I have a good friend that played Pro Ball for 8 years on the Lions before they were horrible. He had not played football until picked from the halls of high school in 10th grade based on his size. The team went on to win state, he then went to NC State and eventually drafted by the Lion's. He position was offensive tackle so you would expect the usual ankle, hip and leg injuries which he received. By the time he was 40 he had two hips surgeries and several knew operations. The worse of his injuries were the concussions. One would not think lineman would get that many concussions but they do. Chris is a big teddy bear and does not have an enemy in the world. He has always a happy go lucky person as long as I have known him. Two years ago ESPN did a segment on him about how he went in to a state of depression and ponder suicide several times even holding a gun to his head at times. He initially drank and kicked that but continued to be depressed. Thankfully he is better now and trying to live a normal life helping others. He was a rarity and survived the storm.
Recently I viewed a bit on 48 Hours or something like that about youth football and how parents push the kids for success. To suck it up and get your ass back out there for the team when they are hurting. I have also read past article on suicide rates among ex football players such as Chris Henry jumping from moving car that resulted in his death. Another is the suicide of Bengals player Andre Waters in 2006. Scientist are now studying the brain tissue of at least 20 ex players and are finding a common thread that results from brain trauma.
The concern is aimed at youth football and school levels and the equipment used to protect the head and body. More times than not it is not sufficient or not fitting properly. My nephew was knocked completely out during one of his games at the age of 12 and he never played again out of fear. My son's teammates in Middle and High School received life nagging injuries such as broken wrist, legs, hips and shoulder separations. Some living with pins that had to be installed. The head injuries though are the hidden time bombs and improper diagnosis by a father playing weekend coach pushing a kid to get back in to the game is pretty scary.
Football is a violent and heavy impact sport and we must beware of the repercussions for an hour of entertainment.
Did Repeated Head Trauma Lead to Football Player Suicides?
1 comment:
I have heard news reports about concussions, one of them may have been the same 48 Hours program you mentioned. As much as I love watching my soon to be 11 year old grandson play, I am not sure I would have let him play if he were my own son. I know for certain the first time I hear concussion and my grandson's name in the same sentence I am going to vehemently throw in my 2 cents on the subject.
There's a little guy on his team who's very accident prone. He's suffered a couple of concussions already off the field. There's no way I'd let him play football where the danger of it happening is intensified.
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