Real Sports' Look at the NFL and Concussions

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Crazyhorse1

I'm a life-long football fan and even played a few years longer than I should have, looking back. I have to say, however, that I'll never intellectually stoop low enough to thinking playing the game is good for you. Concussions do permanent damage that can range from a life-time of seizures and depression to neuropathy and it's pretty much a joke that the game helps with character development (I know I don't have to cite examples here). It also shortens lives-- dramatically so in relation to the NFL.

Playing football is not as loathsome as being sacrificed to the sun god, but it's getting there. That's why I don't begrudge the guys getting big bucks. What's your health worth? Staubach is on record as saying he wishes he never played the game and Namath says he'd give up every thing he ever made from it if he could just put his pants on. Huey Long, commenting on his present occupation living with injuries: Every day is a bad day. Some days its worse.

Here's a short list of my own injuries and consequences:

Three concussions
Seizures, depression
Nerve damage at base of brain
Spinal damage at C1 and lower back
Can't lift feet from floor more than a few inches
Can't move two fingers, muscles severed
Can't rotate left arm or hand
Severely damaged hamstring, never recovered
Severed bicept
Arthritis in knees, ankles, hips
Replaced left knee
Three knee operations
Five hernia operations
Eight operations for infected stitches
Loss of eighty percent of bladder function: nerve related (neuropathy)
Loss of six teeth-- all removed after splitting

On the other hand here's how much my character was enhanced by years of trying to flatten my fellow man and conversation with moral and genius coaches: zip.

Wow. That's a horrific list of injuries. Did you play pro ball? If so, for who?

[Crazyhorse1]

Originally Posted by GMScud

Wow. That's a horrific list of injuries. Did you play pro ball? If so, for who?

No pro ball. The injury to C1 in senior year of college put me out of football for good, except for coaching briefly. I was invited to the Dallas camp, but didn't report. No chance of passing a physical. Dallas was just starting up in those days and was handing out a lot of feelers and invites, even to players reportedly injured. I remember feeling at the time that Dallas had an up and coming front office and that the Cowboys would soon be a power. They were much more thorough in regard to scouting than other teams at that time.
As a matter of history: the Redskins soon followed Dallas' lead and ran their first try-out camp, which resulted in their acquiring Herb Mul Key. I think I'm right about this, though I've never seen it in print. I'm going purely by memory here and how it seemed to me at the time.