FRONTLINE Investigative report on NFL on now

[T.D-Bag]

PBS documentary about head injuries Mike Webster Steelers
Bdawk featured on many of the big hits

[FuriousXGeorge]

The documentary is up on YouTube here. You can see why the league is concerned, some of these hits are just inhumanly brutal.

[j1mmy]

Dawkins was awesome, plain and simple.

That video on the other hand, is painfully overproduced.

[FuriousXGeorge]

Dawkins was awesome, plain and simple.

That video on the other hand, is painfully overproduced.

Funny, I think the higher resolution NFL network version looks worse than it used to look with low res youtube rips.

[T.D-Bag]

The documentary is up on YouTube here. You can see why the league is concerned, some of these hits are just inhumanly brutal.

the Frontline Investigation is about how the NFL acted like big tobacco until they were called on the carpet to look into CTE and brain injuries of former players

[The Ref]

Head injuries are a problem but I wonder if Frontline tells the whole story. Last year, OSHA released a study which showed that NFL players, on average, live longer than the general population. Another study showed that NFL players live longer, on average, than participants in each of the other three major professional sports in America. Longer than hockey players, baseball players, and NBA players. Didn't see any comparisons for soccer players.

That fact, (OSHA released, not my opinion) makes a serious case that has to be factored into the overall conversation. Something doesn't add up. If most NFL players sustain serious brain trauma, then why, or perhaps how, do they live longer than the average American? Doesn't make a lick of sense.

[T.D-Bag]

So far it has been pretty compelling, including studies by the NFL that they denied having much weight, once the conclusions didn't meet their talking points

[BigSlizz]

Clip shows don't have big budgets for footage. They have to do anything they can to add interest. I'm not a fan of the graphic look, but I get why it's there.

[Riccardo]

That fact, (OSHA released, not my opinion) makes a serious case that has to be factored into the overall conversation. Something doesn't add up. If most NFL players sustain serious brain trauma, then why, or perhaps how, do they live longer than the average American? Doesn't make a lick of sense.

Sure it makes sense. CTE causes dementia later in life, but isn't fatal.

[art vandelay]

i remember that hit dawk put on bubba franks toward the end of the 05 season. it was after franks had touched the ball, but dawk went forward with his forearms and bent franks's head back. just brutal. 05 was around the time when they started calling hits on defenseless receivers. usually bang-bang plays when a guy went across the middle and got spearheaded in his chest. the dawk hit didn't fit that criteria then, but would probably result in a suspension now. honestly at the time i didn't think it was an awesome hit like the one on crumpler. it was a bit dirty, though maybe not purposefully so.

[PackWest]

Sure it makes sense. CTE causes dementia later in life, but isn't fatal.

bingo

The devil is always in the details...which is why a little information is so dangerous in the hands of those who would make sweeping generalizations without actually reading the report. Here's a summary sheet

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/nflfactsheet.pdf

And part of the reason for the lifespan discrepancies is that most of these guys are still young men ....
Given the current life expectancy of 70+ years for an American male, it will be decades before they can make any claims about players born after 1970

"League of Denial" shows just how scared the NFL was over this brain injury stuff, delaying and obfuscating as long as possible ala Big Tobacco

It also helps explain all of the changes in the current NFL -
If the league has to take the violence out ( and they do), then fans such as yourselves who grew up with a non-pussy NFL will lose interest

The Casuals and fantasy players won't care and that's who the league goes after in their marketing efforts.

It also helps explain the push to London and the rest of the world- those fans don't know about the non-pussy NFL of yesteryear so they won't be turned off by all the changes

The blue collar fans who built this league will continue to be marginalized as the NFL looks for new sources of revenue to promote the "new" NFL

No-defense basketball on grass can be sold to fans who don't remember the Concrete Charlies, but its a tough sell to those of us who do remember a league built on toughness and violence

The game is changing and the league knows they are going to lose old fans, so they develop new ones in new places.
The NFL is a game of replacement; not only players but fans too

[slag]

I think they could keep old school fans if they reintroduced the bump and run to make defense relevant again.

And, because the dback can stay closer to the receiver, I think it would reduce big hits on "defenseless" WRs because of less separation and more tackling closer in.

Also, the league could still be plenty tough with shoulder tackles. Just teach it again.

As far as legal ... and I know this is somewhat simplistic, but as long as they treat a potentially concussed player correctly, they've fulfilled their obligation.

The player assumes the risk otherwise.

[AthensEagle]

Just take away the helmets and shoulder pads.

[slag]

Actually, one of the problems is that tackling should be done "pretending" you have no helmet ... it's only there for accidental contact, not to use for hitting.

[CCPete]

The quantity of kids playing football may also impact the quality which would force more changes to the sport. The documentary aired some months ago about kids and brain damage will see parents steering their children to other sports. Some Smaller high schools ..at least in the north... Are already seeing problems getting enough kids to field a team. If they don't make changes that eliminate all this helmet first hit stuff and get back to actual tackling, we will see the sport stopped by many schools and top players moving to the bigger schools while most kids choose a different sport.