Ryan Swope

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Ryan Swope retires with concussion issues 7-25-13
Unreal.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...swope-cards-rookie-retires-due-to-concussions

Swope released a statement Thursday night through his representation, Rep1 Sports: "As a result of a concussion I suffered during OTAs, I was advised by doctors that there were serious risks in returning to play football at this point. It has been a lifelong dream to play in the NFL but my long-term health interests outweigh my current goals for football. Because of that, I am electing to retire from the game for now and then reassess my future after this season. In the meantime, I plan to return to Texas A&M to pursue my degree."

This is sad. Maybe he's taking a "medical redshirt" and can resume his career next year?
 

whiteathlete33

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Unreal.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...swope-cards-rookie-retires-due-to-concussions

Swope released a statement Thursday night through his representation, Rep1 Sports: "As a result of a concussion I suffered during OTAs, I was advised by doctors that there were serious risks in returning to play football at this point. It has been a lifelong dream to play in the NFL but my long-term health interests outweigh my current goals for football. Because of that, I am electing to retire from the game for now and then reassess my future after this season. In the meantime, I plan to return to Texas A&M to pursue my degree."

This is sad. Maybe he's taking a "medical redshirt" and can resume his career next year?

Incredible! With all the whites screwed over the years here we have one of the fastest, most athletic players in the league and his career is done before it even began. This time we can't even blame the DWF's and coaches.
 

Wes Woodhead

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Seems pretty damn fishy to me. Huge win for the propaganda pushers.
 

Carolina Speed

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Seems pretty damn fishy to me. Huge win for the propaganda pushers.


WW I agree, did I miss something, I can't find any information on just how many concussions Swope has had. Can anyone else here try and find out?

Every time this happens, there seems to be no accurate information these days. 20 - 25 years ago, they always said how many concussions a player had after his retirement, but now there seems to be more concern, but there's no confirmed data on what the heck is causing players to just up and retire!

I mean symptoms from his days in college? I've never heard of a concussion lingering for that length of time.
 

Carolina Speed

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WW I agree, did I miss something, I can't find any information on just how many concussions Swope has had. Can anyone else here try and find out?

Every time this happens, there seems to be no accurate information these days. 20 - 25 years ago, they always said how many concussions a player had after his retirement, but now there seems to be more concern, but there's no confirmed data on what the heck is causing players to just up and retire!

I mean symptoms from his days in college? I've never heard of a concussion lingering for that length of time.


Sorry guys, just read where it said he had 4 concussions in college. It's been a long day! I still don't understand the lengthy lingering effects.
 

bigunreal

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As I've noted before in the past, regarding other questionable injuries to white players, Ryan Swope's "retirement" strikes me as just another sports psy-op. As Don noted, just how did Swope get a concussion during OTAs? Aren't they non-contact? We had the mysterious comments earlier this year by Fitzgerald, but if Swope had a concussion during OTAs, why wasn't it ever reported?

None of this makes any sense. How could someone so plagued by concussion issues that he now has to abruptly retire, have a full, productive college career without missing time because of them? If anything, Swope's amazing, unprecedented ability to apparently play very well while being constantly concussed in college, indicates a miraculous brain that the NFL should have been drooling over. At the very least, he should be studied by medical science.

Seriously, how can anyone accept this as being a real situation? Is the Caste System so threatened by another potential white NFL starting WR that they need to invent this nonsense? Somewhere, is Mike Mayock saying "I told you so?"

It would be fascinating to get players like Swope to talk, that have been screwed over so royally by the Caste System. Their stories would certainly make an interesting book.
 
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Bizarre, to say the least. Why was Texas A&M letting him compete, if he was so damaged? He never even missed any time. Something smells here. Either Texas A&M lets players compete who have no business being on the field, or something is rotten in the State of Denmark.
 

backrow

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That's a huge blow. I didn't see it coming. One down and such a promising player at that..
 

