One of the Best Young Linebackers in Football...for those that want a 13 Game Regular Season for College and those that want a 18 Game Regular Season for the NFL Good Luck with that:

BERKELEY, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland, one of the NFL's top rookies last season, told "Outside the Lines" on Monday that he is retiring because of concerns about the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma.

Borland, 24, said he notified the 49ers on Friday. He said he made his decision after consulting with family members, concussion researchers, friends and current and former teammates, and studying what is known about the relationship between football and neurodegenerative disease.

"I just honestly want to do what's best for my health," Borland told "Outside the Lines." "From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I don't think it's worth the risk."

Borland becomes the most prominent NFL player to leave the game in his prime because of concerns about brain injuries. More than 70 former players have been diagnosed with progressive neurological disease following their deaths, and numerous studies have shown a connection between the repetitive head trauma associated with football, brain damage and issues such as depression and memory loss.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/1...y-concerns

Take away their helmets. Make ANY contact outside the are between the mid-thighs and the chest illegal (eject them, if you have to). Teach it at the youngest levels.

Get the head entirely out of the game.


Do what has to be done, for thr sake of saving football.

Good for him. You wonder whether more guys with multiple concussions should do the same. Wes Welker immediately comes to mind.

(03-16-2015 09:35 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Good for him. You wonder whether more guys with multiple concussions should do the same. Wes Welker immediately comes to mind.

Patrick Willis, Jason Worilds and now Borland...more and more are getting out when the get'n good.

A redesign of the uniform is a must. Take away all hard plastics and replace it with leather and padding. This would go a long way toward stopping head injuries.

several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

(03-16-2015 09:35 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Good for him. You wonder whether more guys with multiple concussions should do the same. Wes Welker immediately comes to mind.

In my opinion, they need to make a rule saying "X concussions = automatic retirement". And it should be cumulative from all levels.

Maybe such a rule would be impossible to pass politically or impossible to enforce, but it would be the right thing to do.

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

The brain is supposed to move around inside the head. That's a built-in cushion. Moving around is not an injury.

A concussion is a brain injury, that should heal properly if you're an adult and given the proper time to recover. However, young peoples' brains don't heal the same way. That's one thing. The other thing is what happens when the brain has to heal from concussion multiple times.

And then on the other hand, I had heard of some evidence that hard hits are cumulative, even if they didn't result in an actual concussion. Can't exactly recall and don't have time to dig for it.


But to say something like "no matter what we do, the brains of these players will experience higher than normal forces - therefore we shouldn't do anything" is ridiculous.

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

Ominous indeed...I did word the Title Thread incorrectly...

(03-17-2015 10:04 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

The brain is supposed to move around inside the head. That's a built-in cushion. Moving around is not an injury.

A concussion is a brain injury, that should heal properly if you're an adult and given the proper time to recover. However, young peoples' brains don't heal the same way. That's one thing. The other thing is what happens when the brain has to heal from concussion multiple times.

And then on the other hand, I had heard of some evidence that hard hits are cumulative, even if they didn't result in an actual concussion. Can't exactly recall and don't have time to dig for it.


But to say something like "no matter what we do, the brains of these players will experience higher than normal forces - therefore we shouldn't do anything" is ridiculous.

small concusive blows cannot be stopped. The brain bouncing off the inside of the skull when a player is tackled or bounces off the field cannot really be limitied.

You can stop headhunting (big illegal hits) and the sport has in large part done this. You can limit practices. You can follow concussion protocals... all of these steps have been done...but football is still dangerous to the humna brain.

BTW: CTE research is in it's infancy. Cause and effect are presumed but at this point unproven.


I will stand by what i said. No helmet, mouthguard, or "uniform" can protect the brain from bouning off the inside of a skull...

Society will either have to accept the price that football exacts from it's participants or if CTE is proven to is proven to cause dementia...we must hope for a medical solution..the eliminates or reduces plaques from the brain.

Huge hit financially! There is no price you can put on your health. What's the risk reward factor. If it was me, I collect a few more years of pay checks, then retire with my wits intact. Who knows, maybe he had in depth discussion with his doctor and decided to hang up the cleats after discussing it with him, knowing after the discussion he could not retire with his wits intact, if he played a few more years. All the best to him.

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  This guy and Jake locker are worrisome.

http://www.businessinsider.com/jake-lock...ad-2014-10

(03-16-2015 09:35 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Take away their helmets. Make ANY contact outside the are between the mid-thighs and the chest illegal (eject them, if you have to). Teach it at the youngest levels.

