Justin Strzelczyk and his CTE battle right before his death...very sad

[DetDannyWilliams]

WGRZ did a story on Steeler and Western New York native Justin Strzelczyk and what he was going through with battling C.T.E. Just put aside that he was a Steeler a team that all us Bills fans hate, but off the field he was a human being and he had a family and the NFL took that away from him.
http://www.wgrz.com/sports/new-movie...layer/31600510

and also today the devil who is Rodger Goodell came out in the state of of the NFL address and preached about player safety in his The State of the NFL Address

said the NFL had made “great progress” around concussion, despite a flurry of recent research that underlines the link between football and long-term health problems. Goodell said: “[The] concussion issue is something we have been focused on for several decades. We continue to make rule changes in our game to make our game safer and decrease the probability of injuries.”

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...-player-safety

[BillsImpossible]

Okay, just stop playing all contact sports and call it a day.

No more fun, end it all in the name of what?

Soccer players have a high risk of concussion. The statistics put soccer in the same league as football, but worse when it comes to high school players.

Hockey players have a high risk of concussion too.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/article...-suggests.html

"What percentage of people are going to get this problem after they've had repeated concussions? That's the big question mark," he said, adding that the study, by its nature, can't answer that question.

I can answer that question.

Less than 10%

If the sports of soccer, football, and hockey caused such serious head trauma causing participants in said sports to die early, the earth should have about 3 billion less people.

Muhammad Ali is 74 years old.

Everyone's different.

In my opinion, I think the thickness of a person's skull could be the ultimate factor when it comes to those who suffer from CTE and those who don't.

You have to have a "thick skull," to play professional sports. Not joking, just a hypothesis.

There could be something true behind that old saying.

[feldspar]

Unfortunate, for sure.

But you don't screw a hooker and act like a victim if you get AIDS. You don't blame the law for not doing more to stop prostitution, or whatever.

It's the nature of the beast type thing, and there will never be a way around it. Never. The violent aspect of it is a big part of the reason why people watch football in the first place.

**** is going to happen.

[feldspar]

In my opinion, I think the thickness of a person's skull could be the ultimate factor when it comes to those who suffer from CTE and those who don't.

You have to have a "thick skull," to play professional sports. Not joking, just a hypothesis.

There could be something true behind that old saying.

I think a lot of the regulars here know how thick YOUR skull is.

[BillsImpossible]

The one attribute that a lot of great athletes have in common is their thickheaded skull, literally and figuratively.

Many of the best players that have ever played in the NFL were very thickheaded in their prime.

Doug Flutie rings the starting bell:

Lawrence Taylor. Bruce Smith. Steve Young. Jim Kelly. Dan Marino. Tom Brady. Ben Roethlisberger. John Elway. Thurman Thomas. Barry Sanders.
Peyton Manning. Adrian Peterson. Rob Gonkowski. O.J. Simpson. Terry Bradshaw. Jerome Bettis. Jerry Rice. Andre Reed. Michael Irvin. Deion Sanders.

They are all in, or going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame, they're all thickheaded, and they're all still living.

I think the whole CTE thing has become a cash cow for lawyers, and former players blaming their own bad health on football.

Old age happens. Getting older sucks, and many professional athletes blame something else instead of age because they're thickheaded.

[Dr. Lecter]

Do you have any actual evidence that their skulls are actually thicker or are you pulling that out of thin air?

[YardRat]

Do you have any actual evidence that their skulls are actually thicker or are you pulling that out of thin air?

Well, looking over that list and knowing some of their Wonderlic scores...

[Oaf]

The one attribute that a lot of great athletes have in common is their thickheaded skull, literally and figuratively.

Many of the best players that have ever played in the NFL were very thickheaded in their prime.

Doug Flutie rings the starting bell:

Lawrence Taylor. Bruce Smith. Steve Young. Jim Kelly. Dan Marino. Tom Brady. Ben Roethlisberger. John Elway. Thurman Thomas. Barry Sanders.
Peyton Manning. Adrian Peterson. Rob Gonkowski. O.J. Simpson. Terry Bradshaw. Jerome Bettis. Jerry Rice. Andre Reed. Michael Irvin. Deion Sanders.

They are all in, or going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame, they're all thickheaded, and they're all still living.

I think the whole CTE thing has become a cash cow for lawyers, and former players blaming their own bad health on football.

Old age happens. Getting older sucks, and many professional athletes blame something else instead of age because they're thickheaded.

Officially blocked.

