The NFL, concussions, and the importance of Dave Duerson's suicide last Thursday

[trysail]

Two different scenarios:

1. "Hi - we're the NFL. If you play this game at the pro level, you'll possibly end up with some level of brain damage. You should know what the risks are. However, you're getting paid a shitload for your body, and you obviously love the game of football. So, if that's cool, sign this disclaimer, and welcome to the league.

2. "Hi - we're the NFL. We have no reason to believe serious brain trauma can happen from years of getting hit in the head, so don't even think about it. Just use this helmet to protect yourself. Welcome to the league."

The scenario in play is #2. And there's lots of evidence to back that up.

WTF.


It's always somebody else's fault, isn't it ?


That's the dumbest goddamn shit I've ever heard. That's as stupid as people suing the tobacco companies after 1964. Why do you think they called 'em "coffin nails" since at least 1950?


Is anybody in this dumbass country responsible for their choices ? What is wrong with you people ?


It's a rough and tumble game. Always has been; always will be. If you haven't figured that out by now, you've got far bigger problems.


Everybody in my family has played football since 1869. Whaddya think? Should we all file suit against every coach, school, neighbor ? If it moves, sue it !

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2f/Firstfootballgame.jpg​

 

[Disgustipated]

Troy Aikman, a player with several concussions, said last year the only way to prevent them is to play without helmets. He's right.

 

[RoryN]

That's the dumbest goddamn shit I've ever heard. That's as stupid as people suing the tobacco companies after 1964.

You're trying to dumb down this issue. Not gonna work.

 

[RoryN]

Schlichter has brain damage, donates it for study after death

Posted by Mike Florio on May 4, 2012, 6:29 PM EDT

Former NFL quarterback Art Schlichter, sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday, has brain damage, a court-ordered mental examination of Schlichter concluded. According to Reuters, the exam found damage to Schlichter’s frontal lobes. He supposedly suffered 15 concussions while playing football in high school and college.

As part of the 52-year-old Schlichter’s sentence, a judge approved Schilchter’s request that, if the he dies in prison, his brain and spinal cord will be sent to Boston University’s Sports Legacy Institute.

Schlichter joined the Colts in 1982, exiting the game with two years. He has faced numerous legal problems since then, primarily flowing from compulsive gambling.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

[renard_ruse]

Rugby players have far longer playing careers than American football players. They also go onto to be doctors, lawyers, and other professionals in later life rather than sitting around stuttering and drooling on themselves at age 50.

Why is rugby safer than football when they don't even wear pads or helmets? Can football learn something from rugby?

 

[renard_ruse]

Troy Aikman, a player with several concussions, said last year the only way to prevent them is to play without helmets. He's right.

Rugby players don't wear helmets or pads and there are less critical injuries.

Most of the serious injuries that do happen are not brain injuries.

 

[FloridaCouple]

Let's be real. 400K+ people die each year due to smoking. And we expect the masses to get upset about some player's deaths? Hogwash.

 

[RoryN]

Let's be real. 400K+ people die each year due to smoking. And we expect the masses to get upset about some player's deaths?

This isn't about the masses getting upset.

 

[RoryN]

Andrew Sweat: Concussion fears led me to turn down the NFL

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 17, 2012, 3:55 PM EDT

After playing linebacker at Ohio State for four years, Andrew Sweat signed as an undrafted free agent with the Browns this month. But Sweat surprised the Browns by changing his mind and leaving the team’s rookie minicamp over the weekend.

Sweat said on ESPN’s College Football Live that fear of life-long health effects from concussions was what made him decide he didn’t want to play in the NFL.

“It’s definitely scary,” Sweat said. “I hear all the things about concussions, what happened to Junior Seau, it’s scary the repercussions that can happen because of a concussion, and it’s just something that I didn’t want to risk. I have a long life ahead of me and I think I’m a lot more than just a football player. I didn’t want to be in a situation where the depression, all that stuff sets in because of the concussions.”

