I read this article on "dead athletes' brains" today and thought about a phrase my friend and colleague Larry deGaris always says: "For what, Ted? For what?" The article talks with a fairly well-known former WWE wrestler named Chris Nowinski, who was actually a Harvard graduate. He was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, and in recent years has been on a crusade of sorts to educate people, including the higher-ups in the various pro leagues, about the dangers of sustaining multiple concusions. Dead men or women may tell no tales, but their brains tell many stories, it turns out. Nowinski was instrumental in getting the family of the late wrestler Chris Benoit, who murdered his wife and young son, and then hung himself with his own weight lifting machine, to donate Benoit's brain for study. As expected, it showed pretty significant damage following years of unprotected chair shots to the head, not to mention thousands of other "bumps" in and out of the ring. Given the elite ethos of sport that has filtered down to the high school, and even youth level, I wonder at what age will the brains of young football players, soccer players, and other contact sport athletes begin their prologues...their own tales? This is not a call for some paternalistic move towards "softening" sport, in any way, but isn't one purpose of good research to help society make better decisions? Sport media outlets talk about "bulletin board material" a lot leading up to sporting contests like this Sunday's football game. Instead of stapling a quote from an opposing player on the board to psych up a team (itself an overly simplistic and mechanistic attempt at motivation and arousal manipulation), I wonder how many coaches would dare hang summaries of the concussion research in the locker room? I wonder how many players would read it? We love our sport heroes sunny side up. Perhaps we should get used to having them scrambled. "For what?"
Here is the link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html
For the love of the game! Athletes have to believe they are invincible, especially before a game. So no coach would post, nor would an athlete read such a threat to their immortality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with LD. It is necessary for athletes to believe themselves to be somewhat invincible. One cannot participate in many of our society's sports without having some sense of invincibility. This "love" for the game drives athletes and coaches to disregard any and all risks for the sake of the game. For years at a time athletes allow and subject their bodies to various thrashings and beatings and unfortunately many of them are left broken in the end. It is great that people are attempting to inform and warn others about the dangers and risks many athletes take, however, I believe that those athletes and coaches will not listen, not now, not ever. Why? For what? Because they "love" the game and they are truly convinced that they are invincible and that "that will never happen" to them. The love for the game is irrational.
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