Quiet Speed

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Is this a railroad job? Who knows? I sure would like to see something more concrete than has been publicized. Most here are rational, but we have to accept there is an irrational hate for White people. Along with that, we live in a time of universal deceit, one big lie after another, manipulations galore, phony birth certificates, magical elections, indestructible passports from 911, concocted news stories (Trayvon Martin), USS Liberty, bogus WMDs, NSA ease dropping, Hollywood agendas, Ponzi schemes, and on and on. I have a good dose of skepticism for what has taken place.
 

backrow

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for what's it worth, i don't think it's a conspiracy. they couldn't force him to retire like that. maybe there's been some pressure but then again, why would they draft him to begin with?

he must have had those multiple concussions and even if he played through them, either this last case was the straw that broke the camel's back, from a medical standpoint or simply he realized that he would be a huge target for the head hunters and didn't want to deal with a potential serious, lingering issue.
 

Wes Woodhead

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Why would they draft him to begin with?

Good question. Why would the Rams draft B.Leonard? Why would the chargers draft J. Hester? Why did the Vikings draft T. Gerhart? Why did the Broncos draft T. Tebow?

Seems to me like all these guys were drafted to insure that they wouldnt see optimal playing time. The real question I ask myself is this. How can anyone trust the NFL at all anymore?
 

backrow

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Good question. Why would the Rams draft B.Leonard? Why would the chargers draft J. Hester? Why did the Vikings draft T. Gerhart? Why did the Broncos draft T. Tebow?

Seems to me like all these guys were drafted to insure that they wouldnt see optimal playing time. The real question I ask myself is this. How can anyone trust the NFL at all anymore?

all of those teams had a legitimate reason to draft these guys. Leonard was Jackson's backup first year, Gerhart came in handy for Vikings, Hester was always a tweener in the NFL. Tebow played under old regime and managed to do very well. Manning came later.

however in this case, Swope got drafted late, if they wanted to, they could have just let him sit there as an UFA, considering he had concussion history. wouldn't that be easier?
 

dwid

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for what's it worth, i don't think it's a conspiracy. they couldn't force him to retire like that. maybe there's been some pressure but then again, why would they draft him to begin with?

he must have had those multiple concussions and even if he played through them, either this last case was the straw that broke the camel's back, from a medical standpoint or simply he realized that he would be a huge target for the head hunters and didn't want to deal with a potential serious, lingering issue.
Money, they could have offered him money. The NFL has tons of it. Told him his low chances of making the team and staying in the league, had team doctors telling he would be drooling on himself by the time he is in his late 30's not being able to remember anything with one more hit. Telling him he will be a positive role model for those young kids that keep trying to go and play with concussion issues etc.

Hester was seen as a rb that could occasionally line up at fullback, but not a full time fb because of size. People forgot he could run by the time LT was gone and then Tolbert, who was a fullback, got the carries. When he first came out, even the drunkest white fans knew he could run the ball, having ran for 1k in "the best conference ever" winning a national title. It just couldn't be justified giving him the ball over a proven LT in his prime. There was one game though, dwfs should have woken up. A playoff game against the Steelers, LT refused to play even though medically cleared, Phillip Rivers played without an ACL. Sproles was getting shut down by a tough run defense. 0 carries for Hester.

as far as the other guys, none of the top guys really has a legitimate back up like a Gerhart. Maurice Jones Drew had Rashad Jennings for a long time, maybe they bring in a more capable guy with his foot injury but AP is young. Steven Jackson didn't have any legitimate backups besides Leonard if I recall, and they are still looking to fill the void. Only the Texans have Ben Tate to back up Arian Foster. And that is the question, why did the Texans wuss out and trade back when they could have gotten Gerhart? At the time, they had no proven backs with Steve Slaton declining. They had the chance to grab Gerhart but traded back, got Ben Tate. Tate comes in and injures his knee during training camp, put on IR, Arian Foster, an UDFA emerges. Ben Tate comes back his 2nd year and gets a decent amount of carries, more than Gerhart has gotten in any year. But their coach worked for Shanahan and has mastered the zone blocking scheme, where its kind of plug and play for backs, so having a legitimate backup isn't the same imo.

Doak Walker award winners usually get a chance to prove themselves (except Luke Staley) even the plodding Shonn Greene has gotten plenty of chances, I think a career long of 36. Where is McFadden's back up plan? Marcel Reece? the fullback? This is a team that should have picked up Hillis as a FA. Look at the teams that drafted backs high, it was all for need. Broncos had no one, unless you want to hope that Moreno breaks out after several years of mediocrity. Packers drafted Eddie Lacy, no main back there.

