Former NFL player, Phillip Adams, kills 5 people and self will have brain studied for CTE

[DzynKingRTR]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ms-former-nfl-player-killed-five-examined-cte

I figured this will end up on non-sports eventually. If they find he does have CTE, what will be next? Will we lose the sport we all love? Will the government overstep as they tend to do and end the sport? Will it become flag football? Will they outlaw it? Why don't we see this with other sports? Boxing, MMA, and hockey are just as violent and we almost never hear stories like this about those sports.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ms-former-nfl-player-killed-five-examined-cte

I figured this will end up on non-sports eventually. If they find he does have CTE, what will be next? Will we lose the sport we all love? Will the government overstep as they tend to do and end the sport? Will it become flag football? Will they outlaw it? Why don't we see this with other sports? Boxing, MMA, and hockey are just as violent and we almost never hear stories like this about those sports.

So we aren't gonna just blame the .45 and 9 mm he used, huh?

That being said, it was left to my brother the news guy to point out, "That's two members of the 2011 Patriots who committed murder, probably multiple ones."

To answer your question though, I don't think it's going to move the needle at all. I DO sincerely believe that CTE is a much bigger problem than we ever thought, and that it starts earlier than we thought. Remember Tyler Hillinski, the Wazzu quarterback who killed himself at 21 years old with a gunshot to the head and was discovered to have the brain of a 65-year old man due to CTE? He never even played a down in the NFL.

I'll confess I've struggled in recent years with my football fandom. How can I stand or sit there and cheer someone playing football when deep down I'm glad my own kid never liked the game or wanted to play it? I noticed years ago my emphasis when a deadly hit was made has gone from, "Boom, he lit him up!" to "oh please get up, please get up, please be all right" whether it's our team or another one.

I think the only thing that's ever going to move the needle is fans not watching the product anymore to be honest with you.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ms-former-nfl-player-killed-five-examined-cte

I figured this will end up on non-sports eventually. If they find he does have CTE, what will be next? Will we lose the sport we all love? Will the government overstep as they tend to do and end the sport? Will it become flag football? Will they outlaw it? Why don't we see this with other sports? Boxing, MMA, and hockey are just as violent and we almost never hear stories like this about those sports.

This might be why I'm watching a tad more baseball lately, too.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

This might be why I'm watching a tad more baseball lately, too.

Wish I could watch the Braves. Greedy jerks are preventing that.

 

[Bamaro]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ms-former-nfl-player-killed-five-examined-cte

I figured this will end up on non-sports eventually. If they find he does have CTE, what will be next? Will we lose the sport we all love? Will the government overstep as they tend to do and end the sport? Will it become flag football? Will they outlaw it? Why don't we see this with other sports? Boxing, MMA, and hockey are just as violent and we almost never hear stories like this about those sports.

Unfortunately CTE is for real. There is a good documentary on Aaron Hernandez on Netflix. He knew something was wrong and donated his brain to science for study.
The head should NOT be used as a weapon in football.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Unfortunately CTE is for real. There is a good documentary on Aaron Hernandez on Netflix. He knew something was wrong and donated his brain to science for study.
The head should NOT be used as a weapon in football.

Yes CTE is very real. I am curious why it seems to be very different with different players. Some are fine and have no ill effects at all. Some have serious health issues (dementia, ALS, etc), some are suicidal, and some just snap one day and kill people. I am not a psychiatrist, but I just find it hard to believe that Phillip Adams or Aaron Hernandez would have been perfectly fine human beings if they never played football.

 

[rolltide_21]

I played football from the time I was 5 thru HS and had the opportunity to play small college ball. I was so burned out with it I didn't give the latter a second thought. I was more worried about blowing out a knee on a D2 or D3 team and having lifelong problems for nothing. Plus, schools of those sizes didn't give full scholarships (a D3 school offered an "academic" scholarship if I played football since they technically cannot offer athletic scholarships). Now, years later, I'm glad I passed on it, for this reason, more so than what I worried about then. Of course, some of these brain injuries could be starting in HS. There is much to be learned about CTE- when it begins, how it affects people, etc.

I am with the poster above. I'm glad my oldest son hasn't shown interest in it so far. I've told him if he wants to play in 7th grade he can. Not until then. It's just not worth it especially when I talk to the coaches who he would play for at the Toybowl level. They're wannabe HS coaches who don't know squat about football. Just trying to relive their "glory days" and telling the story over and over about that one time they made a good hit their Sr. year when they went 1-9.

 

[92tide]

Just trying to relive their "glory days" and telling the story over and over about that one time they made a good hit their Sr. year when they went 1-9.

but that would cover most of haleyville's seasons when i was in school there

i didn't play fb other than a lame, short lived attempt at jv.

 

[rolltide_21]

but that would cover most of haleyville's seasons when i was in school there

i didn't play fb other than a lame, short lived attempt at jv.

Same at WC. With the occasional winning season and first round playoff exit.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I'll confess I've struggled in recent years with my football fandom. How can I stand or sit there and cheer someone playing football when deep down I'm glad my own kid never liked the game or wanted to play it? I noticed years ago my emphasis when a deadly hit was made has gone from, "Boom, he lit him up!" to "oh please get up, please get up, please be all right" whether it's our team or another one.

I think the only thing that's ever going to move the needle is fans not watching the product anymore to be honest with you.

I'm not sure you need to put that type of guilt on yourself, especially seeing football at all levels is on a volunteer basis when it comes to participation. No one is forcing people to play it, just like no one is forcing people into the MMA/UFC ring to pound each others' head into dust. You watching someone participate in something they chose to participate in doesn't make you guilty of anything and certainly doesn't mean you are "part of the problem".

