Trent Richardson signs on with the Oakland Raiders
March 17, 2015Feels like the first time: Nick Swisher runs the bases
March 18, 2015Happy Wednesday, Blawg Pound. I hope you enjoyed your St. Patrick’s Day responsibly and that you’re no worse for the wear today. I had to work and was thus unable to enjoy the spectacle of the parade downtown or AM beverages with friends, but I did get some green pen on my shirt, which is sort of in the spirit.
I’ve got a little Irish in me (hold your jokes, please), though apparently not enough to make March 17 a date of particular personal pride. I enjoy it plenty―what’s not to like about corned beef, consumable car bombs, and all the rest―but St. Patty’s is somewhere in the mid-major holiday class for me, a good couple notches below Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even Halloween.
Like, I wore my only green shirt on Monday. Didn’t even think about it. And there I was wearing red on St. Patty’s like some buffoon.
To that end, I have a confession to make: I have never witnessed Cleveland’s St. Patrick’s Day parade firsthand.
This seems silly for a few reasons. To start, I enjoy a good bacchanal, and have been fortunate enough to attend three that are world-renowned and a fourth that is at least Ohio-renowned: New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day, Munich’s Oktoberfest, and Oxford’s (i.e. Miami University’s) Green Beer Day. Again, responsible celebration should be paramount―do as I say, not as I do comes to mind―but part of the fun is the happy brand of chaos that pervades such gatherings.
Second, I have lived in Cleveland for the majority of my life, including a good few years during which I have been of age. It’s a bit odd, then, that I’ve been to citywide shindigs hundreds and thousands of miles from home, but not to one just a couple clicks down the road. I fancy myself a proud Clevelander despite my suburban upbringing, and having been to another city’s St. Patty’s Day parade but not my own makes me feel like A) a big, fat phony worthy of all of Holden Caulfield’s scorn, and B) a philanderer.
And that’s it as far as reasons, I suppose. I just feel like I’ve been missing out. I feel guilty for it. I hereby pledge to rectify this error in the coming years.
In the meantime, I invite you fine people to share your St. Patrick’s Day memories, from yesterday or years past, however hazy said memories may be. Help me understand the sights and sounds and smells, and exactly what it’s like to be in the shadows of Terminal Tower as all those green floats go by.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland was in plenty of headlines yesterday after deciding to retire from the NFL at age 24. Borland was a productive player in 2014, his first and last season in the league. The third-round pick played in 14 games for the Niners, starting 8, and totaled 107 tackles and 2 interceptions. He was especially good against the run, and Pro Football Focus named him one of the league’s top five rookie defenders.
Borland is the latest pro football player to retire at an unusually young age, joining fellow 49er linebacker Patrick Willis (30 years old), cornerback Cortland Finnegan (31), linebacker Jason Worilds (27), and quarterback Jake Locker (26).
Borland’s retirement has made the most waves due to his age, the promise of his young career, and the fact that he has made significantly less money than the aforementioned players. Whereas Willis, Finnegan, Worilds, and Locker all earned tens of millions of dollars in their playing careers, Borland made just over one, and his most profitable days were ahead of him. So why did he retire?
For his own good.
“I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health,” Borland told ESPN’s Outside the Lines. “From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”
Borland has been diagnosed with two concussions in his playing career, dating back to college, and he is aware of the connections between such head injuries and brain trauma and neurological diseases. He weighed the potential costs against the benefits and decided that a career in pro football wasn’t worth it if it meant worsening or shortening his life after.
Grantland’s Bill Barnwell wrote an excellent column explaining the ins and outs of it all.
I can’t find another player who did this in quite the same way. There are players who retired earlier than they had to because they were already struggling with injuries and had financial security, with Jim Brown and Barry Sanders as obvious examples. Some, like Willis, had a religious awakening. There have been young players who fell out of love with football, like former 49ers running back Glen Coffee and Rashard Mendenhall.
Borland hasn’t suggested that he is injured or doesn’t love football anymore; it’s simply that the risk wasn’t worth the reward of playing. Think about what that says: Football is so inherently dangerous, so obviously flawed, that the incentive of living a childhood dream after a lifetime of training and for millions of dollars isn’t strong enough to continue.
The natural question, in light of Borland’s announcement, has been what this means for the future of football. Is Borland’s decision a watershed moment — the first player actively recognizing just how perilous football is and walking away before the prime of his career even begins? Does it hint at a future without football?
Borland’s retirement is surely problematic for the NFL and organized football in general, as he has said quite directly that concern about brain injuries were his reason for calling it quits.
