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Concussion Study: NFL Players To Donate Their Brains

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ScriptOhio

ScriptOhio

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Athletes Leaving Brains to Concussion Study


Rick Stewart/Getty Images
The ex-Patriot Ted Johnson has memory and depression problems.

N.F.L. players are lionized every Sunday for giving their bodies to the sport. Now, some retired players are planning to literally give their brains to a new center at Boston University?s School of Medicine devoted to studying the long-term effects of concussions.
A dozen athletes, including six N.F.L. players and a former United States women?s soccer player, have agreed to donate their brains after their deaths to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
On Thursday, the center will announce that a fifth deceased N.F.L. player, the former Houston Oilers linebacker John Grimsley, was found to have brain damage commonly associated with boxers.
The former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, one of the players who has agreed to donate his brain, said he hoped the center would help clarify the issue of concussions? long-term effects, which have been tied to cognitive impairment and depression in several published studies. The N.F.L. says that, in regard to its players, the long-term effects of concussions are uncertain.
?I shouldn?t have to prove to anybody that there?s something wrong with me,? said Johnson, 35, whose neurologist has said multiple concussions from 2002 through his 2005 retirement resulted in permanent and degenerative problems with memory and depression.
Johnson added: ?I?m not being vindictive. I?m not trying to reach up from the grave and get the N.F.L. But any doctor who doesn?t connect concussions with long-term effects should be ashamed of themselves.?
An N.F.L. committee is currently conducting its own study, as described in league news releases and a pamphlet distributed to players ?to determine if there are any long-term effects of concussion in N.F.L. athletes.? On Tuesday, the league spokesman Greg Aiello said that the findings would probably be published in 2010.

Entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/s....html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
 
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Bradshaw shares battle with concussions


Terry Bradshaw says the numerous concussons he's sustained are affecting his health.

Well, fans, I?m going out and buying a ping pong table. The doctors say that will help improve my hand/eye coordination. It?s definitely not what it used to be. And I?m also doing some brain puzzle tests that I download off the Internet. Basically, I?m rehabbing my brain.
Today most athletes rehab after surgery from a knee or shoulder injury. Well, I?m learning how to prevent my brain from getting worse than it is after suffering a career worth of concussions playing football. When I played for the Steelers and I got my bell rung, I?d take smelling salts and go right back out there. All of us did that. We didn?t know any better. You don?t know how many times I was in the huddle, asking my teammates to help me call a play. After a few minutes, I?d be fine and I?d keep playing just like nothing had happened.
But lately I?ve really been struggling with my short-term memory. I was in Ruston, La., doing my annual fundraising golf tournament for my alma mater, Louisiana Tech, and I told a bunch of writers and TV folks back there what was going on with me. I was dead serious with them. It was definitely the first time I was back there that I didn?t crack a joke or smile. I think they knew I was serious because I was sweating so much, explaining what was going on with me.
Why did I go public? Well, I thought it would be good for a lot of players for this to get out, for me to tell my story because I was a quarterback. I know how much my late center Mike Webster suffered. I can only imagine what a lot of defensive players from my era are going through. I?ve talked with Howie Long about this. He understands what I?m going through. I just thought it would good for them to hear what I had to say. I also think other players should speak up and say what they?ve been experiencing. It?s good for the soul and your brain.
I spent a weekend at the Amen Clinic in Newport Beach, Calif., where I found out the cause of my short-term memory loss. I?ve had this horrible concentration problem for a while now ? it took me 10 days to learn nine pages of a speech, something that would probably take you one or two days to learn. It?s obvious that my brain isn?t what it used to be. I?m taking memory power boost tablets to help me every day and doing the puzzles to help me stay focused.
Toward the end of last season on the FOX pregame show, maybe the last six weeks, I really started to forget things. That?s why I quit reciting statistics because I couldn?t remember them exactly and I stayed away from mentioning some players by name because I really wasn?t sure and I didn?t want to make a mistake. I?m on national TV in front of millions and I hate making mistakes. I told the people in Ruston that I suffered six concussions and numerous head injuries. I think that?s right, but I?m not really sure.
The memory loss made me jittery at times. It was driving me crazy that I couldn?t remember something that I studied the night before. All it did was trigger my anxiety and all of sudden everything would snowball on me. I know I have depression and it?s a horrible disease. This memory loss just made my depression worse.
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Entire article: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...concussions-short-term-memory-concerns-041211
 
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What do they want? Sure concussions are bad,but what really are they going to do about it? It's not as if they aren't being well compensated for the job. There are plenty of jobs that beat you to death physically over time that pay a hell of a lot less. There's more of a chance of watering the game down with new rules then anything actually coming from studies proving concussions are bad.

In 20 years would mma be better off if people weren't allowed to strike to the head? I'm sure being brutally ko'ed doesn't exactly prolong life.
 
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powerlifter;2198222; said:
What do they want? Sure concussions are bad,but what really are they going to do about it? It's not as if they aren't being well compensated for the job. There are plenty of jobs that beat you to death physically over time that pay a hell of a lot less. There's more of a chance of watering the game down with new rules then anything actually coming from studies proving concussions are bad.

In 20 years would mma be better off if people weren't allowed to strike to the head? I'm sure being brutally ko'ed doesn't exactly prolong life.
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So we should let these guys destroy their futures rather than take a chance on "watering down the game" and infringing on our entertainment (Wow, did you see that guys head snap backwards?). IMO the point of the studies is to lay out the FACTS so players can make an informed choice.

My son in law is mid-thirties and half crippled from what he did playing HS and college football. I think he has some regrets for decisions he made in his youthful exuberance.

For the first time my grandson passed on football this season to play fall baseball - and I couldn't be happier.

I love football and I love the big hits. Just let them go in with their eyes open.
 
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hopefully they can develop a new kind of football helmet that prevents any sort of shock or whatever it's called and prevents the brain from colliding and bruising

doesn't seem inconceivable in light of all the other crazy isht scientists have developed etc
 
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Lose some padding so the players don't feel invincible and watch dangerous hits go way down.

The issue with that is that the bad hits would be bad. There's really no way to fix this. There are going to be players like James Harrison who cross the line no matter what. Penalties are an afterthought for them.
 
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3074326;2198300; said:
Lose some padding so the players don't feel invincible and watch dangerous hits go way down.

The issue with that is that the bad hits would be bad. There's really no way to fix this. There are going to be players like James Harrison who cross the line no matter what. Penalties are an afterthought for them.
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Similarly guys like Ditka have said lose the facemasks and the helmet-leading hits will go way down. But again, a direct hit to the face could be fatal, given the size of players now and the sheer weight of the helmets.

It's a bit if a strange situation because the guys looking back decades later barely made anything playing, so their perspective could be different than guys making 6 or 7 figures a year now. But working in neuro and in TBI some, I can say it is all very real and very debilitating. The thing is football is one giant game of 2 rams butting heads...which guy becomes the dominant ram. That is the heart of it, and that won't change, or else the sport won't be what it is. But that doesn't mean that every precaution can't and shouldn't be taken. If that means reducing the padding, or reducing the schedule, or expanding the roster, or lightening the helmets, or whatever it means, then that's what needs to be done.
 
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