Sweat dismissed any notion that he decided not to go through with football because he doesn’t love the game, or because he didn’t think he was going to make the Browns’ roster as an undrafted free agent.

“It’s definitely the concussions,” Sweat said. “I love the game of football, I’ve played it since I was 5 years old, I love everything about the game of football. It’s definitely who I am, it’s my favorite thing in the world. But when it comes to my health I just had to step away because my health is more important than the game of football.”

At Ohio State, Sweat had concussion problems that got progressively worse.

“I suffered three concussions in college,” Sweat said. “My last one was against Purdue, which was a very bad one. I stumbled off the field, could hardly walk, was numb in my fingers. It was really bad. The symptoms continued in early spring and even through the draft, but I wanted to play football, I wanted to give it a shot, so I signed with the Browns and went to the minicamp. But I slipped and fell in the shower, I hit my head — not even that hard — against the wall, and that brought back all those concussions. I went to the trainers with the Browns and consulted my family and decided to step away from the game.”

With more than 2,000 former players now suing the NFL over concussions, it may be just a matter of time before several thousand more players are suing the NCAA and their colleges. College football is a big business, too, and as Sweat knows first hand, it’s also a big business that leaves some of its employees with long-term health problems. The only difference is that in college football, the players aren’t actually employees, because they don’t collect a paycheck in exchange for putting their health on the line.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

[RoryN]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

Eric Dickerson joins concussion lawsuit against the NFL

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 21, 2012, 6:21 PM EDT

Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson is the latest former superstar to sue the NFL over concussions.

Dickerson is part of a group of 15 retired players who filed a new suit against the NFL, claiming the league failed to adequately address concussions and their long-term consequences, NFLConcussionLitigation.com reports.

Others involved in this lawsuit include former AFL All-Star running back Hoyle Granger, who played in the 1960s and 1970s for the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints, and the estates of deceased former players David Lunceford and Ernie Stautner, both of whom were suffering from Alzheimer’s disease when they died.

Dickerson is one of the biggest names to join the concussion lawsuits to date. He led the league in rushing four times, was a six-time Pro Bowler and gained more than 13,000 total yards for the Rams, Colts, Raiders and Falcons. In retirement he’s had a number of TV jobs, including working as a sideline reporter on Monday Night Football.

More than 2,200 former players have joined a total of 80 concussion-related suits against the league.

 

[RoryN]

Eddie Kennison, Errict Rhett lead latest group of concussion plaintiffs

More than 2,000 former players have sued the league for concussions. On Friday, another 20 joined the fray.

According to the Associated Press, former receiver Eddie Kennison and former running back Errict Rhett, along with 18 other former players, filed suit in New Orleans.

Rhett spent seven seasons in the NFL, playing for the Buccaneers, Ravens, and Browns. Kennison, a 13-year veteran, played for the Rams, Saints, Bears, Broncos, and Chiefs.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/page/2/

 

[RoryN]

Pittman, other join the concussion lawsuits

Posted by Mike Florio on June 5, 2012, 10:49 AM EDT

Last week, former NFL running back Michael Pittman talked in compelling fashion about the effects of his concussions during an appearance on WDAE radio. Pittman said that, if he had known about the long-term impact of concussions, he may have retired after absorbing the first two or three of the seven or eight he sustained at the NFL level.

Pittman also said that he had yet to sue the NFL, but that he may.

He has.

Via NFLConcussionLitigation.com, Pittman is one of 41 plaintiffs in a new suit filed in Los Angeles. The lead plaintiff in the case is former Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp, who previously had been named as a plaintiff in a different action.

A separate suit filed in Los Angeles names 58 plaintiffs, include the estate of Eagles safety Andre Waters, Hall of Famer Jim Marshall, and former Panthers tight end Wesley Walls.

The total number of lawsuits has grown to 86, with more than 2,200 former players seeking compensation.

