From CNN and written by Scott Polacek:

NFL Acknowledges Link Between Football and CTE

I’ve stated before that I’m a fan of Football (though my Miami Dolphins have been mediocre and far worse for an awful long time).

I’m also a realist.

Football is a wild, emotional, and fun sport to watch but its clear those participating in it are doing considerable damage to their bodies and, by extension, their future.

Because there is so much money involved in the sport now, we have players whose bodies are at near peak shape.  They couldn’t be much stronger or faster and they are involved in a sport that essentially takes these peak athletes and has them run at each other as fast as they can.

The collisions do damage to the bodies but padding can help.  Somewhat.

The problem is that as strong as you are, as built up as your body is, there is no way to further protect your brain.  It essentially floats within one’s head and even with the most high tech helmets out there, a hit can and will cause damage.  Damage that sometimes doesn’t manifest itself for years.

A few days back the whole sad, sordid O. J. Simpson saga made it to the headlines again when a knife reportedly found on the estate years before was turned in (you can read about that here).

I recall the entire sordid O. J. Simpson saga but now, with the benefit of hindsight, another element of the sordid affair comes to life.  Mr. Simpson, who was a famous running back for the Buffalo Bills before furthering his celebrity in movies, commercials, and sports commentary, may well also might be exhibiting symptoms of someone suffering from CTE.

This might explain -but certainly not forgive- the horrific abuse he inflicted on his wife which, in my and many others’ minds, ultimately led to her murder and that of Ron Goldman.

There is simply no happy ending to this story.  As repugnant as I find Mr. Simpson, I also know now versus back then how other ex-players for the NFL have been affected by CTE.  Some have withered away.  Some, like superstar linebacker Junior Seau might well have been driven to suicide.

As much as I enjoy watching professional football, someone far wiser than me noted the sports is today what the tobacco industry was in the 1980’s…a giant industry desperately trying to deny the undeniable, that their product is potentially deadly to those who actually participate in it.