Thread: Aaron Hernandez update

Originally Posted by aberdien

The NFL lied decades ago and told the players that concussions/etc would not cause long term damage to their brains.

Now they have done things and made rules to try and make the game and equipment safer, but that wasn't always the case.

Not saying it isn't true, but I dont recall this.

I would welcome the unconvinced to watch this and see if it changes your opinion a little. Even if it doesn't I think it is a valuable perspective.

I trust you abe, and I know your always solid and trustworthy with your facts...thanks for the video. I had not recalled the NFL doing such a thing. I find dishonest and disingenuous the NFL would try to cover up and deny what they knew.

Originally Posted by Nomad

I trust you abe, and I know your always solid and trustworthy with your facts..

Whoa, slow down there speed racer. Let's not get stupid

Originally Posted by Nomad

I trust you abe, and I know your always solid and trustworthy with your facts...thanks for the video. I had not recalled the NFL doing such a thing. I find dishonest and disingenuous the NFL would try to cover up and deny what they knew.

Obviously documentaries only present one side of the facts as their goal is to persuade the viewer to agree with them. So that's what i'm operating on. The documentary claims that the NFL knew about the effect of concussions and attempted to cover it up in order to protect their business. I remember something about a poorly done biased "independent" study that the NFL did in the early 90s that was not as comprehensive on concussions as they claimed.

But I would enjoy a discussion of the documentary especially form those who are skeptical about the NFL, what they knew, and when they knew it. I would like to see what you guys think after viewing it and what critiques you would have.

Originally Posted by slim

Whoa, slow down there speed racer. Let's not get stupid

I hope you get a concussion.

Did anyone watch the movie "Concussion" ?

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

Did anyone watch the movie "Concussion" ?

I never have, perhaps I'll do that today.

Originally Posted by Northman

I dont really keep up with Boxing or UFC fighting but has there been any fighters (dead) who were found to have been diagnosed with CTE?

I don't follow either either, but that's what "punch drunk" means: Permanent cognitive impairment common in boxers who've taken too many blows to the head, and it's been widely known (at least within boxing) for a long time, with the first medical publication about it coming in a 1928 issue of JAMA. "Dementia pugilistica" is the technical name, and does exactly what's on the stannum.

The difference is pro boxing never denied its particular form of CTE existed, much less pumped out decades of "medical reports" full of falsehoods from PR men with NO medical training, then resorted to character assassinating doctors who had no dog in the bloodsport but their general professional and ethical concern for human health.

Originally Posted by Nomad

Not saying it isn't true, but I dont recall this.

I don't have a link handy, but I've seen neurologists reports to the NFL from way back in the early 1950s saying that even SINGLE concussions were known to cause PERMANENT brain damage: The NFL just decided not to tell anyone and hoped the problem would go away. It hasn't.

Originally Posted by aberdien

Obviously documentaries only present one side of the facts as their goal is to persuade the viewer to agree with them.

No: A documentarys goal is to DOCUMENT established fact, with no other agenda. Unfortunately, the well documented established facts are reprehensible in this case.

Originally Posted by Joel

The difference is pro boxing never denied its particular form of CTE existed, much less pumped out decades of "medical reports" full of falsehoods from PR men with NO medical training, then resorted to character assassinating doctors who had no dog in the bloodsport but their general professional and ethical concern for human health.

Thats not really what im getting at. If people want to be uptight or upset about how the NFL "use" to address this problem than so be it. The point of my post is how often does this happen to athletes, especially with sports like fighting. How many former fighters (or their families) are suing after retirement because of trauma obtained while they were fighting? What is the ratio of players who get CTE in the NFL vs those who do not? And if CTE is that much of a problem as we are lead to believe than why do sports like the NFL, Hockey, and Fighting continue to exist in their current formats? Do physical sports in general start drawing up contracts now that make the players sign a waiver in case of injury? Does what Gem pointed to about players not really lining up to play the sport anymore have a long term effect on the NFL and its existence? Do we as fans/players/owners do the right thing and stop it altogether? Are we overreacting to a small sample size of players who get this or is it a greater problem that needs to shut the sport down?

Originally Posted by Northman

Thats not really what im getting at. If people want to be uptight or upset about how the NFL "use" to address this problem than so be it. The point of my post is how often does this happen to athletes, especially with sports like fighting. How many former fighters (or their families) are suing after retirement because of trauma obtained while they were fighting? What is the ratio of players who get CTE in the NFL vs those who do not? And if CTE is that much of a problem as we are lead to believe than why do sports like the NFL, Hockey, and Fighting continue to exist in their current formats? Do physical sports in general start drawing up contracts now that make the players sign a waiver in case of injury? Does what Gem pointed to about players not really lining up to play the sport anymore have a long term effect on the NFL and its existence? Do we as fans/players/owners do the right thing and stop it altogether? Are we overreacting to a small sample size of players who get this or is it a greater problem that needs to shut the sport down?

Ever see Ali later in life?

Originally Posted by GEM

Ever see Ali later in life?

You ever seen George Foreman? Evander Holyfield?

Originally Posted by aberdien

I hope you get a concussion.

Have you ever read any of slim's posts? I think he has had quite a few concussions.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

Athletic freaks who bash their heads into each other are now surprised that it causes damage? Give me a break. It's like smoking, I'm sorry but if you didn't realize that inhaling smoke all day or bashing your head against hard objects was bad for you you're too stupid to live anyway.

Well, a lot of people back in the day did get duped on smoking. I think the NFL did try to deny knowledge of CTE, much like Tobacco tried to deny knowledge of cancers.

I believe a big portion of this will come from those denials, which did come back to bite big tobacco in the ass.

And FTR, I'm not defending this lawsuit, either.

Originally Posted by Northman

You ever seen George Foreman? Evander Holyfield?

So you see how this goes? Not all get it or have it, but there are a number of each that do. It could be that some are predisposed to it and others not, we obviously don't know, there's just not enough information out there yet. As pointed out, in a number of years, these sports may not exist. Boxing is already obsolete. Hockey is down. Football is threatened. Sports in the next 10 years will be a much different picture than today.