 

[92tide]

Same at WC. With the occasional winning season and first round playoff exit.

my senior year, the team actually made it to the second round (iirc). the three years prior to that were simply awful. my 10th grade year, i was on the school newspaper staff and was responsible for writing the "feature" about the "lion of the week". it was a good lesson in creative writing . at least a couple of those weeks, the player of the week was the punter.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I played one year (1985), so here's what I can tell you in my case, and my Oregon bud (who grew up in a wheel chair, so he obviously never played, though he's walked now for years) and I were talking last night.

Back then, nobody - and I mean NOBODY - worried about head injuries.

You feared two things:
1) knee injuries
2) paralysis

And even then, Darryl Stingley was the only point of reference any of us had (Chuckie Mullins and Mike Utley were years in the future), so that wasn't really a big fear in high school, the knees were.

We were taught to stick that helmet right into the guy's ribs or go low for tackle and take out his legs. Almost everything we were taught with that helmet was explicitly forbidden on the little sticker on the back of it. But here's the thing - that helmet was a feeling of invincibility. You PREFERRED to involved your head because hitting the ground with your body even in pads hurt like hell, but hitting the ground head first took a shot really only NFL guys could give (for the most part) to actually hurt you. I have NO DOUBT that if a little guy like I was (5'7", 127 lbs the day I graduated high school) felt invincible that much stronger, tougher, bigger guys than I did felt the same way (after all - they were hitting me since I was a slow running back but too small to play offensive line).

We had one guy - a friend of mine (now a principal, which is hilarious as we graduated together) - he was our punter his senior year only. He was a hefty guy, but he had a lot of leg, and the coach found out and got him to play. In our last game of the year, we were 20 points ahead in the second half when our douche bag of a coach (and he was, folks) called a fake punt. Our lumbering punter took off and got the first down. When they tackled him by piling on, his leg did the Joe Theismann back snap. Guy still walks with a bit of a limp despite losing weight and looking good at our age.

(Side note nobody cares about: former Alabama player Will Friend's father was my fifth-grade P.E. and homeroom teacher; he's the first guy I ever sat and watched game film with although I'm sure he wouldn't remember me 40-plus years later).

 

[selmaborntidefan]

My point? I think CTE was and is bad from our time frame because:
a) we were taught it
b) we never knew anybody who had brain issues back then

And I think it's worse than we ever imagined, too.

 

[Ratal]

I remember the first time the term concussion was used while playing football. One of our smaller players was essentially knocked out. They basically carried him, while his feet were going through the motions of stepping, to the bench and sat him down. He sat there for about 30 seconds and then fell forward flat on his face. Everyone had a good laugh. There were no thoughts of long term effects back then. Before that instance you just "had your bell rung."

 

[Go Bama]

And even then, Darryl Stingley was the only point of reference any of us had (Chuckie Mullins and Mike Utley were years in the future), so that wasn't really a big fear in high school, the knees were.

Bryant still reaching out to paralyzed TCU player

BIRMINGHAM - From the first day Kent Waldrep met the legend until just before the legend died, the phone calls kept coming.

www.gadsdentimes.com

I was sitting in the student section when Kent Waldrep got hurt. It looked like a routing Alabama defensive play where the ball carrier was gang tackled. Play was stopped for a long time. It was a sobering moment.

The next year we played TCU again. Waldrep came back and was wheeled onto the field for a standing ovation.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Bryant still reaching out to paralyzed TCU player

BIRMINGHAM - From the first day Kent Waldrep met the legend until just before the legend died, the phone calls kept coming.

www.gadsdentimes.com

I was sitting in the student section when Kent Waldrep got hurt. It looked like a routing Alabama defensive play where the ball carrier was gang tackled. Play was stopped for a long time. It was a sobering moment.

The next year we played TCU again. Waldrep came back and was wheeled onto the field for a standing ovation.

As big a Tide fan as I am, I had not heard of Waldrep at that time.

There had been a few here and there if you paid attention - Waldrep and Marc Buionoconti come to mind. And yeah, there were more than we knew. But Stingley was the one we all knew about. And he for all intents appeared to just be an anomaly to us, so the fear was there but it wasn't major.

 

[Bamaro]

I remember the first time the term concussion was used while playing football. One of our smaller players was essentially knocked out. They basically carried him, while his feet were going through the motions of stepping, to the bench and sat him down. He sat there for about 30 seconds and then fell forward flat on his face. Everyone had a good laugh. There were no thoughts of long term effects back then. Before that instance you just "had your bell rung."

Remember the 'punch drunk' boxers.

 

[92tide]

I remember the first time the term concussion was used while playing football. One of our smaller players was essentially knocked out. They basically carried him, while his feet were going through the motions of stepping, to the bench and sat him down. He sat there for about 30 seconds and then fell forward flat on his face. Everyone had a good laugh. There were no thoughts of long term effects back then. Before that instance you just "had your bell rung."

i remember a few times in jr/high school watching coaches use smelling salts (i think that's what they were called) on someone who got knocked silly and then slapping the guy on the butt as he went back on the field. the crowd loved the toughness.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Remember the 'punch drunk' boxers.

I saw Jerry Quarry on an ESPN piece on pugilistic dementia. It was one of the most heart-breaking things I've ever seen in my life, complete with Tom Rinaldi-style somber voice over. What really stunk is they were blaming his dad for the kid's problems ("well, the Dad had the kid boxing at three years old"). That's fine and dandy; I brought my son home from the hospital wearing an Atlanta Braves outfit, but he doesn't even like sports.