https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/507634001/ Context is important. This is a study conducted of 111 deceased players brains. 110 showed signs of CTE. How much longer does this sports really have?
I read a very fair summary of this in that the sample was very biased but even at worst case if you expand to the total players in NFL the best case would be 9% develop CTE, which isn't great and in fact it is likely higher. Up to the players to take that risk though
It's very bad but it's really important to understand that these 111 players had problems in life post-career and wanted to be checked out in death. Players who reported no problems didn't request to have their brains examined. So it's a self selected group, it's not like 99% of all players have CTE, not by a longshot What's the actual number, 10%? 20%? 40%? who knows unless they all autopsy
It would be interesting to know if they checked for any signs of steroid abuse also. I believe I read that anabolic steroids can increase the vulnerability of the brain to CTE.
Yes of course. That's why I said context is everything so I agree with your post. Still. Even if it's 10% that is an awfully high number, especially given the fact that a ton of these contracts are non guaranteed, and you have to survive a decade in the league to reach a reasonable pension amount. Still, as alluded to, players are now aware of the risks. I just can't see the NFL going another 50 years without turning into a pillow fight league. As sad as it is to say I think we're moving towards a death on the field likely ending this league. Hopefully it never gets to that point. But human evolution has made these players too big and fast for their own good. Rest In Peace to Sean Taylor. But he was 6'4", 230 pounds, ran a 4.4 and loved to hit as a safety. The league is lucky someone of his ability didn't kill a receiver over the middle.
What is the percent of players affected? Did they investigate occurrences vs protective equipment available? Was correlation with other diseases investigated? Was the genetic predisposition accounted for? How the group was selected? There are dozen questions like these a legit study has to review to claim relevancy. This is a prime example of manipulating data for sensensional results. This is not science, this is hype.
It is not hype. Science can only work with the data available. What is being deduced is that there is a predisposition toward CTE, not that everyone who plays football will succumb to brain damage. Nevertheless, this study should generate enough concern that measures should be considered to reduce the risk. What those measures should be is subject for another discussion.
Hopefully you're just being defensive of Football and you don't actually believe that. There is zero doubt that several former NFL players have had severe brain related problems and were found to have CTE, something which isn't found in people sitting at a 9 to 5 desk job
Pathetic. You're losing whatever credibility as a thinking, rational, reality-based poster that you used to possess. Maybe you have CTE.
The numbers are inflated by selecting convenient sample size. If I want to study ave height of population and only select short people, my conclusion will be that US is populated by midgets. Then I'll notice that 90% of my sample ate at a fast food joint, now I'm ready for a lawsuit under "MacDonalds burgers lead to dwarfism" slogan.
Still trying to teach me a lesson for pointing out your bullshit? Keep going, you almost got me... "Gotta be faster than that"
Nope You can make a theory based on available data, but you must work with a representative sample to test that theory and arrive at a conclusion. This is the very basic of scientific method. This study is a very good example of "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
CTE is more like "even one case is one too many", and there's plenty. I wrote above that this is a self selected group where 99% shouldn't be a surprise. The actual league wide number will be much lower, probably well under 50%. But it seems like there is a significant number of affected players
