Hruby on former 49er George Visger, and the price his brain paid for football

Nicholas Cotsonika wrote a great piece about 16 months back on the scientific issues between the concussions-CTE-depression links: http://yhoo.it/12b5Ug7

I very much wish more writers would attempt to learn the science behind the issue before vaulting to the moral high ground.

 

One of the clues to football's impact on the brain would be the rate at which dementia occurs in former players, versus the rate in non-players.

According to this study, from the ages of 30 to 49, that rate is 19 times higher than the general population.

www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/sports/football/30dementia.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Lots of variables. Lots more peer-reviewed science to be devised. Lots more testing to be done.

Still. Arguing that Visger's specific case isn't intimately bound up with football would seem an uphill fight.

 

The harder argument to make was that his disability was completely caused while he played in the NFL since he had a documented concussion at age 14.

 

I don't think anyone is trying to make an NFL-specific argument in the Hruby story. But as is the case in the class action lawsuits, the assertion isn't that the NFL alone caused the concussions, but that it hid the risks of concussion from players (and mishandled the medical consequences).

 

But as also is the case defense attorneys will bring to light the pre NFL medical history of the players.