WI: No Concussions?

For yall that dont know, a concussion is a rather common brain injury that happens when the head is literally shaken in the skull, hitting the sides and becoming "bruised" in a sense. The concept of the concussion was popularized in the NFL and other football leagues, where there were several instances of repeated concussions morphing into, among other things CTE, which causes brain atrophy, suicidiality, apathy, and depression, which lead to a sort of plague of suicides in the NFL.

But what if the concept of the concussion was merely laughed away when it was proposed to the NFL, and no changes were introduced? My thought is that Football Players would not be the social juggernauts they are now, since suicide rates would be markedly high in football players. Also, there would be more teen suicides from CTE, meaning that the stereotype of the "untouchable High School Football Player" would never exist.

What do you think a no concussion world would be like?
 

CalBear

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For yall that dont know, a concussion is a rather common brain injury that happens when the head is literally shaken in the skull, hitting the sides and becoming "bruised" in a sense. The concept of the concussion was popularized in the NFL and other football leagues, where there were several instances of repeated concussions morphing into, among other things CTE, which causes brain atrophy, suicidiality, apathy, and depression, which lead to a sort of plague of suicides in the NFL.

But what if the concept of the concussion was merely laughed away when it was proposed to the NFL, and no changes were introduced? My thought is that Football Players would not be the social juggernauts they are now, since suicide rates would be markedly high in football players. Also, there would be more teen suicides from CTE, meaning that the stereotype of the "untouchable High School Football Player" would never exist.

What do you think a no concussion world would be like?
Uh...

This IS what the case was IOTL. Until very recently a concussion was simply "getting your bell rung", at every level, not just the pros. You would go off the field, the trainer would check to see if you were bleeding from the ears or of you had a "blown" pupil, maybe a bit of smelling salts, strap back up and back into the game.
 
Uh...

This IS what the case was IOTL. Until very recently a concussion was simply "getting your bell rung", at every level, not just the pros. You would go off the field, the trainer would check to see if you were bleeding from the ears or of you had a "blown" pupil, maybe a bit of smelling salts, strap back up and back into the game.

I thought that the Greeks had some sort of thought that there might be a concussion.

Then what happened with the kids who got things like CTE?
 
If people actually cared about concussions we wouldn't have the NFL as we know it. Concerns about concussions only surfaced recently. The only real concern about the safety of the league was in 1905 when Teddy Roosevelt met with Ivy League schools to deal with the rising deathtoll that football was causing back in the day. If they actually cared about concussions and stuff, defenses and running the ball wouldn't have dominated the game until the 1980's. We'd see a more pass happy league throughout the history of the NFL
 

CalBear

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I thought that the Greeks had some sort of thought that there might be a concussion.

Then what happened with the kids who got things like CTE?

CTE didn't exist before the 2000s as a diagnosis. The term until then was "punch drunk" or some other acknowledgement that one had bobbed when the correct action would have been to weave.

Where do you think the stereotype of the "dumb jock" came from?

No one cared. Hell, most players, from Pee Wee to the pros don't care now, and we have a name for it an everything.
 
If people actually cared about concussions we wouldn't have the NFL as we know it. Concerns about concussions only surfaced recently. The only real concern about the safety of the league was in 1905 when Teddy Roosevelt met with Ivy League schools to deal with the rising deathtoll that football was causing back in the day. If they actually cared about concussions and stuff, defenses and running the ball wouldn't have dominated the game until the 1980's. We'd see a more pass happy league throughout the history of the NFL

It's not necessarily true that the only times safety has been a concern were recently and in 1905. There've been enough concerns for quitea few changes to have been made in the years in between.

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/safety-changes-in-football
 
Let's not forget the physics involved, too. Sure, there were lots of concussions before, but back when 250 was *huge* and even your linemen were regularly 200-220, you just didn't have the large rash of problems. It started to get worse in the 1960s and 1970s, I knew they were bad but really didn't understand how bad till Mike Webster's Hall of Fame induction speech in which he seemed unable to put coherent thoughts together. When Webster played, you started to get more and more linemen in the upper 200s and toward the end more 300 pounders.

And, of course, now we've gone from 3 players in 1980 who were 300 pounds to hundreds of 300-pounders today. (Here is an article with specifics from 2011; I remembered the basic first number but not the year, so I'm glad I checked) Yet, the brain has stayed the same size and substance.

So, the dingers weren't as bad in the 1950s.

I think if Hollywood/TV handled concussions in a more normal way it might help. Usually you just see memory not there then suddenly there with no ill effects. On "Jull Hosue," for instance, if they'd handled Michelle's concussion normally, they'd have shrunk the problems in the first half of the final 2 parter to 10 minutes or so, had her woozy and only recalling a few simple things till the end of part one, then something like this for the finale.

With more people seeing that concussions weren't just wiped away with handwavium, it would improve things a lot.
 
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