The primary challenge for players from Kapp’s and Marshall’s era (and previously) will be to prove that anyone knew anything about the long-term effects of concussions — other than the obvious reality that it’s not good to repeatedly bang your head into things, helmet or otherwise.

 

[RoryN]

Dorsett opens up about his struggles with concussions

Posted by Mike Florio on June 6, 2012, 7:46 AM EDT

As more and more players joined the concussion-suit parade earlier this year, the involvement of tailback Tony Dorsett was for some (and absolutely for me) a sit-up-and-take-notice moment. Years after his retirement, Dorsett’s annual stroll onto the stage at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in Canton sparks chatter that he looks like he could still suit up and play the game, right now.

But the body rarely reveals what’s actually happening inside the brain, and Dorsett explains that he definitely experiences the effects of at least five concussions sustained while playing pro football, and that he’s doing all he can to keep it from getting worse.

“There are some good days and there are some bad days,” Dorsett told the Beaver County (Pa.) Times earlier this week, in connection with the 20th annual Tony Dorsett/McGuire Memorial Celebrity Golf Classic. “So I am being proactive instead of inactive.”

Dorsett works out regularly and eats well, and he’s considering experimentation wit a hyperbaric chamber, a device Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin recently said he may use to assist with the health of his brain.

“I can slow the process down . . . there’s optimism about that,” Dorsett said. “I feel if I can slow it down, I can stop it. I’m not waiting to see if I’ll be nonfunctional.”

Dorsett believes that the concussion lawsuits, which now involve more than 2,200 players, eventually will be settled by the league. And as to one of the NFL’s expected defenses — that even if players had been fully warned about all risks of concussions they still would have wanted to play — Dorsett begs to differ.

“Would I have risked my health years ago and gone back on the football field after a concussion if I knew there would be percussions in the future?” Dorsett said. “Hell no!”

He points specifically to a game against the Eagles in 1984. After absorbing what he called “the hardest hit I ever took,” Dorsett was evaluated by doctors and cleared to return to play.

At age 58 and with daughters as young as eight and 13, Dorsett worries about the future. “[T]here’s a chance I might not be functional when my daughters have kids and I’ll be a grandfather,” Dorsett said.

Many will say that’s part of the risk that he assumed by playing football. Still, Dorsett’s situation highlights the fact that, at each level of the game, every reasonable step should be taken to reduce the risks that a football player assumes when fastening a chin strap and running onto the field. Though the risks can never be eliminated, they can — and should — be minimized.

 

[RoryN]

Dorsett's teammate, Danny White, files concussion lawsuit, as does Dorsett's son

Last week’s filing of a 2,000-player “master complaint” hardly represented the beginning of the process — and if definitely wasn’t the end.

Via the folks at NFLConcussionLitigation.com, at least three new lawsuits have since been filed.

In Atlanta, a group of former players led by quarterback Billy Kilmer have joined the throng. The case also includes former return specialist Allen Rossum and Anthony Dorsett, Jr., the son of fellow concussion plaintiff Tony Dorsett.

Two separate suits were filed in Houston on Friday, with former Cowboys quarterback/punter Danny White and former Bills linebacker Darryl Talley (pictured) among 27 plaintiffs.

A press release issued by the firm filing the Houston cases incorrectly identifies one of the plaintiffs as “former Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams.” Williams has neither left the team nor sued; the plaintiff is actually former defensive back Kevin Williams.

The total plaintiffs now exceed 2,400. At some point, the number of former players who haven’t sued will be smaller than those who have.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/page/2/

 

[RoryN]

Pop Warner Football - largest youth football organization in the world - re-writes rule book

The changes basically mean a lot less hitting. They include:

*Only 1/3 of time spent practicing can be in contact with another player
*No head-to-head hits
*Tackling must be initiated within a 3-foot zone

If you think about it, this is pretty significant in the larger scheme of football...

