It can't be ride-into-the-sunset time yet, Terry !!

[klondike]

Holy threatened icons, Batman! My favorite commentator's in jeopardy!

Bradshaw: Concussions have caught up

Apr 12, 2011 2:31 PM ET
CHOUDRANT, La. (AP)

Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw says he's feeling the effects of numerous concussions sustained during his NFL career.

The 62-year-old Shreveport native said Monday he has been having short-term memory loss as well as the loss of hand-eye coordination. He also said he is undergoing rehabilitation for those ailments.

''I forgot the numbers. It's pretty staggering,'' Bradshaw said. ''If you play in the NFL and start for 10 years, it's not good. It is not good.''

The former Pittsburgh Steelers star and current NFL television analyst was in Louisiana at the Squire Creek Country Club on Monday to co-host, along with country singer Kix Brooks, his annual fundraising golf tournament to benefit their alma mater, Louisiana Tech.

The normally animated Bradshaw was somber as he told reporters of his condition.

Bradshaw told KTBS-TV that he sustained at least six concussions, plus an unknown number of instances where there was a blow to the head that would require him to ''clear the cobwebs.''

Bradshaw was the first player selected in the 1970 NFL draft. He led the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships and four Super Bowl titles from 1970-83.

He is now an integral part of FOX Sports' NFL pregame and postgame coverage.

[movieman1957]

It seems scary that they would show up this much later. Although other players have had problems as well. Wasn't there a former Chicago Bear who killed himself recently because he was diagnosed similarly and left his brain for research?

Though the NFL has already taken huge steps on this I wouldn't be surprised that such a high profile name wouldn't cause them to be more restrictive/careful in how they handle concussion.

[moira finnie]

It seems scary that they would show up this much later. Although other players have had problems as well. Wasn't there a former Chicago Bear who killed himself recently because he was diagnosed similarly and left his brain for research?

Though the NFL has already taken huge steps on this I wouldn't be surprised that such a high profile name wouldn't cause them to be more restrictive/careful in how they handle concussion.

Chicago Bear Dave Duerson, age 50, committed suicide shooting himself in the chest. Duerson, who was divorced, left behind four children, three boys and a girl. Family members believe that Duerson avoided injuring his brain so that it could be tested for disease and research could be done on his brain tissue at Boston University School of Medicine for evidence of an insidious disease among footballers called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

A 2000 study surveyed 1,090 former NFL players and found that more than 60 percent had suffered at least one concussion during their career. Another study sponsored by the "NFL in 2009 reported that former NFL players have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or other memory problems 19 times more than the normal rate for men between 30 and 49. And pathologists who have examined the brains of ex-athletes have found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive neurological disease that patients get after sustaining repeated head injuries." There's more about this here:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/133053436/brain-injuries-haunt-football-players-years-later

It's hard to fathom, but on the NPR sports show, "It's Only a Game," one of the commentators recently suggested that unless better helmets and care is given football players, the sport could ultimately go the way of boxing. From avid public interest to a sport now on the fringes of American life, boxing's demise stemmed in good part from the growth of public knowledge of the terrible toll that the "sweet science" took on individual boxers' bodies and particularly their brains. The parents of boys who might have been encouraged to pursue the sport of boxing were often directed toward other sports once their families understood what can result from the activity. After seeing a kid I knew paralyzed on the football field years ago, this new interest in the dangers of the game of football seems a bit overdue to me, though I realize it is regarded as a national institution (and a darned profitable one for some).
'

[movieman1957]

I had heard that someone, not affiliated with the league, made the comment that the safest thing to do would be eliminate the helmet. People would be less likely to hit the way they do. He made the comparison to rugby and that it has many less injuries of this type than football. Don't know how accurate it is but I can see a point where without the "security" of a helmet they would be more careful.

It will never happen. (He acknowledged as much.)

Thanks for looking up the info on Duerson. Too sad.