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Georgia high school football player dies after being hit during game

Very sad news indeed. I am thinking there is going to be a long investigation into this, especially since the preliminary investigation didn't appear to show a play where he got hurt. In addition, he came off the field at one point complaining of a leg injury, not a head injury.
 
Want to see something that will tick you off. Here's the NCAA running around forcing the closure of fundraisers for a college football player in a coma.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thinkp...layer-christian-abercrombie-d1b2ee4aa3b5/amp/
That article is so horrible with its continuous, ignorant, and ridiculous diatribes against the NCAA for not paying student athletes more than they currently do, that any actual reporting of a real issue is lost or simply not very credible.
 
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I love football, but it's a pretty barbaric sport.

We the fans are basically entertaining ourselves by watching people injure each other. Many of the injuries we can't even see because it happens in the brain.

A lot of these guys are teenagers. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't support football. I know that sounds like blasphemy :)
 
I am ready for football to switch to using androids.

Idea originated in 1962. :D

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I love football, but it's a pretty barbaric sport.

We the fans are basically entertaining ourselves by watching people injure each other. Many of the injuries we can't even see because it happens in the brain.

A lot of these guys are teenagers. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't support football. I know that sounds like blasphemy :)

If the injuries did not occur in the brain I would be ok with the sport. But it’s not what scientific medical research is telling us.

My whole view on the game has changed in the last 10 years.
 
Jetsons. I remember this episode.

I have to believe this is going to happen (or similar) one day.
At the professional level, it's as much about the off-field personalities and drama as it is anything else - see LeVeon Bell, Jalen Ramsey, Kolin Kapernick, etc. Not sure how that would translate into a machine-driven league. I guess it would be more like NASCAR at that point.
 
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I try keep in mind the study of deceased NFL players in which 110 of 111 showed signs of CTE which is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, anxiety, impulse control issues and sometimes suicidal behavior.

Screw the glory, if you have no shot at NFL money for your family playing football is a fool's errand.
 
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My kids are unlikely to play any sport into high school, but I am curious if there's any way to tell the effects on the brain of lower level sports. Is peewee football actually damaging our kids brains, or does it require players to turn into missiles in high school and above before the real dangers show up?
 
My kids are unlikely to play any sport into high school, but I am curious if there's any way to tell the effects on the brain of lower level sports. Is peewee football actually damaging our kids brains, or does it require players to turn into missiles in high school and above before the real dangers show up?

It's actually more dangerous for peewee than middle and high school football.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/sports/football/tackle-football-brain-youth.html
 
My kid is 6 and I am not sure I want him to play tackle football ever. I never played but my brother did. He enjoyed it but even he's not letting his kid play.
 
At the professional level, it's as much about the off-field personalities and drama as it is anything else - see LeVeon Bell, Jalen Ramsey, Kolin Kapernick, etc. Not sure how that would translate into a machine-driven league. I guess it would be more like NASCAR at that point.
The more I think about the drama that surrounds the players plus the injury concerns, I think the NFL over time could morph into "sports entertainment" like the WWE with 100% scripted plays and predetermined outcomes. The bumps would still exist and injuries wouldn't be preventable but the unpredictable nature of the game would be removed. Teams would rehearse against their opponent during the week and play a made-for-TV game on Sundays. When I first heard about the reincarnation of the XFL, I thought that would be a model they would explore.
 
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No tackle either for my son. Just not worth the risk.

On the flip side, my daughter plays in a very competive soccer league, and I have seen many girls get concussions over the years. Not from heading the ball, but just during the course of play. I will credit the soccer club though. They have very strict protocols in place where you will not be allowed back to practice or a game until you have fully passed all concussion protocols.
 
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No tackle either for my son. Just not worth the risk.

On the flip side, my daughter plays in a very competive soccer league, and I have seen many girls get concussions over the years. Not from heading the ball, but just during the course of play. I will credit the soccer club though. They have very strict protocols in place where you will not be allowed back to practice or a game until you have fully passed all concussion protocols.
I read somewhere that female soccer players have the highest rate of concussions than any other sport.
 
No tackle either for my son. Just not worth the risk.

