On Thursday Morning, ABC’s Good Morning America reported that former NFL star Junior Seau suffered from degenerative brain disease leading up to his suicide last May. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted the research. The NIH studied three unidentified brains. One of these was Seau’s. The NIH’s report stated that Seau’s brain matched autopsies of those with exposure to “repetitive head inuries” and that it had abnormalities associated with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, often referred to as CTE.
CTE is serious business. It’s what scares the NFL Players Association. It’s what has caused the rampant concerns the past few years about concussions in the NFL. CTE causes deterioration of the brain. In other words, you can’t think or function logically. Your brain doesn’t work that well. It’s what caused Seau to shoot himself in the chest with a shotgun last spring.
In response to the NIH’s findings, the NFL released a statement:
“We appreciate the Seau family’s cooperation with the National Institutes of Health. The finding underscores the recognized need for additional research to accelerate a fuller understanding of CTE. The NFL, both directly and in partnership with the NIH, Centers for Disease Control and other leading organizations, is committed to supporting a wide range of independent medical and scientific research that will both address CTE and promote the long-term health and safety of athletes at all levels.”
If only the NFL truly believed, felt, and practiced what they say. Yes, they are supporting research. But the NFL, as an organization, is failing its players by ignoring the obvious connection between repeated head-to-head collisions that occur every Sunday and the long-term degeneration of those players’ health. The NFL feigns caring, only to later on show they don’t truly care about player safety. Time and time again this has been the NFL’s practice.
The NFL is exactly like a douchebag boyfriend who treats his woman like crap. They offer lip service; they say what she wants to hear. They promise change and swear their loyalty, only to do the opposite when the proper opportunity presents itself. If the NFL were a dude, they’d drive a Camaro and wear a jean jacket.
One day, perhaps, the NFL will look at the countless studies that prove football fucks up your head and realize they need to actually put their players’ futures first, not the almighty dollar.
What would you do or have them do? Lessen the amount of regular season games? Eliminate the Thursday game? Is it better to get your head hit once every 7 days instead of 4? The NFL is a violent sport, they have made rule changes to prevent things and then people complain that the game is too soft and not what it used to be.
We will SOON be seeing NFL helmets with an extra outside FOAM-substance which absorbs a LOT of the kinetic energy with a delivered helmet to helmet blow.
It will make the helmets look a little larger but we’ll get used to it.
Way back when I was in high school (Right offensive guard; defensive end/tackle) we had water bags inside the helmet. If we got hit too hard the water bag would burst.
I have epilepsy/seizures from ‘repeated head injuries’ probably by playing football. Oh, well, what can we do?? The damage is DONE and the damage is PERMANENT. Deal with it, take your pills and move on.