Chris Johnson had Lendale White, but once proven he could carry a full workload, and White showed how lazy he was, they have Javon Ringer backing him up? who has shown nothing when Johnson has gone down. They aren't drafting any top backs for insurance. They finally brought in the plodding Shonn Greene because they realized that Johnson is never going to get tough yards and only can run with big holes. Greene has proved he isn't an every down back, with many years to prove that he could be.
 
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bigunreal

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No black RB of Gerhart's caliber (should have won the Heisman Trophy) has ever been drafted high by a team that had the best young RB in the game. That pick made zero sense from any standpoint, except the standpoint of being orchestrated for this white RB to go to a team that couldn't be pressured to play him. The same thing happened to the two previous high profile white college RBs- Hester and Leonard. In both cases, again a high pick was totally wasted on a player that would never be allowed to play, because both teams had a young stud at that position.

The whole Swope story doesn't hold up. In pre-draft analysis, here and in the msm, not a single word was ever mentioned about Swope's concussion problems. Not until Mike Mayhock talked about it, did any of us have any inkling this was an issue. This is why Swope was projected to go much higher in the draft. You can bet, if he'd had all these college concussions, that he would not have been projected high, and it would most certainly have been mentioned prominently in any msm article about him.

And I still want to know how a player got a concussion in non-contact OTAs. And even more curiously, why it was never reported. I guess the league took a second look at the number of white WRs and found they had exceeded their quota.

Meanwhile, Austin Collie continues to go unsigned, while Braylon Edwards (!) is now a projected starter for the putrid Jets. As an awful, forgotten comedian was fond of saying, "What a country!"
 

Wes Woodhead

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No black RB of Gerhart's caliber (should have won the Heisman Trophy) has ever been drafted high by a team that had the best young RB in the game. That pick made zero sense from any standpoint, except the standpoint of being orchestrated for this white RB to go to a team that couldn't be pressured to play him. The same thing happened to the two previous high profile white college RBs- Hester and Leonard. In both cases, again a high pick was totally wasted on a player that would never be allowed to play, because both teams had a young stud at that position.

To me this situation is absolute proof of some level of "conspiracy". Throw on top of the Leonard/Hester/Gerhart situation the fact that Line, and Burkhead both went to teams who already have stud white RBs. Its really quite clear that this crap is orchestrated.
 

Don Wassall

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Weenieworld has come up with this explanation, which sounds awfully lame to me. Just diving for a catch caused Swope to have a concussion -- after not missing any games his last three seasons at A&M??? This whole thing has a strong stench about it. I'm wondering if Swope wasn't rejected by his defensive "teammates," much like what happened to Danny Farmer after the Steelers drafted him in the 4th round in 2000. Farmer was projected to go in the first or second round after a record setting career at UCLA until being injured his senior season. He initially received good press in Pittsburgh after being drafted, until one day there was a huge picture in the sports section of CB Chad Scott punching him. Scott was the player who ended Patrick Jeffers' career that same preseason after he hit Jeffers in the knee in a preseason game following Jeffers' brilliant 1999 season. Bill Cowher and the Pittsburgh media did an instant 180 on Farmer, and he ended up being cut, the highest drafted player that year to be cut during training camp, and of course he was screwed regularly thereafter by other NFL teams. Swope may also have been similarly "rejected" by his "teammates."


From Weenieworld: Retired ex-Cardinals WR Ryan Swope suffered a fifth concussion at OTAs when he "dove to make a catch and hit his head in the process." Swope suffered four concussions at Texas A&M. Symptoms lingered from the fifth, and Swope hung up his cleats just as camp opened. Swope is leaving the door open for an eventual return, pursuing his college degree in 2013. In 2014, Swope plans to "evaluate his options." The Cards will keep his rights.
 

Freethinker

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No black RB of Gerhart's caliber (should have won the Heisman Trophy) has ever been drafted high by a team that had the best young RB in the game. That pick made zero sense from any standpoint, except the standpoint of being orchestrated for this white RB to go to a team that couldn't be pressured to play him. The same thing happened to the two previous high profile white college RBs- Hester and Leonard. In both cases, again a high pick was totally wasted on a player that would never be allowed to play, because both teams had a young stud at that position.

