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Arena The Official NFL Discussion Thread (Now Featuring Time's Person of the Year, Taylor Swift!)

Discussion in 'Community' started by PRENNTACULAR, Nov 25, 2006.

  1. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Did the players have to go through that parking lot to go to their meetings today? Because I seriously cannot imagine having to do that. But then again I cannot imagine going through anything like this situation.
     
  2. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
  3. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    I feel bad for the guy, really. Sure he shouldn't have done this, but at the same time, we don't know what else he had going on in his life that would have made him act this way. Mental scarring can last a lifetime, and we don't know that an argument caused all of this.

    Ignoring him completely just seems like the wrong way to take with this. It should be a reminder that major problems may not always be evident on the surface.
     
  4. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    He left is 3 month old daughter an orphan and probably traumatized his coaches and GM for life, I'm finding it hard to feel bad for the guy at the moment. I feel bad for his family, who lost him, but not the man himself right now.
     
  5. Asterix_of_Gaul

    Asterix_of_Gaul Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    I feel bad for all of them. :(
     
  6. anidanami124

    anidanami124 Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 24, 2002
    Proglem there is that he killed someone else before he killed himself. Kind of hard for people to feel sorry for him at that point.
     
    Juliet316 likes this.
  7. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    *listens to local newscaster*

    Florida linebacker? Really? The person writing your teleprompter couldn't be fussed to actually look up the correct info? You couldn't Ms. Newscaster?

    :oops::oops::oops:
     
  8. DT421

    DT421 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2003
    Is Crennel still going to coach the game tomorrow? I can't imagine witnessing something like that and still have the wits to go into coaching a game the next day.
     
  9. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    For all we know, focusing on coaching is what will help him keep his mind off it. Maybe he'll be distracted the whole time, but everybody responds differently.
     
    LloydChristmas likes this.
  10. MistrX

    MistrX Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2006
    That was Herm Edwards take on Sportscenter tonight. He opined that the players and coaches would probably prefer to play the game as it gives them three hours to focus on something else.
     
  11. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Yeah, but no NFL coach (or very few other coaches, I would imagine) have had to deal with playing a game after seeing one of their players shoot himself in the head. Not even Herm.
     
  12. MistrX

    MistrX Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2006
    No, that's true. Teams have had to respond to tragedy, though. Andy Reid had a child die and, IIRC, going back to work helped him cope. Maybe Romeo will have trouble focusing on the game tomorrow. Maybe he won't. Maybe he'll have to leave. Or maybe it'll be a welcome distraction. Like Havac said, everyone responds differently. I'm sure he has the freedom to opt out should he choose to. I doubt anyone would fault him for it.
     
    LloydChristmas likes this.
  13. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    True, but I can't imagine what Romeo and Pioli are going through after the events of yesterday.
     
  14. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    Yeah, I agree. Also, would anyone be saying 'oh I feel sorry for that guy' if he weren't an NFL player? If this were just some guy in your town who'd killed his gf in a stupid argument, then drove to work and killed himself in front of his bosses, would you be pitying him? You know what, lots of hard things happen to lots of people. It really doesn't matter whether Belcher was going through something more than we know. It doesn't make his actions any less horrific and selfish.
     
  15. Jedi_Hood

    Jedi_Hood Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 10, 2000
    Reports are that he will.
     
  16. DT421

    DT421 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2003
    Dear football gods,

    Win or lose, please allow Luck to get through this game without Suh inflicting serious injury upon him. [face_praying]

    Thank you
     
    ma_petite likes this.
  17. KnightWriter

    KnightWriter Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2001
    I suspect an investigation of his brain would or will show clear evidence of trauma and the equivalent of the brain of someone far older than him.

    It doesn't make his actions any less horrific and selfish.

    No doubt it was both. But, as evidence continues to grow about the dangers of playing football at a high level on a regular basis (or any at all, really), I think public opinion will gradually turn against it, starting at a young age, when parents begin to decline to let their children play football.

