First, 19 out of 20 brains of former NFL football-players
showed lethal brain damage in autopsies. Then, it was 45 out of 46 brains.[1]
Missed at first from the initial assumption that concussions from the
occasional hard-hits—which make good television—have been the cause of the
dementia-causing protein in the damaged brains, was the impact of the more
subtle mini-concussions from regular play. A 21 year-old with dementia (CTE)
had not had a concussion from a major hit.
Nor had a high-school senior football player with chronic (CTE) brain
damage in the front lobe, and thus severe short-term memory loss, difficulty
thinking, personality changes, and fits of rage. Suicides are not uncommon, not
to mention an abbreviated life-span.[2]
Meanwhile, the violence of the sport ironically continued to be the main draw
to an American audience, with cheers at the most jarring clashes. What is going
on here, and is there light at the end of this tunnel?
