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Doctor says Tua should retire

doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

The concussion.doctor that discovered CTE says Tua should reture from football for good.

Dr. Bennet Omalu, the famous neuropathologist who inspired the 2015 film "Concussion," believes Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa should never take another hit and retire from the NFL.

Tagovailoa’s head injury has been the talk of the league after he was stretchered off the field last Thursday while playing against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was diagnosed with a head injury and entered concussion protocol, while the Dolphins have already ruled him out for Week 5 against the New York Jets.

But controversy has stirred involving what looked to be an apparent concussion previously sustained in Miami's Week 3 win over the Buffalo Bills. Tagovailoa came up stumbling in the first half and two offensive linemen had to hold him up, but he returned in the second half to finish the game.

Tua's incident against the Bengals came four days later.

Omalu told TMZ Sports that Tagovailoa needs to sit down and truly think about his future.

"If you love your life, if you love your family, you love your kids — if you have kids — it’s time to gallantly walk away," he said. "Go find something else to do."

Omalu was the first to discover CTE, better known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a progressive brain condition that’s thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and episodes of concussion.

Watching the play, Omalu said he believed Tagovailoa "suffered severe, long-term permanent brain damage" when his head smacked the turf on a sack by Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou.

"Tua, my brother. I love you. I love you as much as I love my son," Omalu said. "Stop playing. Stop. Hang your helmet and gallantly walk away."

Sometimes money is not more valuable than human life. Twenty billion dollars is not worth more than your brain."

Tagovailoa was released from the hospital and flew back with his team on Thursday night. He noted that he felt much better just a day after sustaining the injury.

Comments

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 6, 2022 9:50AM

    Joe Burrow said he's had moments in his career when he's felt fuzzy after a hit.

    Joe Burrow admits he played games in which he has ‘fuzzy recollection’

    The NFL’s handling of concussions is again under mass scrutiny.

    Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was on the opposing sideline when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was carted off with a concussion just days after he was wobbling on the field during a win over the Buffalo Bills.

    “It was a scary moment,” Burrow said in his Wednesday news conference. “We know what this game can do. It’s what we signed up for. But whenever something like that happens, it obviously makes you take a step back and think ‘I’m glad he’s OK.’

    “I haven’t talked to him (Tua) about when he’ll be back, but all the signs point to him being healthy going forward, and there shouldn’t be any long-lasting effects. I’m happy for that.”

    When asked about his own experience with head injuries, Burrow admitted to having played several games throughout his football career in which he may have been suffering from a concussion.

    “Yeah. It’s definitely happened,” Burrow said. “For sure. Stuff like that happens all the time.”

    Burrow said he had never felt concussion symptoms the day after but has struggled to remember certain plays or moments within games.

    “It’s more of a fuzzy recollection,” he said. You don’t remember the individual plays, but you remember what happened in the game.”

  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 30,636 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 6, 2022 10:11AM

    Wow could you imagine if he retired from this?

    Tell you this much if he does the Dolphins better pay out his contract

    Hopefully whatever decision this kid makes is the best for him

    Just awful

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    He's 24 years old and if he continues to play it's only a matter of time before he takes another hit like this, then another. I know he loves the game, but it just isn't worth permanent brain damage.

  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 30,636 ✭✭✭✭✭

    After thinking about this I don't think he will retire. The poor kid is just starting his career and I bet he doesn't walk away, hopefully I'm wrong

    For now I just hope he don't play this year

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,833 ✭✭✭✭✭

    i made an outlandish statement a few years ago that the NFL would cease to exist in a quarter century because of this very issue. that in all likelihood won't happen due to the immense sums of money involved, but i guarandamntee you the sport will be virtually unrecognizable 20+ years from now. compare the NFL of 2022 to the NFL of 2000. wholesale differences. and what have all of these rules changes and advances in equipment prevented exactly? absolutely nothing. brain injuries like the one Tua sustained are a dime a dozen. and not only will they continue for as long as the sport exists, but they are going to be even more prevalent as time passes. big, strong and fast today means bigger, stronger and faster later. the brutality associated with collisions will only ramp up in future years, thus CTE will eventually become a permanent fixture in every lexicon..........if it's not already.

    i would love to know the exact number of parents who saw Tua's hands frozen in front of his face with his fingers splayed, then turned to their child and said, "let's sign you up for some golf lessons." seriously, enough conspicuous examples of football players turning to vegetables before our very eyes and the sport will be eventually become so diluted that it's...........virtually unrecognizable.

