Junior Seau has died...

[Sweet Rabbit]

Sad news, very sad news...RIP Junior

yup

 

[EVILFACE]

That's what Dave Duerson of the Bears did. Doctors found his brain had deteriorated due to the number of head blows he had taken during his career.

You begin to wonder about the future of this league as well as MMA.

Yep. They'll find scapegoats, make fairly minor rule changes in response to publicity, and continue to gloss over the larger issues.

Real Steel here we come.

 

[IronLungs31]

I really feel for his mother. Just watching her news conference was just a huge tear jerker.

 

[user 1190]

I am still shocked. I have know about him for almost 25 years whe my Dad was almost guaranteed to be the Head Coach at Oceanside HS only to have the principal decide they wanted someone who taught another subject. All I can hope is something good comes of this, as he was a great person and had done so much for SD area even while playing for other teams. I have not seen the mothers interview but did hear the interview with Macelleus Wiley and that was pretty heart breaking.

 

[Phil Sierra]

The worst part was seeing his mother in pain. I felt really bad for her. Nothing worst than losing a child.

 

[KitFisto]

Yep. They'll find scapegoats, make fairly minor rule changes in response to publicity, and continue to gloss over the larger issues.

What's the larger issue? That the league shouldn't exist? Let's be honest......when 300+ pound men run fast and slam into each other there will be injuries......bad ones.

Equipment, no matter HOW well made can only do so much.

 

[karamazov80]

What's the larger issue? That the league shouldn't exist? Let's be honest......when 300+ pound men run fast and slam into each other there will be injuries......bad ones.

Equipment, no matter HOW well made can only do so much.

The larger issue is what you suggest--the sport is intrinsically violent, and making minor rule changes isn't going to stem the tide of long-term injury. I love NFL football, but the truth is that it has a devastating physical effect on some of those who play. I don't know if the culmination of this will eventually lead to the end of the NFL, if the almighty dollar will outweigh those concerns, or if there will be genuine rule changes that fundamentally affect the violent nature of the game to the point that it isn't recognizable to what it is today. But Goodell et al. acting like they are genuinely confronting this issue is a farce. They are putting band-aids on the problem, because that's the best way to maintain the status quo.

At least information on the effects of concussions is more readily available today than it was in the past. Players can't blame anyone but themselves if they choose that profession, because the evidence is clear and overwhelming. But when guys like Seau got into the sport, this was not the case. And that is sad.

 

[OSCORP]

Holy SHYYT!

Musta had some major chemical imbalance to do that.


(life couldn't of been THAT rough for him)

RIP
Gotta be steroid induced depression (if he was into that i dunno) or concussions or something.

Guy was a HOF'r WTH.

 

[ph balanced]

Until I get the autopsy results, I think Seau was killed

 

[The Josh]

Sad and shocking.

 

[TechLife]

Until I get the autopsy results, I think Seau was killed

Regardless of what exactly happened, regardless of where he played or what his stats said, we lost a legend of the game today. It's a terrible loss to all football fans everywhere. Players like Seau don't come along very often. Someone who loved the game for the game and not the money. Someone who was genuinely happy and had an infectious smile and attitude. Someone who lifted the spirits of players, teammates, coaches, commentators and fans alike.

RIP Senior Seau. You will be missed.

 

[KitFisto]

The larger issue is what you suggest--the sport is intrinsically violent, and making minor rule changes isn't going to stem the tide of long-term injury. I love NFL football, but the truth is that it has a devastating physical effect on some of those who play. I don't know if the culmination of this will eventually lead to the end of the NFL, if the almighty dollar will outweigh those concerns, or if there will be genuine rule changes that fundamentally affect the violent nature of the game to the point that it isn't recognizable to what it is today. But Goodell et al. acting like they are genuinely confronting this issue is a farce. They are putting band-aids on the problem, because that's the best way to maintain the status quo.

At least information on the effects of concussions is more readily available today than it was in the past. Players can't blame anyone but themselves if they choose that profession, because the evidence is clear and overwhelming. But when guys like Seau got into the sport, this was not the case. And that is sad.

