NFL Off Topic

[TheMatrix31]

Re: NFL Off Topic

So people are fools because they are legitimately concerned that football contributes to long-term brain injury?

No one is saying it's the worst thing on the planet. But it's by far the worst mainstream sport for long-term health.

More research needs to be done in other sports, but the NFL in particular gets so much attention because of how big it is and how badly they handled this issue early on.

I know it's dangerous. I've known since I started watching football. And everyone else did too. You'd have to be a moron to know that from the jump.

Problem is the criticism has become trendy and now we can't go one hour without someone screaming "CONCUSSIONS!" or "CTE!" every single time some athlete in any sport has any collision or injury whatsoever. I'm sick of cultural snowballs no matter who or what they're about.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I get what you're saying but when you have these athletes killing themselves or dying at an early age and it's being pointed towards CTE, idk how you don't take that serious. Not saying you or Arians aren't taking it serious, just that I think it deserves the attention it's getting and it's not just the hot topic to scream about right now. I knew the sport was dangerous when I first started playing, but to the depths that are coming out now? Not at all and I don't think I'm alone in that.

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[dsallupinyaarea]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Even if you know the risks, serious football starts in High School. Who the hell made good, long term life decisions in high school? And is it really fair to tell a 26/27 year old, "hey man, you knew the risks at 15. This is on you."?

[TheMatrix31]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Oh I'm aware and concerned. It's not the biggest reason but it IS part of why if I ever had a kid, I'd put them in baseball or soccer.

And yeah I think it's fair. Deciding on playing football in Jr. High or HS is a different level of decision than having a few drinks and throwing up all night one night. People do know at the very least, hey, I'm putting my body on the line to make a ton of money and (often times) change the trajectory of my entire family. We're absolving people of responsibilities and placing blame on others with the implication that these innocent kids are just being manipulated and taken advantage of. And I don't think that's a good thing at all, in sports or in life.

I just don't like all the casuals and the concern trolls descending upon sports, forcing rules changes that often make things worse because you're making players go against their natural instincts and having to think before they "tackle wrong," etc.

[wco81]

Re: NFL Off Topic

If you watch the Friday Night Tykes show, which now includes Steel Country for PA, you'd think the parents are completely oblivious to what's been happening with all the reports of CTE and concussion issues.

In these small town, working-class communities, they're upholding a tradition -- family, community. Or they're living out the dream that their parents had for them.

These are 10, 11 year olds but the way their parents get into it, the decision has already been made, unless their kids don't cut the muster as they move up towards high school football and they're out of the sport because they aren't good enough players.

It'll take some years still for the glamour of the game to be balanced out by the downside risk of head injuries creating lifetime issues, at least in the minds of some parents.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Sure. And hey, their kids. Mine wouldn't be playing because baseball and soccer are way more lucrative.

Not like Armenians are blessed with any genetic disposition to athletics anyway, lol.

[Speedy]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Raiders' rent triples to stay in Oakland.



Supply and demand and the city knows they can't go anywhere.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15068016/oakland-raiders-paying-much-more-stay-put-oco-coliseum

Only the Raiders.........

[kehlis]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Raiders' rent triples to stay in Oakland.



Supply and demand and the city knows they can't go anywhere.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15068016/oakland-raiders-paying-much-more-stay-put-oco-coliseum

Only the Raiders.........

Only the Raiders?

[Jr.]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I agree with you overall but it really isn't fair to jump as much as people are when there is no comparison group. We don't even know how it compares to just regular every day activity, let alone other professional sports. It baffles me how anyone can react to a number with no context like this.

Good points.

[SPTO]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Oh NFL,





NFL demands retraction from the New York Times

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The NFL has demanded The New York Times retract a story that called the league's concussion research flawed and likened the NFL's handling of head trauma to the tobacco industry's response to the dangers of cigarettes.

In a letter from its law firm to the general counsels of the newspaper and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, the league said it was defamed by the Times. The NFL added the story published last Thursday did not "present a shred of evidence to support its thesis that the NFL intentionally concealed concussion research data."

The NFL also said it will "more broadly reserve all of the league's rights and remedies," a veiled threat of legal action.

Times sports editor Jason Stallman said, "We see no reason to retract anything."

"The NFL apparently objects to our reporting that the league had ties to the tobacco industry," Stallman added. "But, as the article noted, a co-owner of the Giants, Preston R. Tisch, also partly owned a leading cigarette company, Lorillard, and was a board member of both the Tobacco Institute and the Council for Tobacco Research, two entities that played a central role in misusing science to hide the risks of cigarettes. Also, the NFL and the tobacco industry shared lobbyists, lawyers and consultants."

In its letter, signed by league attorney Brad Karp, the NFL said not only that the story did not establish any meaningful ties to the tobacco industry, but that the headline was false and incendiary, and that a graphic attached to the story was misleading.

An NFL search of 14 million documents from the tobacco litigation archives found "significant connections" between the Times and the tobacco industry, the letter said, calling those connections "far more concrete than the phantom connections contrived by the Times purporting to tie the NFL to the tobacco industry."

The Times story — its lead item on the front page — revealed that some concussions that occurred in the NFL were omitted from the league's studies, despite NFL claims to the contrary.

"The league has always maintained that the studies were based on a data set that included every concussion that was diagnosed by a team doctor," Stallman said. "In fact, our reporting showed that more than 100 such concussions — including some sustained by star players — were not included in the data set, resulting in inaccurate findings. "

But the NFL's letter stresses that the fact the studies relied on data that were not a complete count of all concussions in the league was "repeatedly and expressly disclosed in the studies themselves." It also accuses the Times of implying to its readers that the newspaper uncovered "a secret and nefarious plot by the league to suppress relevant data and manipulate the test results in a manner learned through the league's 'ties' to Big Tobacco ..."

The NFL said the research the Times focused on forms no part of the current work by the league's head, neck and spine committee.

[H8ter2]

Re: NFL Off Topic

The NFL is so accustomed to bullying people/agencies to get their way that as these stories be it concussions, player legal issues, domestic violence etc keep popping up people are paying more attention and starting to see the free pass the NFL has been getting for a long time

Let MLB have a sliver of concussion issues and they will be back in front of Congress again with hearings


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[TheShizNo1]

Re: NFL Off Topic

What? lol MLB shined for years with steroids.

[redsox4evur]

Re: NFL Off Topic

What? lol MLB shined for years with steroids.

Exactly the Steroid ERA ran from around the mid to late 1980's until 2005/6. And those court hearings weren't held until 05/06, iirc.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Oh NFL,





NFL demands retraction from the New York Times

Not to defend the NFL's behavior, but what the Times is using to connect them to the tobacco industry is pretty weak.

[SPTO]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Not to defend the NFL's behavior, but what the Times is using to connect them to the tobacco industry is pretty weak.

I will concede that but I think the overall point is true, for YEARS the NFL has treated the link between the concussions and playing the game of football as if it was nothing serious. It's the same kind of tactics the tobacco industry used effectively for 30+ years.