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Summary: a national football league player, and PhD in math from mit, John Urschel, abruptly retired 2 days after a study showing 99% of retired NFL players fro

Summary: a national football league player, and PhD in math from mit, John Urschel, abruptly retired 2 days after a study showing 99% of retired NFL players from a study group had chronic brain issues (Cte). This is right before training starts for the season. Edit: updates. Will point out that any summary is going to miss some facts as it's a summary. But I think people might be more likely to read the article if they could decipher the title. I like the Ravens and I assumed this was a cto of a game company yc startup who quit from the title.

gburt 9y ago
That same player is a PhD candidate in mathematics. I think that's important.
grasshopperpurp 9y ago
. . . a study showing 99% of NFL players had chronic brain issues (Cte)" This is not exactly true. The study required volunteers, and from what I understand, the families who volunteered already suspected brain damage, so it's not really a representative study. It's still very alarming, though.
- grogenaut 9y ago
  V0.0.2 to address your concerns. Still in alpha and peer review. Expecting public release soon.
- fasteddie 9y ago
  Totally agree. On the NYT article about the study: "But 110 positives remain significant scientific evidence of an N.F.L. player’s risk of developing C.T.E., which can be diagnosed only after death. About 1,300 former players have died since the B.U. group began examining brains. So even if every one of the other 1,200 players had tested negative — which even the heartiest skeptics would agree could not possibly be the case — the minimum C.T.E. prevalence would be close to 9 percent, vastly higher than in the general population." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/football/nfl-cte.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/footba...
ambulancechaser 9y ago
> a study showing 99% of NFL players had chronic brain issues (Cte) Just to quibble but I understood that the study revealed that 99% of the group inspected had CTE. The group was not intended to be cross-section of the general population of NFL players. Not to trivialize the results but I think you extended them beyond what they said.
- grogenaut 9y ago
  Fixed I think
- mikeash 9y ago
  The study was definitely not a representative sample. On the other hand, if it turns out that the sample was as biased as possible, such that every single player with CTE was in the study, that would still put the incidence at 9%, which is crazy high.
  - grogenaut 9y ago
    Having played football through college then aussie rules football for another 9 years I'd definitely like to see some numbers on things like that, recreational hockey, rugby, etc. Not sure how hard it would be to be checked myself. That said, according to my mom I was a complete ahole until I started playing football in 8th grade when I completely mellowed out and started focusing on somthing. Most other sports didn't click with me; I think I needed organized competitive team based wall punching to take out random teenage anger. It's just that maybe I would have taken up golf earlier :) So if the contact or a certain form of contact is the issue, lets either change football to not really have these risks or invent another sport. I mean they're all invented anyway.
    - chowells 9y ago
      The only current test for CTE is dissecting the brain. So for the time being, testing is limited to the dead. I wouldn't be in a rush to get checked.

gburt 9y ago

That same player is a PhD candidate in mathematics. I think that's important.

grasshopperpurp 9y ago

. . . a study showing 99% of NFL players had chronic brain issues (Cte)" This is not exactly true. The study required volunteers, and from what I understand, the families who volunteered already suspected brain damage, so it's not really a representative study. It's still very alarming, though.

grogenaut 9y ago
V0.0.2 to address your concerns. Still in alpha and peer review. Expecting public release soon.
fasteddie 9y ago
Totally agree. On the NYT article about the study: "But 110 positives remain significant scientific evidence of an N.F.L. player’s risk of developing C.T.E., which can be diagnosed only after death. About 1,300 former players have died since the B.U. group began examining brains. So even if every one of the other 1,200 players had tested negative — which even the heartiest skeptics would agree could not possibly be the case — the minimum C.T.E. prevalence would be close to 9 percent, vastly higher than in the general population." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/football/nfl-cte.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/footba...

ambulancechaser 9y ago

> a study showing 99% of NFL players had chronic brain issues (Cte) Just to quibble but I understood that the study revealed that 99% of the group inspected had CTE. The group was not intended to be cross-section of the general population of NFL players. Not to trivialize the results but I think you extended them beyond what they said.

grogenaut 9y ago
Fixed I think
mikeash 9y ago
The study was definitely not a representative sample. On the other hand, if it turns out that the sample was as biased as possible, such that every single player with CTE was in the study, that would still put the incidence at 9%, which is crazy high.
- grogenaut 9y ago
  Having played football through college then aussie rules football for another 9 years I'd definitely like to see some numbers on things like that, recreational hockey, rugby, etc. Not sure how hard it would be to be checked myself. That said, according to my mom I was a complete ahole until I started playing football in 8th grade when I completely mellowed out and started focusing on somthing. Most other sports didn't click with me; I think I needed organized competitive team based wall punching to take out random teenage anger. It's just that maybe I would have taken up golf earlier :) So if the contact or a certain form of contact is the issue, lets either change football to not really have these risks or invent another sport. I mean they're all invented anyway.
  - chowells 9y ago
    The only current test for CTE is dissecting the brain. So for the time being, testing is limited to the dead. I wouldn't be in a rush to get checked.