On the flip side, my daughter plays in a very competive soccer league, and I have seen many girls get concussions over the years. Not from heading the ball, but just during the course of play. I will credit the soccer club though. They have very strict protocols in place where you will not be allowed back to practice or a game until you have fully passed all concussion protocols.

So how did they get concussions? Was it head to head contact in an attempt to head the ball? My problem with soccer is the heading of the ball, which is routinely part of practice on the pro-level. Heading the ball, although more research is being done as we speak, is considered to be by some a non-concussive hit. Which is similar to what causes CTE on tackles in football. If a player in soccer gets a concussion from falling over and landing in an attempt to head the ball then in my eyes it still the act of heading that is causing the problem and in my opinion should be banned.

My son was in a 15 year old rec league and they did not practice heading at all. I'm supposing they do practice it on the travel team.
 
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.......

My whole view on the game has changed in the last 10 years.

Same here. I no longer follow the NFL at all. That was easy to give up. I have had many internal debates about FSU football as well.

So how did they get concussions? Was it head to head contact in an attempt to head the ball? My problem with soccer is the heading of the ball, which is routinely part of practice on the pro-level. Heading the ball, although more research is being done as we speak, is considered to be by some a non-concussive hit. Which is similar to what causes CTE on tackles in football. If a player in soccer gets a concussion from falling over and landing in an attempt to head the ball then in my eyes it still the act of heading that is causing the problem and in my opinion should be banned.

My son was in a 15 year old rec league and they did not practice heading at all. I'm supposing they do practice it on the travel team.

I have heard it is mostly from heading. They have been considering removing heading from the game completely at some levels. I am sure body to body to ground contact is part, but the main issue (or taking accidental shot off the face / head).

Poor Sterling.
 
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I read somewhere that female soccer players have the highest rate of concussions than any other sport.

Here is one article that confirms what you recall: https://consumer.healthday.com/cogn...ol-sport-has-the-most-concussions-720657.html

The majority of other articles that I've seen have football first, followed by hockey and lacrosse (for boys). And for girls it's lacrosse and soccer. Keep in mind CTE is caused by sub-concussive hits... it has not been fully linked that concussions cause CTE. A tackle in football where the head snaps back is a sub-concussive hit. Likewise, heading the soccer ball is considered by many to be sub-concussive.
 
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So how did they get concussions? Was it head to head contact in an attempt to head the ball? My problem with soccer is the heading of the ball, which is routinely part of practice on the pro-level. Heading the ball, although more research is being done as we speak, is considered to be by some a non-concussive hit. Which is similar to what causes CTE on tackles in football. If a player in soccer gets a concussion from falling over and landing in an attempt to head the ball then in my eyes it still the act of heading that is causing the problem and in my opinion should be banned.

My son was in a 15 year old rec league and they did not practice heading at all. I'm supposing they do practice it on the travel team.

Heading is not allowed until 12U and above, at least here in Georgia...but I think that is US Soccer rule now.

Heading in practice, while not done a lot, is important. If the kids never practice it they will never learn the correct way to head a ball.

Regarding the research, I am sure they are going to find a lot of soccer players have CTE symptoms. However, there is a world of difference between the soccer balls used today and those used even just a decade ago. They are actually lighter and have a softer cover on them. Players today are going to be a lot better off than those of the past.

As for what causes the concussions, I think many people would be surprised. A properly headed ball will not cause a concussion. Getting hit in the head unexpectedly will. So will taking an elbow to the head, colliding with another player while running at full speed, getting knocked to the ground and banging your head.

Heading is a big part of soccer, despite coaches preferring too have the ball on the ground, so I would give it less than 1% chance of ever being fully removed from the game. Instead soccer balls will be made safer, players will be trained better on proper technique, and delaying until a more suitable age (already taking place) are all things that will happen to make CTE less of a possibility.

For the record, I have an 11 year old daughter who plays travel soccer. I have told her that I would prefer she avoid heading the ball unless it is a throw-in, or the ball has bounced first. I have also told her that if given no other choice, I would prefer she head the ball correctly instead of just letting to go.
 