Whether or not this will shepherd a new era in which the number of football players choosing to retire early skyrockets or an exponentially growing number of young athletes choose to play other sports altogether, I have no idea. It’s just scary to think about, especially considering how maniacal we get for football games.
We build football players up to be gladiators, but we forget that gladiators are people, too. They seem superhuman in their armor, so when one takes the helmet off and speaks candidly about the inherent danger of his sport, it resonates. Borland is Russell Crowe’s Maximus from Gladiator in real life.
Er, sort of.
I think about this, and I think about how I never played football. I came real close the summer before my sophomore year of high school, but I didn’t end up going out for it. The reason, more than the fear of getting one’s ass kicked at age 16, is that my mama wouldn’t let me because she didn’t want me getting hurt, especially not before basketball season.
I, of course, thought this sucked and Mom sucked and everything sucked―remember 16?―but I got over it through Doritos and video games and basketball after that. Still, I’ve often wondered how I would have done out there. What position would I have been? Could I have played both ways? Can anyone actually just stand there chopping their feet that long?
I still wonder what if about football today, only now I consider a very different side of the game. Thanks for not letting me get my pretty little head knocked off, Mom.
And thank you for reading, gang. Have a day out there. Call your mama.
40 Comments
I don’t think this Borland stuff will have a significant impact. The truth is that there are thousands of almost-as-talented guys ready to accept the health risks in order to accept an NFL pay check. While there will certainly be others like Borland, it won’t be as if the NFL will be short on players.
I think were you might see the impact of these things most is at high schools that are higher on the socio-economic ladder. Smaller schools, helicopter parents, professional options that may not involve professional sports, etc. Instead of 50 guys trying to make the team, you may see only 30 or 40.
IMO, it’s a generation away. my kids I am already only allowing to play flag football (and my younger son likes soccer better) and am not sure what I will decide when he gets older.
so, the impact is that if there are less kids playing, then there will be less talent going into the game and going to other sports. maybe this next generation isn’t significant enough, but the following one may be.
add in that there is now a “guilt” associated with watching the gladiator’s fight and it takes away from the spectacle. maybe not while watching, but it’s there and it appears it will be more pronounced in the next generation.
Agreed, Borland will be the exception, not the new rule. As you mentioned, too many guys who can’t see past the payday.
As for Borland, we’ve seen people “unretire” before. A year from now, he might miss the money and rationalize things and say, “Well, maybe I’ll just play one or two more years to get financially secure for a while, and then I’ll quit.”
I’m not saying this is likely, but it’s possible. Either way, it’s certainly his choice.
St. Patrick’s Day – best one was one of my years at Case. We went down before dawn to the Flats (it was a thing then) and had kegs & eggs. Wandered through the different bar deal offerings as the parade was happening. Saw many a family and friends on the streets (many who wouldn’t have ever seen me in such a state otherwise) and managed to take the Rapid back to campus just in time to arrive at class to turn in our project. An hour after that class was dismissed.
Far be it for us to allow such a little thing like time to get in the way, we marched to that professor’s office and gleefully handed in the report/project. We realized later that we were draped in the random offerings of St. Patrick Day bars (necklaces, pins, ribbons, hats, etc.). Let’s just say it was a pleasant surprise when the professor gave us bonus points for “team building exercises” on the project.
It’s also possible that the guy is brilliant. I mean by making a name for himself this way, he may be able to parlay it into a job for the NFL or NFLPA as the safety representative. He definitely knows how to read and write exhaustively long papers (he was history major at Wisc). Interesting to see where his path leads him.
These were the types of non-professional sports careers I was talking about! Thanks for contributing Guest! Nearly $10,000 per month is certainly an excellent compensation.
I’ve only been downtown twice on St Pats and both times skipped the parade because it was too cold.
Will they then be the generation that FINALLY makes Soccer relevant in the US?
America’s sport of the future since 1972, say the Men in Blazers
Yes, I think this is how it’ll go. If you’re an athletic enough to play in the NFL, you’re most likely athletic enough to play in another major sport. Kids who would have been playing football will be playing something else. Maybe a generation from now, baseball will really be America’s past time again?
Another issue I don’t see being discussed much in relation to Borland: the low pay for many NFL players.
Yes, these guys get paid a ton to play a game. And yes, $600K is a lot of money for a year’s work. But I’m not sure it’s enough to risk serious and permanent physical and mental damage. Or at least it wasn’t for Borland. Most NFL players don’t make all that much for the risk they take. They have next to no job security. And on top of all that, they have to sit back and watch as the Peyton Mannings of the world make fifty times as much as they do.
