Chaney's Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on 26 Football Fatality Cases of America 2011

Russell — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:54:12 GMT

My son Nicholas was not overweight. He went to the doctor often for check ups and was always deemed on track by our family doctor. He was 5"11, 275, with size 15 feet. He was in the middle of a growth spurt and would have been well over 6 feet. In the end a heart defect that was never detected caused his death. Nicholas was a active kid who rarely had any downtime. He excelled on and off the field to the point of being 2 credits shy of being able to skip his sophomore year.

Comment on Football's Legal Fire Overtakes Juvenile Levels in U.S.

Matt Chaney — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:45:24 GMT

Thank you for writing, Mr Comer, and I hope you find answers relatively soon. Continuing research in radiology does provide hope for confirmation of brain damage from impacts in the living. Among developments, see this headliner announcement from researchers at UCLA in January:

Brain scans performed on five former NFL players revealed images of the protein that causes football-related brain damage -- the first time researchers have identified signs of the crippling disease in living players.

Researchers who conducted the pilot study at UCLA described the findings as a significant step toward being able to diagnose the disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in living patients.

"I've been saying that identifying CTE in a living person is the holy grail for this disease and for us to be able make advances in treatment," said Dr. Julian Bailes, co-director of NorthShore Neurological Institute in Evanston, Ill., and one of the study's co-authors. "It's not definitive, and there's a lot we still need to discover to help these people, but it's very compelling. It's a new discovery." ...

"The findings are preliminary -- we only had five players -- but if they hold up in future studies, this may be an opportunity to identify CTE before players have symptoms so we can develop preventative treatment," said Dr. Gary W. Small, the study's lead author and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA.

The findings were published Tuesday in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

MORE: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8867972/ucla-study-finds-signs-cte-living-former-nfl-players-first-time

Comment on Football's Legal Fire Overtakes Juvenile Levels in U.S.

William Comer — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:32:15 GMT

I'm interested in concussion testing because Mrs. MacGregor proved in autopsy that her husband Kenny died of CBI/TE, NOT of heart attack as initially guessed. Her bravery opened the door for research interest in TBI for football players as you discuss. My CBI is from an auto collision, and I have most all the symptoms of TE, but the two docs I consulted didn't have a clue what to do with or for me! I have been searching for test. It should be simple enough to do a blood draw in the right way, and screen it for anti-genic proteins being leaked from from an brain injury site! But, I can't find answers anywhere, and I just keep moving prematurely toward the grave!

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

David Skowronek — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:18:53 GMT

I am working to change Indiana law with regard to concussions. The laws are vague and have no depth and teeth. But sadly the NCAA is weak with concussion rules and care. If you want something done, then you need to manage it yourself. It is scary out there. There are many former players who get in trouble for some reason or another and I always ask myself, "Was it a former head injury that caused the erratic behavior"? I too have a NFL player as a relative who enjoyed a long career as a QB, and have gymnasts in my family too. Olympian was one. Injuries and carnage follow in their wake. Scary, but they would say it was all worth it. I know they would.

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

Matt Chaney — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:03:22 GMT

I understand, David. A beloved nephew of mine apparently signs soon with an NCAA school for football. Thought he might play hoops in college instead, but his offers there won't be as good, lower-level than what he's seeing for football. And he's very good, a bull, big and fast, with potential to be a mauler. Great competitor. He'll play safety in college but maybe LB. I just hope for the best for every kid who plays, and their families, and that goes for several sports at the college level. [My wife's side is of college gymnastics and even pro boxing.]

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

David Skowronek — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:17:56 GMT

As for my sons, I watch them closely. I do not catch every practice to gauge the level of hitting, etc., but I do worry. Worry that a coach will not be monitoring. But the boys love the game. If one would get a single concussion it would probably be a watershed moment for our family. Decision time. My older son wants to play college football. If he goes as a qb then he will not be subject to constant contact. And I like the study regimen that being on a college te provides. I think about their futures everyday. The over riding theme is will they be safe. Will they be with competent coaches who manage practices and manage concussions.

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

Matt Chaney — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:29:44 GMT

Thanks, Ralph, for reading and especially the update from Penn schools. I think that's a worthy application by your state, tracking BMI data on students, and what a bonus in the data compilation about school football players. Steve Courson would be pleased, the late doping expert, Steelers lineman, confessed steroid user, AND authority on childhood obesity in the United States. And, yes, the domain that is Public Football (municipal youth leagues, public schools and colleges) costs us untold billions in real time and long term, every year, from tax monies to general consumer insurance prices. Then the moral questions? I actually gave up the latter persuasion by 1990, morality, working the muscle-drug issue in football, and I'm certainly no one to talk there. If I played football again as young man, today, I'd make sure to become big and bad as possible, by whatever means necessary, and I'd ram everything in sight, once again. Be predator or prey, in tackle football..

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

Ralph Brandt — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:34:46 GMT

Matt, I applaud your efforts on this. I have seen little positive on any high school sports to the point that I question if they should all be investigated for ending. The PIAA (Pennsylvania) claims that high school sports cost less than 2% of the total school budget, in our case that is 14 teachers. One of the highest costs is liability insurance because of injuries. Our bill is $38,000. It is usually buried so nobody knows it. That is not ALL sports, only Football. That does not cover the field maintenance that is hidden in grounds maintenance, the cost of water for the field and showers, heating the water, all are hidden in utilities. And there is the cost of kids with messed up heads, knees and ankles who will never be right after a couple years of this, and remember, I am not looking at college and pro, only high school. The kids are pressed to "bulk up" which means overeating and questionable supplements, and turning them into tubs of lard later in life, and if you ant to see it, check the coaching staff. The average female band director takes up less bench space than the average football coach. I ran the stats on our team through BMI last year, over 1/3 were morbidly obese, over 1/3 obese. If you want to check that most schools publish the team stats on the web.... I did our team and one picked because it was easy to find. Both were within 2% in obesity. I do not care if they want to do this to themselves, that is individual rights but I have no responsibility to fund it.

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

Matt Chaney — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:06:45 GMT

Wow, David, I so appreciate and identify with your comment. Football is just a brutal activity, subject to painful negatives for players off-field and on-, especially at higher levels, but I'll never say the game didn't instill life lessons for me, positive. I do understand differently today, as an adult and father, age 52 and beset by health issues and cash expense for my football choices decades ago. I know many great options were available to me growing up, from arts to technology, and non-violent sport, especially offered by public education, and I dabbled.... But I was a kid become young man enthralled with collision football, the violence particularly, savoring the thrills from sandlot through college. I would've done most anything to keep playing and tried to beat catastrophic injury to do so, in the end. Oriard calls football "contact ballet,' or athleticism in face of annihilation, clearly speaking to why I played and still watch, occasionally at least (and not long for Bama v. ND, ha; the Irish looked only a little better than Mizzou against the juggernaut this season).... I do see light for good coaches ahead, David, and talented players, but I don't see how the sport will get there without undergoing major downsizing and regulation. Near future will be interesting and complicated for Football America, likely epic.

Comment on Football Officials Protecting Players or The Game?

David Skowronek — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:34:22 GMT

As a middle school football coach, I enjoyed your article. I have two high school aged sons who play football, both are QB's and they play a little safety on D. I have become kind of a local expert on the concussion crisis, and do everything in my power to control my practices and games. I just want to say that football does offer great life lessons to youth. But, those lessons carry risks. There is a huge part of me that just wants to quit coaching and to tell my sons to just quit the sport altogether. But, if I quit, then these middle schoolers will get coached by someone ignorant to the health and welfare of the kids. That worries me.