Get the head entirely out of the game.


Do what has to be done, for thr sake of saving football.

Unbolt the face masks. Try that first.

(03-17-2015 10:18 AM)No Bull Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 10:04 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

The brain is supposed to move around inside the head. That's a built-in cushion. Moving around is not an injury.

A concussion is a brain injury, that should heal properly if you're an adult and given the proper time to recover. However, young peoples' brains don't heal the same way. That's one thing. The other thing is what happens when the brain has to heal from concussion multiple times.

And then on the other hand, I had heard of some evidence that hard hits are cumulative, even if they didn't result in an actual concussion. Can't exactly recall and don't have time to dig for it.


But to say something like "no matter what we do, the brains of these players will experience higher than normal forces - therefore we shouldn't do anything" is ridiculous.

small concusive blows cannot be stopped. The brain bouncing off the inside of the skull when a player is tackled or bounces off the field cannot really be limitied.

You can stop headhunting (big illegal hits) and the sport has in large part done this. You can limit practices. You can follow concussion protocals... all of these steps have been done...but football is still dangerous to the humna brain.

BTW: CTE research is in it's infancy. Cause and effect are presumed but at this point unproven.


I will stand by what i said. No helmet, mouthguard, or "uniform" can protect the brain from bouning off the inside of a skull...

Society will either have to accept the price that football exacts from it's participants or if CTE is proven to is proven to cause dementia...we must hope for a medical solution..the eliminates or reduces plaques from the brain.

.......or football goes the way of gladiator contests in the ancient Roman Coliseum. That is an option, too.

It is a sport, an entertainment. It is not necessary for the survival of civilization.

(03-17-2015 11:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  This guy and Jake locker are worrisome.

http://www.businessinsider.com/jake-lock...ad-2014-10

This hit caused him to think he had gone blind.

(03-17-2015 11:26 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 10:18 AM)No Bull Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 10:04 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

The brain is supposed to move around inside the head. That's a built-in cushion. Moving around is not an injury.

A concussion is a brain injury, that should heal properly if you're an adult and given the proper time to recover. However, young peoples' brains don't heal the same way. That's one thing. The other thing is what happens when the brain has to heal from concussion multiple times.

And then on the other hand, I had heard of some evidence that hard hits are cumulative, even if they didn't result in an actual concussion. Can't exactly recall and don't have time to dig for it.


But to say something like "no matter what we do, the brains of these players will experience higher than normal forces - therefore we shouldn't do anything" is ridiculous.

small concusive blows cannot be stopped. The brain bouncing off the inside of the skull when a player is tackled or bounces off the field cannot really be limitied.

You can stop headhunting (big illegal hits) and the sport has in large part done this. You can limit practices. You can follow concussion protocals... all of these steps have been done...but football is still dangerous to the humna brain.

BTW: CTE research is in it's infancy. Cause and effect are presumed but at this point unproven.


I will stand by what i said. No helmet, mouthguard, or "uniform" can protect the brain from bouning off the inside of a skull...

Society will either have to accept the price that football exacts from it's participants or if CTE is proven to is proven to cause dementia...we must hope for a medical solution..that eliminates or reduces plaques from the brain.

.......or football goes the way of gladiator contests in the ancient Roman Coliseum. That is an option, too.

It is a sport, an entertainment. It is not necessary for the survival of civilization.

I meant as football fans we have to hope for a solution.

(03-17-2015 10:18 AM)No Bull Wrote:  small concusive blows cannot be stopped. The brain bouncing off the inside of the skull when a player is tackled or bounces off the field cannot really be limitied.

You can stop headhunting (big illegal hits) and the sport has in large part done this. You can limit practices. You can follow concussion protocals... all of these steps have been done...but football is still dangerous to the humna brain.

BTW: CTE research is in it's infancy. Cause and effect are presumed but at this point unproven.


I will stand by what i said. No helmet, mouthguard, or "uniform" can protect the brain from bouning off the inside of a skull...

Society will either have to accept the price that football exacts from it's participants or if CTE is proven to is proven to cause dementia...we must hope for a medical solution..the eliminates or reduces plaques from the brain.

What is a "small concussive blow"?

Every time a person moves their head, their brain technically bounces off the inside of their skull. That's simple physics.

As far as I know, there has to be a brain bruise for a concussion to have occurred. Of course, it's possible for a "hard" hit without a bruise and I wouldn't be surprised of the cumulative effect of several hard hits could amount to chronic symptoms equivalent to a few concussions, particularly if the hard hits occurred on an adolescent brain.


