I knew Mike Webster personally. He was one of the brightest and most articulate athletes I've ever known, and I've know plenty (thru professional relationships). When I watched him deteriorate from what he'd been to a guy who was delusional, unbearable for his family to live with, literally living in his car, then finally unable to care for himself at all, then something went wrong. When I hear other football players such as Troy Polamalu and others say that they're steering their kids away from football and toward other sports such as soccer, there's a good reason for it.
I was fortunate enough to watch Tony Dorsett for four years here at Pitt; I saw many of the hits that he took - both legal and illegal. And he now he's come out and revealed the mental and emotional problems that he's been having.
The fact that the NFL is finally addressing the matter - after denying it for so many years - should tell us all that we need to know. They were no better than the tobacco industry who denied responsibility for the physical damage of cigarettes and snuff, until even they could no longer deny the truth.
Good personal story, and puts things into perspective much more when you actually knew someone before and after they were diagnosed with CTE!
As someone who loves the sport of football, and enjoys the friday night high school football games....It is concerning when some of the greatest players from the game say that they are, or would be hesitant to let their kids play football, and agree that the lack of participation has a trickle-down effect that doesn't seem to be hurting the game right now, but you can tell that it's starting to have an impact on the number of youngsters who choose to play the sport with Pop Warner participation reportedly down 10% nationwide in just the last few years....Also read that the state of Ohio has seen a dramatic decrease in the numbers of kids who choose to play football today, compared to 10 or so years ago....
I also wonder why there is so little discussion about Soccer players who don't use any headwear, but use their head more frequently than football players do?....Why does there seem to be NO outcry from former players from that sport?.....Is CTE less likely to happen on a Soccer field?
I also wonder about the effects of Pain medication on the brain, since a lot of these former players obviously at times in their careers had to take a lot of pain medication just to make it through the day....Could there be some link to CTE?
I think we all are just hoping for some new revolutionary way of either diminishing the effects of CTE, or eliminating it altogether without eliminating or drastically changing the game of football?...
I think a lot of us remember the days of getting "Blue-lighted" on the field with No thought of not going back into the game after being snapped back into reality with some smelling sauce.....Boy, have times changed, and the game of football with it....
With the threat of future lawsuits, we're heading for a play for pay system for youth football, followed by a disclaimer letter that helps the schools avoid future lawsuits if a kid suffers a concussion....Otherwise as mentioned above, the game will all but disappear down the road, or will be modified for safety reasons to the point that fans become less interested in the sport as a whole, which would be a sad ending to a great sport.....