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/47789555/#47789555

 

[RoryN]

Former OL Ralph Wenzel dies from complications of dementia

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 22, 2012, 6:08 PM EDT

Former NFL offensive lineman Ralph Wenzel, whose battle with dementia pushed him to the fore of the current player safety debate, died Monday.

The 69-year-old Wenzel died from complications of dementia, according to his wife, Dr. Eleanor Perfetto, via the New York Times.

Only in recent years has the NFL been willing to admit the possibility of a link between head injuries and dementia, and recent years have seen an increase in player-safety measures.

Wenzel was a guard for the Steelers and Chargers from 1966 to 1973, and he began having memory lapses and other problems in 1995 at age 52. His condition deteriorated to the point he could no longer work, communicate or feed himself, and he was placed into a home for dementia patients in 2006.

His wife pushed his case as an example of the long-term effects of head trauma, saying he told her he suffered “more [concussions] than I can count.” She also confronted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when he excluded her from a meeting of retired players, and she testified to a House Judiciary Committe hearing on head injuries in football in 2009.

His brain will be donated to Boston University to test for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative problem caused by repetitive head trauma.

Our condolences go to his family and friends, with the hope that his struggles help in some way to create a safer game for generations to come.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

[RoryN]

At age 27, ex-Buc Arron Sears has “almost total loss of function”

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 28, 2012, 10:09 AM EDT

Former Tampa Bay offensive lineman Arron Sears is suing the Buccaneers and the NFL over health problems that he attributes to concussions suffered on the field, and the details of his lawsuit paint a bleak picture of his life at the age of 27.

Sears, who was taken in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft and started 31 games in his first two seasons, abruptly left the team in 2009 and never returned. He says his career ended because of neurological problems related to head trauma, and his lawsuit claims his parents now have to care for him because he can’t care for himself.

“Sears has almost total loss of function, is unable to care for himself and cannot take [care] of his day-to-day activities,” the lawsuit says, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Further, Arron Sears has extreme displays of temper and anger with the appurtenant risk of causing harm to himself and others.”

Those extreme displays of temper may have been on display in 2010 when Sears was arrested for battery on a police officer. A few months later he was found wandering in the middle of a Tampa street.

The question in the lawsuit will be whether Sears’ attorneys can demonstrate that his severe neurological problems really did stem from head trauma suffered in the NFL, and then whether they can demonstrate that the NFL and the Buccaneers misled him about the risks associated with head trauma. The league has consistently denied that it ever misled players and insists that it has always paid careful attention to player safety.

Whether the NFL is to blame or not, the story of Arron Sears, who once looked like a promising young player with plenty of potential, is the story of a very sad life.

 

[RoryN]

Interesting - and probably very accurate:

Hargrove video could open a can of worms for NFL in concussion litigation

Posted by Mike Florio on June 30, 2012, 12:30 PM EDT

The notorious sideline video from the 2009 NFC title game eventually could cause bigger problems for the NFL than simply undermining the overall potency of the bounty case.

The decision of the NFL to rely so heavily and publicly on a 10-second snippet of tape harvested by NFL Films has created concern in some league circles that the entire NFL Films vault will now be scrutinized by the lawyers suing the league for concussions incurred by former players.

It’s not an unreasonable concern. NFL Films uses cameras and microphones extensively during every regular-season and postseason game. Players and coaches routinely wear a wire, and NFL Films captures everything they say. Everything. As in every word, snort, cough, sneeze, and any other bodily sounds that are within range of the device.

Only a small fraction of it all is ever used. If the bulk of it is archived, the lawyers in the concussion cases will seek permission to review every second of the NFL Films footage for anything that could be used to prove the existence of a culture that encouraged players to return to action despite possibly being impaired by a head injury.

Given the stakes involved in the concussion litigation, expect the discovery process to include a request for the production of every piece of raw tape in the possession of NFL Films. And expect a team of lawyers and paralegals eventually to descend on the NFL Films headquarters to watch it all.

