Kevin Turner Passed

AlexanderFan

Hall of Fame
Jul 23, 2004
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Perhaps you misunderstand. I am not referring to Mr. Turner's time at UA as this was not on the public radar then. I am referring to those who currently rail against rule changes that make the game safer by eliminating some hits, often claiming we may as well play flag football in the process. It's one thing to disagree with the implementation of safety measures. It's quite a different matter to disagree with safety measures because fewer damaging hits supposedly make the game less enjoyable. So if you aren't one of the people crying that protecting players ruins the game then we have no argument.
At this point playing football is akin to driving without a seatbelt or playing in traffic: you know the risks and accept the possible consequences. Most of the players would do it again for love of the game or providing for their families.


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TrampLineman

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Jul 21, 2010
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I look it at like I do when I ride my Harley, if I lay it down and hurt myself, I knew the risks involved BEFORE I got on that motorcycle. Same goes for football players, they know the risk and even though back then we didn't know that much about the brain issues, we knew for a fact that football was very hard on your body and nobody is forced to play the game. Even when Turner was young we knew about NFL players being bad off from injuries and just plain ole wear and tear.

As for them saying it is just CTE I don't buy. I don't think we've seen a case yet where CTE causes you to lose motor functions and other things like ALS causes. Take in mind they ONLY had his brain, am I right? Wouldn't you need his whole body to be able to cause his true cause of death? I just don't see how CTE can cause what all Turner went through. I have no doubt in my mind he had severe CTE and he did lose some functions over it, but no way do I think it is what caused all his major problems. That is no doubt the ALS.
 

92tide

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I look it at like I do when I ride my Harley, if I lay it down and hurt myself, I knew the risks involved BEFORE I got on that motorcycle. Same goes for football players, they know the risk and even though back then we didn't know that much about the brain issues, we knew for a fact that football was very hard on your body and nobody is forced to play the game. Even when Turner was young we knew about NFL players being bad off from injuries and just plain ole wear and tear.

As for them saying it is just CTE I don't buy. I don't think we've seen a case yet where CTE causes you to lose motor functions and other things like ALS causes. Take in mind they ONLY had his brain, am I right? Wouldn't you need his whole body to be able to cause his true cause of death? I just don't see how CTE can cause what all Turner went through. I have no doubt in my mind he had severe CTE and he did lose some functions over it, but no way do I think it is what caused all his major problems. That is no doubt the ALS.
this was the last sentence in the article

Turner isn’t the first athlete to be falsely diagnosed with ALS; McKee said former Boston College linebacker Ron Perryman, who died in 2011, was also told he had ALS only to have a postmortem autopsy show he had CTE.
 

TrampLineman

Hall of Fame
Jul 21, 2010
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Yea I haven't had the chance to read the article yet as I'm on the run today, so they are saying Perryman did NOT have ALS?

So they are claiming that Turner didn't have ALS at all? Thanks
 

TIDE-HSV

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Oct 13, 1999
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Perhaps you misunderstand. I am not referring to Mr. Turner's time at UA as this was not on the public radar then. I am referring to those who currently rail against rule changes that make the game safer by eliminating some hits, often claiming we may as well play flag football in the process. It's one thing to disagree with the implementation of safety measures. It's quite a different matter to disagree with safety measures because fewer damaging hits supposedly make the game less enjoyable. So if you aren't one of the people crying that protecting players ruins the game then we have no argument.
While I generally agree, I think the most recent research seems to point in the direction that it's a product of a long series of impacts, perhaps mild to moderate impacts, rather than one catastrophic hit. It also seems that the Tau protein malformation which causes the symptoms starts sort of a domino effect, where the symptoms may occur long after the last impact. IOW, what may be unsafe is starting with impacts in Pee Wee football and carried through on a regular basis through college and, for some, on into the pros. I've watched a couple of people close to me die with ALS and it is, indeed a horrible disease, in that they remain brain alert, despite the paralysis. One of my friends was a brilliant, internationally-known astrophysicist. He spoke English, French, German, Spanish and, of course, Norwegian. At the end, he couldn't speak at all or even hold his head up... LINK
 

