NFL Discussion Thread: Pats win SB XLIX. Offseason begins

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Those #'s
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on a unrelated note, these #'s
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[h1]76 of 79 Deceased NFL Players Found to Have Brain Disease[/h1]
As the NFL nears an end to its long-running legal battle over concussions, new data from the nation’s largest brain bank focused on traumatic brain injury has found evidence of a degenerative brain disease in 76 of the 79 former players it’s examined.

The findings represent a more than twofold increase in the number of cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, that have been reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ brain repository in Bedford, Mass.

League of Denial, FRONTLINE’s investigation into the NFL’s concussion crisis airs tonight on many PBS stations. (Check local listings.)

Researchers there have now examined the brain tissue of 128 football players who, before their deaths, played the game professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school. Of that sample, 101 players, or just under 80 percent, tested positive for CTE.

To be sure, players represented in the data represent a skewed population. CTE can only be definitively identified posthumously, and many of the players who have donated their brains for research suspected that they may have had the disease while still alive. For example, former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson committed suicide in 2011 by shooting himself in the chest, reportedly to preserve his brain for examination.

Nonetheless, Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the brain bank, believes the findings suggest a clear link between football and traumatic brain injury.

“Obviously this high percentage of living individuals is not suffering from CTE,” said McKee, a neuropathologist who directs the brain bank as part of a collaboration between the VA and Boston University’s CTE Center. But “playing football, and the higher the level you play football and the longer you play football, the higher your risk.”

An NFL spokesman did not respond to several requests for comment.

CTE occurs when repetitive head trauma begins to produce abnormal proteins in the brain known as “tau.” The tau proteins work to essentially form tangles around the brain’s blood vessels, interrupting normal functioning and eventually killing nerve cells themselves. Patients with less advanced forms of the disease can suffer from mood disorders, such as depression and bouts of rage, while those with more severe cases can experience confusion, memory loss and advanced dementia.

Among the NFL legends found to have had CTE are Duerson, Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster and former San Diego Chargers legend Junior Seau. On Monday, ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported that a New York neuropathologist had discovered signs of CTE in the brain of Jovan Belcher. In 2012, the former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker shot and killed his girlfriend before driving to a Chiefs practice facility, where he committed suicide in front of team officials.

The new data from the VA/BU repository — once the “preferred” brain bank of the NFL — comes as thousands of NFL retirees and their beneficiaries approach an Oct. 14 deadline to decide whether to opt out of a proposed settlement in the class-action concussion case brought against the league by more than 4,500 former players.

The research helps address what had been a key sticking point in negotiations — the issue of prevalence. Players in the lawsuit have accused the league of concealing a link between football and brain disease. While the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing, actuarial data filed in federal court this month showed the NFL expects nearly a third of all retired players to develop a long-term cognitive problem, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, as a result of football.

Under the proposed settlement, the survivors of players found to have died with CTE can qualify for a payment as high as $4 million. But some, including the family of Junior Seau, have announced plans to opt out of the settlement. Like Duerson, Seau committed suicide in 2012 by shooting himself in the chest with a .357 Magnum revolver. His family has filed a wrongful death suit against the league, arguing in part that the deal does not include adequate compensation for the descendants of former players. An attorney for the family told ESPN this month that the family was not suing “for his pain and suffering. They’re suing for their own.”

Others have challenged the settlement’s award structure for CTE specifically, claiming it only allows for such payments if a player was diagnosed with the disease before the day that the agreement won preliminary approval in July. This detail, they say, would shut out any player who may be diagnosed in the future.

Brad Karp, an outside counsel for the league, told FRONTLINE in an e-mail that “criticism of the settlement on this ground reflects a profound misunderstanding” of the proposed agreement. “The settlement provides very substantial monetary compensation for players who suffer from the significant neurocognitive symptoms alleged to be associated with CTE and who demonstrate, through diagnostic testing, that they have moderate or severe dementia.”

It remains unclear just how many players will decide to either opt out of the settlement, or choose to file a formal objection. A key test will come in November when the judge in the case holds a Fairness Hearing to consider any such challenges. Final approval would not come until sometime soon thereafter.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/front...ased-nfl-players-found-to-have-brain-disease/
 
Damn I thought they would start offering Sunday Ticket to cable suscribers
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PacificNorseWst said:
Man, that's all DTV has. Lots of HD channels I guess, but I pay an arm and leg more than most I know for cable simply because DTV has the ticket.
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Next season I think I'm just going to buy the option to stream from my PS4. It's about $230-$300 but that's better than suscribing to DTV for 2 years
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I'm shocked DTV got the ticket. I had been reading reports for the last 2-3 years that Google, Apple, Verizon or YouTube would probably get it because no one wants DirecTV.



Illegal streams and Red Zone it is....
 
Direct is ok. Don't love it but not the worst service I've had.

