Announcement

**Emily Diana** · 11-06-2015, 08:28 PM

- Researchers find evidence of CTE in 96% of deceased NFL players they tested -

"Researchers published findings this week that 87 of 91 deceased NFL players tested were found to have evidence of the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

The study was conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University and found that 96% of former NFL players tested had evidence of the degenerative brain disease, with 79% of all football players tested — who played at all levels — showing signs of the disease.

The researchers tested the brains of 165 former football players who competed at the high school, college, semi-pro or professional level. Of those tested, 131 showed signs of CTE." ...

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/rese...rs-they-tested

**Emily Diana** · 11-06-2015, 09:13 PM

- Frontline: League Of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis -

Video of the program from October 8th, 2013; includes Mike Webster's death and the autopsy conducted by the real Dr. Omalu -- played in "Concussion" by Will Smith -- interviews with several former players, wives and loved ones.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...gue-of-denial/
__________________________________________________ ________

- The Frontline Interviews - Doctors, Players, Families, Activists -
(video interviews and articles at the link below)

The Doctors:

*Dr. Ann McKee: The director of neuropathology at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Bedford, Mass. In her research, McKee has discovered the disease in dozens of former football players. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted with FRONTLINE's Michael Kirk on May 20, 2013.

*Dr. Omalu: A forensic pathologist, Omalu conducted the autopsy of Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, which led to his discovery of a new disease that he named chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. He is currently the chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, Calif. and a professor in the UC Davis Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He spoke to FRONTLINE’s Michael Kirk on March 25, 2013.

*Dr. Joseph Maroon: As team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Maroon and his colleagues developed a now widely used test to determine whether a football player should return to play after a concussion. He is a consultant to the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee. This interview was conducted by FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore on April 17, 2013.

(Former) Players:

*Steve Young: Steve Young played quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and suffered seven concussions before retiring in 1999. A Hall of Fame quarterback, Young told FRONTLINE he worries about the toll that routine head hits are taking on linemen and running backs. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted with FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore on March 27, 2013.

*Harry Carson: Harry Carson is a Hall of Fame linebacker who played for the New York Giants from 1976-1988. Here, he discusses why he regrets ever having played football. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted with FRONTLINE’s Michael Kirk on Sept. 4, 2013.

*Jim Otto: In 14 seasons of play for the Oakland Raiders, Jim Otto played had a punishing history of injuries. He needed 74 surgeries for his football injuries, including the amputation of one of his legs. This interview was conducted by FRONTLINE’s Tom Jennings on Dec. 22, 2012.

Family members:

*Sydney Seau, daughter of legendary linebacker Junior Seau, whose 2012 suicide shocked the sports world. Seau says football changed her dad, leaving him forgetful, distant and prone to fits of anger. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted with League of Denial author Mark Fainaru-Wada on Feb. 15, 2013.

*Pam Webster, wife of Mike Webster. She watched her husband, Steelers legend Mike Webster, become confused, angry and violent in the years after he retired from football. Pam Webster had to take a job as a waitress to support her family, and the couple ultimately divorced, shortly before Mike’s death at age 50. He would become the first football player diagnosed with CTE. Pam Webster spoke to FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore on April 18, 2013.

*Lisa McHale, wife of Tom McHale. McHale’s husband Tom, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers lineman, was the sixth former NFL player to be diagnosed with CTE. Here, she describes her shock at the diagnosis, particularly since she had never known Tom to be diagnosed with a concussion. McHale now works as director of family relations at the Sports Legacy Institute. She spoke to FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore on May 21, 2013.

Activists:

*Christopher Nowinski: A Harvard football player turned professional wrestler, Nowinski’s experience following a debilitating concussion led him to found the Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to research and education around head injuries. He spoke to FRONTLINE’s Michael Kirk on June 12, 2013.

*Leigh Steinberg: The inspiration for the movie character “Jerry Maguire,” Leigh Steinberg is a former sports agent who once represented NFL stars such as Troy Aikman and Steve Young. In the 1990s, he organized conferences to educate his clients about the risks of concussions. He spoke to FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore on March 29, 2013.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...gue-of-denial/

**Rancid** · 11-07-2015, 08:50 AM

I believe the hard shell helmets have a lot to do with this and going to a soft shell helmet may deter players from using their heads and make them rely more on their shoulders. It would be interesting to see a study between NFL players and Rugby players.

**DenverBlood** · 11-07-2015, 09:14 AM

I most likely will not be watching this film.

I also don't think it will cause major backlash on the NFL either. NFL popularity is as high as ever and I don't see a film changing that.

I realize it's a serious injury not to be taken lightly. But these players know the risk from the time they are in middle/high school. They may not quite completely grasp before college/NFL but they definitely understand it by then.

Could the NFL be of more assistance and provide more money for medical help? Probably.

But I still don't expect the sport popularity to die over this.

**Den615** · 11-09-2015, 02:12 PM

Originally posted by DenverBlood View Post

I most likely will not be watching this film.

I also don't think it will cause major backlash on the NFL either. NFL popularity is as high as ever and I don't see a film changing that.

I realize it's a serious injury not to be taken lightly. But these players know the risk from the time they are in middle/high school. They may not quite completely grasp before college/NFL but they definitely understand it by then.

Could the NFL be of more assistance and provide more money for medical help? Probably.