    ESPN (via Grantland) had a terrific long-form article on brain scans and football players. One former player, who committed suicide at about the age of 18, already showed signs of major trauma in his brain after it was investigated. Some of the worst danger is not from concussive hits, but in sub-conscussive hits, which build up over time and do the most damage.

    http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...e-accused-killing-football-be-sport-only-hope

    Looking at all this from a scientific perspective, I see this as one more small but significant stepping stone to a future where professional football as we know it will be different, if it still exists at all.
     
  18. Rox

    Rox Administrator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 24, 2000
    solojones what is the steroid talk like there? According to the article I read yesterday he's never had a concussion.
     
  19. KnightWriter

    KnightWriter Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 6, 2001
    That's highly unlikely, and at any rate, as I mentioned above, it's the sub-conscussive hits that build up over time and cause a great deal of damage.
     
  20. Rox

    Rox Administrator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 24, 2000
    Why is it highly unlikely? Be it that he shot himself in the head I doubt they are going to get much information on any brain damage. He was undersized for a NFL player, he could have been looking for an edge competitively. Seems like a logical choice to investigate steroid usage.
     
  21. DarthTunick

    DarthTunick SFTC VII + Deadpool BOFF star 10 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2000
    Are the Chiefs sporting a black band (either on the shoulder or near the elbow) on the jersey due to yesterday's events? I would find it incredibly odd/tactless if they are, considering the fact that the girlfriend was murdered & their child will grow up without ever having known either parent.
     
  22. heels1785

    heels1785 Skywalker Saga + JCC Manager / Finally Won A Draft star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2003
    I think your logic is sound here, and if they ever release toxicology reports, it would not surprise me to see steroids involved- I think it's awfully hard to pin down what this was a result of at this point, be it concussions, sterioids, or just pure mental imbalance. Deadspin has released some information in conjunction with more revealing articles from the Kansas City Star, link.
     
  23. Rox

    Rox Administrator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 24, 2000
    The Steelers season is pretty much over today if they lose to the Ravens. It doesn't look good.
     
  24. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    My Facebook feed just lit up with Jets fans pumped for McElroy.
     
  25. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    I'm sorry Josh, I have to completely disagree with the tendency to jump to armchair medical conclusions and with the fallacy that correlation implies causation. People who've played in the NFL have committed murder and/or suicide? Guess what, so have people in general. I would love to see the numbers on the incidence of mental illness in the NFL vs. The general population. Because I'd be willing to bet it's very similar.

    Let me ask this: are we also going to blame concussions for OJ Simpson's actions too? Or do we have to acknowledge that, just like in any other field, there are people with issues. Whether they are mental, substance abuse, anger related, or simply a selfish lack of moral character, NFL players are ultimately no different than anyone else.

    This isn't to say that concussions don't have a possibility of causing long term problems of varying types. They do. Or even that subconcussive hits can't do things as well. But the conclusions being jumped to here are frankly borderline libelous. It's easy to paint a profitable and popular organization like the NFL as evil. But it's irresponsible to make such wild assertions about such a serious situation.

    Consider also that not only had Belcher not had a concussion (and this all in the era of strict concussion checks, not Seau's era), he didn't even start last week and I'm not sure he really played at all. So the claims that he was feeling confused simply because of a concussion seem dubious. I would really like to know Belcher's BAL and drug test results. Because if he had the issues his friend said (and I tend to believe those because why would you make your friend out to be a drunk if he weren't?) To me, this reads like any other similar, tragic case of escalating domestic issues combined with potential substance abuse and all around immaturity and anger. There's no reason to jump to an excuse related to concussions when there's absolutely no evidence of that. We should try as a society to hold people accountable once in a while.

    Finally, as to the random steroid suggestion.... it's always possible I guess, but while Belcher may have been undersized he was already a starter and on an awful defense where he had no competition for his spot to speak of.