(November 29, 2017 at 1:13 am)Minimalist Wrote:(November 28, 2017 at 9:45 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: Hence my change of opinion on Arron Hernandez. I'd really like to see his criminal conviction(s) over turned.
They were but not because of CTE.
Quote:There’s always going to be risk in sports. One way or another, they can get hurt. They know what they’re signing up for. For me it’s all about choice. If they want it, why can’t they?
I'm not making myself clear, dear. First of all, I agree with you. An adult who understands the risks and elects to play anyway knows what he is signing up for. However, that was the whole point of the NFLPA's lawsuit. The NFL was suppressing the information on head injuries and pretending that everything was hunky dory. It wasn't. But forget all that. That case was settled and the NFL has set aside a pile of money for players suffering injuries.
But what about high school and college players? Many are minors who need parental permission to play. The rest are treated as serfs by the colleges which claim they are "students" in spite of college football being a multi-billion/year industry? Few make the pros. They and/or their parents are simply risking their heads for nothing.
What will happen is that eventually a school district will be sued by some kid who has suffered injury. They will lose because there is simply too much scientific evidence out there.
When that happens the insurance companies will either stop providing liability insurance for scholastic sports or they will jack the premiums up to the point where the schools cannot afford it. In either case, pro football's unpaid minor league system will begin to dry up.
It's not just CTE, of course. Kids are getting their knees torn up, their shoulders torn up, etc. Steroid use is still running rampant in schools (gee, I wonder why that 15 year old looks like an in-his-prime Mike Tyson?). What happens in the pros is just a symptom. The disease starts at around middle school, with little league and pop warner kids.