The whole Swope story doesn't hold up. In pre-draft analysis, here and in the msm, not a single word was ever mentioned about Swope's concussion problems. Not until Mike Mayhock talked about it, did any of us have any inkling this was an issue. This is why Swope was projected to go much higher in the draft. You can bet, if he'd had all these college concussions, that he would not have been projected high, and it would most certainly have been mentioned prominently in any msm article about him.

And I still want to know how a player got a concussion in non-contact OTAs. And even more curiously, why it was never reported. I guess the league took a second look at the number of white WRs and found they had exceeded their quota.

Meanwhile, Austin Collie continues to go unsigned, while Braylon Edwards (!) is now a projected starter for the putrid Jets. As an awful, forgotten comedian was fond of saying, "What a country!"
bigunreal, it's no secret that I am a fan of your posts and writing style. This one is no exception. What has happened to Swope, from our perspective, is tragic. In addition to his elite athletic abilities, which we've talked about repeatedly, Swope also had the attitude or bravado that is needed for a White guy to succeed in the NFL. These concussions, whether real or manufactured, are robbing him of a lucrative career and us of a little more joy in a nearly joyless league. And your question about the "set back" during the OTAs is a great one that I doubt we'll ever get an answer to.

We gotta remember the NFL is an entertainment corporation posing as a meritocratic, color-blind sports league. The lemmings are entertained therefore business is good. The questions regarding Swope, White running backs going to teams that will under-use them, the static number of Whites drafted year after year, etc that we ask here are logical, well researched and deserve a serious public discussion. But can we imagine these conversations going on anywhere else but here? Picture 2 DWFs sitting at a bar watching the Vikings' game discussing why the least needy running back team would draft the top college back, rarely use him and could it be conspiratorial? Absurd, I know.

Unfortunately, we are the outliers. That's why we'll be the only ones who care about Swope or Collie or Gerhart or Hester. We'll get mad and never go to another NFL game or purchase NFL merchandise but the PTB won't care. We haven't the numbers to force our questions answered. Being a voiceless minority in this battle sucks.

As for Collie getting passed over by the Jets, good. He could have actually helped them win a game or 2 and I don't care to see that. However, the Collie situation is nearly as frustrating as Swope's. Here's a guy who led the NFL in receiving 5 or 6 weeks into the season a few years back before injury. Wouldn't some team want to tap into that potential? Signing him is no risk. He'll accept any small salary and is willing to sign a medical waiver yet these liars use the concussions against him pretending they care about his long term health. "No it's not that he's White or lacks talent, you see we're concerned about this chaps health and we know best. See how compassionate we are," they'll say.

Maybe we should never expect a fair shake again in this rotten country. Alot of people I know feel the same. After all, how foolish would we be when Eric Holder is the head of the Department of Justice.
 
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dwid

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They had to pay him off and make him sign something so he can't speak about what happened. A 5th concussion from diving for a catch? yeah right, what were they playing on concrete without helmets? I still can't verify the first two, when they happened. The 3rd happened while he was playing, and he came back into the game to make several more catches. Only one he was taken out of the game for, and did testing the next day and it turned out it wasn't that serious. They were playing a small team, if it were a bigger opponent he probably would've stayed in. He came back the next week and put up 10 catches against LSU. The "3rd one" vaguely talks about a head hit a year before, but nothing on the "1st one". I've never seen him take a hit like Jahvid Best.

IF he didn't sign anything, he could cause the NFL a lot of trouble, because what most probably happened was a hit to the head, either intentional or not, during a period that was not supposed to involve any contact. Its one thing for linemen to get into it during no contact drills but a wr getting hit is a totally different story.
 

whiteathlete33

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bigunreal, it's no secret that I am a fan of your posts and writing style. This one is no exception. What has happened to Swope, from our perspective, is tragic. In addition to his elite athletic abilities, which we've talked about repeatedly, Swope also had the attitude or bravado that is needed for a White guy to succeed in the NFL. These concussions, whether real or manufactured, are robbing him of a lucrative career and us of a little more joy in a nearly joyless league. And your question about the "set back" during the OTAs is a great one that I doubt we'll ever get an answer to.

