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Some of the most refreshing coverage I've heard of football, the NFL, and even CTE has surprisingly come from Freakonomics (the podcast). They had an episode co

Some of the most refreshing coverage I've heard of football, the NFL, and even CTE has surprisingly come from Freakonomics (the podcast). They had an episode covering CTE [0] entitled "How Much Brain Damage Do I Have?" that was sparked by Brian Urschel withdrawing from the NFL after a CTE study came out. Recently, they did an entire series on athletes, and their full interview with Dominique Foxworth [1] was also enlightening from a business / incentive perspective. He's a former player, and former COO of the Player's Union. One thing that gets lost in all of the discussion of the NFL are the vast majority of former players who were amateur (although it is debatable if NCAA players are amateurs), who are likely to experience a similar result as NFL players, but without the enormous cash-generating machine or potential future settlement money. [0] - http://freakonomics.com/podcast/brain-damage/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/brain-damage/ [1] - http://freakonomics.com/podcast/domonique-foxworth/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/domonique-foxworth/

bardam 8y ago
Also of interest, Malcolm Galdwell's podcast* "Revisionist History" had an excellent episode on CTE in football. He made an analogy to smoking. Evidence had long suggested that smoking was dangerous, but it was only that -- evidence, not hard proof. Evidence continued to pile up, but so did the counter evidence (primarily from tobacco firms and those they funded). At what point do we say -- OK, maybe the evidence isn't 100%, but isn't there enough evidence to suggest something is wrong? * http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/22-burden-of-proof http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/22-burden-of-proof
- minikites 8y ago
  >the counter evidence (primarily from tobacco firms and those they funded) One of those that they funded was Malcolm Gladwell himself: https://shameproject.com/profile/malcolm-gladwell-2/ https://shameproject.com/profile/malcolm-gladwell-2/

bardam 8y ago

Also of interest, Malcolm Galdwell's podcast* "Revisionist History" had an excellent episode on CTE in football. He made an analogy to smoking. Evidence had long suggested that smoking was dangerous, but it was only that -- evidence, not hard proof. Evidence continued to pile up, but so did the counter evidence (primarily from tobacco firms and those they funded). At what point do we say -- OK, maybe the evidence isn't 100%, but isn't there enough evidence to suggest something is wrong? * http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/22-burden-of-proof http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/22-burden-of-proof

minikites 8y ago
>the counter evidence (primarily from tobacco firms and those they funded) One of those that they funded was Malcolm Gladwell himself: https://shameproject.com/profile/malcolm-gladwell-2/ https://shameproject.com/profile/malcolm-gladwell-2/