Here is one article that confirms what you recall: https://consumer.healthday.com/cogn...ol-sport-has-the-most-concussions-720657.html

The majority of other articles that I've seen have football first, followed by hockey and lacrosse (for boys). And for girls it's lacrosse and soccer. Keep in mind CTE is caused by sub-concussive hits... it has not been fully linked that concussions cause CTE. A tackle in football where the head snaps back is a sub-concussive hit. Likewise, heading the soccer ball is considered by many to be sub-concussive.
Not making light of CTE in the least, but I'm asking this for a friend: If someone ever banged his or her head to heavy metal to the extent that it caused a headache, would that be considered "sub-concussive"?
 
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Heading is not allowed until 12U and above, at least here in Georgia...but I think that is US Soccer rule now.

Heading in practice, while not done a lot, is important. If the kids never practice it they will never learn the correct way to head a ball.

Regarding the research, I am sure they are going to find a lot of soccer players have CTE symptoms. However, there is a world of difference between the soccer balls used today and those used even just a decade ago. They are actually lighter and have a softer cover on them. Players today are going to be a lot better off than those of the past.

As for what causes the concussions, I think many people would be surprised. A properly headed ball will not cause a concussion. Getting hit in the head unexpectedly will. So will taking an elbow to the head, colliding with another player while running at full speed, getting knocked to the ground and banging your head.

Heading is a big part of soccer, despite coaches preferring too have the ball on the ground, so I would give it less than 1% chance of ever being fully removed from the game. Instead soccer balls will be made safer, players will be trained better on proper technique, and delaying until a more suitable age (already taking place) are all things that will happen to make CTE less of a possibility.

For the record, I have an 11 year old daughter who plays travel soccer. I have told her that I would prefer she avoid heading the ball unless it is a throw-in, or the ball has bounced first. I have also told her that if given no other choice, I would prefer she head the ball correctly instead of just letting to go.

We've talked about this before and I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on today's headers not causing brain trauma and see where the science leads us. Heading the ball properly is eerily similar to the football apologists that say tackling properly doesn't cause head injuries. I was hoping for FIFA and fans to be more open minded to the science but it doesn't look like that is happening. The research continues but here is a short video depicting what is being found. It seems basic and is not going to go away: the more you head the ball the more likely you will have traumatic brain injury. To be a top notch player you have to practice heading. Not a good combo.




There are multiple studies occurring right now at universities and hospitals in England. This isn't going to be going away.
 
Instead of sports how about competitive science? Who can get to Mars first? Which team can start a civilization first? Who can colonize the most moons!? Until we divert our attentions away from barbarism expect football and headers to always be a thing.
 
We've talked about this before and I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on today's headers not causing brain trauma and see where the science leads us. Heading the ball properly is eerily similar to the football apologists that say tackling properly doesn't cause head injuries. I was hoping for FIFA and fans to be more open minded to the science but it doesn't look like that is happening. The research continues but here is a short video depicting what is being found. It seems basic and is not going to go away: the more you head the ball the more likely you will have traumatic brain injury. To be a top notch player you have to practice heading. Not a good combo.


There are multiple studies occurring right now at universities and hospitals in England. This isn't going to be going away.

repeated heading is absolutely going to cause CTE, I don't care how you do it, glancing a hard ball coming at speed off of your head repeatedly is going to cause some trauma. Granted, proper heading can help as deflecting a ball off your head isn't as bad as having it go head on at full speed, but it still will.

I don't know that you can remove heading from the game without fundamentally changing the game. To do so would essentially remove any aerial attacks from the game. It could be done, but it would make scoring far more difficult than it already is, remove corner kicks from being any type of real threat, etc... If scoring was not so difficult already in soccer I'd be ok with it, but what are your options? I do agree that it probably should not be allowed in youth soccer, and maybe you start there and eventually pro leagues adapt?

However, expecting FIFA to care about anything more than money is hilarious. And most countries simply aren't going to care at all either as football is there only path to international glory and money in some cases and they're far more willing to take those risks as a result. In the US, we have so many other paths that we're open to these conversations, but on a global level, getting every country in the world to agree that headers are bad??? That's never going to happen.
 
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