'I'm the Wife of a Former NFL Player. Football Destroyed His Mind'

Opinion | I’m the Wife of a Former N.F.L. Player. Football Destroyed His Mind.

He was losing touch with reality and was increasingly paranoid. The first time he accused me of stealing loose change from his nightstand I was speechless. And when I told him how illogical it would be for me to do such a thing, he looked at me with even more suspicion. But his paranoia didn’t end there. It would leave me with a heaviness in my chest that made me sob without warning.

He went from being a devoted and loving father and husband to someone who felt like a ghost in our home. For a couple of months one winter he was so depressed and detached, he couldn’t muster up the energy to speak. My questions went unanswered until I simply stopped asking them. The silence was unnerving.

 

Jesus.

 

I was watching the highlight video of the second Packers-Broncos Super Bowl this morning. Shanahan sends Terrell Davis into the game after Davis tells him that he can't see, because of a migraine. Shanahan pressures Davis to go in: You don't need to see to run this play, and the Packers will never buy that we're running the ball if you aren't in there.

Then the NFL Films narrator guy starts lauding Davis for his courage.

It's sickening.

 

This is why I find no enjoyment in football any longer. Used to be my favorite sport.

 

Terrible. I feel I've read this article a few times before, though. I wonder if we will eventually become fatigued to this.

 

Someone has to die in a game.

 

It will matter for a few months then people will move on.

 

That's kind if how life works, though.

 

I mean it won't change footballs popularity much. Between Fantasy and gambling alone the game is almost bulletproof.

 

My father got kneed in the head when he played in college in the early 1940s. He had a brain scan about 2014 for a possible stroke. The neurologist said, "I see you've had a concussion." It still showed in the brain tissue, 50-some years later.

 

Parents aren't even letting their kids play football anymore. It's going into a death spiral.

Poll: Sharply declining support for NFL, youth football