OT: Bears DE Gaines Adams dies suddenly of cardiac arrest

[fumbrunner]

Re: OT: Gaines Adams dead. Confirmed.

I wonder if these deaths from an enlarged heart might cause the NFL to consider imposing some more health standards to stop these men from getting so large.

I understand the nature of the game demands guys these size but...well, you know what I mean.

Sounds like he has had an enlarged heart his whole life but went undetected, according to reports. Nothing the NFL can do about that.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Re: OT: Gaines Adams dead. Confirmed.

Well, if he was large at a young age (enlarged hearts usually are caused by being outsized)...and continued to be large and got into a profession which encouraged being large...

I dunno, I just find it worrysome that the NFL encourages players to basically die early. Not overtly, obviously but through the way the game has evolved sizewise.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Re: OT: Gaines Adams dead. Confirmed.

I wonder if these deaths from an enlarged heart might cause the NFL to consider imposing some more health standards to stop these men from getting so large.

I understand the nature of the game demands guys these size but...well, you know what I mean.

Its a valid point, BennyBledsoe. Steroid use can cause an enlargement of the heart. It a shame that is takes a death of a young athlete to bring awareness to this major problem in our sports society- regardless of whether he did them or not.

 

[mayoclinic]

Re: OT: Gaines Adams dead. Confirmed.

Well, if he was large at a young age (enlarged hearts usually are caused by being outsized)...and continued to be large and got into a profession which encouraged being large...

I dunno, I just find it worrysome that the NFL encourages players to basically die early. Not overtly, obviously but through the way the game has evolved sizewise.

I'm not sure what your point is. If you are stating that large body habitus is associated with a dilated cardiomyopathy, there's no evidence for that. Adams wasn't obese by any standards, just a huge guy (by normal standards) at 6'5" 265#.

The most common cause of sudden death in athletes is a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, in which there is thickening of the heart wall near where blood is pumped out of the heart, requiring increased driving force. These people are particularly sensitive to dehydration - the emptier the heart, the harder it is to generate enough driving force. The sudden deaths of basketball players Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers were related to this.

It doesn't sound like this was Adams' problem at all, based on the statement that he had an "enlarged heart". This sounds like a dilated cardiomyopathy in which the heart becomes like a big floppy bag which can't contract effectively. Dilation of the heart can also disrupt the electrical conduction pathways of the heart and make people prone to life-threatening arrhythmias. The most common causes of this condition are chronic alcoholism and viral exposure. Early exposure to certain viruses (such as the Coxsackie viruses) can result in long-term development of a dilated cardiomyopathy, which may go undetected, and which can't be prevented.

The NFL is hardly a health-based league, but I don't think that probably had anything to do with this situation.

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: OT: Gaines Adams dead. Confirmed.

Well, if he was large at a young age (enlarged hearts usually are caused by being outsized)...and continued to be large and got into a profession which encouraged being large...

I dunno, I just find it worrysome that the NFL encourages players to basically die early. Not overtly, obviously but through the way the game has evolved sizewise.

I believe you mean "by being obese." Not Outsized. And Adams wasn't obese. An enlarged heart can be caused by MANY things, not just drugs or obesity. In fact, I'd be willing to put money that most enlarged hearts are the result of genetic defects and not drugs or obesity..

The NFL doesn't "encourage players to die early". In fact, I think you need to explain this whole idea because to say its the way the game has evolved sizewise would imply that you've done some scientific work on this.. Have you?

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Re: OT: Gaines Adams dead. Confirmed.

Oh yes. Reams and reams of data.

Broken down into several distinct categories...

No, I just used my eyes and read what other people who've watched the game have said. I don't know what I can tell you if you don't think the overall size of NFL players has increased exponentially over the years. Possibly beyond the bounds of what would be considered healthy.

But hey, if you disagree with that, more than welcome.

I freely admit, it perhaps was not the case with Adams but in the end I was commenting more on the overall state of the NFL.

 

[pats1]

Re: Breaking news: Gaines Adams reportedly dead at 26 years old

May want to research this. Pats 1st pick ever was Rob Burton who went on to have a solid career w/ the team.

It wasn't their first pick ever, but there was a Pats draft pick at one point who was dead by the time they picked him. It was in Chris Price's book, among others.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Re: Breaking news: Gaines Adams reportedly dead at 26 years old

It wasn't their first pick ever, but there was a Pats draft pick at one point who was dead by the time they picked him. It was in Chris Price's book, among others.

Yea I do remember hearing the story.