[Turf]

How about the millions who go to work everyday, make just enough to get by, and die. Whether by chemical exposure, bad air, stress, neglect, poverty, abuse, whatever. At least these guys got to live out a dream. I would trade for their life. Am I supposed to feel bad for a tennis pro that made millions and threw his shoulder out serving? I've had six surgeries, no one pities my life and either do I. I really don't have any pity for them more than any other human. It's just a news story. Get you collective heads out of your asses. Life's hard and it sucks. We didn't make the rules. We all suffer.

[pmoon6]

The one attribute that a lot of great athletes have in common is their thickheaded skull, literally and figuratively.

Many of the best players that have ever played in the NFL were very thickheaded in their prime.

Doug Flutie rings the starting bell:

Lawrence Taylor. Bruce Smith. Steve Young. Jim Kelly. Dan Marino. Tom Brady. Ben Roethlisberger. John Elway. Thurman Thomas. Barry Sanders.
Peyton Manning. Adrian Peterson. Rob Gonkowski. O.J. Simpson. Terry Bradshaw. Jerome Bettis. Jerry Rice. Andre Reed. Michael Irvin. Deion Sanders.

They are all in, or going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame, they're all thickheaded, and they're all still living.

I think the whole CTE thing has become a cash cow for lawyers, and former players blaming their own bad health on football.

Old age happens. Getting older sucks, and many professional athletes blame something else instead of age because they're thickheaded.

It doesn't matter how thick your cranium is. We are not talking about breaking the bone, we are talking about tissue damage INSIDE the shell. The impact isn't absorbed very much by a hard, dense surface. A softer protective layer around the skull absorbs much better.

It's called a helmet.

[Dr. Lecter]

How about the millions who go to work everyday, make just enough to get by, and die. Whether by chemical exposure, bad air, stress, neglect, poverty, abuse, whatever. At least these guys got to live out a dream. I would trade for their life. Am I supposed to feel bad for a tennis pro that made millions and threw his shoulder out serving? I've had six surgeries, no one pities my life and either do I. I really don't have any pity for them more than any other human. It's just a news story. Get you collective heads out of your asses. Life's hard and it sucks. We didn't make the rules. We all suffer.

Wow.

First off, I don't think "pity" is the objective here. And comparing somebody with a shoulder problem to somebody with massive brain issues is a major false equivalency.

Yeah life is hard. But with the more learn about what this sport can do and how, for some people, the long term consequences are completely devastating it is something well worth discussing. The fact is the long term repercussions of playing this game has apparently led to people having their lives end and devastated their families. Maybe they don't deserve pity. But what we should do is try and educate ourselves and try to make the sport safer.

Maybe you would trade your life for theirs. And that's fine. But don't try and act like this is "just a news story" it goes past that. The risk the players face aren't like what most of us face day to day at our jobs. Not to mention feeling empathy for them does not preclude anybody from having empathy for others as well. It's not a choice of one or another. Most of us are able to consider both as well as others when needed.

[YardRat]

I'm kind of in the camp that sides with the 'you accept the risks when you take the job', but let's face it...there are other industries that recognize the dangers of their occupation and they are also monitoring and implementing policies and standards to try to minimize the negative effects on the workers. It isn't restricted to football.

[Dr. Lecter]

I'm kind of in the camp that sides with the 'you accept the risks when you take the job', but let's face it...there are other industries that recognize the dangers of their occupation and they are also monitoring and implementing policies and standards to try to minimize the negative effects on the workers. It isn't restricted to football.

The risks aren't full known with football and the CTE risk is relatively newly known (at least widespread) and the guys like Strzelczyk had no idea.

[YardRat]

The risks aren't full known with football and the CTE risk is relatively newly known (at least widespread) and the guys like Strzelczyk had no idea.

I'm not arguing with you, you realize that, right?

[Ingtar33]

I don't know how many concussion I've received playing football and hockey, and just living like an idiot teenager. I can vaguely recall a handful (call it 5 or 6), but i have a feeling the number was probably higher.

My most recent concussion was a year ago (yeah, i'm an idiot adult too) and that one was far and away the worst one of them all. Took a month for the post concussion symptoms to go away. I don't recall anything like that when i was a kid, but man was the leftover effects of one past 40 sucked. I sympathize with the guys who are susceptible to this. But even as a kid in the 80's i knew you could be knocked silly by playing football. My parents did too. My parents were actually more worried about me playing hockey then football. Even if I had CTE I wouldn't blame them or the sport. I was doing something I really enjoyed, and frankly, there are LOTS of ways a kid can get his bell rung. the two scariest concussions I've ever witnessed were not in football or hockey, one was from a friend when he was downhill skiing, the other was my brother from a motorcycle accident (hit his head so hard he broke his helmet; broke his hip too). I've seen guys get knocked out on the football field who weren't in the shape those two were.