Though the lawyers likely would have thought of this approach even without the release of the Hargrove video, the release of the Hargrove video has convinced some that it’s only a matter of time before it happens.

 

[RoryN]

Former Chargers, 49ers LB Steve Hendrickson in cognitive decline

Posted by Darin Gantt on July 2, 2012, 9:19 AM EDT

The stories keep piling up, at an alarming rate.

And reading the individual tales of heartbreak adds to the collective sense of dread at what’s coming next.

Former Chargers and 49ers linebacker Steve Hendrickson is suffering from a host of cognitive problems that he relates directly to his football career.

“I can remember material I had before the concussions,” Hendrickson told Howard Yune of NapaNews.com. “Twenty years ago seems so clear to me, but yesterday seems just —- far away, foggy.”

That short-term memory loss is among a host of problems for the 45-year-old Hendrickson, who hasn’t been able to work for six years, and was divorced a year ago.

He was mostly a special teams player in the NFL, and earned a reputation for toughness at an early age. But playing through a separated shoulder in a high school game is one thing. Playing through more serious injuries may have put him in his current position.

Hendrickson estimated he sustained at least 20 concussions while playing football at Cal and in seven years in the NFL. But he said there were never many questions along the way.

“They never even questioned you, and I never questioned it,” he said. “They’d tell me how I got [the concussions] but never said it was some bad thing or that I should sit out. And when you cover kickoffs like I did, you’ll get a few, especially with the helmets they had then.”

Hendrickson, whose career ended in 1995, said his problems began in his 30s, when his memory began to fail and he’d go through “these states where I’d be comatose two or three days, unable to move.”

While the Social Security Administration accepted his disability claim in 2007 citing trauma-related brain damage, he’s been frustrated by the NFL’s pension plan, which designated him disabled by “non-football causes.”

Asked if his football career was worth it, Hendrickson said: “Living the life, it wasn’t a great life. You’re a piece of meat, there one day and gone the next. And it might cost you your brain.”

So far, he’s not among the thousands of former players joining concussion-related lawsuits. But there are enough tales like his, not all of them on a court docket, to realize this is a looming storm for the NFL.

 

[RoryN]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/priest-holmes-sees-the-light-on-nfl-toll-062612

Priest Holmes sees the light on NFL toll

The Daily
Chris Corbellini

It sounds like a near-death experience.

That’s how Priest Holmes, a former All-Pro running back, described head-to-head crashes on the football field. For a moment, as bodies are peeled off a woozy ballcarrier by officials and teammates, the sky can change color or become a heavenly light.

“This color obviously isn’t going to be blue. It can be a color that can be orange. It can be red. The sky could turn green,” Holmes told The Daily. “There’s even an episode where you see a clear light, like light at the end of the tunnel.”

It’s the cruel trade-off of pro football: Play long enough to earn riches, and fame and the toll on the body and mind may be irrevocable. Some of the hardiest of former players like Holmes — a workhorse runner for a large chunk of his career with the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs from 1997-2005 before a comeback as a part-timer in 2007 — admit that the hitting involved is unnatural for a human body.

“As much as I loved it (football), that same love now has put me in situations that I have to live with,” said Holmes, now an analyst for the Longhorn Network.

An undrafted free agent, Holmes led the league with 1,555 rushing yards in 2001. But the hundreds of body blows and head-rattlers on Sunday afternoons affects his daily life.

“The frontal headaches, the migraines. Laying in bed, it’s tough to get out mornings just because of the pain that is setting in with an arthritic condition, it’s things like that that you never would have really thought about,” he said.

Holmes is not the only one with scars that won’t mend. Scores of former players are involved in a consolidated lawsuit against the NFL, stating the league had concealed information linking head injuries and concussions to permanent health problems. Holmes, 38, would have been a headliner in this case and, after 1,780 career carries, would seem a likely candidate to do so. In 2005, head and neck trauma nearly ended his pro career, and when he did return in ’07, he was no longer an elite back.

