Junior Seau, Dave Duerson, and me. Full disclosure.

[Midnight Marauder]

Suicide via concussion.

That's what the press and media want us to believe. That is actually sort of what Dave Duerson said in his suicide note. Repeated hits to the head messed up his mind, ruined his life, and led to suicide. Please study my brain. We believe it, we get it.

Nice package, for those who hate football but who use the injury and suicide card as a football of their own, to try to get rid of it not because of injury or death, but because of what it teaches the young - self reliance, self respect, discipline, teamwork, respect and consideration for others, competition and sportsmanship, persistence, and much much more. Risk vs. reward, point of diminishing returns, strategy, psychology, a wide variety of life lessons.

These values really are anathema today, among the Ivory Tower, uber-elite left that controls our education system, press and media. It's no surprise they want to do away with football and no surprise they shamelessly use the sick, injured and dead as heartstrings to tug to achieve that aim.

But....

I played hard core Texas football for fifteen years. Pee-Wee, Junior High, and High School. Then, during and long after high school, ALOT of pick-up games, full contact, no pads, no helmet.

I know I had concussions during organized, padded, full contact football.

Spring training and football season were long, persistent, literal headaches for me. The pain was almost unbearable. I really could not think straight, or act right. Couldn't even sleep much, couldn't keep food down and in fact had very little appetite. Nobody thought about it then or knew about it - "concussion" was a word never heard, and they taught you in practice to not only lead with the head, but to hit people in the head.

They emphasized neck strength to combat neck injuries - since we all know where the head goes the neck follows. So there were constant neck strengthening exercises and drills, pads to brace the neck, but nothing really for the head. Other than the helmet as a weapon. "USE that headgear! Stick that HAT in there!"

After I hung up the cleats and the pads, stopped playing organized football the headaches gradually subsided. They never came back during the later years of the informal pick-up games, since we were all very careful not to use our unprotected heads and there was a gentleman's agreement not to hit people in the head. It actually worked.

This is when I really first paid attention to what I was told back in seventh grade, by a ninth grader when I brought up the headaches: "Yeah we all have them, but never let on that you do. If you tell the coaches your head hurts, they will bench you. You wanna play, right?"

Right. And when I coached pee-wee for three years? Third and fourth graders? I taught the kids NOT to use the headgear and NOT to ever hit people in the head. And to REPORT to me if they had headaches.

In my playing days I was a warrior. I would have gladly died on that field. Still would today actually. I would not come to the sideline despite broken fingers, broken bones in my hand, crushed toes, broken bones in my feet, nothing. Nothing was going to stop me from being in on that next play. I was that way even in practice too.

Another player and I literally knocked each other out in practice one day in the ninth grade. We both led with our heads - he was carrying the ball and I was trying to tackle the ball. We woke up on the sidelines, with no idea between us what had happened. They had carried us off the practice field and out of the way so practice could continue. But guess what? We both were in the starting lineup come game day.

Football taught me to never, ever quit. This lesson alone served me well in life, more than any other.

My point is, yes - football is dangerous. I completely and at first hand, understand. Head blows are nothing to take lightly. We definitely need to re-examine every aspect of youth football and make sure we are not training kids to use their head or to hit in the head. That we are training them A-grade, form tackling. And make them aware they NEED to report headaches or blurred vision, or any symptom of a head injury. They MUST be educated and feel totally free to report.

We need to understand that the best engineered headgear cannot protect us from concussions - because the gear cannot stop the brain itself from slamming into the skull. This is true of football, hockey, bicycling and motorcycling. Anything that uses a helmet, understand that the helmet only slightly cushions the blows, it cannot and does not stop the brain itself from moving. Cannot and does not stop the brain from colliding with the skull.

Right with all this we MUST fight the politicos who want to end football. Here we are back to risk vs. reward that football teaches us - IF we can get the head blows minimized we greatly decrease the risk of head injury while keeping intact, everything that football teaches our young that nothing else really can.

Yes, let's figure out how to minimize the head injuries. Yes, let's make it the #1 priority of football training from the very beginning. Yes, let's improve the headgear too. And yes, let's take care of those who suffer due to the old school ways and their resulting health issues.

But NO - let's DON'T get rid of football for our youth. We would be destroying a way of life, a purely American tradition, and by far the top tool for teaching life lessons and solid values to our youth. Lessons and values which are important enough to take risks for.

Look at the BIG picture and don't get carried away by emotion - and examine the agenda of those who campaign for the ending of football for youth, and football in general. Are they really concerned about health? Or only using injury and death as a football themselves?

USE your headgear - the grey matter under your skull - and think about this.

[Chris]

I didn't even know Duerson was dead.

[Ming]

Originally Posted by Chris

I didn't even know Duerson was dead.

Obviously, the Chicago fans did

And so right MM.
They should keep trying to figure out ways to minimize serious blows to the head.

However, Football is a violent game. And if they wussify it, they might as well not play it.

[mguth]

Even more importantly is to teach EVERYONE, not just football players - if you don't feel right GET HELP! There is nothing wrong with that.... It's not just football concussions, but lots of other activities that can cause head injuries....

[walruskkkch]

In the end it's not going to matter. Lawyers are going get involved and that means the end of PeeWee football. Then HS football and then, College football will go. Finally, with no talent flow the Pros will collapse. I'd give it 20-25 years to play out. Just watch for the liability lawsuits for injuries at the lower levels. When they start picking up it will be the beginning of the end.

[mguth]

They will just digitize it and play with drones just like the military is evolving to...

Kids will be even better at it since they play so many video games as it is...

[walruskkkch]

Some how that makes me sadder.

[ColdWizard]

Originally Posted by walruskkkch

In the end it's not going to matter. Lawyers are going get involved and that means the end of PeeWee football. Then HS football and then, College football will go. Finally, with no talent flow the Pros will collapse. I'd give it 20-25 years to play out. Just watch for the liability lawsuits for injuries at the lower levels. When they start picking up it will be the beginning of the end.

Either that or kids/parents/players will decide the health risks aren't worth it and participation will drop that way (or both).

[walruskkkch]

Death spiral begins? Link

[Midnight Marauder]

The media keeps talking about Seau "leading with his head" but no one has yet produced a video clip of this. Seau was a grade A form tackler, not a head hunter. He hit opponents with his chest or shoulder and wrapped them up. Ironically when they talk about his playing style on the air, they are showing clips of him doing exactly what I just said, perfect form tackling and NOT using his helmet.

Agenda driven coverage posing as news.