Redzone is good enough for me, I really want to check out the radio option since I'm an old man and love listening to the games
 
But honestly I've had it the past 3 years and I have the pats game on one channel and redzone on another....

Impossible to flip through all the games

:smh:

Comes in handy for the 4pm games since there isn't as many
 
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I want no part of Jon Gruden returning to oakland.


Gruden has stated that he has a room in his house that's is nothing but Raiders :pimp:
 
i doubt it.   LA is never going to get the stadium issue resolved.   i'll believe any (insert random team here) to LA rumors the day ground is actually broken and they start building a stadium 
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Selective memory. He got crushed for it and is still mocked for his religion. But since a flag wasn't thrown apparently none of that occurred

If the Steelers lose to the. Jags they might start tanking to go after a new QB in the draft
 
Steve Smith blasts Dave Gettleman

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wide receiver Steve Smith blasted Carolina general manager David Gettleman during a radio interview Wednesday, criticizing the manner in which he was released by the Panthers earlier this year.

"Yes, it was personal with me and Dave Gettleman," Smith said Wednesday on Charlotte radio station WFNZ. "Obviously, I did something that got under his skin."

Smith, now a member of the Baltimore Ravens, caught seven passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's 38-10 victory over his former team.

Smith had called into the station Wednesday to refute an NFL Network report aired last week saying he had refused a pay cut and instead asked for a release from the Panthers.

"You wake up in the morning after a good win, and you just read reports about [how] you demand this and demand that," Smith said. "Man, I just find it interesting."

Before being released, Smith said Gettleman told him that he was a shell of the player he once was, a distraction to the team and jealous of quarterback Cam Newton.

"I say, 'Well, is this about a pay cut?'" Smith said of a conversation with Gettleman. "He laughs and says, 'No, this is not about a pay cut, but thanks for asking.' And then says, 'We're going to trade you.'

"... I pick up myself, walk out, shower and I call my wife and say, 'We're done here. I will either be traded or released.' I knew from the jump I was going to be released or traded."

Smith said his agent, Derrick Fox, had scheduled a 9 a.m. appointment to talk to Gettleman about the receiver's future on the morning he was released.

Smith, 35, said he then heard on WFNZ -- at 8:15 a.m. -- that he had been released.

"He doesn't even have the cojones to tell us to our face,'' Smith said. "We have to hear it from someone else. Then he calls and says, like everyone else says, 'It wasn't personal.'

"If the first thing that comes out is, 'It wasn't personal' ... Guess what? It was personal. Then he says that I could have called at any time. And now that I played well, you're going to say I was a distraction, I've always been a distraction.

"But yet, I didn't beat my wife. Yeah, I hit some teammates six or seven years ago, but I didn't beat my wife. I didn't get arrested for DUIs. I didn't fall off no motorcycles. ... I made mistakes, but building this big old crutch about it as if I pushed their hands."

Those remarks were aimed at Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy, who is on the commissioner's exempt list until his domestic violence case is resolved and earlier in his career was involved in a motorcycle accident that forced him to miss much of training camp.

Smith was asked whether he had anything to say to the GM now.

"I don't have anything to say to Dave Gettleman," Smith said. "He told me what he thought of me. And my play [Sunday] told me what I thought of him."

Gettleman walked away when approached for a comment Wednesday.

Smith said he's glad that Carolina coach Ron Rivera sought him out after Sunday's game to shake his hand.

'Ron Rivera, through that whole ordeal, never sat down and talked to me," Smith said. "He texted me after the release and said, 'Sorry it happened this way.' That was the only time he talked to me.

"[Sunday] was the first time since I was released that he sat down and went out of his way and shook my hand and looked at me man to man."

Rivera said Wednesday he didn't want to discuss Smith's comments.

"I don't need to defend myself because I'm not going to address it,'' Rivera said. "Believe me. I'm not gonna. This is the truth of the matter: I've moved on. I'd like to believe we've moved on. It's time to talk about the Carolina Panthers and the players that are here in our locker room.

"We're playing the Bears. We played the Ravens last week. I'm going to move on. Believe me guys, I don't worry about those things I can't control.''

Tight end Greg Olsen took the same approach.

"That's over,'' he said.

Newton, meanwhile, said he never got the perception that Smith was jealous of him as the receiver indicated he had been told.

"Absolutely not,'' he said. "Whether it was perceived in upper heights or through the media or outside the locker room, me and Steve Smith's relationship was as strong as it could be.

"I've always looked up to him. Before I even came into this league, when I had the opportunity to come along with the Carolina Panthers ... one of the things I looked forward to was teaming up with Steve.''

Newton said after Sunday's game he wished Smith still was on the team.

"He taught me so much off the field and on the field, and I appreciated it,'' Newton said. "We have to move on. We have to live and learn from the things that was taught to us, and we've got to be better from it.''
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