RIP Junior Seau

In light of the Seau news, I just skimmed this discussion. Something struck me: there's a lot of back-and-forth here regarding suicide (and, under the surface, regarding the larger the NFL brain trauma discussion) that seems to revolve around a notion that the brain and mind -- or the physical and, um, self-aware consciousness selves -- are two separate things.

I guess that's rooted in 2,000-plus years of Western (and Eastern!) philosophy, thought and religion. And perhaps rooted in our own perceptions of existence.

Acquiring an admittedly rudimentary grasp of how the brain works while reporting on this topic has led me to completely question and doubt that.

 

Unless football players and owners take the route of smokers and cancer. You understand what you are doing when you do it, so suing after the fact will not work anymore.

 

But more stories like this will really start to diminish the high school player ranks.

 

It is interesting, but I think AAU football might start to take over for high schools. People will still play so long as there is a chance to make that payday at the end.

 

That is the argument the players who have filed lawsuits make. They are saying that teams knew the dangers and kept them quiet and encouraged the players to compete despite concussions. Sure, everybody knows better now. Or at least they should. But was that the case 20 or 30 years ago?

 

In general about concussions, about Seau or about the pending lawsuits?

I hope that having a bigger name turn out to be another victim will help get the message out to do more to protect players at all levels. Football doesn't just need the NFL to do a better job, though that is part of it. It needs a cultural change at every level. There are still too many players willing to play with concussions. Too many coaches not being careful enough. You can't ever take concussions out of the game, but you can do better.

The league needs to start punishing teams for failing to protect players. I keep pointing to the example of the Eagles a few years back having two players suffer concussions during their season opener, then both returned to play in that very game. The league did nothing. The Browns fail to check Colt McCoy for a concussion after another dirty hit by James Harrison in 2011. They let him play with a concussion that kept him out the rest of the season. The league did nothing except punish Harrison.

The Steelers let Ryan Clark play the week after suffering concussions twice this season. I never heard a word of the league looking into it.

I'll believe the league takes it seriously when teams face harsh penalties, not just players. And when the league doesn't pick and choose who gets suspended. Harrison's a bad guy so he sits. Ed Reed keeps getting fined for leading with his head, but the suspension gets waived on appeal. What happens the next time he does it? Just another fine.

You're right about one thing. This is a threat to the game. We've already had players die from blows to the head at the high school level. I believe it has happened in college (I'd have to look it up. Not sure). Just imagine what happens when it happens to an NFL player.

 

I think that would have been seen as a freak accident and dismissed. It isn't the only example of a failure to diagnose an injury properly threatened a player's life. Merrill Hoge's heart actually stopped in the training room when he was playing for the Bears. He suffered a concussion and the team's medical staff failed to diagnose and treat it properly. He was allowed to play with it and took a second blow to the head. When Hoge woke up at the hospital, he didn't even recognize his wife and daughter.

 

Studies are continuing to show that it's not necessarily the big hits in the games that are the main issue, but the cumulative effect of a lot of smaller hits in practice. Some cultural behavior modifications could probably clean up the sport rather quickly.

You start by eliminating full contact football below the high school level. They can play flag football or some other modification. There's no point exposing kids to repetitive blows to the head by overzealous coaches at that age.

For high school and above, no full contact practices if you have a game that week. And only one full contact practice a week if you don't have a game that week.

I'd also like to see more aggressive testing for HGH and steroids in college and the pros. Slowing these men down can't hurt.

 

On what planet will AAU be able to pay for the equipment, insurance, etc.? I'd be shocked if that ever happened.

 

I don't think it's far away. People who are really into football at the lower ages are already paying big bucks to play, so when their kids get to HS they won't blink at the price. And there are fewer and fewer kids playing, so it's either going to be have private teams or combine high schools.

AAU football might actually be kind of cool, in fact. It couldn't be like basketball where a kid in Cleveland can play for a team out of Phoenix just by flying in. In football, you'd actually have to live close enough to make it to practice.

 

Not enough people will ever be able to pay big bucks to make it viable. Not to mention as each of these stories accumulates, the costs of playing football are going to get exorbitant no matter who is running it.

It's more likely you'll see modifications along the lines of what NoOneLikesUs mentioned ... less contact, less risk.

There's not much cause for full-contact practices anyway. The Division I school I cover almost never has full-contact practices and it was ranked for most of the season.

 

What does "big bucks" mean to you?

I guarantee you that a metropolitan area could find 50 players -- good players too -- who would sign up for a price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 to join an AAU program that has top-flight coaching.

EDIT: They'd also be likely to get sponsorship money from the equipment companies as basketball teams do now. Under Armour and Nike aren't going to fret over the insurance costs.