Sielski: Bryan Scott's story should terrify everyone who loves football

[modrepub]

Six months ago, Scott had a doctor take a three-dimensional picture, called a SPECT scan, of Scott's brain. It revealed that he had suffered damage to his frontal lobe, and that the upper half of Scott's brain, lump-covered from head trauma, resembled that of a 65-year-old man. This, Scott and his family regarded as good news. "I've seen worse scans," he said, and because Scott maintains a nutritious diet, doesn't drink alcohol, and keeps himself in good shape, doctors have told him he can reverse those effects.

Twice daily, he takes an anti-aging supplement. It has quelled the edginess and irritability that his wife, Maisha, began noticing in him months after his retirement. The dominoes table isn't merely a vessel for his favorite pastime, a place where he and his friends can gather for a few hours of fun. It's a way to keep his mind sharp, following the chain of black rectangles, counting and tallying up the pips. Are they in multiples of five yet? How many points do I have? Scott's ring of car and house keys usually sits in a conspicuous spot on a kitchen counter, because he finds himself, more and more, forgetting where he put them. Is that absent-mindedness a function of fatherhood, of a busy professional and personal life, or is it something else?

He wonders about the cumulative effect of all those hits he gave and received - most of them small and in and of themselves seemingly harmless, many of them more vicious, all of them churning his cerebrospinal fluid into an angry sea, sloshing his brain again and again against the inside of his skull. Is that why he keeps losing those darned keys?


link: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20160805_Sielski__Bryan_Scott_s_story_should_terrify_everyone_who_loves_football.html


I know this a sports related story but it's a good read on the health impacts of playing professional football (or probably any other contact sport).

Friend of mine insists football went downhill once they imposed rules to speed up the games to fit into neat 3 hour time slots. Fewer plays meant 300+lbs lineman could actually play the whole game. Having more of them on the field, and bigger athletes in general, have probably made football more dangerous than 40 years ago.

[marble falls]

1. "football went downhill once they imposed rules to speed up the games to fit into neat 3 hour time..

slot"????? Its a one hour game with a 15 break at half time. TV lengthened the game, not shortened it, and then add the pregame and post game programs.

[modrepub]

2. went back and looked

Looks like games were shorter in the 1970s because passing was so difficult. Rule changes in the late 70s made passing easier and that caused the game time to lengthen due to clock stoppages. Rules were again changed to reduce time stoppages and get the games back under 3 hrs. Not sure if my friend is right about the number of plays but this seems correct since the number of rushing plays in football appears to have declined over the years. So there may be more plays today due to passing being more preferred but the clock stoppage changes have shortened the actual time plays are actually occurring on the field.