Wednesday, February 5All That Matters

Why I stopped watching football – Neuroscientist explains the effects of traumatic head injuries in American footbal

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Why I stopped watching football – Neuroscientist explains the effects of traumatic head injuries in American footbal


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31 Comments

  • Even just watching a play off game last night, two players had some pretty rough shots to the head and neck. Like, is it worth it.

    Even in college at a D3 college I didn’t know a single lineman who didn’t have at least one knee surgery if not multiple on both. Playing though a concussion because If you report another they will take you out. Like its not just a chance of it happening, its just how many times will it happen.

    For what. A game? A game that will mean nothing to you in 2 years time.

  • I know a few people who make their livings in the administrative/executive side of college and pro football and *none* of them—like many of the former players in this video—let their own children play.

    Just as with smoking cigarettes, nobody who participates or promotes it has any sort of plausible deniability any longer. It’s just a matter of time before the supply of players becomes a ghettoized market, and the industry can only draw from a pool of prospective players that has shrunk to include only those kids whose athletic abilities have been cultivated alongside a willingness to become mentally disabled.

    Even if it’s a very long time yet before the NFL really loses any of its enormous cultural and economic power, I think the writing on the wall is that this is how it begins to dwindle: with fewer people willing to play, and more fans finding either the stigma or their conscience too uncomfortable to ignore.

  • I played a lot of football and rugby, and I’ve also obtained a lot of nagging long term injuries that I carry around. Multiple surgeries, metal plates, broken bones, concussions…ect.

    I’m conflicted on the matter. On one hand, it was absolutely some of the most fun I’ve had. I took home a lot of valuable lessons that helped shape the development of my life, especially coming from a broken home. I met some great people and still friends with today years and years later.

    However, being early 30s with arthritis and constant aches and pains? You ask most people and they’ll say it was worth it. But I don’t know if I’d let my kids play at a very young age, maybe when they get a bit older and understand the consequences. I didn’t want to believe I’d end up where I am now, and was absolutely naive to think I’d make it through fine.

  • I don’t watch football. I tried once but the ratio of commercials and bullshit commentary to actual game play is worse than any soap opera or reality tv show I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

  • PBS documentary League of Denial covers this so well. Biggest take away was how the concussion was not the main cause for CTE but the repeated jarring blows to the head was the main factor.

  • There’s obviously a desire for people to watch sports like football with a violent element, and people who want to play them. My question is, to what extent are the issues in the NFL a result of:

    * specific rules in football that make the issue worse (e.g. eschewing things like holding in favor of high speed collisions)

    * the fact that we’ve turned the sport into a full-time, highly paid profession that people play for decades

    * an irreducible element of danger in physical, violent sports?

    The first one seems like the easiest to deal with. If football is dangerous and some other high-contact sport is safer, if we got rid of football and started watching the other thing, people would have forgotten about the NFL and moved on pretty quick.

    The second one is harder because it’s an inherent element of having sports be such a huge, huge industry and source of entertainment. If we went back to high school, college sports, no pro league, maybe it would be different, but hard to see how that fits with our modern society.

    The third seems like the hardest, because we’re bumping up against some irreducible element of human nature that seeks out these brutal combat-type sports, both as participants and as spectators. Like it somehow speaks to part of our nature. And that element will probably always be with us.

  • Between CTE and the rampant domestic abuse, I gave up on football to decades ago. I miss the camaraderie with coworkers and friends a little, but overall I’m happy with my choice.

  • As an Aussie watching the Bills V Chiefs game it amazes me that more of your footballers aren’t brain crippled. The way they duck their heads to use the helmet as some kind of defence item is just crazy.

  • I think that the average weight of players needs to be brought down to around 180-200 max. Lighter players, combined with better helmets and protective gear, would lead to a reduction in injury.

  • My son will only play flag football. Leagues are getting more competitive and older kids are deciding to make the switch or just not play tackle at all. It’s super fun to watch and is probably safer than soccer. I find it more exciting to watch than tackle.

  • Out of interest, she mentions there is a biomarker for CTE that they use in one of the studies, are there any studies on current players for this biomarker? I feel like that’s what’s needed at this point, RCT on current players to see what proportion of players are already suffering from it

  • I stopped because it became a pussy ass sport with all the rules preventing all sorts of tackles and rushes.

    Still watch some games from the 80s and 90s if I really want to see men on a field.

  • Why does everything have to get continually more pussified? When does it stop? Are we going to end up like the society in the movie Demolition Man?

    I’m surprised given how litigious everyone is and how safe we demand everything be that we even have any contact sports in K-12.

    I’m not saying I want to bring back lawn darts, cars without seatbelts, and chemistry sets for children that included arsenic… but can we still have a little bit of danger?

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