I wouldn’t know.
I do know that dismissing concerns about CTE with a remark about how much money the athlete made is absurd. How much of their income do you think the families of, say, Aaron Hernandez, Junior Seau, and Mike Webster would give up to have their loved one back?
Yeah, lets just stop living because of CTE concerns. He has made enough money to take care of generations of Thomases and had a great time doing it. Most sane people would do the same if given the opportunity.
Aaron Hernandez was a gang member and his CTE could just have likely come from fighting. Seau and Webster just played too long. Lots of other activities contribute to CTE. Skateboarding and other X Games like sports are examples. Some people would rather live with gusto than live in fear.
Give me living with fear thank you! I find that more comfortable. 
It’s hard to brush off a 99% incidence rate.
It should be noted that the 99% incidence of CTE was in the brains of former players that had been examined by researchers (which had been either donated for research by the players themselves or their families, or investigated due to concerns about the cognitive health of the players). In other words – the brains examined were of players for whom either the players themselves, their families, or the researchers already suspected that there was something wrong.
AFAIK, researchers don’t have a solid idea of the incidence of CTE in the total population of those who played football; as I understand it, CTE can only be determined via autopsy, and deceased former players don’t routinely have autopsy investigations of their brains. I strongly suspect that it’s significantly higher than the incidence among the general population, but I’m not at all certain that it’s nearly-universal, either.
I’m sorry, but that’s an appalling attitude. Revolting, even. The man should tell his kids what? That in the coming years there’s a significant chance that he will experience blackouts, headaches, memory loss, personality changes, delusions, paranoia, dementia, mood swings, and violent outbursts, culminating in an early death (quite possibly via murder-suicide, a la Benoit and Jovan Belcher), but it’s all fine because they live in a big house and drive a nice car?
How much must one worship money and disregard human life, to look at the horrific nature of CTE, and how it was covered up and minimized by the league for the benefit of billionaires, and come away with the conclusion that it’s all fine if some money was earned along the way?
I wish Thomas the best, and hope he isn’t ignoring and minimizing this issue, like you are.
What crazy hyperbole. Benoits steroid and drug issues led to his murderous actions. Lots of things adults do in life are dangerous and cause brain damage. Do you drink? Drinkers are far more likely to hurt family members than football players. Lots of other physical activity lead to brain injury. Ban it all! What about smokers? The damage they do to themselves and their loved ones through second hand smoke. Ban tobacco!
People have a right to make their own choices in life free of nanny staters.
Jesus. Dude, you don’t even know if he even has CTE. Not all players get it, you know. Also, not all ex players die extremely young, kill themselves or get locked into a cycle of drug and steroid abuse (which is rampant in wrestling, obviously, AND causes aggression) and kill their families.
That’s a really bad comparison, especially in light of what’s tantamount to a tribute thread to a guy that had a distinguished career, was/is a very nice guy and family man, and has never given any indication that he has CTE.
The NFL’s coverup of CTE and concussions is a discussion for another thread.
What are you basing that on?
Yeah, I didn’t say anything about banning anything. I said that money is a cold comfort to someone whose life was destroyed by CTE, or their loved ones. Valuing money over a husband or a father is depraved.
The tobacco comparison is a lot closer, though: severe risks being hidden from participants to protect the companies’ profits.
I didn’t bring it up, Leaper did. madsircool replied to this by bringing up how much money Thomas had made. If you don’t find that to be disgusting, that’s your call to make.
Seems to me OL’s would tend to be least likely to receive big hits anyway, after kickers.
As far as I understand it, it isn’t the big hits that pose the most danger for CTE. Instead, it’s the repeated little ones - the ones that happen to linemen on every play.
Exactly. The brain injuries that are formally diagnosed as concussions aren’t the only factor. And, remember that “patient zero” in the CTE story was Mike Webster, a center.
ANYWAY… congrats, Shodan, your nephew and his family sound very nice and well-adjusted. Hope you get to be in the crowd at Canton hearing his induction speech.
I thought it was repeated smaller hits *after *big ones in the same spot, driving the damage deeper in.
Repeated subconcussive impacts alone can cause CTE; concussions are not required.
Regards,
Shodan