So once more, for you to say that it's hopeless is ridiculous. The game of football can be played in such a way that even the most bone-jarring hits do not come close to surpassing the brain bruising threshold of head forces.

We have to teach young kids that their helmet is not a weapon. We have to teach that that tackles and blocks may only be made from the mid-thigh to the chest and that breaking that rule results in an ejection.

(03-17-2015 10:04 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

The brain is supposed to move around inside the head. That's a built-in cushion. Moving around is not an injury.

A concussion is a brain injury, that should heal properly if you're an adult and given the proper time to recover. However, young peoples' brains don't heal the same way. That's one thing. The other thing is what happens when the brain has to heal from concussion multiple times.

And then on the other hand, I had heard of some evidence that hard hits are cumulative, even if they didn't result in an actual concussion. Can't exactly recall and don't have time to dig for it.


But to say something like "no matter what we do, the brains of these players will experience higher than normal forces - therefore we shouldn't do anything" is ridiculous.

Concussions are caused by the brain shaking around in the head.

No helmets means more deaths from skull fractures. They added helmets for a reason. Helmets have been designed with that in mind, not concussions. Now there are some new designs that somewhat reduce the risk of concussions.

(03-17-2015 01:21 PM)bullet Wrote:  Concussions are caused by the brain shaking around in the head.

No helmets means more deaths from skull fractures. They added helmets for a reason. Helmets have been designed with that in mind, not concussions. Now there are some new designs that somewhat reduce the risk of concussions.

Chicken and the egg.

Hard helmets have perhaps prevented skull fracture, but they've enabled multiple generations of football players using the helmet as a weapon. Soft helmets (or no helmets) disable that way of playing the game (except for the truly insane, I suppose - and those can be ejected or outright banned from the game), but they technically leave open the possibility of skull fracture.

As barbaric as it may seem, I'm going with the later. And I'm using rugby as my evidence. How many rugby players die from skull fracture?

(03-17-2015 10:18 AM)No Bull Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 10:04 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 09:33 AM)No Bull Wrote:  several things. The dude did not have a concussion problem... he walked away because of studies he had read.

second. no football helmet or uniform can solve or even significantly improve the amount of brain injuries. Hell the field could be made up of Nerf and there would still be a problem...becuase the brain moves inside of the skull....

This guy and Jake locker are worrisome. There actions could portend a trend. Willis retired because he has bad wheels and no surgery could correct his feet and chronic pain. Worilds has said that he had a religious awakening and has not commented on his health or any concerns he may of may not have had.

Football has had much bad press regaring brain injury... are the Locker and Borland a begining of a trend? Is this the begining of a trend? Are these two fellas quiters? Too soon to tell.

In some ways football is bigger than ever...more money...higher tv ratings... but this kind of thing really feells ominous for the future of tackle football.

The brain is supposed to move around inside the head. That's a built-in cushion. Moving around is not an injury.

A concussion is a brain injury, that should heal properly if you're an adult and given the proper time to recover. However, young peoples' brains don't heal the same way. That's one thing. The other thing is what happens when the brain has to heal from concussion multiple times.

And then on the other hand, I had heard of some evidence that hard hits are cumulative, even if they didn't result in an actual concussion. Can't exactly recall and don't have time to dig for it.


But to say something like "no matter what we do, the brains of these players will experience higher than normal forces - therefore we shouldn't do anything" is ridiculous.

small concusive blows cannot be stopped. The brain bouncing off the inside of the skull when a player is tackled or bounces off the field cannot really be limitied.

You can stop headhunting (big illegal hits) and the sport has in large part done this. You can limit practices. You can follow concussion protocals... all of these steps have been done...but football is still dangerous to the humna brain.

BTW: CTE research is in it's infancy. Cause and effect are presumed but at this point unproven.


I will stand by what i said. No helmet, mouthguard, or "uniform" can protect the brain from bouning off the inside of a skull...

Society will either have to accept the price that football exacts from it's participants or if CTE is proven to is proven to cause dementia...we must hope for a medical solution..the eliminates or reduces plaques from the brain.

I think you make some good and valid points. The question I have is I look at other codes of football such as rugby union, rugby league, australian rules, all tough and 'violent' games to a similar degree that football is yet they dont seem to have the same problems as the NF (yah concussions are a concern in those sports, but you don't hear about rugby players committing suicide, but then again maybe it odes happen).

The only things that I can think of that makes those games safer from a head injury is little to no protective gear (no false sense of security), a lot more open play, and different tackling techniques. But all three are just assumptions I am coming with off the top of my head.