I think the part I put in bold is the only part that matters. Everyone knows it's dangerous. There are many jobs that people DIE doing all the time as well. People sign up for it going in and they know what could happen just as a coal miner knows when he heads down that shaft.

The world is full of dangerous jobs so I don't think the NFL needs to be banned or changed. I also don't think some of the changes are a "farce" either. Equipment has come a long way since the days of the leather helmet and while nothing is going to protect you 100% it dos help some.

 

[user 1190]

I think the part I put in bold is the only part that matters. Everyone knows it's dangerous. There are many jobs that people DIE doing all the time as well. People sign up for it going in and they know what could happen just as a coal miner knows when he heads down that shaft.

The world is full of dangerous jobs so I don't think the NFL needs to be banned or changed. I also don't think some of the changes are a "farce" either. Equipment has come a long way since the days of the leather helmet and while nothing is going to protect you 100% it dos help some.

Now if they would just wear the equipment correct.

 

[karamazov80]

I think the part I put in bold is the only part that matters. Everyone knows it's dangerous. There are many jobs that people DIE doing all the time as well. People sign up for it going in and they know what could happen just as a coal miner knows when he heads down that shaft.

The world is full of dangerous jobs so I don't think the NFL needs to be banned or changed. I also don't think some of the changes are a "farce" either. Equipment has come a long way since the days of the leather helmet and while nothing is going to protect you 100% it dos help some.

The changes have made a minor positive difference, but the argument that the NFL officials are genuinely interested in the problem is a farce.

As for it being a dangerous job, the issue is going to be backlash from stakeholders. Guys who fish off of Alaska and have a high rate of death, or coal miners, or whatever are gonna do what they can as long as the public at large, or enough powerful stakeholders in the public, decide that it isn't allowable anymore. If that is insufficient to lead to change, then there will be no change, but it has been sufficient enough to lead to the changes we have seen thus far (I'm sure the NFL would have done nothing if it didn't have to), and I suspect there will be more and more pressure as more instances like player suicides and issues of brain damage come out over time. This stuff has been happening for years, but it was ignored, downplayed, and likely vastly underreported. That won't happen anymore, and as the evidence becomes more salient and graphic, there will be more people opposed to the status quo.

 

[nash]

LOL @ people who think playing a sport for millions of dollars with endorsements up the yin-yang is a dangerous job. get ____in real.

 

[karamazov80]

What do endorsements have to do with anything? That makes it less dangerous? There are always going to be more genuinely dangerous jobs like the police and military, that society will always accept as dangerous, and there are some like working in the oil industry in dangerous countries that will also be accepted because in the minds of many, the economic benefits outweigh the costs to workers. But the fact that it is a game is what has actually led to so much backlash. A lot of it is probably guilt that people are getting enjoyment out of watching a game that leads, at times, to suffering and death.

 

[nash]

What do endorsements have to do with anything? That makes it less dangerous? There are always going to be more genuinely dangerous jobs like the police and military, that society will always accept as dangerous, and there are some like working in the oil industry in dangerous countries that will also be accepted because in the minds of many, the economic benefits outweigh the costs to workers. But the fact that it is a game is what has actually led to so much backlash. A lot of it is probably guilt that people are getting enjoyment out of watching a game that leads, at times, to suffering and death.

yeah backlash from uneducated nancys who probably have never played a sport in their lives.

 

[karamazov80]

Seems like the ones who really initiated the charge to begin with were ex-athletes who were fed up with the lack of knowledge and public interest.

 

[nash]

Seems like the ones who really initiated the charge to begin with were ex-athletes who were fed up with the lack of knowledge and public interest.

you mean the ones who squandered all of their millions away on years of drugs, gambling, and whores and now complain that the league doesnt "take care" of their athletes because there is no pension or lifetime insurance, etc?

 

[karamazov80]

Some of them, probably. Though the health issue isn't really related to all that, and players in the '70s weren't exactly bringing in millions of dollars.