The beginning of the end of American football?

[BoSoxGal]

Wisconsin mother sues youth football league over son's suicide
Fri, Feb 6 2015
(Reuters) - A Wisconsin mother filed a $5-million lawsuit against the Pop Warner youth football organization on Thursday, blaming it for her son's suicide after years of playing the "combat sport."
The suit comes amid scrutiny and continuing litigation over the effects of repeated blows to the head in American football, and the potential for such injuries to contribute to depression and other mental health problems among players.
Debra Pyka filed the complaint against Pop Warner Little Scholars and its liability insurer in a federal Wisconsin court. Pyka said her son, Joseph Chernach, hanged himself at the age of 25, after developing brain diseases from playing in the league as a youth.
"Tackle football with helmets is a war game. It is not only a 'contact' sport, it is a 'combat' sport," the complaint said. "Joseph Chernach's suicide was the natural and probable consequence of the injuries he suffered playing Pop Warner football."
Representatives for the Langhorne, Pennsylvania-based body did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The suit said Chernach played in the league for four years, starting as an 11-year-old, and suffered concussions that were not diagnosed at the time. The suit said he developed dementia pugilistica, also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and post-concussion syndrome.
He performed well in school for years until he became a sophomore at Central Michigan University, the suit said, at which point the cumulative brain damage began to affect his thinking and mood.
"From that point on, his mood became progressively depressed and ultimately paranoid, distrusting his closest friends and family," the complaint said.
He hanged himself in his mother's shed in June 2012, according to the complaint. The family only learnt of his brain injuries when they got an autopsy report the following year.
Pyka is seeking at least $5 million for his wrongful death.
In 2012, the league tightened safety regulations to better protect players from concussions and other head injuries, according to media reports.
On Monday, a federal judge rejected a settlement between the National Football League and thousands of retired players who sued over concussions and neurological impairments, saying the accord should be expanded to provide payment eligibility for additional players and families.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco)

[Big RR]

My guess is there may be some changes to football played at the very young (pop warner and high school) levels, but that college and professional players will continue to be allowed to voluntarily assume the risk associated with the game so long as it is disclosed to them and reasonable safeguard methods are taken. There are many dangerous occupations where adults voluntarily expose themselves to significant risk of injury and even death (law enforcement immediately comes to mind), and football is just another one.

Now I do think the risks have to be made clear to the players and coaches, and safety equipment and protocols mandated to limit this risk (and to my knowledge this is what the current NFL suit is about), but so long as that is done, I think football will continue.

And before someone raises it, no, I don't think protecting society presents the same justification for putting persons at risk as playing football does, but I'm not sure that makes a difference. It's not why (absent some sort of compulsion on the part of a third party) someone exposes him or herself to a known risk that is dispositive for whether they are justified in doing so, it's that they knowingly made a choice and all reasonable efforts were taken to minimize the risk. Some may argue that the risk is not justified, but it is not up to any of us to substitute our judgment for that of another competent adult.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Yeah. First of all they should change the name to "Don't-pop Warner"

[oldr_n_wsr]

Take away the equipment or go back to the leather helmets and pads.

[Big RR]

Expand oldr; why?

[Gob]

"Pop Warner"? WTF?

Get them to play a decent sport like, rugby, AFL or hurling instead.

[Big RR]

Gob--Glenn "pop" Warner was a football player and coach. Pop Warner football is not a style or type of football, but junior level (usually 4th or 5th to 8th grades) football, much like little league is to baseball; the league was named named in honor of him. Pop Warner players usually end in the 8th grade and can go on to play high school football.

[Gob]

Cheers BigRR!!

[Lord Jim]

Get them to play a decent sport like, rugby, AFL or hurling instead.

Or they could teach them to play cricket, and the spectators will be hurling...

[BoSoxGal]

NFL Hall of Famer Mike Ditka has dedicated his life to football. But if he had a son today, he wouldn’t want that child to do the same, according to a Saturday report by the Chicago Tribune.

