Hernandez family suing Patriots because Hernandez had CTE

PittPatriot said:

Why has the NFL, colleges, or high schools not required players to sign a waiver/consent form before being allowed to participate?

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XLIX said:

There is no waiver that can indemnify a party against negligence. That's why every single one of these lawsuits accuses the league of negligence (as well as other things such as deliberate concealment, etc)

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All contracts may be submitted to judicial oversight, including contracts that say they can't be submitted to judicial oversight (binding arbitration clauses).

My employment contract could very well say I waive my right to vote and indemnify all management against damages arising from them stealing my identity, but those clauses likely wouldn't withstand scrutiny in a court of law.

chumpchange said:

Counting high school and college players and over the 100 years or so that football has been an organized sport: millions. Plus all the other contact sports played the world over for centuries--boxing, rugby, wrestling etc... I don't doubt CTE exists, just that the current hysteria surrounding it is overblown. Cut through the hype and what do you find? That the average life expectancy of NFL players is higher than that of the average population (77.5 years for NFL players, per OSHA stats).

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Ok. Yes you're right that would be millions and millions.

FYI: There are concerns for Soccer players and Rugby players. There have been reports regarding brain damage within those sports as well. Brain damage in former association football players. An evaluation by cerebral computed tomography. - PubMed - NCBI

Personally all I want is transparency. Let players make up their own minds and decide their own risk reward balance. But unfortunately the NFL played their tobacco industry type games which is, imo, where the "hysteria" is coming from.

The "life expectancy of NFL players is higher....." stuff is misleading especially within a CTE or Concussion discussion. NFL players are 3 or 4 times more likely to die with or from ALS or AD.

Neurodegenerative causes of death among retired National Football League players


People choose to do dangerous jobs all the time. They measure the risks and decide whether or not the compensation is worth it or not. The NFL did not give its players all the info needed to make those choices. The NFL released false medical research for parents of football playing children to read. No NFL, it is not ok "for a high school football player to re-enter a game after sustaining a concussion".

My problem is that I have a 10 year old that wants to play football and I simply cannot trust any of the info coming from the NFL regarding player safety. How do I make a decision based on their research when reputable orgs are stating otherwise?

Anyways the hysteria could have been tampered with transparency.

The NFL has proven multiple times that it isn't interested in player safety or how CTE may affect them rather they are more concerned with how CTE will hurt their bottom dollar.

NFL helmet sensors indefinitely delayed

Parents can purchase impact sensing helmets for their football playing children which gives the parent live impact data. This technology could be used for research. It could measure and store every single hit a player receives over his entire career. It could be used in the NFL to trigger a sideline concussion test instead of having some doctor standing on the sideline trying to "eyeball" it.

Why haven't they switched to impact sensing helmets? I don't know but I suspect it's because they realize that a large number of players during a game would be called to the sideline for a concussion test or even worse they would be put into concussion protocol. That would lead to increased roster sizes, increased salary caps and an increased concussion scrutiny. The NFL wants none of that.

Shockbox - Concussion Management Helmet Sensors



Side Note: I've been following some of VT's research because I wanted a way to protect my kid if I do let him play.

Hard-hitting Research | Virginia Tech Magazine

Head impacts high when kids play football – Virginia Tech-Wake Forest Center for Injury Biomechanics

XLIX said:

Did the people who examined Hernandez' remains also examine Henry's?

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Henry's brain was examined by the Brain Injury Research Institute of West Virginia University...I don't know if the BU guys collaborated with them.

Tony2046 said:

The "life expectancy of NFL players is higher....." stuff is misleading especially within a CTE or Concussion discussion. NFL players are 3 or 4 times more likely to die with or from ALS or AD.

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Not only that, but it's incorrect from a math standpoint too...it's not comparing apples to apples.

Life expectancy of the entire population includes a number of children who died before they reached the age of 21 or 22, thus bringing the average down. The life expectancy of NFL players doesn't include any death prior the age of 21 or 22, that would be before they got drafted, so it's obviously helping their average.

