Quote:
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud
That's a ridiculous analogy.
That person had a choice. I'm sure that he/she had the option to go to junior college, to attend university, to do something other than work at a meat packing plant. WE ALL DO.
I played elementary, junior high and high school football. NEVER ONCE did anyone mention that you could get BRAIN DAMAGE from playing. No one. Broken bones, torn muscles, sprains, even paralysis but brain damage?
Nope.
You don't have to feel "sorry" for anyone. But I'm absolutely certain that armed with the information that we have today about CTE (in which the NFL willingly withheld), more and more people will choose NOT to play the game.
It's pretty simple.
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I feel like you and I are close enough to the same age that we probably played within a few years of each other at worst.
Did we have meetings on possible brain damage? No, no we did not. Did I know after Cordelle the man-eating safety absolutely destroyed my ass over the middle that vomiting in the huddle was probably a pretty damn bad sign? Yes, yes I did. And even in high school I knew that enough injuries to my ankles would probably cost me some long-term dexterity there - how could I argue that enough injuries to my head wouldn't cause long-term issues?
I ultimately side with the concussion folks for one reason and one reason only - the NFL evidently HAD done some studies on this, knew about the risk and not only did they not disclose it (which doesn't bother me a lot), but they took active steps to bury the science (which does).
Beyond that, however, I think it takes a ton of willful ignorance to suggest that players and/or parents didn't know that football can take a toll on your brain. Now I think there's a fair argument to make that we didn't know to the extent of that toll, but I don't think the NFL knew the extent of the possible damage either.