In an episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” set to air on HBO on Tuesday, Ditka asks sports reporter Bryant Gumbel if he himself would want his child to play football.

“I wouldn’t,” Gumbel says. “Would you?”

“Nope,” Ditka replies. “I wouldn't. And my whole life was football. I think the risk is worse than the reward. I really do.”



Ditka’s and Gumbel’s views are in line with those of fully half the country. A 2014 Bloomberg survey found that 50 percent of Americans don’t want their children to play football. Only 17 percent said they expect football to be more popular 20 years from now than it is today.

The “Real Sports” episode will focus on the use of drugs by a team Ditka coached: the NFL 1985 champion Chicago Bears. The NFL named Ditka Coach of the Year for his work that season, but the HBO report claims that Bears players regularly used painkillers and other drugs to play through injuries, much to their detriment later in life.

Ditka confirmed to Gumbel that drugs were “plentiful” during his time in the NFL. “There’s no question about it,” he said.

A number of Bears were among the 500-plus NFL players who sued the league in 2014 for allegedly providing illegal drugs to injured players so they could stay on the field. Former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon even said he suffered a broken neck at one point in his career but played through it simply because he was never informed of the injury. Instead, he was allegedly given drugs to allow him to keep playing.

The players in the suit claimed that as a result of the drugs, many have had to struggle with long-term drug addiction and deteriorating health in retirement.

"I was provided uppers, downers, painkillers, you name it, while in the NFL," said J.D. Hill, a former wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions, in a statement at the time of the lawsuit. "I became addicted and turned to the streets after my career and was homeless. Never took a drug in my life, and I became a junkie in the NFL."

Dave Duerson, a star safety for the 1985 Bears, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2011 after complaining to his family of severe headaches and memory issues. He was later found to have CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease most often found in people with a history of concussions or other head injuries. There were more than 120 concussions in the NFL in 2014.

[Gob]

In an episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” set to air on HBO on Tuesday,

[MajGenl.Meade]

The good news for today's football (sic) fans is that, with commercials and time-outs, the final whistle for the NFL won't be blown until about 2163. Unless there's overtime.

[BoSoxGal]

@ Gob

[oldr_n_wsr]

Expand oldr; why?

With all the "hard" equipment, helmets and shoulderpads one gets a sense of "protection". Plus they can use those harder pads to inflict harder hits as it hurts the hitter less. (although I always felt that if I hurt after hitting someone the other guy must hurt even worse).
With leather helmets (no face mask) and shoulder pads, the hurt on the hitter will be greater and he will not hit as hard as there is less protection. Very few are going to launch head/shoulder first into someone with thier face at the center of the striking zone. The league has been trying to do away with head first tackles so now they just tuck the head sideways at the last minute and go with the shoulder. Make the padding on the shoulder less/softer and the hitter would not go as hard as he risks broken collor bone or dislocated shoulder.

Also, all fields should be natural grass not the "field turf". Many concussions come from hitting the head on the ground. I am not sure but I think the under the field turf is black top or cement. Under natural grass is dirt that has a little give to it. And it can be kept soft as they do in Green Bay which has a heating sytem under the natural grass to keep the field from freezing.

It would be interesting to see a comparison of concussions between rugby (no pads) and football (heavily padded).

[Big RR]

BSG--I respect Ditka's position, but I do think many professional athletes become disillusioned with professional sports and say they would never want their kids to play (just like actors often say they would not want their kids to act). And some of the points he raises, like the drugs, are things the league should do something about. However, the risk will always be there, and it is up to each to decide whether it exceeds the reward or vice versa.

oldr--I think injuries drove improved padding and helmets, etc, not vice versa. As hits became harder and players became bigger and stronger, new ways and equipment to avoid common injuries were developed; sure some figured out how to use the equipment offensively, but that too is being addressed. As for turf vs natural grass, I prefer natural grass but ma not certain that turf is responsible for increased injuries (except for turf toe). I've walked on several turf fields and have found the surface to be more resilient than natural grass, with a rubberized layer above any harder surface. Do you have any links to turf causing more concussions? I've never seen any.

