- Joined
- Jan 1, 2001
- Messages
- 60,201
We've all heard about CTE and football, and how NFL players are bound to have it. But is that really true? Most will point towards the mountains of CTE studies that do indeed show that out of the brains of NFL players that they study, most have CTE. In actuality, this is extremely misleading. CTE can only be diagnosed post-mortem, meaning that many of the brains that are studied are from decades ago, before a great deal of advances in safer equipment in just the 21st century.
Additionally, these brains are frequently donated by families that have already suspected that the former player may have had CTE. The press seems to report these studies in a way that is misguided at worst, and outright deceptive at best, built to drive clicks to their articles by reinforcing the idea many of us have, that football is a dangerous sport. This incomplete picture of the situation is actually damaging the sport and is driving parents to stop their kids from playing because of what might be a nonexistent threat.
One has to beg the question on this issue, is it really just ignorance of the press when they are reporting about football, or is there something more sinister at hand? All of these factors, combined with the fact that information on the rate of CTE in the general population is few and far between, means that the doom and gloom of football being such a dangerous sport may just be yet another example of the making of a mountain out of a molehill.
Additionally, these brains are frequently donated by families that have already suspected that the former player may have had CTE. The press seems to report these studies in a way that is misguided at worst, and outright deceptive at best, built to drive clicks to their articles by reinforcing the idea many of us have, that football is a dangerous sport. This incomplete picture of the situation is actually damaging the sport and is driving parents to stop their kids from playing because of what might be a nonexistent threat.
One has to beg the question on this issue, is it really just ignorance of the press when they are reporting about football, or is there something more sinister at hand? All of these factors, combined with the fact that information on the rate of CTE in the general population is few and far between, means that the doom and gloom of football being such a dangerous sport may just be yet another example of the making of a mountain out of a molehill.
