NFL Players 3x as Likely to Suffer from Degenerative Diseases.

scientific study from the atlantic.

Why I Won't Watch Football This Year

In the wake of Junior Seau's death, I had a conversation with a friend of mine, whose intelligence I admire, and whose opinions on sports and social issues I respect, about football's "safety issues." I told him that I didn't know if I would be able to watch the sport anymore. His last words on the matter were, "Well, we don't have to decide right away." Football season doesn't start until September, after all.

But our conversation was not isolated: Seau's death has brought the discussion of violence in football, and more specifically CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative disease associated with multiple concussions), into the national spotlight yet again.

What Would the End of Football Look Like?

An economic perspective on CTE and the concussion crisis. By Tyler Cowen and Kevin Grier, Grantland

"Please, see that my brain is given to..."

"Please, see that my brain is given to the N.F.L.’s brain bank." - a handwritten note from Dave Duerson, 50, a former N.F.L. safety who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalophathy, a degenerative brain disease which can only be diagnosed post-mortem, has been found on an increasing number of football players.

This Times piece by Bob Herbert was written a little under a year before the Saints story broke. I really don't know that I'm going to be able to watch football this year.

Kill the Head and the Body Will Die

If The New Yorker is writing about football... in the wake of this mess, I don't know how I'll be able to bring myself to continue watching and supporting what is "in its essence, a great sport."

Side note: I love Amy Davidson, though I think conflating this story with the Paterno story is a stretch.