Football, as we know it will not exist at some point in the near future. It is simply too violent of a game. The likelihood of developing CTE is way too high and is essentially equivalent to getting dementia in your middle ages. Prior to very recent times, a player saying I’m not right coach, I’m not going back in…that was just simply not something a player could do. The team would pump them full of painkillers, slap them on the ass, and say go get em’ champ. What we’re seeing with Deshaun is perfectly normal and logical human behavior. He doesn’t feel 100%, can’t be blackballed with a fully guaranteed contract, and the generational wealth guaranteed by the end of his current contract, so no wonder he’s choosing not to play.
Virtually everyone who reads this, if we took one NFL carry, it would be the hardest any of us have ever been hit, save for people that have been in significant car accidents. We wouldn’t feel right for weeks, maybe even a few months. Human self-preservation coupled with massive contracts that can guarantee generational wealth for star players will result in an NFL where none of the top guys are willing to risk it for the biscuit. The inherent violence in the sport requires linemen to be proud that despite their socks being wet from the piss that ran down their leg, despite having a couple broken fingers, despite playing through a concussion and a bloody damn nose…they did their job, they proved how tough they were, sacrificing their body led to their team winning. Damn it to hell that at the age of 45, his brain will look like an 80 year old dementia patient, damn it to hell that his mobility will mirror that of an elderly person in his middle ages…he was a tough son of a bitch and sacrificing all that helped their team win.
Long story short the young guys making 20M a year don’t need to have that mentality and will not have that mentality. They will make business decisions, and it will result in an NFL where guys aren’t sacrificing their bodies. The football we know and love requires that sacrifice, and I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m not getting CTE and struggling to get out of bed for all the money in the world. Some things just cost too much.
People have swung from underestimating the impact of football on the brain, to overestimating it.
“CTE” doesn’t necessarily mean your brain is mush. Shaun Gayle joined the CTE lawsuit. He’s a guy who looked ten years younger than he was, while going on live UK TV each week, and being the most articulate, well-spoken person on the broadcast.
Then you have people like Dick Butkus, who said in his 70s that he had no neurological problems.
CTE is probably an extreme problem in a minority, while being something manageable for the rest.