Old Man Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 It does cast Hernandez' actions in a new light. His family has sued the NFL, btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 Is it known that he was that way early in life? Brain damage of any sort can be rather erratic in terms of what mentality effects it has. Having seen a stroke victim before and after ... it can be startling. It does cast Hernandez' actions in a new light. His family has sued the NFL, btw. It does raise a disturbing philosophical question -- how much control do we really have over what we do? And if we do not control our actions the way we believe we do, does that change our responsibility for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 In Hernandez case, I remember he had character issues coming out of college, as it was. I want to say he may have gang ties then, but, I cant remember, and am too lazy to look at the moment. So, it is unlikely he would be a guy you would want to peg the argument on. This finding could make for an argument that it could have been a contributing factor in him killing himself, given free ex-players kill themselves for such reasons. That and being in jail.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 It does raise a disturbing philosophical question -- how much control do we really have over what we do? And if we do not control our actions the way we believe we do, does that change our responsibility for them? That latter is a philosophical question that the courts will end up having to address, without much good background for making those decisions. Possibly the most infamous case from the mid-20th Century was the guy who became sniper in the Tower at the University of Texas at Austin back in '67 or '681966. After they had finally shot him ... and it was a situation the police of the era were unequipped for ... the autopsy found a rather large brain tumor, which fueled lots of speculation about why he suddenly took his long arm up 20 or so floors and started shooting people at distance. Can you use that to start monitoring people for brain injury? If you do, and use it to lock up potentially dangerous individuals, how will that be different from the psychiatric confinement used by repressive regimes to suppress dissidents? And would you be willing to trust our current regime with such powers? Especially since at this time you can't detect CTE except by autopsy, that's a nasty ball of trouble no matter what. We already know the NFL basically wants to tell us all "Nothing to see here, move along", just like every industry has that directly caused long-term debilitating illness and death to its workers, albeit often without clear knowledge initially that they were doing it. But given that parents have already started forbidding sons from playing the sport, and some players already have ended their careers voluntarily for reasons allied to this, it is way past time for the league to think hard about it. And frankly I think every NCAA school president (and regent) needs to wake up in a cold sweat about the lawsuit that finds their institution intentionally and willfully exploited student athletes for the football dollars their programs get. EDIT: Corrections the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 Well...on the "plus"(?) side a decade plus of war is giving us a much better understanding of brain injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 NFL reportedly considering moving Chargers back to San Diego Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 I sadly predict we're going to 2-1 this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burrito Boy Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 NFL reportedly considering moving Chargers back to San Diego I read the whole article this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 NFL reportedly considering moving Chargers back to San Diego Would San Diego take them back? Is the Chargers brand so damaged nationally that they wouldn't succeed anywhere? I don;t see the NFL adding more teams at any point, but if they want to get back into the good graces of fans in San Diego and St. Louis, expansion teams in those cities might be the way to go. It worked very well in Houston, but not necessarily so well in Cleveland. What other cities could support the NFL? That's an intriguing question. With everything going on with CTE and other issues, and a seemingly inevitable work stoppage in the future, this would be a bad time for expansion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 Full on expansion would be hard to pull off. Mathematically, exceeding 32 teams becomes something of a scheduling nightmare. There's already a serious shortage of skilled players, and that's not going to improve unless someone invents a cure for CTE. I think it'd be more likely that a tiered feeder division system like MLB and soccer have would be set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 Full on expansion would be hard to pull off. Mathematically, exceeding 32 teams becomes something of a scheduling nightmare. There's already a serious shortage of skilled players, and that's not going to improve unless someone invents a cure for CTE. I think it'd be more likely that a tiered feeder division system like MLB and soccer have would be set up. For optimum competitiveness and product quality, is even 32 teams too many? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 What cities could we put a AAA football team in? You'd probably need cities that have (or are willing to build) a stadium that seats at least 15-20K. (I don't see NFL-AAA being more popular than college football, but it could be up there with MLS). Cities not already hosting an NFL franchise, obviously. Cities that have already shown they can sustain a professional (or major college) sports team. Easy access to transportation would be a necessity, too. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 For optimum competitiveness and product quality, is even 32 teams too many? The league went for a long time with 30, back before adding the Jaguars and Panthers. Two conferences with three divisions of five teams each. I seem to recall dire predictions about the dilution of the talent pool back in the day. I don't know that it ever materialized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 What cities could we put a AAA football team in? You;ll need to distinguish meaningfully between what you mean by that and Division I NCAA football, and I am not at all sure that's possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 Maybe ... maybe ... serious investment in research might do something for helmet technology that makes for meaningful reductions in intracranial injury. Given how little has been done in that regard while I've been watching football (Super Bowl I, plus a year or two), I actually think there's some appreciable gains to be made there. But I have doubts that it'll actually solve the problem (though it may submerge the effects for another generation). But something visible and drastic is needed to keep anything close to the status quo going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 22, 2017 Report Share Posted September 22, 2017 They're working on it. That said I wonder if any helmet design can take all the CTE out of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burrito Boy Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 Would San Diego take them back? I think San Diego would take the Chargers back. As long as they left Spanos in L.A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 They're working on it. That said I wonder if any helmet design can take all the CTE out of the game. I doubt it. In any collision sport (football, hockey, rugby, even soccer) you will have concussions. What makes it really bad for football, though, is the frequency with which the head is targeted for hits, and the use of the hardened helmet as a weapon. For example, it is considered a praiseworthy play to cause a fumble by using your helmet to knock the ball out of an opponent's hands -- beneficial when it happens, but incredibly risky. Coaching are trying to limit the most obvious dangerous plays, but it will take at least tywo generations of players coming through the system for that to sink in and the NFL might not have that much time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 You have a point, but I don't even think it's that. From what I understand CTE is caused not by the occasional concussion but by routine low-level impacts to the head. That's why it seems to afflict linemen disproportionally, and why I wonder if any helmet would really help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 The league went for a long time with 30, back before adding the Jaguars and Panthers. Two conferences with three divisions of five teams each. I seem to recall dire predictions about the dilution of the talent pool back in the day. I don't know that it ever materialized. Actually those were teams 29 and 30. THey had 28 from TB/Sea up until then nearly 20 years. (then they decided to placate Cleveland for 31, and I guess they didn't like uneven teams forcing bye-weeks every week, so pulled in Houston) But, 30 teams does seem to work for NBA and MLB (apart from bitching about interleague) once they got the even division thing figured out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 It works for those leagues because their seasons are five or ten times as many games as the NFL's. At some point the NFL may have to fission back into two separate wings if it is to grow any larger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 Actually those were teams 29 and 30. THey had 28 from TB/Sea up until then nearly 20 years. (then they decided to placate Cleveland for 31, and I guess they didn't like uneven teams forcing bye-weeks every week, so pulled in Houston) D'oh! You are quite correct, of course. I had forgotten about Browns 2.0 and the Texans. So yeah, 28. That was a little awkward, with unbalanced divisions. But, 30 teams does seem to work for NBA and MLB (apart from bitching about interleague) once they got the even division thing figured out For the record, I despise interleague play in MLB. Of course, I also despise artificial turf and the Designated Hitter. I might be a Luddite, at least in terms of baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 It works for those leagues because their seasons are five or ten times as many games as the NFL's. At some point the NFL may have to fission back into two separate wings if it is to grow any larger. ...or go to an 18-game regular season, which idea seems to come up from time to time. Always at the suggestion of the owners, not the players, it's worth noting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 Would San Diego take them back? Is the Chargers brand so damaged nationally that they wouldn't succeed anywhere? I don;t see the NFL adding more teams at any point, but if they want to get back into the good graces of fans in San Diego and St. Louis, expansion teams in those cities might be the way to go. It worked very well in Houston, but not necessarily so well in Cleveland. What other cities could support the NFL? That's an intriguing question. With everything going on with CTE and other issues, and a seemingly inevitable work stoppage in the future, this would be a bad time for expansion. Maybe they can work a trade? Raiders to LA, Chargers to Vegas, Rams to SD? After all nobody cares about fans, just Brand right...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted September 24, 2017 Report Share Posted September 24, 2017 I think San Diego would take the Chargers back. As long as they left Spanos in L.A. Never take back a cheating spouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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