. . . luck retired for his shoulder, . .
And most recently, left calf and ankle problems, and difficulty moving in the pocket.
I think Andrew Luck is a fine young man, and I wish him all the best!
I will say there’s a difference between a shoulder injury on the one hand, which manifests itself probably right away and its seriousness within a matter of days, and a worsening brain condition on the other, which doesn’t manifest itself for years probably decades, and when it does, seems to have a forward progression in which it keeps getting worse even though the blows to the head stopped long ago.
Andrew may indeed be lucky.
One study estimated that 30% of former NFL players would eventually get cognitive or emotional processing deficits ahead of their time, and most probably because of football. Meaning 70% of the guys won’t, thank goodness.
But it is still an unacceptably high rate of carnage.
Now, high school football or youth football (with “mitey-mite” football being ages 7-9) is almost certainly going to have a lower rate of eventual brain problems. But I suggest that if you really think about it, that in the final analysis you will still find these lower rates to be unacceptable. For example, they’d never be accepted by OSHA or workers’ comp as an on-the-job injury rate.
And if we’re going to say, look, adults have the right to make their own choices and do what they want, then fine, it’s an easy remedy and that is to make football strictly age 18 and above.