This is from today's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/sport ... odayspaper

Apparently, Probert had the same condition that has been found in over 20 dead ex-NFL players. Whether this was because of his role as enforcer or because of brain trauma from the routine collisions hockey players experience is unknown. This is not good news for hockey players or for hockey fans that love fighting.

I love fighting in hockey. If it's proven that fighting in hockey is a cause of the encephalopathy that Probert and other hockey players have suffered, then I would gladly do without fighting in my favorite sport.

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mechaphil

I'd be very interested to see a study done on MMA fighters and professional boxers.

As for the topic, I'm with Phil. I'm a big fan of watching a good scrap on the ice, but if it is the cause of guys developing this condition, I can do without it.

Coupled with the puck he took to his melon in 2003, ultimately leading to his retirement the following season, I'd be interested to see Scott Stevens' brain. With him dishing out all those bone crushing hits he has delivered and have received over the course of his career, you'd have to think this type of thing would or could be found in him as well.

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy

Boxers, actually, were the first athletes to have tau spots discovered on their brains due to CTE. The research hasn't been done on MMA yet as in-depth as it had been done on boxing, but from a number of experts, MMA is supposed to be safer than boxing. My question is, how much safer is it? Dead spots in the brain are still dead spots.

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mechaphil

Seems like a kick to the head could do WAAAAAAAY more damage than a punch (or at least I should say, has the potential to do more), so I find it very hard to believe that MMA could somehow be safer than boxing.

That's why I question the reports myself

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mechaphil

Totally. Doesn't matter how many dead spots there are, the fact there are dead spots at all because of the sport should be enough to raise a flag.

It's weird because I was having this same talk about concussions and boxers/mma fighters becoming "Punch Drunk" with a bud of mine the other week. He is into the mma style and is of the sort that if you want to get into it, you have to be prepared for the outcome. Good or bad. Basically, if you want to participate you have to be willing to take the risk of getting hit. I dunno, I still don't think it makes it anymore OK or less of an issue because it isn't considered one of the big-4 of sports.

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy

To get back to hockey, Probert's wife is quoted in the article as saying she believes it was not the fighting that killed him, but the normal playing of the game with its checks and hits. What do you all think, would we not have heard many stories of former hockey players having severe mental problems later in life? Certainly Terry Sawchuck's story seems to jive with this information somewhat, but a goalie might have to be put into a different category.

Most research done into this re: hockey talks more about the blindside hits than the legal hits. The NHL claims they're doing work to eliminate blindside hits to the head, but until they remove all hits to the head, it's gonna continue to be an issue.

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mechaphil

The Times did a follow-up story today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/sport ... odayspaper

This one is mainly a series of statements from Donald Brashear, saying that he thinks fighting is not the main cause of his current memory problems, and that very few of his multiple concussions were caused by fights.

Razor is quoted in the article as well for people who need some sort of Sabres-connection to be interested.

I just watched a boxing match from Germany last night, and in the 10th round the champ took a left hook which stunned him. After being stunned the other guy hit him with at least 20 huge, head-snapping shots, and he didn't go down. I'm sure this isn't the first time it happened to him, because he was the champ, and a big fan favorite. If this guys head can take that beating with no long-term effects, I can't see how a hockey enforcer could take any worse of a punishment, besides the facts his head hits the ice from time to time.

But you don't know what the long term effects will be. It just happened last night. As was mentioned earlier in the thread, we've known about the effects of long term boxing for quite a while, that's where the expression "punch-drunk" comes from.

Boxing is older than dirt, and it used to be FARRRR more violent. If they want to do long-term studies, there's no shortage of candidates.