The more dangerous positions generally have the lowest salaries and the lowest job security. This will trickle down and change the game too. If you’re a physically talented high schooler, do you really want to play running back? Your body will be shot by the time you’re 29, the NFL has collective decided you’re not worth a high draft pick (which means less on your rookie contract), and the system is structured in such a way that once you get into free agency you’re already on the downward side of your career.
Tramon Williams is getting $10M guaranteed. Skrine is getting $13M.
Not sure what all the rest of these numbers mean.
https://twitter.com/RavensInsider/status/578173921213718529
Other sources report Kickboxing as the “Sport of the Future”
http://honeyinthesun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lloyd.jpg
Jake Plummer disagrees.
http://wallballworld.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Jake-Plummer-Handball.jpg
good article Will … the truth of the matter is football, as far as concussions go, is safer than it’s ever been . and that’s from the NFL all the way down to pee-wees. first it was awareness , then rules changes , then equipment changes & then protocol changes … concussions have been steadily on the decline.
the scary part is borland admitted to having a concussion last pre-season , but never said anything because he was trying to make the team … this is the kind of thing that is hard to police.
You have a link/evidence on the decline in concussions?
sure, just the the big push in the 1970s, the big push in the 1990s, we are due for another big push here in the 2010s. if they keep pushing, then it’ll happen at some point, right?
Jai Alai is the sport of everyone’s future
http://s3.amazonaws.com/floridatrend/11583/dania-jai-alai.jpg
hi NJ0 … you can simply google “nfl concussions on the decline” & find many links.
concussions in regular season games down 25% from 2014 vs 2013
concussions in regular season games down 36% from 2014 vs 2012
helmet-to-helmet concussions down 28% from 2013 to 2014
helmet-to-helmet concussions down 43% from 2012 to 2014
the problem with some of these numbers is that not all concussions are being reported.
i pulled the above info from nbcsandiego.com …
What about at the pee-wee level?
I just don’t believe that a.) anyone has ever tracked concussions that well to begin with and b.) we still don’t track concussions all that well (see your own point about Borland’s unreported concussion). On top of that, a two-year span isn’t enough time to show any real trends in what is happening. Finally, it behooves the NFL to make it seem like they’ve got a handle on the issue. So color me skeptical.
Another point people seem to forget in this: studies suggest that subconcussive hits may lead to CTE and other serious brain damage as well. That means you can go a career without a concussion and still suffer serious brain damage from regular, old football plays.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/sports/study-bolsters-link-between-routine-hits-to-head-and-long-term-brain-disease.html?_r=0
all you can go by is reported concussions … the rest is speculation. as far as pee-wees , i will have to do some digging … obviously awareness , rules changes & equipment changes are going to significantly reduce.
much much different in the old days … mike webster is a great example. here’s a guy who had a long career & played through many injuries & concussions … in the old days it was “bad form” to have to come out of the game for any type of injury … you played through it. much different today.
and i listened to an interview last night with jeff miller , NFL vice president of health & safety , saying out of all the concussions that have ever happened , the percentage of them ever having CTE was miniscule … now i will have to find the numbers to support that.
and it’s not so much as what’s being reported as to what they’re doing to help prevent concussions.
A minor correction to Borland’s article – Jim Brown did not quit due to any injuries, he quit to make movies with beautiful women!
In the bigger scheme Borland’s retirement may be huge, in this way: the men of his physique and physical prowess in earlier generations boxed for the money. The public knew about and had its own names for the long-term effects effects of cumulative concussions – like “punch drunk” – decades before they started examining brains segments under microscopes. The heavyweight division essentially disappeared, and American boxing fandom with it, when those gladiators instead played linebacker, line and strong safety, or power forward in the NBA.
Boxing became (and is now) the refuge for those who absolutely must, the no-option zone for Americans with no other options up. If athletes with options fear a hazy future, the NFL, at least in its long-time head-banger form, is on the clock. I’d watch the pee wee and high school participation, because that’s the harbinger.
Curling…
http://b.smimg.net/14/07/team-gb-usa-curling.jpg
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12507025/cte-rare-phenomena-claims-dr-joseph-maroon-pittsburgh-steelers-neurosurgeon-nfl-medical-consultant
NFL/Steeler paid doctor named Maroon. Trying to decide if it’s funnier the Bugs Bunny way or the Pottsville way.
hi MG … i saw his interview on NFL network last night.
