The Film the NFL doesn't want you to see

Is football too violent, and we cannot see that because we have been socialized to accept it. Were use to it.

The link is not on You Tube so I cannot highlight the video, just hit the link you’ll see it.

LINK

It is basically a devastating film highlighting the violence in Football

WARNING: very violent scenes of the sport.

I myself recoil when I see these blows

Like every season, this year has brought us some amazing catches, breakthrough runs, and dramatic long-range field goals. But there was another kind of record hit this season: a destructive one, with an astounding 281 concussions from the NFL preseason until today, according to the league’s own aggregate statistics. That’s the most concussions since the NFL started keeping track six years ago.

Though a basketball player as a youth, football has always been my favorite sport to watch and root for my team, the Baltimore Ravens, but lately I’ve been wondering is football nothing but a modern version of the ancient gladiators, of course boxing and MM arts is pretty bad as well, but football being such an all-American pastime may be an all American force of destruction as well.

Despite of all of the claims about protecting NFL players, there were hundreds of traumatic brain injuries this year. The accumulation of those brain injuries and all of the other undiagnosed injuries to the players’ brains is causing a horrible degenerative disease of the brain called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy — better known as CTE. Are these massive injuries worth it?

Indeed, lately a lot of players in their prime have actually left the sport fearing ending up like this:

Over the past year, I’ve spoken to countless retired NFL players and their families who say that CTE has destroyed them. One young retiree told me that his short-term memory loss is so bad that he struggles to remember how to get home and often loses his train of thought in simple phone conversations, and ends up repeating the same thought multiple times. Other family members told me that CTE made their husbands and sons and brothers into monsters who could not control their anger, rage, and self-destructive behaviors despite of counseling, medication, and a sincere desire to do better.

Some claim the NFL, although supposedly attempting to alleviate this problem, aren't really doing much since the NFL is a cash cow.

The NFL has done a masterful job at mainstreaming the violence of the game, so that fans and spectators don’t feel too bad about what’s actually happening out there. No single word has protected the NFL from the true costs of this violence more than “concussion.” That word puts a protective barrier between us and what’s really going on out on the field. It’s not a headache. It’s not “getting your bell rung.” You don’t have a bell. It’s a traumatic brain injury.

I know they have come up with the super helmets that many NFL players use, but still the statistics of brain injuries have gone up with a record 281 concussions! Are the helmets useless, not working?

Could This Helmet Save Football From The Sport's Concussion Problem?


The question then is increasingly becoming a possible reality. Is football, with all the pleasure americans get out of it worth the risk?

Yup..Football is violent..Hockey is violent..Life is violent.. The real world is violent....

and your point?

You can get a mild (or worse) concussion bumping your head on a shelf at home.
Ever think that the rate of concussions is rising due to team doctors using more caution today ?

Bob Costas himself said that professional football as it is today won't be around much longer. It will fade away just like boxing, thanks to our increased understanding of concussions, as well as how it's manipulated by organized crime.

A few massive, multi-million dollar lawsuits aimed at high school and college football programs will close those up, and pro football will wither not long after that.

Didn't watch the video - but - if there was no RODEO on it (Bull riding and Bronc busting? Bull-doggin)?

Well, aint much to watch then.

And RODEO isn't going ANYWHERE soon!

originally posted by: opethPA
Yup..Football is violent..Hockey is violent..Life is violent.. The real world is violent....
and your point?

It's not about the violence. Yeah, you can knock your own brains out skateboarding. But when something becomes organized and promoted and owned as a multi-billion dollar industry, then the money -- and lawsuits -- become the issue. The concussion studies are like the starting gun going off in a race among lawyers to see who can sue the NFL before it collapses.

All I can add is, the players go into it knowing the risk and the possible outcomes. It's their choice to play and get paid.

a reply to: Willtell

Sports were designed to replace war. Yes they are violent yes but more then that it's a way to show your prowess. Without sports the world would become alot more violent. In fact the olmpics were created with just that in mind a peaceful way for countries to compete.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: Willtell

Sports were designed to replace war. Yes they are violent yes but more then that it's a way to show your prowess. Without sports the world would become alot more violent. In fact the olmpics were created with just that in mind a peaceful way for countries to compete.

Too bad that idea hasn’t worked too well since we still have a lot of wars despite a massive world industry of all kinds of sports

originally posted by: Willtell

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: Willtell

Sports were designed to replace war. Yes they are violent yes but more then that it's a way to show your prowess. Without sports the world would become alot more violent. In fact the olmpics were created with just that in mind a peaceful way for countries to compete.

