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Bruce Parkman: What the NFL Is Teaching Us About Football & Brain Health · Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hey folks, Bruce Parkman here from Broken Brains, the official podcast of the Mac Parkman Foundation with another short episode where I pick a topic that came in and discuss a little bit.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, as you know, football season is getting ready to start.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, some of our readers have, you know, asked me about football.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, there's been a whole host of articles in the New York Times about CTE and the impact, the repetitive impacts on children and the whole nine yards.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I actually wish they would focus on RHI a little bit more.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to talk about football, football season, because I think there's a lot more hope here than we ever have anticipated as a foundation.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because football in and of itself is not bad.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's never been bad.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: But how it's played and how it is impacting our children is the problem.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the bad comes in.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and the bad is the fact that, you know, football has tended to ignore the science and research showing that we have a problem.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they've adjusted.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where both the admission and the problem lies.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Football is a sport, it's a contact sport, just like any other contact sport.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not singling out football, but it's easy to talk about football because it's a religion here in America.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And what we're discussing right now is by some of the changes that football has made.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: They, the NFL, are admitting that we have a problem.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you look in the last couple of years, they've shortened the distance for the return teams.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: They've allowed the concussion caps.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: They now have real pretty serious concussion monitoring, though I have my serious doubts like any American that when Patrick Holmes takes a major hit, they're not going to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: His concussions magically disappear.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just the game.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's the nature of it.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's the pressure.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: We got to make money.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I got it.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that personally that by making these changes, the NFL is saying, and they have admitted, we got a problem.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that problem is not going away anytime soon because these changes that they're making are not making it down.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: The NFL no longer contacts during practice during the season.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: That does not happen in our high schools.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: It does not happen in our middle schools.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason for all these changes is that the NFL is starting to understand, and again, it's all about money.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're hurting our athletes.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Our athletes are our money.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: They are our football team.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: They are our profits.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we, you know, need our athletes.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, imagine if that explanation, that incentivization, not just not let's not talk about money.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about longevity.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about player health.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about player brain health and mental health.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And let's talk about optimization.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: All of those are very positive outcomes when the brain is not a mess.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's just a fact.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the NFL, by reducing, by making these changes, is now basically saying, well, we're doing this for a reason.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's under the guise of mental health.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, of improving player safety.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if you notice, all those changes surround one issue the brain.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Less impacts.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Less brain trauma, less concussions, better players.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: We can't stop the play in the game.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to stop that.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm a big no-ponent opponent of all this tackling and like, oh, and rugby, I'm a rugby player, right?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: When you're going at somebody full speed, they're coming at you.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're not measuring, lowing for the hip, and you know, you're doing the best you can to get there.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you you end up at the ankle, sometimes you end up at the armpits, you know, and your brain gets dumped, dinged.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem becomes is when our professional leagues are making changes, and we're not recognizing that those changes need to trickle down.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And they need to impact how, if we're worried about player optimization and player mental health and player brain safety as adults, what does that mean for our children that are playing with underdeveloped brains, developing brains that are changing all the time?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that we, because we don't, when we look at all that, you know, all these changes, concussion caps, and all that, we associate it with them, as you know, Dr.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Roberts put out on a show earlier, is that nobody knows an NFL player.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Very few people have ever met a Division I college football player.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So to most Americans, these changes are there to protect this tenth of a percent of our population that actually makes it to these elite levels of sport.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: When in fact, those changes should be made to the 99.9% of Americans that play these sports.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: That the understanding, the research and science must be there in order for us to have better policy because of the NFL's changes.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, like it or leave it, really don't care.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can say it's all about money and player, you know, whatever.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's got nothing to do with their mental health.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, could be true, you know, I, you know, I think we all know the NFL is a grinder.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a meat grinder.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when they're done with you, you're done.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't make it four years, you know, sorry.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you get hurt, sorry.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you roll the dice.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: As a player, you have free will.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You want it, you're going for it, your family wants it.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if you get there, God bless you.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you make a ton of money, God bless you.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: But you shouldn't have to be paying for it with mental health issues for the rest of your life.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: But besides all that, we've got the entire problem that now to get into the NFL, you're starting to play at six, at eight, at 11, whatever.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that is where we're starting to see, and we have seen, and we are seeing, the mental health problems that exist within the NFL that nobody talks about.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at studies that are done on NFL athletes, they look at suicide, right?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Which is the epitome of mental health.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: They look at injuries, they look at blood markers, biomarkers.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: They almost never ever address general, you know, GAD, right?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, general anxiety disorder, mood depression, you know, mental health issues.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: If they were to dig into that, man, the percentage of NFL players, the percentage of college players that are suffering mental health problems right now is enormous.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And is it associated with the sport?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because of what happens to the brain.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: If we could follow the NFL in our society, if we could accept the fact that the brain, number one, is a very critical organ that is highly vulnerable to the impacts of brains.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, that the impacts to those brains damage it and cause, number three, mental illness.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: If we can accept that, and we have to, that's science.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: That is nothing more than research and science.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is fact, that is God's truth.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can't get away from it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: If we can accept those three things, then we can accept the fourth thing, is that we have to change how we play the contact sport so that we can protect the contact sport and more importantly, protect the athlete.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that is all about reducing total aggregate exposure.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: We say it over and over again.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: If we delayed contact till high school, and oh, I mean, gosh, I mean, sports are supposed to be fun.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Kids don't need to hit while their brain's developing.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: They shouldn't have to hit it all.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then in high school, take the contact out of practice.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your child's probably not going to be the part of the one-tenth of the tenth percent.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: But they can be a great doctor, engineer, scientist, you know, you know, veterinarian.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on the child.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So as we roll into football season, hey, for a lot of you, Sundays are back on, your wife just lost you.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: You got your Doritos, your cold beer, you got TV, and you're loving it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm happy for you.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm loving that you love it.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you're playing the sport, hey, you're back on the field, the camaraderie, the love that we have with our sports brothers and sisters.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even close to anything else, you know, except being in the military, man, or being a first responder, right?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: We love the people that we go through trials with.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I am, I, I love all of this.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But what I don't love is the outcomes, the, the, the, the, the, the tragedies that are going on right now, and the the epidemic of mental illness that's preventable.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let's learn from the NFL.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: If they can admit they got a problem, then we can admit that the problem starts not in the NFL.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: It starts a lot earlier than that.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Out here when we have control as parents, as coaches, and as players, to understand that, you know what?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm gonna take a time out.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it, do it right.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because we can do it right.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Take the practice out, reduce total headache, uh, total head impacts, wait till 14 at least.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't play back-to-back concussive sports.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: These are easy, positive changes to make that will impact the future of your child, the future of these sports.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we can get ahead of that.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to see a lot of hope.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, as football season starts, happy Sundays to you.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you have a great time.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you at the Super Bowl party that you know Lee Steinberg has.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we look forward to seeing the pendulum swing a little bit more.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So happy football season to y'all.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm praying that we can learn from this and make that sport safer than it's ever been.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And not only that sport, any other contact sports.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time on Broken Brains, Bruce Parkman.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you like what you hear, send it around.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe it, send it out there, you know, like us and put us out there on your social media.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget, free book on our website, www.mp for MacParkman, F Act.org.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Download that puppy.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Put a lot of time into it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's now coming out on audiobook and in Spanish, and we look forward to you reading it and become informed so you make good decisions.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because your child only has one melon and they bruise way too easy.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So take care of them.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, next time on Broken Brains, thank you so much, and God bless you all.