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I seriously think AB might have brain damage from the NFL


mdonnelly21

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ESPN had a good story about his background.  He has always acted like this but now he feels more entitled.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28356756/will-antonio-brown-ever-return-pros-complicated-nfl-legacy

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Volero was born and raised in Miami and spent a decade coaching there. He says that background was crucial in dealing with Brown, who saw the Miami connection "from a point of endearment and respect," someone who understands the struggle of low-income teens from South Florida. Volero sent late-night texts, made impromptu visits to the apartment -- whatever it took to make sure Brown felt loved and appreciated.

"Give him structure, he'll do great," Volero says. "But if he feels confronted, he'll react. ... He hasn't mastered that part of his life."

 

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"If he wasn't as crazy and sporadic as he really is, I'm not sure he'd be the same player," says one source. "That kind of made him who he was, wanting to prove everybody wrong. That brought the best and worst out of him."

But many point specifically to his massive contract extension in February 2017 -- four years, $68 million -- as a turning point. That's when, some friends and ex-teammates say, the superstar behavior became more frequent, the distractions unavoidable, the ability to hold time commitments more flimsy.

 

The last quote refers to an extention that came after the Burfect hit so .... maybe.  Flimsy

Edited by jebrick
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While I hope it doesn't happen anytime soon, the day AB dies, there needs to be an autopsy.    The only way to reliably confirm CTE and its extent at this stage.  

Detractors can point to the extension as the real culprit, but it's hard to overlook that the public episodes and the off-field alleged actions in the lawsuit didn't start until 2017.     And while AB may have been a problem child before then in the locker room, the difference in behavior is so extreme, it's hard to discount CTE completely.   The problem is, we won't really know with non-invasive testing, at least with the technology we have now.  

Edited by Broncofan
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I hate people blaming brain damage for AB’s actions.  Maybe he does, but it’s not like he’s the only one in the NFL who has taken bad hits.  He is, however, the only one doing the kind of things he’s doing.  

AB’s problem is a complete lack of self-awareness.  Or if he is aware, he simply doesn’t care.  

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I think it if nothing else is at least a conversation or a thought that needs to cross people's minds without exonerating his behavior. Frankly, I've been saying it for months. It could be blatant immaturity, but I think there's more to it.

It feels like there's a switch in his head that flips on and off quickly. He can be saying he's remorseful and wants to play football, but he also then will do something awful.

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I'm not one to say there ISN'T some sort of brain damage. Having a condition such as narcissistic compulsive disorder and a brain injury from playing aren't mutually exclusive - it could be both, doesn't have to be one or the other.

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1 hour ago, ET80 said:

I completely agree that every locker room has SOME sort of drama.

But... Tomlin kept that powder keg from popping, AND got divisive characters such as AB, Le'Veon Bell, Santonio Holmes, one of the Pouncy brothers, James Harrison and Ben Roethlensberger to perform at a SB level on a near yearly basis.

Herding cats might literally be easier.

also had personalities like Todd Haley, Joey Porter and Martavis Bryant to deal with.

the 2017 or 18 steelers would of made for a great hard knocks if they were allowed to show everything

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1 hour ago, ET80 said:

I completely agree that every locker room has SOME sort of drama.

But... Tomlin kept that powder keg from popping, AND got divisive characters such as AB, Le'Veon Bell, Santonio Holmes, one of the Pouncy brothers, James Harrison and Ben Roethlensberger to perform at a SB level on a near yearly basis.

Herding cats might literally be easier.

I actually wonder how much some of those personalities might have kept AB in check and once they were gone we really saw him run rampant.  Say what you will about narcissists, but at some point self-preservation kicks in (at the most base psychological and physical levels - it's innate instinct).  Harrison, for instance, people had legitimate reason to fear because the guy didn't seem to give a youknowwhat.

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6 minutes ago, x0x said:

Statistically, as a non Kicker/Punter, there's about a 99% chance a starting player for as many games as Antonio Brown has at least some brain damage.

Sad, really sad, but true.

 

110 of 111 brains exaimned by 2017

This may be true, but you're a long ways away from proving it. Extrapolating the incidence of brain injury to a population that was volunteered for a study by their family based on overwhelmingly erratic behavior to the general population is a bad, bad assumption.

Even the author of this study didn't make this assumption in her PI notes.

Also link the actual study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2645104

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51 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Even the author of this study didn't make this assumption in her PI notes.

"...caution must be used in interpreting the high frequency of CTE in this sample, and estimates of prevalence cannot be concluded or implied from this sample. Second, the VA-BU-CLF brain bank is not representative of the overall population of former players of American football; most players of American football have played only on youth or high school teams, but the majority of the brain bank donors in this study played at the college or professional level.
Additionally, selection into brain banks is associated with dementia status, depression status, marital status, age, sex, race, and education.36
Third, this study lacked a comparison group that is representative of all individuals exposed to American football at the college or professional level, precluding estimation of the risk of participation in football and neuropathological outcomes. "

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47 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

This may be true, but you're a long ways away from proving it. Extrapolating the incidence of brain injury to a population that was volunteered for a study by their family based on overwhelmingly erratic behavior to the general population is a bad, bad assumption.

Even the author of this study didn't make this assumption in her PI notes.

Also link the actual study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2645104

You are right in the totality of such studies but but there are additional notations.

The 1 of the 111 brains that didn't show CTE was a Kicker. The number of games started by Antonio Brown is 103 which is quite high in general (puts him into the Top 600 of players every and this is considering he only listed 3 starts in 2011 but was very active in non-starting games).

So I'm not just stating 99% because of that study but because when you factor in players starting 103 or more games in the NFL who weren't Kicker/Punters I believe we've yet to see proof those players don't/didn't have CTE. Yes in a legal case one has to show beyond a doubt to convict but for now, you'd be hard pressed to show the other argument. Remember I said SOME brain damage, and many people with SOME brain damage can lead generally normal lives.

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I think people are letting AB off to easy.

Do I think the NFL and playing football has made whatever mental issue he has worse? Probably.

But I doubt he was just this wonderful fully together person that's been turned into the dumpster fire you see today solely because of football. Dude clearly has issues he was born with.

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TC is completely out of his mind.  

CTE has nothing to do with his case, and everybody loves to throw the diagnosis around the second an NFL player starts to act like a fool.  

Antonio Brown is just extremely narcissistic and didn't have the maturity to last in the NFL.  

He took it too personally to be drafted in the 6th round, and clearly wanted to be the best football player in the league.  

Brown didn't care once about winning a Super Bowl either.  

The moment his whole career blew up in flames was when the Pittsburgh team gave JuJu Smith Schuster the Steelers MVP award.  

They gave it to JuJu for two reasons:

1. He had a great season last year.

2. Everybody generally liked him as a teammate and person.  

AB didn't know how to handle that, and his jealousy boiled over.  

Here's an illustration:

 

 

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