OT Gronk shares disturbing detail about "liquid in his head"

[Joey007]

There are varying degrees of risk.

Losing money, getting an STD, and so forth, are extremely different than CTE.

I don’t think people internalize just how awful CTE is; it’s a death sentence. It robs you of your quality of life and it seems most end up committing suicide at far too young of an age.

To be extremely clear: if folks want bad knees, sore joints, walking with a cane at 45, numbness every morning, and so forth, I’m okay with that risk/outcome.

I (as a viewer) am uncomfortable with degenerative brain disease that is robbing lives. And yet I continue to watch, because I love the game (and our Pats) too much.

It’s a terrible disease. No one’s denying that.

The reality is most players that play won’t see the ugliest sides of CTE. It’s a risk that players are not educated on.

So if players now and in the future know the risks that are involved with football, but are willing to accept them due to the amazing things that the sport can provide for them and their families, who are you to stop them?

 

[Kontradiction]

The risks were essentially hidden from players by the NFL. And it’s not just professionals; it’s high school and collegiate amateurs.

Until very recently (as in the past 10 years or so) there was not public awareness that CTE was associated with football.

So, yeah, folks knew the risks of football insofar as blown ACLs, sore joints, arthritis, etc. They didn’t know their brains could degenerate and that they’d be dead at an extremely young age.

You could literally die or become paralyzed on every single snap. I knew and understood that in pee wee. That there is more data on brain injuries available doesn’t change the fact that these guys know the inherent risks of playing.

 

[mosslost]

Good news for his return by week 10. Without the extra cranial water weight he'll be even that much faster running down the seam.

after the bye

 

[BradyFTW!]

For a while I thought he would come back at some point this season. Now I don't think he will and after learning about the stuff he's been talking about the last couple days I hope he doesn't.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

Stay retired, big fella. He has achieved a lot, ended his career on the best note possible. Football has little left to gain for him and a lot to lose.

Not to say he was seriously thinking about it.

I can't even see the reason to continue. He just went out on top and as a hero. There is nothing left to prove and only his legacy to tarnish by coming back.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

I've never understood why NFL players, especially DBs, launch at players helmet first rather than learning proper tackling technique ala rugby and AFL. Sure, some lowering of the helmet is inevitable but launching yourself at full speed is just dumb. Perhaps it's because I'm from Australia and have grown up around Australian rules that my perspective differs.

Most players were raised to think protecting yourself was "gay." I love football but really have a problem with toxic masculinity. It is one thing to be tough - that's the ideal. It is another to suggest playing smart, proper football somehow makes you less of a man.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

You could literally die or become paralyzed on every single snap. I knew and understood that in pee wee. That there is more data on brain injuries available doesn’t change the fact that these guys know the inherent risks of playing.

Football gets the players on board when they are young children. An eight year old doesn't understand CTE. By the time young players reach the age to make informed decisions, they are already entrenched to the extent they have a harder time walking away. In our society, walking away is far worse -- far more cowardly and unmanly -- than never having tried something. Add to all these issues the fact that by the time these children reach high school and college, they are likely to be now suffering from minor effects of CTE. It is tough to make informed decisions when your brain is turning to mush a la Gronk.

 

[Captain Cliche]

I figure in some small way I am contributing to the crippling of healthy young men by following this sport.

Then I think how my old man did bodywork breathing paint and lead for 30 years at times in a shop with no ventilation or even a window to open, so we could have a better life and I could go to college.

I've been breathing crude oil fumes in the oilfield for almost 30 years so my family can enjoy a decent lifestyle.

These players have a chance to be financially set for life playing a violent game for 5 years.
They know the risk and the reward.
If they don't get their money and get out, that's their decision.
If they piss their money away...I have no sympathy.

If you really think they are being duped and getting screwed, don't watch, otherwise you are contributing to the problem, just like the rest of us.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Turns out the liquid was just beer.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I can't even see the reason to continue. He just went out on top and as a hero. There is nothing left to prove and only his legacy to tarnish by coming back.

If he did come back I'd assume it was just because he's super competitive and cares more about the thrill of getting out on the field and contributing while he knows he can than he cares about going out on top or his long term health.

Not gonna lie, I hope he stays retired and would be uncomfortable watching him go back out there and go back to taking all those hits, but it seems like every interview I read with retired athletes it always comes back to that. Their sport basically defined their lives from age 10 through to adulthood, so once it's gone a lot of them aren't really sure what to do and just miss the highs of going out and kicking ass against the best of the best.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

You guys singing the praises of risk need to check your ideology. Gronk needs out now, and good for him for getting out.

If there's some silver bullet, e.g., if the "fast track" has a huge amount to do with it, force grass games, period. It feels more like "you could be out there" anyway, somehow. I mean, you're not big enough, fast enough, strong enough, but at least you've walked and run on the same damn surface. But the main thing is, if you can have a safer game but it costs a few extra dollars, screw it. Take care of grass.

Other things are not as easy to think about fixing... e.g., they have different helmets, maybe they make a diff, maybe not. They fool with the rules every year. Okay, I can deal with it. But I wish I could both keep track and not be contributing to the pretty much guaranteed hellish changes that SOME will end up with.

Not cool, it's not risk when you know *somebody* is gonna get it. Effed up.

Now I'm telling myself, "changes will make a difference" etc.

I dunno I am hanging with the game but it is difficult. I love me some Patriots. We're at the end of the greatest run evah. Hell who am I kidding, I'll prob'ly keep watching.