One of his former protégés, Jamal Lewis, is part of the concussion-related suit, as is one of his idols, Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett. Still, Holmes is not attached to the litigation.

In Holmes’ view, every former player suffers in a unique way. But he said for running backs, the odds of major wear and tear increase dramatically if you hit a certain statistical benchmark: four years with 350 or more carries per season. In those cases, he theorizes, long-term health issues can show up before an athlete has even retired.

“The body is just not built to be able to do that,” Holmes said. “I think it truly does have a big effect on players — especially players such as Jamal that have been a 2,000-yard rusher, invincible, helped take us to the Super Bowl (in January 2001), done so many amazing things, and then it results in ‘Why can’t I remember certain things? I can’t remember the exit I need to take when going back to the grocery store.’ ”

Lewis, who did not speak to The Daily despite repeated attempts to reach him, carried the ball 300 or more times during his first three seasons. In May, Lewis, who recently filed for bankruptcy, told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that occasionally doesn’t know where he is when driving in his native Atlanta.

During Lewis’ first season in 2000, Holmes visited the rookie at his home on Thursday nights to eat barbecue and then go over game film. Asked if he could go back and tell the young back that it’s OK to run out of bounds at times, Holmes said it’s difficult to tell a runner to go against his nature.

“It just didn’t fit his demeanor,” Holmes said. “It probably would have worked against him if he went out of bounds. Mentally, that would change the mindset of the linebacker. Now that linebacker would approach him differently.”

In Week 7 of the 2005 season at San Diego, a hit by Chargers rookie linebacker Shawne Merriman drove Holmes out of the game with what was originally termed a “mild concussion.” For the next three to four months, the running back said he visited specialists on both coasts. Alarmingly, neither could come up with a diagnosis.

“Take some time off. You need some rest,” Holmes was told. "Other than that, there was no treatment. There was nothing they could provide for me,” Holmes recalled. “Was it a lack of research? Or was it just a step that hasn’t been developed by the league?

“That was just seven years ago, and the league has been around for a lot longer than those seven years.”

Holmes was lukewarm about his three sons playing football, encouraging them only if they showed interest on their own. When getting hit can turn a blue sky to green, it gives a father pause.

“I always let them know, this isn’t a have-to,” he said. “Believe me, there’s other avenues you can choose in life.”

 

[RoryN]

Stephen Davis already experiencing memory loss

Posted by Darin Gantt
July 11, 2012, 6:09 PM EDT

Former Redskins and Panthers running back Stephen Davis said Wednesday he’s beginning to have problems with short-term memory, and he added another name to the growing docket of concussion lawsuits.

Davis, 38, told Nathan Fenno of the Washington Times he’s having trouble remembering conversations with his wife or paying bills.

“Looking at the results and they’re not that good,” Davis said of a recent visit to a neurologist. “I need to get special treatment, further treatment to try and get it taken care of.

“A lot of things scare me a whole lot, and it bothers me because there isn’t no telling what day I’ll forget everything.”

Davis filed his lawsuit last week, one of more than 2,600 former players to have done so. He said he can’t remember how many concussions he sustained, but said there would be multiple ones in the span of a few weeks.

“The coaches and doctors try to get you back on the field regardless of if you’re hurt or not hurt or have a concussion,” he said. “It’s more about getting you back on the field than making sure you’re OK.

“If you could put your hand on your nose, you were good to go back in.”

Davis said he needs background noise like a television to drown out the ringing in his ears, and complains of severe headaches. There are physical issues too from his career as a bruising runner, who amassed 8,052 yards and 65 touchdowns. He needs a knee replacement and is having shoulder problems as well, making getting out of a bed or a car an issue.

 

[RoryN]

Junior Seau’s family donates brain tissue for research

Posted by Josh Alper
July 12, 2012, 2:58 PM EDT

Junior Seau’s brain tissue is on its way to the National Institutes of Health.

