NFL and pain: Fleeting glory, bodies past repair

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vi...166658046.html

NFL and pain: Fleeting glory, bodies past repair

Article by: DAN WIEDERER , Star Tribune

Updated: August 22, 2012 - 6:51 AM

" For years, players under pressure to play have taken painkillers. The repercussions have set off alarms in the NFL."


" The ending came quietly.

On New Year's Day, after 13 seasons, Jim Kleinsasser played his final NFL game, spending the three last hours plowing into whatever defenders got in his way.

The Vikings tight end never touched the ball. He simply did what he'd been conditioned to do over the 181 games of his career: Sacrifice his body for the good of the team.

As part of that routine, before suiting up to be a battering ram, Kleinsasser took a pregame painkilling injection of the anti-inflammatory drug Toradol. "

Please click on the LINK above for an interesting article.

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The National Football League Players Association is pressuring the league to make changes to the game and its culture. Too many players, the union contends, are drifting toward drug misuse and abuse to stay on the field. It also wants players to be better educated by team doctors and trainers on the potential consequences of the painkilling drugs they often receive in the locker room.

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That's interesting because the most vocal lamentations over the changes in the game seem to come from players.

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Originally Posted by denverYooper

That's interesting because the most vocal lamentations over the changes in the game seem to come from players.

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EGO often exceeds common sense. That's certainly true when it comes to professional sports.

It's about now ..... and competition and remaining employed.

Something I have to remind myself of is that these guys really are just kids. 23, tops coming into the League. How many of us were thinking past age 30 when we were in our 20's? Not me. The current players of any era are too young, too involved, too deep in the moment and, as Woody touched on, too egocentric to be thinking in terms of "How is this going to effect me when I am 45?"

Well written article. I doesn't tells us anything we don't generally know, but does fill in some details. Especially poignant is the line about getting hurt on Sunday and five guys walking through the training room to workout at your position on Tuesday. I don't think there is an answer out there. It's a rough game, players are going to get hurt, teams need to put a team on the field. Guys don't want to get replaced. Add into that the need to win and these days more than ever, the money involved. It's beyond crazy.

While I buy that the long term effects of concussions are a surprise to many, I don't buy is the players not knowing the potential damage the painkillers can do to them. Everyone knows that pain is there for a good reason, and if you mask it you are taking chances. That applies from a simple aspirin to Oxycodone, and whatever the hell Toradol is.

Was there pressure applied? Sure, a lot. I can't even say 'there was no gun to your head' because I bet in many cases the players felt like the next thing to it. I used to work offshore, with guys making a couple times more money than they could elsewhere, and I've seen guys to some crazy things when their job was in jeopardy. Even years ago, the average NFL player was earning at least 4-5 times what he could elsewhere.

On a scary note, other than Toradol and Ambien, I think I, and many others here, have taken everything they mention in the article! If those are the drugs that are doing damage, it's a scary thought.

Sorry, this is BS. Of course guys in the NFL take things to deal with pain, its a hitting sport. Back in High School we took Excedrin after games. In college we got our hands on prednisone to knock out the inflammation and be able to practice. Guys getting paid millions (or a league minimum 400k) are going to take shit to get on the field. If the team doesn't monitor it, they will take it illegally. Factory workers take pain pills for bad backs, desk workers take happy pills to get through the doldrums, the list goes on. Yes, its a violent sport, they are paid well, and availability is important. Joe Horn and others should drop the lawsuit, they knew fully well that getting shots and playing through pain had negative side effects. They are (or should be) rich. They can now afford the best medical in the world to stay healthy and get through it in their golden years which start around 35 for NFL players.

I don't advocate dangerous work conditions, but this isn't a guy going into a coal mine and risking life to feed the family here. Fuck, whats next, boxers suing the governing bodies because they took head shots and didn't know it was bad for them??

great post bobble, i couldn't agree more, with all of it

blue collar workers like me have to take shit every day just to go to our shit jobs and make our pennies and probably end up dead before we can retire

fuck these crybabies that make millions and get to retire at 30 or 35

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Originally Posted by red

great post bobble, i couldn't agree more, with all of it

blue collar workers like me have to take shit every day just to go to our shit jobs and make our pennies and probably end up dead before we can retire

fuck these crybabies that make millions and get to retire at 30 or 35

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I agree with part of what you're saying - and a great example is the Packers...not the NFL team, actual meat packers.