But it's become a little bit of a guilty pleasure since guys started shooting themselves in the heart so we can study their brains.

Come on now.

 

[MainePatsFan26]

If he did come back I'd assume it was just because he's super competitive and cares more about the thrill of getting out on the field and contributing while he knows he can than he cares about going out on top or his long term health.

Not gonna lie, I hope he stays retired and would be uncomfortable watching him go back out there and go back to taking all those hits, but it seems like every interview I read with retired athletes it always comes back to that. Their sport basically defined their lives from age 10 through to adulthood, so once it's gone a lot of them aren't really sure what to do and just miss the highs of going out and kicking ass against the best of the best.

Compared to many players, Gronk seems well suited to life after football. He is a shrewd businessman and could easily use his salary and endorsements to run something of his own. Gronk also seems to go with the flow and probably would be content running a surf shop in Hawaii if it meant he could make some money, chat with women, and teach kids beach volleyball. The guys is fun to be around and smart -- when you are both of those things, the world tends to sort you out.

 

[Dr Pain]

Gronk is now a bigger threat to football and the NFL that Andrew Luck will ever be. The NFL will never let him back. If he comes in for the end of the season it is a dangerous precedent for the NFL. Basically I am a star, worried about my brain, I will not play 18 regular season games but just a few at the end of the season. I wanted Gronk to retire 2 years ago. With coin in the bank, its crazy to keep playing.

Brady's not immune, just crazy. That is what makes him great.

 

[Tony2046]

I'm glad he retired and love that his last catch was a highlight reel game breaking beauty.

I've been worried about Edelman for a couple of years now and hope that he decides to hang them up soon too.

The players know what they are getting into nowadays so it's up to them to decide whether the risk is worth it or not. It's no different for our LE, Military or any other dangerous career choice.

If only I had 4.3 speed. I could have been a contender.

 

[Kontradiction]

Football gets the players on board when they are young children. An eight year old doesn't understand CTE. By the time young players reach the age to make informed decisions, they are already entrenched to the extent they have a harder time walking away. In our society, walking away is far worse -- far more cowardly and unmanly -- than never having tried something. Add to all these issues the fact that by the time these children reach high school and college, they are likely to be now suffering from minor effects of CTE. It is tough to make informed decisions when your brain is turning to mush a la Gronk.

If you played while you were 8, you knew this was a dangerous sport. You knew this because your dad (if you still had one and he didn’t go on an 18 year gas station trip for a pack of Marlboros) and/or coaches told you to tackle with your head up and lead with your shoulder. They told you that because there were inherent risks for head and neck trauma if you didn’t. So this canard that you all are trying to create that football is more dangerous because of a higher availability of data on CTE and the impact of concussion doesn’t hold water. Unless you’re ******ed, you’re aware from the point that you first start playing the sport that it’s dangerous. These men know and accept that risk and are compensated well for it. If they don’t want to accept that risk, they’re free to retire. And some have.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Most players were raised to think protecting yourself was "gay." I love football but really have a problem with toxic masculinity. It is one thing to be tough - that's the ideal. It is another to suggest playing smart, proper football somehow makes you less of a man.

People often confuse toughness with stupidity as well

Having an ache or sore joint/contusion and playing thru it is tough

Having a mechanical injury, or a broken rib, etc and trying to “tough it out” is stupidity, because you’re causing more harm to your body

Pain is one thing, injuries are another. A lot of the older school mentality is that you tough it out no matter what, but that is a neanderthal way of thinking and is one of the main reasons that so many players from the 90s and further back got so messed up from playing this game. Guys like Jr Seau and Ted Johnson practicing with concussions, going into games with concussions and slamming their head into running backs, etc over and over because of that “you need to be tough!” mentality

Now Jr Seau is dead and Ted Johnson had symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s in his early 40’s


That’s why people will need to get used to seeing the game of football continue to change. They will continue to legislate the violent and dangerous hits out of the game over time to ensure the long term survival of the sport

 

[XLIX]

Gronk is now a bigger threat to football and the NFL that Andrew Luck will ever be. The NFL will never let him back.

I’m not quite sure the NFL has the authority to ban someone from the game for speaking out against CTE.

 

[XLIX]

That’s why people will need to get used to seeing the game of football continue to change. They will continue to legislate the violent and dangerous hits out of the game over time to ensure the long term survival of the sport

Unfortunately every time the league tries to make the game safer, you get the usual group of idiots complaining about how they are ruining the game and saying ridiculous things like “what’s next? Putting dresses on quarterbacks?”

Those people know who they are.

 

[BTTA]

Conversations about the relationship between individualism and collectivism are part of what make this country great.

I appreciate what sport, including football, adds to the upside of individualism: the values and habits of dedication, resilience, teamwork, and more.

And, we decided a long time ago to collectivize healthcare in order to underwrite the infrastructure and technology that exists in hospitals and long term care facilities, and because very few of us can afford to draw on those resources with our own savings.

So to keep this 'Merican society that honors individualism healthy, all of us are responsible for leading our lives in a manner that respects those resources as shared and finite, and understands the impact we have on our families and local communities when we move into drawing on those resources.

Spotlighting that responsibility is another reason that Gronk, Luck, et al are dangers to the NFL.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I'm grateful for all that Rob Gronkowski brought to the Patriots as a Franchise and to us as fans...and am so grateful that my kids got to see him play.

As for his future, I simply hope that he makes the right decisions for himself, whatever they might be. He certainly doesn't owe any of us or the Patriots anything more.

He belongs in Canton.