05-07-2018, 05:01 PM
(05-07-2018, 04:53 PM)Au165 Wrote: No they didn't know, and the courts agreed hence the settlement. The NFL knew what was actually happening from a brain damage stand point but they didn't inform their employees. It is one thing to say "I am getting my bell rung and may have headaches" it's another to say "it'll lead to suicidal thoughts in my 50's". No one can make an informed decision about what they are willing to risk without all the information known and the NFL negligently withheld that.
Today, yes there is more information to make more informed decisions and people are making it. The issue is now that the information is out there the question becomes, should anyone under the age of 18 even with parents consent be allowed to do it to themselves? That is something we will see play out over the next 5 or so years in legislatures is my guess. My gut feeling is insurance carriers will stop insuring high schools and youth organizations who play football due to lawsuits that will eventually hit the youth level.
The NFL is changing the rules at the pro level in an attempt to influence the youth game enough to save the sport. It's not about will parents let their kids play, it is will legislatures and insurance companies allow it to happen. If the NFL doesn't make changes then the answer is probably no.
What? We all knew players get concussions in contact sports and it leaves some of them ****** up. We just didn't know it was so prevalent, up to 90% of players in some cases. We knew decades before CTE came around about the punch drunk boxer or hockey brawler, wasn't a huge jump to look at football the same way. Plenty of those parents that refused to have their kids play knew. I knew some of these guys were turning into shells of their former selves since the 80's. But again, nobody knew it was so many.
Edit: I actually remember when and why I made the connection back in the day. Just like today, these guys were dying young, 50s -60s etc and I knew something was fishy but not exactly what. Then I had this book that was filled with all these weird facts and supposedly true stories. In one of them a doctor was doing an autopsy on this old boxer (his first boxer autopsy I guess) and he was shocked when he drilled the skull open and the boxer's brain oozed out like jelly, instead of being in tact. I remember reading that and putting two and two together, that some of these player's were getting punch drunk. But I thought it was like the odd case. Maybe one out of thirty, not the other way around. Obviously I didn't know what it was exactly, or all its effects, I just figured some of these players were turning their brains into jelly.
