Lately, the way I watch football is very different. It has become impossible to watch a football game with the usual disregard for player's safety since the long term effects of multiple concussions have become more public. I say "more public" because the risks have been researched for the last several years, but it has only been in the last 2 years that the NFL has acknowledged a possible link between repeat concussions and mental.It started this past fall when I was reading the October issue of GQ. In an article titled "Game Brain" I began reading of several ex-NFL players who had essentially gone crazy shortly after their playing days were over. Now, it wouldn't be surprising that a few athletes lose their mind after a raucous, violent, and possible alcohol and drug fueled playing career. But this wasn't Carl Everett crazy. This was full blown depression, Alzheimer's, paranoia, dementia, and almost everything in between.
Take Mike Webster. Hall of Fame Center, Nine time Pro-Bowler and 4 time Superbowl winner with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was dead at the age of 50 after years of bizarre behavior that included urinating in his oven, putting superglue on his teeth and using a taser gun to zap himself into unconsciousness just to get some sleep. His life ended broke, homeless and living in a truck. Andre Waters, the bruising Philadelphia Eagle safety, shot himself in the mouth after years of battling depression. Then there is Terry Long. Another Steeler who eventually killed himself by drinking anti-freeze after years of depression, memory loss and suicide attempts. Hall of fame Tight End John Mackey of the Baltimore Colts has also battled dementia for years after a career that was riddled with injuries deemed not serious enough to miss gameday.
What all of these guys and so many more have in common is a disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. Essentially, it is severe brain damage caused by repeat trauma to the head. Often seen in boxers, it had never really been studied in football players until a few scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and an ex-WWE wrestler from Harvard decided to start digging deeper. After years of having their data swept underneath the rug at the NFL, they have finally generated enough pressure and overwhelming evidence that the NFL is finally starting to take notice and implement some rule changes meant to curb the rising tide of head injuries.
It is already too late for John Mackey and scores of players from his generation, but there is hope that the athletes of tomorrow may fare better. More brain analysis is being done everyday and many current football players have already offered their brains to be used for science when they die. But the real question is, can you ever make football safe? The answer, is no. But could there be a way to make football safer, so that the risks associated are clear and avoidable? Lets hope so.
Hmm - this is interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about the "concussions in football" research. If we are talking about pee wee football all the way up to college ball, I guess my sympathies lie with overprotection of the players. These are young individuals who need to be OVER-protected, if necessary. But, I myself had several concussions playing rugby (undiagnosed I know but still - you know a concussion when you have one. I can even remember my first concussion when I was playing tackle football after school at Slocum elementary school). The thing is, from a statistical standpoint, I'm not entirely sure that the medical research on concussions and stuff like post-tramaric, stress, concusiions, is CAUSAL, rather than simply correlated. I mean, of all the sports, football actually does a pretty good job, realtively speaking, of protecting the head versus other sports ("professional" wrestling, boxing, rugby, MMA, etc.). It's entirely possible that given the demanding rigors of a sport like football, many of these individuals would end up this way anyway, absent a sepcific trauma to the brain. Again, I'm not sure about this. I'm just hesitant to blame any "problems" I might have on complications sustained from concussions.
ReplyDeleteYou must have been several beers deep when writing your comment because your spelling is horrendous. But seriously, the evidence on brain injuries in football players is overwhelming. Despite the helmets and new rule changes banning head-to-head contact, the sport still involves an enormous amount of head trauma. As a lineman, every single play involves smashing your helmet into someone else. Read that article "Game Brain" and you'll be convinced.
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