04/24/24
July 20, 2011
Dave Duerson And The Brain Bank: Before the former American football player Dave Duerson killed himself, he asked that his brain be left to researchers studying head injuries among athletes. What it revealed shocked the scientists.
posted by Mr Bismarck to football at 08:26 AM - 8 comments
No kidding. Duerson was right about what was happening to his brain, and he was only 50. I wonder how many of his bad business decisions are really attributable to the condition, though. Most businesses fail.
posted by rcade at 10:37 AM on July 20, 2011
Here's a story about former players suing the NFL for hiding concussion data. The NFL behaved like the tobacco companies for far too long. Deny, deny, deny.
posted by bperk at 12:03 PM on July 20, 2011
I wonder how many of his bad business decisions are really attributable to the condition, though.
No idea, but it sounds a lot like what happened to Fred McNeil. (posted in previous Duerson thread)
posted by yerfatma at 12:42 PM on July 20, 2011
If those business decisions were made impulsively, they could very well have been the result of his condition.
posted by yzelda4045 at 01:12 PM on July 20, 2011
In checking various sites regarding Duerson's business failures, it appears that most of his troubles involved a supplier that ran into their own issues. Duerson won a $34,000,000 lawsuit for damages the supplier caused his business, however, the supplier went bankrupt without ever paying a penny to Duerson. Hard to blame that on football hits.
Should be interesting to see how organized football handles this, as it's not just a NFL problem. Hard to eliminate head injuries without drastically changing the game.
posted by dviking at 05:33 PM on July 20, 2011
Chris Benoit's murder/suicide is believed to be related to the trauma he suffered to his head from years of pro wrestling.
The problem with adding all that protection is it just encourages harder hits. Sure, it may prevent broken bones, but it doesn't prevent the grey matter ricocheting around inside the skull like a pinball.
posted by Drood at 01:22 AM on July 21, 2011
The only real solution would probably be a fan boycott of the sport.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:04 AM on July 21, 2011
Wow. That's a great story, but so sad. It makes it so hard to love football.