Randle El regrets playing football

[jim cummings]

Remove the face masks. Done.

 

[psu7113]

I am always cautious of reports like this. Football his always the first place they point to. When former players claim football is the cause I often wonder if their is more to the story. I want to know what is his history with drugs and alcohol. Did he report concussions and followed medical advice or was he a tough guy and played through him. Does he have a family history of mental issues? When he was younger was he taking bets to break things with his head? Often these parts of the story are left out and we jump to the deepest pockets in the room...ie the NFL. The new movie out is a perfect example. They blamed football for suicide in the NFL yet neglect the fact that several of the players who did commit suicide had a family history or suicide and mental illness which is often the case.

I think helmets are going to make a huge leap forward. One product in testing essentially has crumple zones which allows the helmet to flex while still protecting against skull factors.

The article is about football in general, and nit the NFL. He also casts no blame, other than on himself...

 

[mtnlion]

I played from grade school into college. All my buddies who played through college and the guys who got NFL time are fine. 99 percent of the guys we know are healthy and leading great productive lives. The only guys who have trouble are the guys that took drugs. A rb who used speed before games and a couple of guys heavy into roids have had some trouble. Even the guy who used speed runs his own business and has a family but I just knew him before and his potential and I don't think he fulfilled his potential he is otherwise healthy. (During the 1980s steroids were widely used at college levels) Steroids swell your brain which is bad on its own and gotta be even worse if your banging heads. A lot of ex players are looking around at our buddies and asking, where are all of these "casualties of football"?

My Dad passed away from brain bleeds and trauma, never played football. If he did, I could see people blaming the game... I see people in wheel chairs, walkers and driving around wal-mart in electric carts, people who complain they can't walk...who were never athletes...

 

[canuckhal]

Just heard Randle El interviewed on the radio. Not surprisingly seems there was some journalistic license taken in the article I linked, which was based on an interview with a Pittsburgh paper. He said he would have chosen to play baseball instead of football, but has no regrets. His number one sport was baseball, but his mother wanted him to get a college education, so he chose football. He doesn't link any memory issues with playing football because he is very busy. It is something he is concerned about, but his health isn't deteriorating and doesn't suffer from memory loss, just forgets stuff sometimes.

 

[LionFan87b]

"Football players are in a car wreck every week."

Strong statement, but true. Some are in multiple car wrecks every week.

True, but that's a matter of culture, not the sport itself. If they weren't all reckless drivers, it wouldn't be an issue.

 

[PSU Mike]

The state has added 3.5 million people since 2011 .

That 3.5 million figure came from a dark place. Please recheck it.