I also think it’s important to note the vastly improved concussion protocols. Jordon Cameron plays every game 5 years ago.
“Maroon said he reviewed all known cases of CTE, a progressive degenerative brain disease related to head trauma and found in dozens of retired athletes in football and other sports, from 1954 to August 2013.”We came up with 63 total cases of CTE [and] in the last two years a few more,” he said. “But there have been 30-40 million kids who have played football during that period of time.”
Classic NFL. Protect the shield. Ignore the science. The cash must flow.
First, you need an autopsy to detect CTE. For a disease people aren’t exactly looking for. Do most autopsies even closely examine the brain? So its spurious logic to conclude that because we haven’t seen many cases of something that we’re not looking for then it must follow that it does not exist.
Also, other research disagrees with the NFL backed research.
“All 12 examined neuropathologically showed evidence of CTE, suggesting an estimated lifetime prevalence rate of at least 3.7%. If one assumes that all deceased players who did not come to autopsy did not have CTE, and that the amount of head trauma in professional football has remained fairly constant over the past 5 decades, a prevalence rate of 3.7% would result. Although this represents a conservative estimate, it suggests a significant public health risk for persons who suffer repetitive mild traumatic brain injury.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995699/
I accept that maybe the prevalence rate isn’t as high as the quoted article suggests. I accept that maybe equipment and rule changes can curtail CTEs. I accept that there is a lot we still need to learn about CTEs and the part concussions and sub-concussive hits play.
But to just hand wave this away? Ugh. I hate the NFL.
Brad McCoy disagrees.
More related…
http://www.loyolamedicine.org/newswire/news/do-sports-concussions-really-cause-chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy
“Two previous studies, including one by Randolph and colleagues, examined
symptoms of retired NFL players who had mild cognitive impairment, a
precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. In both studies, symptoms seen in the
retired players were virtually the same as those observed in
non-athletes diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. These findings
cast doubt on the notion that CTE is a novel condition unique to
athletes who have experienced concussions.”
Again, not saying any of this is conclusive, but to actively try to minimize these risks seems… what’s the word?… evil, I guess.
Kids ramming their heads into things might be harmful!
it’s definitely improved and Brad/Colt ended up being a big part of it. there are still miles and miles and miles to go.
searching pop warner decline, there are numbers saying 6.9% decline 2010 to 2012. continued to a 9.5% decline 2010 to 2013.
http://www.si.com/si-wire/2013/11/13/youth-football-participation-drops
5thirty8 did a 2014 study as to why the decline (they broadened the age range, which made the overall drop seem smaller):
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/fewer-kids-are-playing-football-but-mark-cuban-might-be-wrong-about-why/
“increasing trend toward specialization in young athletes.”
It is true to some extent, but it’s been true for at least a generation, so I don’t know why that would cause the sharp decrease that coincides directly with the concussion stories being the big narrative.
Brad McCoy is a joke. But point taken. You cannot dispute that it is better though.
It feels like something the league is probably pushing (we should fund a study that says…) from a PR standpoint. As athletes get faster, stronger, hit harder, etc, I do not buy for a second that there are fewer concussions today than there were 20 years ago.
Just to clarify, it is a bit of a misnomer to call CTE a neurodegenerative “disease” in itself. It is more of a downstream marker of chronic inflammatory and other age-related processes in the brain. In other words, CTE is the late expression of cumulative traumatic events across a lifespan, of which concussive and subconcussive blows clearly play a major part, as does poor nutrition, lack of exercise, chronic stress, etc. In any case, head injuries are clearly correlated with CTE-like pathologies, and it is deeply unethical to imply otherwise
Football is certainly a spectacle, but I wonder about labeling it a “gladiatorial fight”.
To my mind, sports like boxing/MMA are clearly gladiatorial in the sense that they pit two men/women against one another, with the goal being knockout or physical submission. That seems quite a brutal vestige of gladiatorial competition. Games like football, rugby, wrestling, even basketball, etc., all feature aggressive competition, but unlike the aforementioned sports, violence is controlled and/or penalized if it passes certain thresholds rather than being an end in itself (as in boxing/MMA).
Don’t know that I’m making the argument that football is *not* a gladiatorial game, but there seems to be some nuance there worth unpacking.
agreed in a sport classification sense. but, I think when it is referred to as such it is due to the spectator’s willingness to ignore the obvious physical harm being done within the spectacle itself in order to enjoy it.