Too bad that idea hasn’t worked too well since we still have a lot of wars despite a massive world industry of all kinds of sports

You should investigate the number of head injuries in soccer while you're at it as it's considered the "safe" alternative to football. After all, it's the "global" sport, so it must be "safe" right?

Thing is ... you can say that sports don't work because we still have war, so let's just get rid of them, but I *loved* sports growing up. I did some swimming and gymnastics, more soccer, even more softball and basketball (don't believe that non-contact BS) and even more track and field (saw people carted off the track on backboards twice during my career). They were a productive channel for my energy and my competitive nature.

I needed that for both.

sports were created as an alternative to war. they are meant to be violent just not deadly. dont fall for the crap they are trying to sell lately where people are claiming they didnt know the dangers of football or concussions. its been a well known fact its not good for your brain or health and even as a kid in 3rd grade my friends and i knew exactly why the dumb jock stigma existed. the parents knew and many didnt allow their kids to take part because of it. all its about today is playing the victim in the hopes youll make some free $$$. btw that video sucks with how they edited it and ran it in reverse. cant tell how hard they were at all

a reply to: ketsuko

I loved sports too.

When a kid all I did was baseball, basketball and football and even a little track and was very happy

I was a pitcher, the best basketball player in my age category and a hell of a touch football player

I’m not dogmatic on this issue just asking the question

The fact anyone can actually downplay the severity of CTE after the Chris Benoit tragedy is truly depressing.

Here's the thing...these hard hits aren't even the ones causing the issues. Yes they are a part of the problem but the biggest issue are the hits in the trenches that OL and DL deal with every single play. That's why they say boxing is more dangerous than MMA. Boxing has all those jabs to the head that shake the brain.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

I don't think anyone is downplaying it.

These, in the case of the NFL, grown men making a choice. Granted, the money involved makes the choice a little lopsided in favor of risking it...more and more, they are walking away. Bob Costas, I think, is right. Football, at least as we know it today, is doomed.

As for the Chris Benoit tragedy? How much of that was the concussion issue, how much was the drugs those wrestlers are given, and how much a horrific combination of the two. I certainly don't know, I don't think anyone really does.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
The fact anyone can actually downplay the severity of CTE after the Chris Benoit tragedy is truly depressing.

I dont think anyone is downplaying the impact of CTE at least I know Im not but you cant live life in an egg shell.
Nobody forced the Crippler to go into wrestling.
No one forces a person to sign a multimillion contract in the NHL or NFL and put their life at risk

This fall my son was playing in a middle school football game. Just before half time, a player on the other team snapped his tibia/fibula, something below the knee. You could see the white bone sticking out even from the stands. There were enough players on the other team that decided to quite right there, that they couldn't continue the game past halftime.

All I heard in the stands was grief and resentment towards the opposing team. I still regret that I didn't stand up and applaud the other players decision.

So a few years of entertainment is worth a lifetime of bodily injury. For some reason the risk versus reward scenario seems massively out of whack.

originally posted by: hillbilly4rent
All I can add is, the players go into it knowing the risk and the possible outcomes. It's their choice to play and get paid.

Even kids? They have the full knowledge of what a possible life altering injury means? A couple of years of fun and games for a lifetime of possible disability?

Yeah but is it more violent than MMA or most martial arts? Grappling, where you can get choked unconscious or have your arm broken. I compete in grappling tournaments and teach martial arts and love MMA.

Most professional sports allow contact...soccer is a contact sport, they throw elbows in the NBA, foot ball is high impact, hockey has fights adn the crowd loves it.

We'll always have violent sports and hobbies. That's the way humans are. Professional sports is our modern day gladiator entertainment except death is very rare.

a reply to: ClovenSky

Here's the thing though.

That injury could have happened in any sport, not just football. Kids break their legs playing basketball too or playing soccer. Like I said above, I saw people get carted off the track on backboards on two occasions.

I have a coworker who was friends with a couple whose daughter was kicked so hard during a soccer game that the concussion she got rendered her a mental 3-year-old who couldn't recognize her own family for about 3 months.

My sister's son played with another kid who feel during a basketball and bounced his head off the court so hard that his concussion was already making him vomit before he could even get off the floor again.

All it takes to snap a bone is to just land on the arm or leg wrong. A kid in my junior high broke his leg in three places in gym class while we were growing up. He just landed wrong on it.

Funny thing ... no one stopped participating in gym.