As for rugby, it is difficult to track injuries because the payers are traditionally closed mouth about anything (I played a little in college and recall players having gashes stitched up by med students or interns on the sidelines and going right back in. There is a tradition that the players are tough and never complain. I do recall reading a while back that the UK is looking into concussions and how to deal with them, but I'd bet they are at least as prevalent as in the NFL (the game itself is a bit more wide open and so actuaI incidences of this sort of hit are less common, while the lack of a helmet makes concussions more common when someone is hit in certain ways). I think rugby is kind of like the old NHL, when players played without hemets, goalies without face masks, etc.; injuries weren't less common, just more accepted.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Upon further investigation it appears that more concussions occur on grass fields.
http://cafnr.missouri.edu/research/turfgrass.php

Synthetic Turf Playing Fields Present Unique Dangers

Brad Fresenburg taking the temperature at head-level height over the faux turf at Faurot Field; the thermometer registered 138 degrees.
Brad Fresenburg takes the temperature at head-level height over the faux turf at Faurot Field; the thermometer registered 138 degrees. Photo by Jim Curley
Turfgrass Debate (WMV)


Brad Fresnburg
Brad Fresenburg on MU's football playing surface. Photo by Adam Masloski
Natural Grass Systems (Flash)


Related Article: Synthetic Turfgrass Costs Far Exceed Natural Grass Playing Fields



By Chuck Adamson

Brad Fresenburg made a disturbing discovery when he took surface temperatures of artificial playing turf on a summer afternoon.

The University of Missouri turfgrass expert found that on a 98-degree day at MU's Faurot Field the surface temperature on the synthetic grass was 173 degrees. Nearby natural grass showed a temperature of just 105 degrees.

When Fresenburg took the temperature at head-level height over the faux turf, the thermometer registered 138 degrees.

Fresenburg said there's a national trend toward high schools and municipal recreation departments replacing grass with artificial turf – once the almost exclusive purview of college and professional sports teams – and he wants coaches and parents to know how to keep players safe.

"If they are going to have artificial fields, we need coaches, parents and players to know that temperatures on these fields are going to be anywhere from 150 to 170 degrees on some days," Fresenburg said. "You might as well be sitting in an oven somewhere."

The new generation of synthetic turfs are as safe, even safer in some ways, as natural grass, concluded Michael Meyers, a professor at West Texas A&M University. He has tracked playing field injuries in Texas high schools for eight years now.

Athletes tend to suffer injuries at roughly the same frequency on natural and synthetic turfs, but different surfaces tend to result in different types of injuries, he said.

"There is more torque, more velocity and more traction" on artificial turf, Meyers said.

That can lead to more muscle strains and spasms.

But natural grass has its own hazards, such as slippery mud or unseen potholes, and possibly in arid areas, harder surfaces. More concussions per games played occurred on natural grass fields.

The newer generation of synthetic turfs is "far superior," said Meyers, to previous types like the former industry standard Astroturf, which he described as basically a carpet and carpet pad laid over concrete. Now fields are built over surfaces in-filled with recycled rubber pellets and other materials that make for softer falls, mimicking natural grass and soil playing conditions.

The drawback, said Fresenburg, is that all those rubber and plastic materials amplify sunlight to cause near unbearable temperatures at certain times of the day.

Rex Sharp, MU's head athletic trainer, said he believes synthetic turf to be just as safe as grass. But he agrees that outdoor fields will get hotter under certain conditions. In his experience the artificial fields get at least 10 to 15 degrees hotter under the afternoon sun, he said.

University staff constantly monitors field temperatures during practices, Sharp said.

Fresenburg suggested that sports teams schedule morning and evening practices, times when playing surfaces are cool. In the hot afternoon hours of August and September he said teams should seek out natural grass alternatives.