The Associated Press reports that Seau’s family asked the San Diego County medical examiner’s office to send some of the former NFL linebacker’s brain tissue to the NIH for research. The medical examiner does not have any information about what kind of tests will be done on Seau’s brain, but it likely will be related to the ongoing work being done to discover links between head injuries suffered on the field and problems later in life. Seau killed himself in early May.

Previous research has found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of former NFL safeties Dave Duerson and Andre Waters, both of whom also committed suicide. CTE is a neurological condition caused by repeated blows to the head and it has been found in players at the collegiate level as well as several dead former professionals. A pathologist who has worked extensively on identifying CTE took part in the autopsy performed on Seau and a Boston group focused on the condition requested a chance to study Seau’s brain tissue shortly after his death.

There’s no word on when or if results of the research will be made public.

 

[RoryN]

Hall-Of-Famer Bruce Smith joins concussion lawsuits

Posted by Mike Florio
on July 20, 2012, 7:41 PM EDT

A total of 22 Hall of Famers have sued the NFL for concussions allegedly suffered during their careers.

The latest is defensive end Bruce Smith, who spent 19 seasons in pro football with the Bills and Redskins.

According to the Washington Times, Smith filed suit on Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia. Smith declined comment through a spokesman on Friday.

Currently, more than 110 lawsuits have been filed, by 2,770 players. Smith’s lawsuit includes 37 total players.

The NFL’s all-time sack leader, Smith retired with 200 exactly.

 

[RoryN]

BREAKING NEWS: FOXSports reports Easterling killed himself.

(See the thread title & my first post.)

Autopsy shows ex-NFL player Ray Easterling had brain damage

Posted by Michael David Smith
July 27, 2012, 3:03 PM EDT

Former Falcons safety Ray Easterling, who committed suicide in April, had the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, his widow today.

CTE is associated with repeated concussions and has been found in studying the brains of several deceased NFL players.

Mary Ann Easterling said she suspected that brain damage on the football field led to the changes she saw in her husband during his retirement, when he went from a happy, healthy, successful businessman to a troubled person who had difficulty functioning.

“I was expecting it,” Easterling told the Associated Press. “It verifies all of our suspicions, Ray’s included. . . . I feel affirmed and I feel at peace. It made my heart hurt even more to know he suffered through that.”

Ray Easterling played for the Falcons from 1972 to 1979. In 2011 he joined one of the dozens of lawsuits against the NFL over the effects of concussions.

 

[RoryN]

O.J. Murdock’s brain to be studied

Michael David Smith
August 11, 2012, 12:50 PM EDT

The mother of O.J. Murdock, the Tennessee Titans receiver who committed suicide last month, has decided to donate his brain to researchers studying whether football injuries can lead to depression and other health problems.

Jamesena Murdock told the Tampa Tribune that Boston University researchers who are studying football players’ brains for signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy contacted her, and she believed that allowing her son’s brain to be used for that purpose could lead to greater understanding of the risks associated with football, and perhaps enhanced safety measures or better treatment for future players who suffer brain injuries.

“I’m an organ donor and I just believe it’s the right thing to do,” Jamesena Murdock said. “If O.J. can help someone still living, he was the type of person who would’ve wanted to do this.”

The Boston researchers found CTE when they studied the brain of former Bears defensive back Dave Duerson after he committed suicide, and they are also studying brain tissue from Junior Seau, who committed suicide this year.

Murdock suffered a season-ending Achilles injury shortly after he signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent last year and never played in an NFL game. If the researchers find CTE in Murdock’s brain, it could indicate that such brain damage can be a byproduct of playing college, high school and youth football, and that players may already have brain damage before they reach the NFL.

Whatever the researchers find, it’s another valuable piece of information in the search to determine just how much of a toll the game of football can take on players’ brains, and how the game might be made safer. At the most difficult time in her life, Jamesena Murdock deserves credit for allowing her son’s brain to be used to help others.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/