But I still don't expect the sport popularity to die over this.

That might be true for the current generation of pee-wee players, but I guarantee no current NFL players knew about these studies and lasting effects when they first played the game.

**Emily Diana** · 01-05-2016, 08:53 PM

-Will Smith tries to shine a light on darkest side of the sport he loves-

"One late summer morning in 2014 in Lodi, Calif., Dr. Bennet Omalu was doing what he does most days. He was methodically dissecting a human body to determine why it had died.

For Omalu, who is 47 years old and the chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, the act of performing an autopsy is a spiritual and delicate one. He treats each body, including the young Hispanic woman who now lay before him, as if it were still sentient. He gently washes it. He cuts through its skin only with clean instruments. He communicates with it. “I need your help,” he will think. “We are in this together. Please help me find out what happened to you.” ...

Twelve Septembers earlier, when he was working in the Allegheny County Coroner's Office in Pittsburgh, a very different body lay on Omalu's table. When he was a boy in Nigeria, Omalu had idolized the United States, and while he continued to do so after immigrating in 1994, he had yet to become interested in America's game, football. Though he lived in Pittsburgh, he had never heard of Mike Webster, the beloved Hall of Fame center for the Steelers, and hadn't heard the local whispers about Webster's subsequent descent into headache-wracked insanity. ...

Smith is a lifelong football fan. His older son, Trey, played the sport in high school. “I'm a football dad,” Smith says. “The most fun I've ever had in my life is watching that kid play.” As he considered taking the role of Omalu, though, Smith thought back to a different element of his son's football career. “Back then I was worried about spinal injuries,” he says. “The concept of permanent neurological repercussions was never a discussion. I had no idea. More than anything, I was compelled to tell the story as a parent.”" ...

http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/12/22/wil...-roger-goodell

**Emily Diana** · 01-05-2016, 08:57 PM

- The NFL’s ‘Concussion’ Problem -
(On Christmas Day, a wide-release feature film headlined by a megawatt star will spread the story of CTE’s discovery in football players—and the NFL’s years of inaction in combating head trauma—to moviegoers everywhere. Unable to change the past, the NFL is trying to keep the focus on the future)

"Five days before the movie Concussion hits theaters, one of the NFL’s brightest young stars took a running start and launched himself head-first at the earhole of an opponent’s helmet.

This was one of three unnecessary roughness fouls Odell Beckham Jr. received during a loss to Carolina on Sunday afternoon, and on Monday, the 23-year-old receiver was suspended for the Giants’ Week 16 game. The NFL reprimanded Beckham for initiating “forcible contact” with the head of a defenseless player, Carolina cornerback Josh Norman, putting Norman at unnecessary risk for injury. In other words, the very kind of collision that football at all levels is trying to avoid.

Never has there been more of a spotlight on, and awareness of, the risk of brain injury in America’s Game. Ten years ago, a movie bluntly titled Concussion would most likely never have been made. But on Christmas Day it will be out at theaters across the country. Viewers will take in popcorn, soda and the story of how the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) was first discovered in deceased NFL players." ...

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/23/n...h-bennet-omalu

**Emily Diana** · 01-05-2016, 09:03 PM

- ‘Paid to Give Concussions’ -
(The MMQB screened Will Smith’s upcoming drama Concussion with 70 former NFL players. For some, it was a panic-inducing horror flick)

"Cramped in his seat, the man in the back row of the movie theater cut a hulking silhouette. His knees pressed against the row in front of him, and every time he dug into his bag of popcorn, his leather jacket brushed against the adjacent chairs. He was otherwise quiet, at least for the first 90 minutes.

Then panic set in.

First, he breathed heavily. Then he rubbed his thighs.

“I can’t do this,” he said, huffing. “I can’t do this.”

He gulped for air. The woman accompanying him rubbed his back, trying to soothe him. The movie, in its own way a horror flick, had just become very personal. “I can’t do this,” the man said as the screen showed tight-angle shots of former NFL star Dave Duerson climbing into bed with a revolver. “I know that guy!”

The hulking man was screening Concussion, the Will Smith drama based on the true story of head trauma in football. As soon as the final credits rolled, the man in the back of the theater—one of 70 former players who saw the film last week—bolted for the exit. His reaction was as chilling as any line delivered by Smith’s character, Dr. Bennet Omalu, the pathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and became embroiled in a drawn-out battle with the NFL." ...

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/09/n...vie-will-smith

**Emily Diana** · 01-14-2017, 03:03 AM

-Bo Jackson's startling hindsight: 'I would have never played football'-

..."“If I knew back then what I know now,’’ Jackson tells USA TODAY Sports, “I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody.

“The game has gotten so violent, so rough. We’re so much more educated on this CTE stuff (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), there’s no way I would ever allow my kids to play football today.

“Even though I love the sport, I’d smack them in the mouth if they said they wanted to play football.

“I’d tell them, 'Play baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, just anything but football.’ ’’

Jackson was leery of the game's exploitative tendencies when he came out of Auburn - a suspicion that he says played a significant role in his shunning of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - and that, in concert with greater knowledge of head injuries and their effect on deceased stars such as Junior Seau,forced a greater re-examination of the sport." ...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...-mlb/96492338/

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"Concussion" - football movie based on a true story

"Concussion" - football movie based on a true story

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