ground, since that's when most practice injuries occur. At first, I thought it would damage our tackling technique, but it doesn't seem to have done that over the last several years. I don't think our very recent spate of missed tackles really is caused by that practice. It seems more to relate to poor positioning...
 

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