NoNC4Tubs

Hall of Fame
Nov 13, 2010
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Sad to hear that, he was a really nice guy. I had a business dealing with him and he was a true gentleman. :cool2:
 

Isaiah 63:1

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Dec 8, 2005
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Probably at 35k or in an airport somewhere
...So they are claiming that Turner didn't have ALS at all? Thanks
As I understand it, ALS (which took my mother-in-law) is a diagnosis based on elimination; something doctors will conclude when certain symptoms exist and they've rule out everything else. It isn't something doctors can see on a scan or in the blood work and say, "there's the ALS." So, Kevin Turner had the symptoms of ALS, but now, from his autopsy, they can know it was actually CTE.
 

Boo Radley

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Robert Cantu, clinical professor of neurosurgery at the Boston University School of Medicine, said the “extreme severity” of Turner’s disease was related to the number of years he had played football — 25 — and the fact that he had begun playing tackle football at age 5, while his brain was still developing and vulnerable.
Raymond Turner, Kevin’s father, said that his son was taught to lead with his head when playing football from a young age.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/s...l-concussion-settlement-cte-kevin-turner.html
 

TIDE-HSV

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As I understand it, ALS (which took my mother-in-law) is a diagnosis based on elimination; something doctors will conclude when certain symptoms exist and they've rule out everything else. It isn't something doctors can see on a scan or in the blood work and say, "there's the ALS." So, Kevin Turner had the symptoms of ALS, but now, from his autopsy, they can know it was actually CTE.
Actually, there are some developments on the horizon which may help differentiate the conditions - LINK. My nephew recently lost his wife to what was dxed by the dementia center at UAB as LBD. Autopsy showed that it was Alzheimer's instead...
 

cuda.1973

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Dec 6, 2009
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Some "commentators" are pointing out that we should instead teach our kids to play soccer, since it is much safer.

HUH?

Spent a lot of my childhood in an orphanage. Where no one was allowed to play football. Mainly because all of the playgrounds/fields were asphalt. Instead, we played soccer. (Which I hated, no surprise.)

Never could understand the rationale of teaching kids, that were 6-8, to head a soccer ball. To a dumb hillbilly, it seemed like the dumbest thing ever. Yet, there were kids there who lived for doing that. Many of them would rather head the ball, than kick it, and show how high they could get the ball to go. It was not uncommon to see more heading than kicking going on.

I specialized in staying as far away from the ball as possible, at all times. As a crappy athlete, that wasn't hard!

Maybe they don't teach kids that young to play that way, these days. I sure hope not.

I have lots of other issues to getting kids to play competitive sports at too early of an age. But, that isn't the subject at hand.
 

TIDE-HSV

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Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
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Some "commentators" are pointing out that we should instead teach our kids to play soccer, since it is much safer.

HUH?

Spent a lot of my childhood in an orphanage. Where no one was allowed to play football. Mainly because all of the playgrounds/fields were asphalt. Instead, we played soccer. (Which I hated, no surprise.)

Never could understand the rationale of teaching kids, that were 6-8, to head a soccer ball. To a dumb hillbilly, it seemed like the dumbest thing ever. Yet, there were kids there who lived for doing that. Many of them would rather head the ball, than kick it, and show how high they could get the ball to go. It was not uncommon to see more heading than kicking going on.

I specialized in staying as far away from the ball as possible, at all times. As a crappy athlete, that wasn't hard!

Maybe they don't teach kids that young to play that way, these days. I sure hope not.

I have lots of other issues to getting kids to play competitive sports at too early of an age. But, that isn't the subject at hand.
Heading is getting a lot of attention from researchers now, so far as brain and spinal cord aftereffects downstream...
 

Crimson1967

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2011
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I think heading has been banned in some beginner leagues for safety reasons. Probably a good thing if they are just hitting with their head but not knowing the proper method.


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crimsonaudio

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I'm glad we haven't had some of the comments we commonly have when we discuss modifying the port for safety (reference s to 'flag football', etc) - player safety, both short and long-term, is important to many of us.

I'm not sure what the answers are, but I hope that we can all remember men like Kevin Turner who helped push us forward in the drive to better understand the dangers and how to best avoid them.

Roll Tide, KT. I trust you will rest in peace...
 

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