We gotta remember the NFL is an entertainment corporation posing as a meritocratic, color-blind sports league. The lemmings are entertained therefore business is good. The questions regarding Swope, White running backs going to teams that will under-use them, the static number of Whites drafted year after year, etc that we ask here are logical, well researched and deserve a serious public discussion. But can we imagine these conversations going on anywhere else but here? Picture 2 DWFs sitting at a bar watching the Vikings' game discussing why the least needy running back team would draft the top college back, rarely use him and could it be conspiratorial? Absurd, I know.

Unfortunately, we are the outliers. That's why we'll be the only ones who care about Swope or Collie or Gerhart or Hester. We'll get mad and never go to another NFL game or purchase NFL merchandise but the PTB won't care. We haven't the numbers to force our questions answered. Being a voiceless minority in this battle sucks.

As for Collie getting passed over by the Jets, good. He could have actually helped them win a game or 2 and I don't care to see that. However, the Collie situation is nearly as frustrating as Swope's. Here's a guy who led the NFL in receiving 5 or 6 weeks into the season a few years back before injury. Wouldn't some team want to tap into that potential? Signing him is no risk. He'll accept any small salary and is willing to sign a medical waiver yet these liars use the concussions against him pretending they care about his long term health. "No it's not that he's White or lacks talent, you see we're concerned about this chaps health and we know best. See how compassionate we are," they'll say.

Maybe we should never expect a fair shake again in this rotten country. Alot of people I know feel the same. After all, how foolish would we be when Eric Holder is the head of the Department of Justice.

I'll second that. Bigunreal has a way with words. I don't always agree with his thoughts but we can't deny that he's a great poster.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Yep, this situation, as several others seems to be organized on some level. Just too many similar things are happening around the league for me to honestly quote Bill "Bojangles" Robinson when he said "this sure is what I call a co-in-side-ense." Shameful that these kinds of things are happening, but I think it is a clear sign that the caste masters are becoming more bold in their attacks against our kind.
 

jaxvid

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Something sure seems suspicious concerning concussions and how they are effecting White players. I believe it may be less a case of explicit prejudice against White players and more of an implicit bias. First consider the diagnosis of a concussion or post-concussion syndrome. There is not a test such as MRI or CT scan that is used to determine if a player has a problem. If there was even the slightest positive measure from one of those types of tests then that player would not see the inside of a locker room let alone the playing field.

What is used instead is a detailed series of questions to quiz the player on whether they are having an issue of memory, head pain, or behavior change, that would indicate some problem. Also tests of memory, and balance are performed, and compared with "normal" tests.

Here is where I see the problem that may result in test results for White players vs. black players. One may consider that black players may be more likely to lie to doctors. I don't know if this is true, nor do I especially think that it may be the case, all players are highly competitive and motivated to lie to keep playing. So while there may be some that would make a case that the typical NFL White player, who we often criticize for being too "good", (ie boyscouts, etc.) may be overly honest in this regard, it's not an open and shut case.

We do know however that White players generally outscore black players in the Wonderlic scores by large margins and so can assume that the average White player, like the average White person, is going to score higher on aptitude tests. So it is much more likely, in my opinion, that post concussion tests that measure for example, memory-which is very correlated to IQ-- would have the possibility of showing a greater drop off for someone that has previously scored high on tests, then for someone that has already basically scored at the very low level on tests.

In other words for many black players how much worse could their test results be when we know for a fact that their starting point in such tests is already at a low, sometimes extremely low, level?

There is also the idea that I have seen discussed in many places that there are significant differences between the brains of Whites and blacks and that an "expert" can merely look at brain tissue and see the difference. I also know that this is disputed, and that there is no way to know if it is true because it is absolutely the most horrible hate crime imaginable for someone to even mention the possibility that there is any difference what so ever. So if the "experts" won't say, how would anyone else know for sure?

However medical professionals have to deal in the real world and since they are protected by patient-doctor non-disclosure policies it may be very likely that they are seeing things on brain scans and MRI's that they would never, even under extreme pressure, mention to the media. And if there are significant differences that show up between White and black players we would never know except that one group may be treated differently in matters of concussion policy by the league.

