A couple of years ago, in November, the movie Concussion
debuted. The film told a story, based on groundbreaking research on a
disease known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or more familiarly, CTE. The
picture is a biographical sports
drama film
directed and written by Peter Landesman, based on the exposé "Game Brain" by Jeanne
Marie Laskas,
published in 2009 by GQ magazine. Will
Smith portrayed Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who fought against the National
Football League, which was trying to suppress his research on what in
2002, the time frame in which the movie was set, was a little known disease.
That was then. Today, much more is known about
the deadly disease, though still, not nearly enough. As a result of continually
emerging data, which can only be accessed through autopsying deceased subjects,
a number of pro football players have donated their brains to science in
support of continuing efforts to learn more about how the disease works, and to
promote more effective strategies, methods, and techniques to combat the
debilitating, and ultimately deadly consequences of CTE.
Yesterday, Pro Football
Hall of Famer Warren Sapp indicated via video on The Players’ Tribune that he plans to donate
his brain to science in order to aid the research. He spent most of his career with the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won a Super Bowl, and ended his playing days with the Oakland Raiders.
Sapp,
a 13-year NFL pro said an
email he received from former running back Fred Willis, and his own experience with
cognitive issues were key factors in leading to his decision. He said he wanted
to leave the game better than he found it, and he noted further:
"I've also started to feel the effects
of the hits that I took in my career. My memory ain't what it used to be. And
yeah, it's scary to think that my brain could be deteriorating, and that maybe
things like forgetting a grocery list, or how to get to a friend's house I've
been to a thousand times are just the tip of the iceberg. So when it comes to
concussions, CTE and how we can make our game safer for future generations, I
wanted to put my two cents in—to help leave the game better off than it was
when I started playing."
Sapp
also referenced another Hall of Fame defender, Nick Buoniconti, a former New
England Patriot and Miami Dolphin. Nick was a key player on the Dolphins’
historic 1972 undefeated Season. In May, Buoniconti told S.L.
Price of Sports Illustrated that he
“feels like a child” because of his cognitive issues. According to that story,
Buoniconti’s Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans (a nuclear medicine functional imaging technique), were consistent with Parkinsonian Syndrome
and CTE.
According to an ESPN.com report this past April,
William
Weinbaum and Steve Delsohn wrote that Boston University researcher, Dr. Ann McKee, examined the brains of 48
former NFL players. Of those, 47 of the brains showed signs of CTE. In a September 2015 study, researchers from the Department
of Veterans Affairs and Boston University said they found CTE in 87
of the 91 brains they had studied
belonging to former NFL players.
Sapp had a number of other reflections, including:
· "We’re playing in a macho league and we're
talking about Hall of Famers now who are immortalized forever, made busts and everything.
Legends of the game, There's no way any of us wanna really admit that we can't
remember how to get home or a grocery list that the wife has given us or how to
go pick up our kids from the school, or whatever it may be.”
·
“You
try to [say], 'All right, I'm gonna get a little more sleep -- maybe it's
something I did last night, maybe something I drank,' or whatever it is. You
try to find a reason that it's not that it's my brain, that I'm not
deteriorating right before my own eyes.”
·
“It’s
the most frightening feeling, but it's also a very weakening feeling because
you feel like a child. I need help. I need somebody to help me find something
that I could've found with my eyes closed, in the dead of night, half
asleep."
·
“I
used to call myself an elephant in the room. Never forget anything. Man I wake
up now and be like, ‘OK, what are we doing? Let me get the phone.”’
·
"And it's from the
banging we did as football players. We used to tackle them by the head, used to
grab facemasks. We used to allow Deacon Jones to do the head slap. All of that
was something that we had to take away from the game. We used to hit
quarterbacks below the knees. Now it's a strike zone. Let's keep making the
game better."
Sapp suggested that improvements should begin
at the youth level by eliminating tackling until players get to high school.
It’s a start. Needless to say, football, which has been elevated to America’s
game, is a contact sport. Fans and players alike frequently view any effort to
make the game more humane, more civilized, or just plain more safe, with a
jaundiced eye. It’s fair to say, extraordinary steps may be required to save
the game from itself. I think Mr. Sapp has the right idea. But then again, I’m
not a huge fan of the game. But I’m sure that’s redundant. That’s beside
the point. For now, let’s focus on today’s post, “Football’s Brain Drain: The Rest of the Story!”
I’m done; holla back!
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