Frontline - League of Denial
Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2013 7:50 pm
What are your thoughts?
Would you let your child play football?
A few thoughts:
There is an accepted medical link between multiple concussions and brain damage. So if the NFL wants to pretend their product doesn't necessarily cause brain damage to its players they have to pretend that football does not cause concussions. Which is patently absurd. Of course, medical science regarding the brain is really tricky and its difficult to show evidence of damage without the brain material. But thats pretty much the only obstacle to a scientific proof of something we see regularly. Suggest that playing in the NFL doesn't drastically increase your propensity to receive concussions is borderline ridiculous, yet that is exactly the position of the NFL.
The problem is that the NFL is the leading football organization; the one that all others follow. So its not just the NFL players (who rec'd the 765MM settlement), its all the people that played pee-wee, high school, and even college football that are impacted by their ridiculous denials. If liability is extended to these groups football would be dead immediately. Frankly, given the precipitous drop in life expectancy for the best football players (NFL)(assuming an incoming NFL player comes in at age 23 their LE goes from 75.4 to 54.9, or almost half their LE), you have to wonder not only why it is so popular but why it is allowed at all.
Would you let your child play football?
A few thoughts:
There is an accepted medical link between multiple concussions and brain damage. So if the NFL wants to pretend their product doesn't necessarily cause brain damage to its players they have to pretend that football does not cause concussions. Which is patently absurd. Of course, medical science regarding the brain is really tricky and its difficult to show evidence of damage without the brain material. But thats pretty much the only obstacle to a scientific proof of something we see regularly. Suggest that playing in the NFL doesn't drastically increase your propensity to receive concussions is borderline ridiculous, yet that is exactly the position of the NFL.
The problem is that the NFL is the leading football organization; the one that all others follow. So its not just the NFL players (who rec'd the 765MM settlement), its all the people that played pee-wee, high school, and even college football that are impacted by their ridiculous denials. If liability is extended to these groups football would be dead immediately. Frankly, given the precipitous drop in life expectancy for the best football players (NFL)(assuming an incoming NFL player comes in at age 23 their LE goes from 75.4 to 54.9, or almost half their LE), you have to wonder not only why it is so popular but why it is allowed at all.