If there was ever any question that football can cause brain damage, I think Brandon Stokley will end those doubts.
Yesterday, Stokley admitted that he did in fact suffer his tenth career concussion during the Broncos/Jaguars game on Sunday. And Stokley also said that he actually suffered the concussion on his first catch against the Jags, not on the third one, when he lost his balance and fell to his knees.
Amazingly, his second catch sandwiched in between the concussion and him toppling over, was a TD.
Stokley suffered a bad concussion in college and said he's had three severe head injuries and seven minor concussions in his decade in the NFL. He still wants to play of course, and he also said this:
"I don't want to be a liability out there," Stokley said. "And I don't want to be a vegetable when I'm 50."
Something tells you might not have to worry about that buddy. At the rate you're going, you'll be a vegetable by 40.
What's especially bad about this is that in reality, NO ONE who's suffered 10 concussions should ever be allowed back onto a football field. I'm also convinced that the league gives two s**** about the players and their well being when it comes to concussions. In fact, wait, I don't think that, I know that.
There's been a study going on at Boston University for a while that pretty definitively shows that NFL players can suffer brain damage that's commonly associated with boxers. Five deceased NFL players have been proven to have suffered from what is known as traumatic encephalopathy. Basically, their brains are like that of an 80-year-old senile man despite the fact that they're 40. Yet the NFL has acted like the tobacco industry and said there's no correlation between the bone-jarring hits in the NFL and brain damage, even though you'd have to be a moron not to think so.
This is just another example of the league's continual efforts to ignore real medical problems faced by its players. Which is why as much as like the NFL, I'm more than happy to accuse it of being a completely immoral organization at times. This is a perfect example of that.
Maybe if Brandon Stokley eventually comes to the sideline and claims he's Batman, the NFL will start caring. But you know what, I doubt it.
Stokley trying to get past 10th career concussion [ESPN]
I agree with you - but in football, like in boxing, how do you stop it? It is a hazzard of the game - do you tell a player making multi-millions that he can't play anymore because he has beened twice? These are grown men who can make their own decisions - if they don't give a rip about their future health and stay for the love of the game - or the money - who are we to stop them? We are adults here, where most of us are and act like one, and have the ability to make our own decisions and deal with the consequences.
I agree with you - but in football, like in boxing, how do you stop it? It is a hazzard of the game - do you tell a player making multi-millions that he can't play anymore because he has beened twice? These are grown men who can make their own decisions - if they don't give a rip about their future health and stay for the love of the game - or the money - who are we to stop them? We are adults here, where most of us are and act like one, and have the ability to make our own decisions and deal with the consequences.
I agree with you - but in football, like in boxing, how do you stop it? It is a hazzard of the game - do you tell a player making multi-millions that he can't play anymore because he has beened twice? These are grown men who can make their own decisions - if they don't give a rip about their future health and stay for the love of the game - or the money - who are we to stop them? We are adults here, where most of us are and act like one, and have the ability to make our own decisions and deal with the consequences.
You definitely have a good point, in that people should be allowed to make their own decisions. But I think there are more severe cases where it's OK to draw a firm line in the sand. This is one. Evander Holyfield is another. It's up to the league or boxing commission to step in and say look, enough is enough.
If this was his second or third concussion, I agree with the "let him make his own decision." But after 10, man, no way.
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