Would you allow your son to play football?

[Popeye_Card]

I'm guessing that once the research is done hockey will fare even worse than football.

I don't think so (maybe I'm biased because I played). I think the collisions in football are more numerous and more violent.

I don't think it's a case of the "violence" of the collisions. Hockey has a lot of things working against it in addition to body checks. There are boards all around the rink that do not move when your head hits them. It is played on a slick, hard surface. So if you fall backwards and slam your head against it--boom, concussion. If you get knocked down at full speed and slam into the boards the wrong way, boom--concussion. There's also a lot more looking around in hockey. Much more of a chance to get blindsided. Much harder for a defender to veer out of the way to avoid a dangerous hit when a guy isn't looking. Finally, at full speed, you travel much faster on skates than you can running. I don't think the helmets have nearly as much padding either. They certainly don't fit as tight.

As crazy as it sounds, hockey players are "tougher" than football players are too. The bravado of going out there and playing through injury, especially in the playoffs, is even higher than it is in football.

All told, I'd rank hockey as a higher risk.

[Hungary Jack]

I'm guessing that once the research is done hockey will fare even worse than football.

I don't think so (maybe I'm biased because I played). I think the collisions in football are more numerous and more violent.

You are.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/sport ... sions.html

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2011/2/8/19 ... ic-lindros

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 153213.htm

I would never deny that hockey is risky, but I don't think this data shows that the concussion rate in hockey is the same as it is in football. The rates in both sports have obviously been underreported.

“Hockey, by the way, has a higher incidence of concussions than football,” Dr. Maroon told me. This is true of women’s college hockey, at least, which doesn’t even allow body-checking. (Women, in general, seem substantially more prone to concussions, and explanations vary, from weaker necks to a greater honesty in self-diagnosis.) And in December, 2009, Reggie Fleming, a New York Rangers defenseman in the nineteen-sixties who was known more for his fighting than for his scoring, became the first pro hockey player to be given a diagnosis of C.T.E. Hockey may now have a concussion crisis on its hands, with the N.H.L.’s best and most marketable player, Sidney Crosby, having been blindsided during the sport’s annual Winter Classic; attempting to play again, four days later, he was drilled into the boards, and he hasn’t played since. I play hockey twice a week myself, and was once concussed, or so I now believe, while skating outside, on a frozen pond, without a helmet.


Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011 ... z1EWO234ik

Noted: the quote is referring to women's hockey

Well, there it is. Thanks for sharing (and doing my homework). Looks like no hockey for Little Hungary, unless he follows his daddy's ice skates and becomes a goalie. Hopefully he's better than I was.

Thanks again.

[lukethedrifter]

Tell him I'm sorry.

[Hungary Jack]

Tell him I'm sorry.

LOL.

I'll show him a picture of Dave Duerson's brain.

[ducks]

[2nd Timer]

I have two friends from high school that still suffer from football-related concussions. Mike still lives at home and has the memory of a fish. His mother says he is in the early stages of dementia. His personality is noticeably different. Connor gets dizzy if he turns his head too fast and vomits almost every morning when he gets out of bed. He hasn't changed much save for a nasty alcohol habit he picked up.

Mike had 4-5 concussions and played offensive tackle. Only the last two were diagnosed.
Connor had 6 and played safety. Two were diagnosed.

[Hungary Jack]

That's terrible. How old are these guys now?

[clake]

What rules do they have now following a diagnosed concussion? Part of that has to be on the parents too but not letting a child participate in sports due to fear of concussions would pretty much limit you to cross country and tennis.

[2nd Timer]

That's terrible. How old are these guys now?

Mike is 22, Connor is 23.

Theres some sad stories. Mike graduated high school with calculus under his belt. His second week in college his math professor had sent him down to algebra level courses. His first week at college he walked the halls for hours because he couldn't remember the room number or why he was there.

[sighyoung]

That's awful.

[jim]

Yeah, let them play.