What we do know though, is that it seems that receivers, especially, are being effected by this policy. This seems a bit counter intuitive when you consider that receivers probably experience less contact then any other position. Look at lineman that are lined up head to head and the crash of helmets that occurs on every single play. And yet it's the guys that go out an 90% of the time run down the field with little to no contact that are unable to play?

An argument could be made that because receivers are running and are exposed that they are the prime target for concussions but I think that would make it more likely that the all black secondary would be at even higher risk as they are subject to both the passing and running game contact.

For sure though singling out receivers has the possibility to effect the modest gains that White players have made at that position in recent years. There are virtually NO White running backs but there are SOME White receivers. Furthermore if the receiver position is seen as the most risky, then the "Welker" position, i.e. sure handed White guy playing in the slot and going over the middle, is at the highest risk of all.

Thus if the issue of concussions plays out as described above then the effect is sure to be a reversal of the momentum of White players at the only ball handling position that could even be mildly described as somewhat, a tiny bit, White-friendly. I think it's obvious that any fan aware of the caste system should look upon this issue very suspiciously. Especially as it appears to be something that could possibly disproportionally effect White players.
 

Carolina Speed

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Something sure seems suspicious concerning concussions and how they are effecting White players. I believe it may be less a case of explicit prejudice against White players and more of an implicit bias. First consider the diagnosis of a concussion or post-concussion syndrome. There is not a test such as MRI or CT scan that is used to determine if a player has a problem. If there was even the slightest positive measure from one of those types of tests then that player would not see the inside of a locker room let alone the playing field.

What is used instead is a detailed series of questions to quiz the player on whether they are having an issue of memory, head pain, or behavior change, that would indicate some problem. Also tests of memory, and balance are performed, and compared with "normal" tests.

Here is where I see the problem that may result in test results for White players vs. black players. One may consider that black players may be more likely to lie to doctors. I don't know if this is true, nor do I especially think that it may be the case, all players are highly competitive and motivated to lie to keep playing. So while there may be some that would make a case that the typical NFL White player, who we often criticize for being too "good", (ie boyscouts, etc.) may be overly honest in this regard, it's not an open and shut case.

We do know however that White players generally outscore black players in the Wonderlic scores by large margins and so can assume that the average White player, like the average White person, is going to score higher on aptitude tests. So it is much more likely, in my opinion, that post concussion tests that measure for example, memory-which is very correlated to IQ-- would have the possibility of showing a greater drop off for someone that has previously scored high on tests, then for someone that has already basically scored at the very low level on tests.

In other words for many black players how much worse could their test results be when we know for a fact that their starting point in such tests is already at a low, sometimes extremely low, level?

There is also the idea that I have seen discussed in many places that there are significant differences between the brains of Whites and blacks and that an "expert" can merely look at brain tissue and see the difference. I also know that this is disputed, and that there is no way to know if it is true because it is absolutely the most horrible hate crime imaginable for someone to even mention the possibility that there is any difference what so ever. So if the "experts" won't say, how would anyone else know for sure?

However medical professionals have to deal in the real world and since they are protected by patient-doctor non-disclosure policies it may be very likely that they are seeing things on brain scans and MRI's that they would never, even under extreme pressure, mention to the media. And if there are significant differences that show up between White and black players we would never know except that one group may be treated differently in matters of concussion policy by the league.

What we do know though, is that it seems that receivers, especially, are being effected by this policy. This seems a bit counter intuitive when you consider that receivers probably experience less contact then any other position. Look at lineman that are lined up head to head and the crash of helmets that occurs on every single play. And yet it's the guys that go out an 90% of the time run down the field with little to no contact that are unable to play?

An argument could be made that because receivers are running and are exposed that they are the prime target for concussions but I think that would make it more likely that the all black secondary would be at even higher risk as they are subject to both the passing and running game contact.

For sure though singling out receivers has the possibility to effect the modest gains that White players have made at that position in recent years. There are virtually NO White running backs but there are SOME White receivers. Furthermore if the receiver position is seen as the most risky, then the "Welker" position, i.e. sure handed White guy playing in the slot and going over the middle, is at the highest risk of all.