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @perkdog said:
    After thinking about this I don't think he will retire. The poor kid is just starting his career and I bet he doesn't walk away, hopefully I'm wrong

    For now I just hope he don't play this year

    My gut feeling is, I don't think he will either, he's just so young and he's not going to want to let go of the game so early.

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,833 ✭✭✭✭✭

    read this damning article from a CTE expert who does not mince words

    https://www.insider.com/tua-tagovailoa-concussion-dolphins-chris-nowinski-2022-9

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • erikthredderikthredd Posts: 9,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 6, 2022 1:15PM

    @galaxy27 said:
    read this damning article from a CTE expert who does not mince words

    https://www.insider.com/tua-tagovailoa-concussion-dolphins-chris-nowinski-2022-9

    "Now we have to wait and watch if the Dolphins will finally admit that it was a concussion last week," Nowinski said. "Because if they tried to lie again and put him back in, we're basically going to watch and just hope he doesn't die. You're going to be pretty sure you're going to be taking years off the end of his career, or at least impairing his performance going forward.

    "I hope Tua has a full recovery. But if I was Tua, I would not trust this team anymore."

    Well we already know that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is an unethical dirtbag so this will only add to his legacy.
    Tua is in a horrible position here and you gotta feel bad for the kid. Does he give up on his dream and what could likely be financial security for his grandkids grandkids or does he risk his life by continuing to play? Either way he's pretty much stuck in Miami for the foreseeable future.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @galaxy27 said:
    read this damning article from a CTE expert who does not mince words

    https://www.insider.com/tua-tagovailoa-concussion-dolphins-chris-nowinski-2022-9

    He's right, during the Bills game they should have known he suffered a concussion, it's a disgrace they put him back in the game, and then let him play against the Bengals. There's a documentary that came out in 2013 called "League of Denial" very disturbing stuff, especially when they start talking about Troy Aikman's concussion, when he's at the hospital and the doctor starts talking to Aikman and he's completely out of it.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Here it is, Aikman's agent is actually the one who was talking to Aikman at the hospital, the part about Aikman starts at about 4:20 mark in the video.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhJxVM8v10

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,833 ✭✭✭✭✭

    i honestly can't believe that more players haven't perished either on the field, or after being taken to a local hospital on a stretcher. is it not only a matter of time before that happens? then what? well that was unfortunate, but now let's shift our focus to week 9? sheer madness, all of this, and it's simply not sustainable.

    you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet

  • SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,117 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Some times people need to be saved from their own poor judgment/choices.

    So it goes with athletes, front line first responders, front line military service members, recently created substance abusers, etc.

    Where does the dividing line between allowing a person to make his/her own choices (and taking responsibility for the consequences of those choices) and having someone else make a choice for a person get placed? Who places the dividing line?

    One can argue that Tua and other football players should be allowed to make their own choice about when to play.

    However, I can see where it would be best to give to someone else the responsibility of deciding when an injured player can go back onto the field.

  • craig44craig44 Posts: 11,241 ✭✭✭✭✭

    he really needs to retire. he will not. but he needs to. I remember what it felt like to be 24 years old, and i know he will shake this off and keep playing.

    George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.

  • spacehaydukespacehayduke Posts: 5,741 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yup 100% agree, he should retire. Take it from someone who had a cracked skull and is lucky to be writing this, my neurosurgeons were pretty candid about long term effects to brain damage. Tua should be smart and get out.

    Best, SH

    My online coin store - https://www.desertmoonnm.com/
  • HydrantHydrant Posts: 7,773 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Big changes are coming.

  • BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 9,112 ✭✭✭✭✭

    With all these brain related concerns being discussed here, reminds me of a boxing thread. Tua probably won't walk. Ali did not know when to hang up the gloves either.

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
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