But the other side of that, the millionaire players, is that the billionaire owners have the money there to take care of the guys that made it for them, and could've done a much better job of protecting them.

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Originally Posted by Guiness

I agree with part of what you're saying - and a great example is the Packers...not the NFL team, actual meat packers.

But the other side of that, the millionaire players, is that the billionaire owners have the money there to take care of the guys that made it for them, and could've done a much better job of protecting them.

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I agree that they should have done a better job a LONG time ago with pensions and post career medical. The days when players made shit. For players who started post 1980, they were well compensated and do have pensions and all the other goodies.

As for protecting them on the field, I disagree. Again, pre 1980, the play was too dirty, but in todays game they actually go to far protecting players. The game is getting diluted. If anyone is a fan of UFC, I see the NFL going that way. The sport won't be as pure. Like the UFC not allowing blows to the back of the neck or biting, the NFL should not allow blatant spearing or clothesline, but they are going to far with the "defenseless receiver" vague bullshit. Men go over the middle. They should not take chuck cecil head spear, but if they get sawed in half on a bang bang play I can't buy that its a penalty.

Fuck Joe Horn and his alligator arms, I want to watch men play a man's sport.

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Originally Posted by bobblehead

I agree that they should have done a better job a LONG time ago with pensions and post career medical. The days when players made shit. For players who started post 1980, they were well compensated and do have pensions and all the other goodies.

As for protecting them on the field, I disagree. Again, pre 1980, the play was too dirty, but in todays game they actually go to far protecting players. The game is getting diluted. If anyone is a fan of UFC, I see the NFL going that way. The sport won't be as pure. Like the UFC not allowing blows to the back of the neck or biting, the NFL should not allow blatant spearing or clothesline, but they are going to far with the "defenseless receiver" vague bullshit. Men go over the middle. They should not take chuck cecil head spear, but if they get sawed in half on a bang bang play I can't buy that its a penalty.

Fuck Joe Horn and his alligator arms, I want to watch men play a man's sport.

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Jakub from Glogow, Poland

Vic, there’s something wrong. In the documentary about the forward pass, experts talk about football of the future without running plays at all. This could really happen?

" When I look into my crystal ball, I see a game with a minimum of protective equipment being worn by its players. The helmet will all but be gone. Players will wear some kind of protective headgear that will sit on top of the head, a batting helmet without a visor, a bicycle helmet but smaller. Football players will appear as though they are soccer players, and it pains me to say that. They’ll wear shorts and high socks. Shoulder pads will be gone. Why all of this? Because somewhere along the line, the game will understand that the more you pad the body, the more you promote injury. Football is going to resemble the game we played in the backyard when we were kids, the one that always ended with two kids fighting and one of them crying. There was no running in those games; there was only passing. The game will survive because the game will find a way to survive. We need it. We can’t live without it. The problem right now is we can’t live with it the way it is. It must change and that change has not only been dramatic over the past few years, it’s going to become overwhelmingly dramatic over the next several decades. That’s what I see in my crystal ball. There are young readers of this column who will remember these words and will live long enough to know whether I was right or wrong in my vision. I’d like to know. I’d like to know what happened to the game I loved. If you see me in an after place, please tell me. Until then, don’t forget “Ask Vic Halftime” this Sunday."

CLICK on the LINK above:

Some more interesting question that include a question and answer RE: the importance of the Packer fan to the Green Bay Packers Front Office.

GO PACKERS !

Woody, Vic brings up something I have said for years. Only re: the helmet though. I think the better helmet you give them, the more head contact you get. I disagree with the bit about shoulder pads though. And more importantly if you put them back in leather helmets the run game thrives. Tackling a runner without a shell on your head is much harder and getting 5 yards a carry gets much easier.