I love football. I spend hours during the weekend watching football and I, of course, participate in fantasy football. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that every time I see a huge hit on a player, I cringe.
The PBS documentary series “Frontline” recently reported the results of a study conducted by the Boston University and the Department of Veteran Affairs; a total of 87 out of 91 former NFL players who donated their brains to science tested positive for the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found mostly in athletes with a history of brain trauma. The brain degeneration is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression and, eventually, progressive dementia.
The worst thing about this disease is that it can’t be officially diagnosed until after death.
Football is the apex of entertainment in this country. We watch our high school kids play on Friday nights, our college men on Saturdays and our professionals on Sundays.
Football, like other sports, teaches children important values. Hard work, dedication, loyalty, respect and honor all contribute to the development of a football player.
However, we need to take more deliberate actions to protect our players – at all levels.
Researchers still haven’t found foolproof ways to combat the disease. Stricter rules have been put in place for players – automatic ejection for spearing, hitting heads or targeting – and technology has helped make helmets more protective.
In March of this year, NFL linebacker Chris Borland, a third-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers and highly touted rookie in 2014, announced his retirement from the NFL. He cited concerns about head trauma.
Borland’s retirement brought the focus of CTE back into mainstream sports media. He was praised both for thinking about his quality of life after his football career and chastised, even being called “soft” in some cases.
Concussion protocols have been added in all levels of football, and athletes go through rigorous testing before getting back on the field after a hard hit, but concussions occur frequently.
The NFL Players Association has released information suggesting one in three NFL players will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia at a younger age than their peers. Additionally, NFL players are four times more likely to die from degenerative brain diseases, and the average life expectancy of a male athlete that has played football professionally is 55 to 60 years.
The average life expectancy of an average male in the United States is 76 years.
Another tragedy related to CTE is the overwhelming connection between players who have taken their own lives and those who have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE.
Junior Seau, a passionate linebacker, was unable to speak at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year because he’d taken his own life on May 2, 2012.
He left no note, but his death recalled that of former NFL player Dave Duerson, who shot himself in the chest in 2011 and left a note requesting his brain be studied for trauma.
Also in 2012, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his 22-year-old girlfriend and then took his own life.
Autopsy results suggest Seau, Duerson and Belcher all had CTE, a harrowing reminder of the risks professional athletes and contact sport players face.
These tragic stories need to stop happening, and we need to do everything we can to prevent more of them.
In total, researchers with the Department of Veteran Affairs and Boston University found CTE in the brain tissue of 131 out of 165 individuals who, before their deaths, played football either professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school.
Moreover, CTE has been found across the spectrum in athletes playing contact sports, such as hockey, rugby and even baseball. Some members of the U.S. military also have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE.
We need to educate more people, provide safer equipment to our athletes and attack this disease with full force to make sure we don’t have any more tragedies caused by CTE.