Under any workout conditions, hydration of athletes should be closely monitored, he said.

MU has two artificial turf fields, the indoor field in the Devine Pavilion and the outdoor Faurot Field in Memorial Stadium.

The older-generation turf used at Devine Pavilion is more tacky and prone to cause twisting-related injuries, Sharp said. The football players wear special cleats when practicing there. Faurot Field has the newer-generation FieldTurf brand surface. He said players can wear regular grass cleats there, and he believes that the surface is just as safe as natural grass.

Fresenburg is not so sure.

Tests Fresenburg has done show increased potential pressure on joints and bones from the inability of a fully planted cleat-wearing foot to divot or twist out, an action that releases force.

The traction on synthetic turf is much greater, he said.

"Grounds managers prefer artificial turf over natural because when teams play on grass, they leave divots and rip out grass," Fresenburg said. "Most people see those areas as damaged turf. I like to say those divots are a sign that the field is doing its job – yielding to the athletes' cleats."

Fresenburg tested four turf types, three natural grasses and MU's Faurot Field using a contraption of cleats, weights to simulate an athlete's weight and a torque wrench-like tool. When a cleat was completely planted in Faurot Field, it needed an average of 110 foot-pounds – a foot-pound is a measured unit of applied force – of torque to twist free. That was compared to 81 to 85 foot-pounds needed on the natural surfaces.

"In some areas of Faurot Field, we maxed out the instrument at 120 foot-pounds," Fresenburg said. "The cleated foot simply wouldn't shear. That's not good."

The good news is that the difference only occurred when a cleat was fully planted in the field. When only a portion of the cleat simulating the ball of a foot was planted, the force needed to twist free was the about the same on all surfaces.

The hidden danger on an artificial field is the threat of bacterial infections, Fresenburg said. He said disinfectant should be sprayed as needed if there's a known infection risk, but Fresenburg said he doesn't know what procedures are necessary to prevent bacterial contamination in the first place.

"Natural grass has a microbial system. It's self-cleaning. These synthetic fields don't have that," Fresenburg said. "There's warmth. There's moisture. Bacteria can thrive in there. There's sweat, spit and blood."

Sharp said players need to immediately report any "turf-burns," abrasions so named for their similarity to rug burns. Turf burns are common on certain types of synthetic turf. They must be immediately washed with soap and water to prevent infection, Sharp said.

Often young athletes are inclined to ignore seemingly minor injuries, Sharp said.

"We have done a good job of educating our students on turf burns," Sharp said. "We've had to educate our kids to let us clean and treat those."

Anyone interested in more tips on turfgrass safety can contact Fresenburg at 573-442-4893.

"Many schools or communities may only look at the maintenance chores of natural grass when deciding to switch to artificial turf," Fresenburg said. "They should look beyond that. They need to look at all the differences between the two surfaces."

I think injuries drove improved padding and helmets, etc, not vice versa.

I agree, but I think the injuries from leather padding were less than what we are seeing now. Of course the players are bigger, stronger faster now (as you pointed out).

PS
I played hockey without helmet/facemask. Even played goalie for a season without a facemask too. Mid to late 70's was macho time for hockey.

[MajGenl.Meade]

This is so simple. Just turn it into "touch-foot(sic)ball" or better yet, flag-football" (sic). Any contact is a foul - lots of scoring guaranteed (and USians just love lots of big numbers so they know if it was a good game or not).

[Big RR]

Kind of like the Pro Bowl.

[oldr_n_wsr]

As long as there are people who are willing to risk life and limb there will be football. The league can do some things, but in the end it is a high speed, high g-force contact sport.

[MajGenl.Meade]

high speed

So that's why it takes 3hrs 11 mins hours (avg.) to play a 60 minute game (which has only 11 minutes (avg.) of actual movement and action!

Thank goodness! Can you imagine how long it would take if they played all 60 minutes* and at less than high speed**?


*16.96 hours
**Test match length