A cautionary tale in the NY Times:
The rate of diagnosed clinical depression among retired National Football League players is strongly correlated with the number of concussions they sustained, according to a study to be published today.
The study was conducted by the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Study of Retired Athletes and based on a general health survey of 2,552 retired N.F.L. players. It corroborates other findings regarding brain trauma and later-life depression in other subsets of the general population, but runs counter to longtime assertions by the N.F.L. that concussions in football have no long-term effects.
As the most comprehensive study of football players to date, the paper will add to the escalating debate over the effects of and proper approach to football-related concussions.
As a diehard Steelers fan, the first thing I thought of when I read this was the sad, sad tale of Mike Webster, one of the greatest centers in the history of the game (if not the greatest). The author also reaffirmed that it is reasonable to hate Bill Belichick, the whiniest, most obnoxious piece of excrement in the NFL this side of Al Davis and Bill Romanowski:
In January, a neuropathologist claimed that repeated concussions likely contributed to the November suicide of the former Philadelphia Eagles player Andre Waters. Three weeks later, the former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson not only revealed that his significant depression and cognitive decline had been linked by a neurologist to on-field concussions, but also claimed that his most damaging concussion had been sustained after his coach, Bill Belichick, coerced him into practicing against the advice of team doctors.
It is safe to say that I feel the same way about Belichick doing this to his players as my UGA graduate mother feels about one of footballs other greatest villains and serial abusers of players, Bear Bryant.
Andrew
This is also why MMA is safer over the long term than boxing.
Bubblegum Tate
The Mike Webster story is so tragic. There’s a lot to like about football, but on the NFL level, the game is a total meat-grinder. No surprise it leaves its players in such horrible shape.
I’m no Tiki Barber fan, but when he cited the desire to want to be able to walk normally in his later years as one of his reasons for retirement, I applauded him (and all those commentators saying he was being “selfish” can go fuck themselves). Why should players spend the second half of their lives in misery for a league that could hardly give less of a shit about them when they’re gone?
John Cole
The Barber brothers are everything that is right about the NFl, and I think the Giants are one of the classiest organizations this side of the Rooney’s.
Rome Again
One might suggest that battered wives/girlfriends are also candidates for such depression.
Blue Neponset
I lost a lot of respect for Belichick when I heard about what he did to Ted Johnson. This story has gotten a lot of play in Patriotland and I wish I could say there are legions of fans screaming for Belichick’s head but that isn’t the case. It is too easy to forgive the arrogant jerk while he keeps winning.
There was a great story about this on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. link
Punchy
Excuse me while I clear the vomit from my mouth, and reach over to double check the jersey Jeremy Shockey is wearing…
Teak111
What about that center for the raiders who was a no-show for the superbowl in 2000 I think. He later said he was suffering from depression. REACTION!
ThymeZone
Um, speaking as a football fan and devotee of the greatest team ever (The Niners of Joe Montana and Steve Young), let me say ….
The game has always been about using up the bodies, the health, and the mental health of players, chewing them up and spitting them out as totally disposable.
Why are we talking about these tragic cases as if they are somehow isolated incidents? Pro football is a train wreck in terms of what it does to its employees, and always has been. Why do we get all teary and pretend otherwise over a couple of cases? There are thousands out there.
Dug Jay
A cautionary tale from The Association for Academic Psychiatry:
The study was conducted by the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training.
ThymeZone
Okay, you are going to need to label these. Was that supposed to be spoof, or comedy?
Using the 1-10 scale:
As spoof = 4
As comedy = 2
This is work that is well below the quality level we were expecting from you at this point in your posting career.
Do you need to take some time off, or ?
Rome Again
OT, but this gave me a concussion all on it’s own:
Some fools never learn.
Kirk Spencer
I have read – but have not seen documentation – that the protective gear worn by football players has had the counterintuitive effect of increasing the severity of injuries received by the players. The allegation was this was due to two underlying causes. First, the gear did protect against minor injuries, meaning that what was received was above a certain threshhold. Second, the player’s trust in their gear led them to take risks they’d not attempt unprotected, in turn increasing the opportunities for more severe injuries.
Just more food for thought.
Rome Again
Does he get PTO? If so, I need to learn to emulate him. LMAO
ThymeZone
Okay, but your work is getting better, while his is in serious decline.
Maybe he is having a mid-spoof crisis?
Rome Again
I understand it’s all downhill from here, for HIM I mean! Well, perhaps, downhill without breaks, including the crash and burn at the bottom of the slope.
Rome Again
Thems the brakes Jug Day!
ThymeZone
I hope he is wearing a helmet!
Rome Again
I hope YOU are ;)
Dave
TZ — Go Niners.
ThymeZone
Been with ’em through thick and thin for 40 years!
I am one of those who still gets goosebumps just thinking about The Catch. To this day, I still can’t really believe they won that game. OMG.
And they did it without an Immaculate Deception. It was just a good old straight-up football play. Greatest football moment ever.
Armando
A couple of points – Belichick is simply the latest in a long line of coaches of the Vince Lombardi school. This is not new John nor is it limited to Belichick.
From the days of Lombardi to the present, the hardass coach is the model. I love football and played it in high school and college, but it is, on some level, a dehumnaizing experience.
On Andre Waters, I grew up with him and no one who did could have expected him to be a suicide.
I think the concussions clearly had some effect. Btu something else to consider, and I do not want to smear him posthumouisly, but, as I say, I knew him when, I wonder how much performance enhancing drugs may have been involved. Unfair speculation on my part I grant you, but, well, there it is.
SPIIDERWEB™
Kirk Spencer,
I think you’re correct. I’ve advocated for years the wearing of minimal if any protective gear. Pain is the body’s way of telling a guy to stop.
But the public likes action movies and car crashes, so watching 300+ pounders devastating their opponents is just too much fun. Welcome to the coliseum. Lions next?
Redhand
Two reasons why I think American pro football is a barbaric waste of time. The Roman gladiator analogy is a something of a popular cliché, but not really. The modern munera are distinguishable from the older only by killing the players in installments.
Don’t even get me started on “Superbowl” halftime shows. . . .