35 former NFL players qualify for assistance from effects of Dementia-Alzheimers :
posted by tommytrump to football at 06:19 PM - 7 comments
I've heard concussions cause Alzheimers. Also Aluminum in toothpaste. Plus there's various others. I also remember that smokers have less incidence. Which I took some comfort in when I smoked.
posted by Drood at 11:15 PM on May 30, 2007
Maybe those "experts" should play football and see for themselves.
posted by dbt302 at 09:34 AM on May 31, 2007
Does anybody else think it's a little bit sickening to see Upshaw grinning and taking the credit for being concerned with former NFLers mental health? Sure, he instituted this 88 plan, but after how many years of callous indifference to his peers' suffering?
posted by tahoemoj at 11:48 AM on May 31, 2007
Tahoemoj, I was thinking the exact same thing. Imagine Upshaw being "surprised " to see that there are contempories of his on the list! If blows to the head do not cause trauma to the brain, what is the NFL afraid of? My second thought was and still is that this is long overdue.
posted by yzelda4045 at 02:33 PM on May 31, 2007
Upshaw shouldn't take credit for anything because he should have gotten off his ass a long time ago to help the older players. But the real problem has always been the owners for not stepping up to the plate and help without being asked to help. The olders players are the ones that put the younger ones in the position to make this kind of money to begin with and without them the owners wouldn't be as rich as they are now. Drood that is nothing but bullshit about smokers and Alzheimers. The only medical facts about Alzheimers is Al Choride from tums and anti acids maybe a causal effect of the disease. They have open up some people with Alzheimers and noticed the pathways inthe brain have shut down in the areas of memory and in all these patients one of the underlying comparisons was all had taken a lot of tums and antiacids but who knows. But what we do know is that all the hitting to the head in football is a direct causal effect to dementia and maybe alzheimers. The helmets of today are far better protection for the players then a few years ago. The league's experts are paid by the league and that goes to the idea that whatever you want to hear I will write if you are paying me... Gene Upshaw, as a former NFL player, should have been at the forefront for getting the older players help a long time ago. To wait until 2007 is sickening and screw 88plan more help should have come about in the early 90's when some of the first older players started to come down with signs and symtoms.. Upshaw has done a lot for the league and its players but he has failed to his greatest extent in the area of healthcare for older players and all the conditions directly caused by them playing in thel NFL.
posted by The Old Man at 02:47 PM on May 31, 2007
The only medical facts about Alzheimers is Al Choride from tums and anti acids maybe a causal effect of the disease. So its not a fact, just a maybe?
posted by jojomfd1 at 04:10 PM on May 31, 2007
Good, I am glad to see they are finally doing something. But it still burns me when their "experts" say there is no corelation between concussions received while playing and Dementia-Alzheimers. But, that is just my opinion.
posted by steelergirl at 08:24 PM on May 30, 2007