Thus if the issue of concussions plays out as described above then the effect is sure to be a reversal of the momentum of White players at the only ball handling position that could even be mildly described as somewhat, a tiny bit, White-friendly. I think it's obvious that any fan aware of the caste system should look upon this issue very suspiciously. Especially as it appears to be something that could possibly disproportionally effect White players.


Good post jaxvid. Something else that is similar is that, most high schools now give players what is called a base-line test before you play football. It's basically tests your memory with some mathematics involved. With the highest score being 30.

You may already know, but this is how it works. Each player takes the test at the beginning of the year. Player A makes a 28 out of 30 which is considered very high. If he sustains a concussion they almost immediately give him the test to see how he scores. If he makes below 28 he will not be allowed back on the field and will continue not practicing or playing until he makes 28 again. I would say 90% of players don't make 28 being completely sound, so it's probably not easy making a 28 period much less after getting a concussion.

So if it's true, which it probably is, that white players are going to make better as a whole on their base-line, it seems that they will be a at disadvantage.

As you said jaxvid it stands to reason, that if black players are making say an average of 14, there's seem a better chance to get back to that level after a concussion than say a 28.

So if a player makes 14 at the beginning of the year and then gets his bell rung and is given the test, it would be easier to get to 14 versus 28 . If the player that had a 14 manages to get 14 after getting hit, it's not considered a concussion. But remember player A, he made a 28, you make 2 mistakes and you're at 26. So whose to say your going to make 28 every time you take the test whether you get hit or not.

Am I making sense?

Anyway, I know for a fact this happened to a player that made 28 and got hit in the head, immediately was given the base-line test, which he made 24 and was out for 2 weeks. I was told 24 was a very high score to begin with and overheard people say the kid shouldn't have made so high on the first test.

I just thought this was similar to jaxvid's post. Some players may be deemed concussion risks at a more disproportionate rate than others because of their IQ and or ability to remember.

Also, saw a black kid get knocked out completely in a game in the first half and was allowed to come back and play in the second half. Who knows he may have made like a 6 and was able to manage a 6 again after getting knocked out!
 
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Colonel_Reb

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Carolina Speed, you just taught me something new. I've never heard of such tests before. They sure didn't give them when I played high school football 20 years ago. That seems like a logical explanation of why Whites tend to stay out longer for concussions. I still think we need to go back to leather helmets and minimal padding and it would make the game generally safer.
 

jaxvid

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Good post jaxvid. Something else that is similar is that, most high schools now give players what is called a base-line test before you play football. It's basically tests your memory with some mathematics involved. With the highest score being 30.

You may already know, but this is how it works. Each player takes the test at the beginning of the year. Player A makes a 28 out of 30 which is considered very high. If he sustains a concussion they almost immediately give him the test to see how he scores. If he makes below 28 he will not be allowed back on the field and will continue not practicing or playing until he makes 28 again. I would say 90% of players don't make 28 being completely sound, so it's probably not easy making a 28 period much less after getting a concussion.

So if it's true, which it probably is, that white players are going to make better as a whole on their base-line, it seems that they will be a at disadvantage.

As you said jaxvid it stands to reason, that if black players are making say an average of 14, there's seem a better chance to get back to that level after a concussion than say a 28.

So if a player makes 14 at the beginning of the year and then gets his bell rung and is given the test, it would be easier to get to 14 versus 28 . If the player that had a 14 manages to get 14 after getting hit, it's not considered a concussion. But remember player A, he made a 28, you make 2 mistakes and you're at 26. So whose to say your going to make 28 every time you take the test whether you get hit or not.

Am I making sense?

Anyway, I know for a fact this happened to a player that made 28 and got hit in the head, immediately was given the base-line test, which he made 24 and was out for 2 weeks. I was told 24 was a very high score to begin with and overheard people say the kid shouldn't have made so high on the first test.

I just thought this was similar to jaxvid's post. Some players may be deemed concussion risks at a more disproportionate rate than others because of their IQ and or ability to remember.

Also, saw a black kid get knocked out completely in a game in the first half and was allowed to come back and play in the second half. Who knows he may have made like a 6 and was able to manage a 6 again after getting knocked out!

Yes, exactly what I was getting at. Thanks for expanding on the point. I think it's something to consider.
 
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