Saying 'I would bet my license' is obviously incredibly unprofessional and him being treated as a celebrity because of a will smith movie is obviously a joke but it's completely irrelevant to a point that might have a lot of merit

His point has no merit. He's diagnosing a person without seeing or speaking to him and states that he would bet his medical license on it.

In his interview for 'League of Denial', he claims that all football players have CTE. By that logic, all smokers have emphysema due to smoking thousands of cigarettes.

Omalu is not acting like a doctor. He's an activist who uses his new minor celebrity status to gain interviews and his medical background to give his unfounded statements credibility. Such outlandish statements do not do any favors for his colleagues and overshadows the vital work they have done.

*The clip where he says that is in the full interview on the Fronline website, not the documentary itself.

Agree 100%, this approach is akin to people saying "ZOMG global warming" every time its hot in January or every time there is a storm. The baseline point about global warming may be valid but its an asinine vapid thing to say and it detracts overall by making it super easy to just dismiss you are a moron.

just read that interview-- he did say he thinks "all" nfl players have CTE. he also said that the level of damage/severity varies. how is that unreasonable?

edit: the remarks about emphysema and the global warming analogy don't make much sense to me

Bringing up OJ's brain outside of sketch comedy, and before he's dead, is an apology for him maybe killing and robbing.

Most people who have a mental illness and can afford to see a doctor live boring, normal lives. Some hurt themselves, however, the unilateral desire to make the world a better place is indistinguishable from those without brain disease.

idk what he said about oj. doesn't really matter though in terms of whether the claim is reasonable/legitimate/etc

edit: i don't think it follows that citing cte as a factor in his misdeeds = apologist behavior, but that is a different discussion. again, idk what he said though

Because you are implying a simplicity that doesnt exist and knowledge you do not have as a way of scoring political points, and it makes it hard to believe anything you say about the topic even when it is more reasonable and more supported. There is no way this guy is in any great position to judge whether OJ has CTE or not, and if the justification is gonna be "well he believes all football players do, OJ played football, ergo..." then I would ask why he didnt say Tony Dungy or Tom Brady or some other football player known for being super kind and productive and happy but instead chose OJ.

Its been discussed before, but if the final conclusion is "every football player has severe CTE based on pathology slides" its a huge major victory for the NFL, because it is quite evident that many football players live happy productive lives that are not filled with violent outbursts or suicides or crippling depression, so a reasonable person could conclude that CTE is overblown. It would be far worse for the NFL if some specific players had very severe CTE and this correlated with behavior, and that SEEMS to be what the Dr. is implying by selecting OJ, but it cheapens his point to do so without any actual evidence, without having examined him, etc.

Don't see where he said all nfl players have severe CTE though. He basically said anyone who has played in the NFL has real brain damage and that the scope and severity vary. As for the OJ bit I certainly agree with some of the criticism about professionalism and the like.

Edit: What I would be interested to know is what sort of consensus there is, if any, wrt the likelihood of NFL players having CTE of some form. I'd guess there's not much given the divisive nature of the issue and the ramifications

Kenny Stabler had "high stage 3" CTE

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/sp...ease.html?_r=0

He was in a commercial a mere 6 years ago with Dan Fouts and seems pretty with it.

Makes me wonder if CTE can exist asymptomatically.

His longtime GF was on the radio saying Stabler had constant buzzing in his ears, often had problems with noises like clattering dishes, and would often squint and grimace like he was in pain.

Didn't think it was possible but starting to dislike football. Love the strategy and athletics but it's not humane.

Oh Rog

Easy to say when you don't actually have one.

So in addition to knowing seemingly nothing about college football apparently Danny Kannell is a CTE truther

To add some detail to Namath's comments, here's the Tweet itself:

It's been taken off of his Twitter account since. Here are some of the responses:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...icle-1.2521445

Im pretty sure Rog has a couch.

and even if the concussions don't necessarily get ya...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...ment/79852754/

good times

Montana really looks like an old man in those Papa Johns commercials. Terry Bradshaw looks like a crippled 80+ year old anytime he's on camera moving around and he's only 67.

I can't imagine why.







That hit was on a two time SB winning QB at that point and Turkey Jones got a flag and a $3000 fine. No suspension. Bradshaw somehow only missed one game.

A Single Concussion May Triple Long Term Chance of Suicide

The NFLPA should strike while the iron is hot on this literally and just sit out until they get fully guaranteed deals paying substantially more than they do now, along with legitimate retirement benefits and a culture that actually addresses player safety. For all the talk this is the only thing that could ever make football safer. Right now we're left with penalties on unintentional hits deciding playoff games while on the other side coaches and their joke medical staffs leave obviously concussed players in the game. I doubt it would improve the CTE situation anyway but at least they could address some of the other ridiculous issues.

I know they are the laughingstock of all professional unions and signed a horrible CBA, so they'd never win in court until that expires, but they'd get near 100% public support and possibly even support from the executive branch if they strike in 2016. And who knows, legally they could maybe claim unsafe work conditions or something to break their last deal.

I'd love to see leaving a concussed player in the game resulting in an in-game penalty + fines for the team doctor/coaching staff + loss of draft picks if done repeatedly.

In theory, I like the loss of draft picks for teams leaving in concussed players willingly.

Problem is that athletes can hide them very well while sitting down on the sideline but show symptoms once they try to get to full speed during a play.

Would love to see teams erring on the side of caution & player safety for once in ****ing history.


It should be "if he might be concussed, he sits" not "if he might not be concussed, he plays."

Aren't NFL contracts already guaranteed for injury?