Joseph Stromberg goes over a new CDC report detailing yet another danger of playing pro football:
Retired NFL players, they found, were three times more likely to die from diseases that damage brain cells, such as ALS ("Lou Gehrig’s Disease") and Alzheimer’s, than the general population. These diseases are closely related to [Chronic traumatic encephalopathy] and may in fact represent misdiagnosed cases of CTE because the symptoms of the various neurodegenerative diseases are so similar.
How a player's position puts him at risk:
[T]he study also uncovered a telling trend that might indicate the increased mortality rates are not entirely random. The researchers divided all the players into two groups: those who play "speed" positions such as running back and wide receiver, and those who play "non-speed" positions such as offensive or defensive lineman. Speed-position players encounter much more violent collisions during the game, and speed players in the study were more than three times more likely to die from a neurodegenerative disease than the non-speed-position players.
The same day the report came out, the NFL made its largest donation ever, $30 million, toward health and medical research focused on "advancing science and medical understanding of brain injuries." By the way, you can now read the entire Dish thread on the neurological damage caused by football here. It contains 11 posts featuring dozens of reader emails, many illustrative videos, and lots of data from across the web. Update from an eagle-eyed reader:
One of the surprising things to me about that video is that it included plenty of hits that injured people. I'm an Eagles fan, so most of the hits I know are from Eagles games. I assume I'm missing several. Here's my off the top of my head list of injuries in that video:
0:35 I think Massoquoi is concussed on this hit from James Harrison. I think this is from the week that had so many concussions the NFL changed the rules that week.
0:45 Dunta Robinson and DeSean Jackson stay on the ground for 5 minutes. DeSean is out for several weeks with a concussion. Also from the week that changed the rules.
2:38 Kevin Kolb is concussed. Somehow the medical staff doesn't realize, and he plays the rest of the series before being pulled. Michael Vick comes in plays well and becomes the Eagles starter. This is after the rules change and heightened concern about concussions. An Eagles defensive starter is also concussed in that game and allowed to play for a while longer, because the medical staff didn't see the hit.
3:32 Austin Collie – Concussion. This hit was penalized, though it should have been legal by the letter of the law, since Collie takes 2 steps before he's hit. He might have been concussed in the hit at 3:35, since it's been a problem in his career. He got another concussion this preseason.
A lot of the hits on the video are illegal now. Anything involving launching at a receiver, especially at the head, right after they've caught the ball. The video the NFL distributed about legal hits actually uses a Ray Lewis hit, where he hits the receiver in the midsection without launching. It looks like the hit at :20, though he leaves his feet in the hit at :20.
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