A better way to compare life expectancy would be to take the average life expectancy of 22-year old American males. That would remove from the sample all deaths who would have occurred before someone could play in the NFL.

The life expectancy study has some problems. The majority of people who were ever NFL players at any time are still alive, and a larger league and roster sizes increases the base of the pyramid. You can't do a life table without dead people. (I'm a demographer, I've done a few life tables in my day.) I did a long post on that study a few months ago when the last CTE study hit, search for it if you're interested.

primetime said:

The life expectancy study has some problems. The majority of people who were ever NFL players at any time are still alive, and a larger league and roster sizes increases the base of the pyramid. You can't do a life table without dead people. (I'm a demographer, I've done a few life tables in my day.) I did a long post on that study a few months ago when the last CTE study hit, search for it if you're interested.

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Know how you can tell an extroverted actuary?

He's looking at your shoes.

PatsFanInVa said:

Know how you can tell an extroverted actuary?

He's looking at your shoes.

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Demographers are all failed actuaries. In place of obscene amounts of money, we get scientific publications and a warm fuzzy feeling.

primetime said:

Demographers are all failed actuaries. In place of obscene amounts of money, we get scientific publications and a warm fuzzy feeling.

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Add "Sad." and you have a presidential tweet right there.

Wheelman said:

I hope Hernandez estate wins this case.

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You must have CTE.....

Wheelman said:

I hope Hernandez estate wins this case.

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That's sick on so many levels.

Tony2046 said:

You missed the point of his and others post completely. It had nothing to do with any "tough guy" bull ****.

It had to do with billionaire dollar club guy ****ting on the football playing guy.

It's like knowing an entire city's drinking water was contaminated with lead and didn't say anything about it while kids were bathing and drinking that stuff. What do you say to that? "Suck it up and let the kids drink the stuff. It'll toughen them up"


It's like playing football thinking (because the NFL told you) that the risk is playing football is if you smash your head hard enough you could get brain damage. But now you're finding out that you could get a degenerative brain disease. Get it now?

Brain damage is one thing and degenerative brain disease is quite another. Degenerative brain disease means the damage continues to grow or spread until you die. There is no cure. It's a disease and not a "brain bruise". Your symptoms continue to get worse and worse long after the last hit to the head. The players did not know that. The NFL hid it. It has nothing to do with being a tough guy.

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Maybe you should wear a helmet when you go outside tomorrow.

Stop with the conspiracy theories, you have a physical sport when the size of players has gotten out of control - measures are being put in place to make it safer, but it's still a contact sport

SalemPats said:

Maybe you should wear a helmet when you go outside tomorrow.

Stop with the conspiracy theories, you have a physical sport when the size of players has gotten out of control - measures are being put in place to make it safer, but it's still a contact sport

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Did you read the post? WTF are you talking about?

"Punch drunk" from boxing is an old known.
Who does not not know getting smacked in the head repeatedly is a bad idea?

Similarly "coffin nails", old slang for cigarettes. People knew before the science/lawyers stepped in.

But....
Butt manufacturers hid evidence,lied, foisted phony science, etc.
They knew the problem.

If NFL did the same?
Oops.

Worst of it for the NFL right now, everyone is angry. From the ones who have wanted it banned for years, to the base wrapped up in our current political silliness.
So the timing is bad.

WAG: Settle to get rid it and err, move on to Cincinatti.

Heard about this today. Not heavily reported/discussed. My own cynical opinion. The lawyer doesn’t give a damn about the family nor CTE. “First I look at the purse”
Aaron Hernandez was more than $2 million in debt at time of suicide, records show

Ok, which one of you did it?

What kind of health insurance/benefits do players get after they retire? It seems like maybe the bigger problem is the players do not have access to proper resources, such as therapists, especially after such a dangerous sport. Hell, I need a therapist just to deal with all the politics. The NFL has the money and should help take care of these guys. I work in somewhat of a dangerous job you could say and I have concerns that if something happens to me, I may be screwed financially more than anything.