FB blowin up with sources from everywhere now.

You'd think NASA or somebody could create a concussion-proof helmet. It's 2012 people!

I work with a guy that played football through college. He is positive that he has brain related issues because of it. He refuses to let his son play football.

I'll never have a son at this point. If I ever do, I don't think I'll let him play football.

For real, I mean it's not like they haven't figured out how to put someone else on the moon in the last 40 years.

I wonder if Goodell will come to be known as the NFL commissioner who devalued the NFL and the game of football....whether right or wrong is irrelevant at this point. Clearly there is something going on with pro athletes and brain trauma.

someone on myspace also confirmed this.

you see all these supposedly space age Revolution style helmets, but I can't believe they don't work very well.

Mark Kelso had the right idea.

Sarah Phillips?

Apparently, Seau wrote in his suicide note that he shot himself in the chest to save his brain for research.

No helmet is going to protect against the potential for a concussion. It's all about the brain sloshing around inside of the skull. Any amount of force or trauma can cause a concussion regardless of the helmet.

I wonder if he left a note. Would be interesting.

Didn't another athlete do this a year or two ago?

Duerso

Dave Duerson.

Dave Duerson: Death Ruled Suicide; Donates Brain to Science

Wasn't it Boogard or Belak from the NHL?

There are much better helmets that absorb more of the impact, causing less of the brain sloshing around, but the players refuse to wear them...

dude, that's the most impactful, dangerous position for concussions and brain trauma. The only solution, imo, is to not let your kids play football.

it's the only logical conclusion to be made.

You should have been quicker sooner.

There is no way I would allow any son of mine to play football. Just no way.

Christ. The NFL and its media sycophants will ignore this stuff, but that's heartbreaking if its true.

Luckily my son has no interest in playing organized football. A few years ago I was kinda pushing him into at least trying it out but after he tried it a couple of times, just didn't care enough. I am starting to agree with his decision.

Mmm, I dunno. Linemen aren't usually taught to hit with their heads - you keep your head up and to one side or another (you use your head to get between the defender and the hole you are trying to steer him away from). At least that's how I was taught. If you're on the DL, you want to avoid contact (with other linemen) as much as possible.

We're also not as fast and don't have any room to accelerate - you fire out of your stance* and that's it. No running and hurtling yourself at a ball carrier.

* That's IF you even fire out. Pass blocking? You back off and have your hands out in front of you, trying to keep the defender away from your body.

Well, what happens is that the perception of safety actually leads to further actions because of it. Its not a solution.

I guess the school of thought he is coming from is the one that all the minor bumps that would occur on each play can together have an exponential effect towards brain damage. The concussions from RB or some other high impact position are going to be greater, but the frequent jumbling can lead towards damage as well. At least that's what I glean from some research i was looking at.

I wouldn't want my hypothetical, never going to happen, son playing football either. But if he wanted to, I would only want him playing something like tackle or defensive end.

Not trying to speak for Todd, but i think this is where he was coming from?

I've got two young boys (1 and 3), and stuff like this gives me pause on whether to put them in hockey (or, to a lesser-likelihood, football). I want them to get to play sports and have all the great experiences that can come from them, plus get to watch them myself, but I don't want to find out in 15 years that I've doomed them to brain issues later in life. At least parents 5+ years ago had no clue, it's almost worse in this stage of early knowledge.

Do sports like rugby or Australian Rules Football have these same issues with concussions? I mean, they have no helmets at all and I'm sure there's been a head that's met a knee or another head during the course of play. Or is this issue also happening, but, the news we hear here is so American centric, we just don't hear about it in those other sports?

RIP Junior.

Also I think they should use bubble wrap.

Not true, the momentum generated by lineman colliding is not as damaging to the brain as the sudden deceleration that can occur several times a game from receivers, backs, etc taking a big hit. Line schemes now that rely heavily on zone blocking don't place the linemans head at the point of contact very much.

Helmets have come a long way, they are able to cushion blows significantly and more important concussion reconition and treatment has improved immensely in the last 20 years.

In addition technique being taught now at younger levels through High School emphasizes not using the head as a point of contact. This doesn't mean Football is safe, there is always a risk and always will be, just like any other sport.

Most any sport a kid plays involves danger, every year we hear of kids being killed by batted balls in Baseball.

Soccer has a much higher incidence of concussions then most people realize

Boxing and MMA carry risks of serious brain injury, it goes on and on....

Obviously I am going to defend Football, but I won't be an apologist for it. We need rules in place that penalize head to head contact and I am glad they are in place and become more stringent year after year. The awareness of concussions is higher than ever and equipment continues to improve. There is still a long way to go though and it is sad we are now seeing so many players from times past when this awareness did not exist paying the price.

My biggest concern regarding youth / high school players is organizations affording the best head gear out there now. We have gone to all revolution Helmets over the last 2 years and at the cost of up to $400 each x 150+ kids in our program it is quite an expense.

The concussion angle of this is completely legit to look at but I think it's worth remembering too that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., and people in their 40s have the highest suicide rate of any age group. There's tens of thousands of people who are killing themselves every year even though they've never played a down, and many of them are as successful in life as Seau was. You can't tie a cause of suicide to mental trauma v. genetic mental illness with any certainty.

I think getting rid of helmets entirely would actually reduce concussions much more than improved helmets, as it would force folks to stop initiating contact with with their heads, and start using their shoulders, arms and technique to tackle, and hand-technique at the line. I think I remember reading somewhere that concussions and injuries went up with the Revolution helmets, because their improved rigidity and strength also meant they were more effective to tackle with, and you can see it on the field, as people tackle with the force of their helmet all the time in the modern game, and arm wrapping and technique are secondary. I would imagine 'improving' helmets to the point that they were concussion-proof would also mean that they were better battering rams, and tackling technique would actually again move further towards head-first tackling, rather than away from it.

Seriously? Linemen smash helmets pretty much on every single play. Again, this isn't about the one or two massive concussive injuries, its the repeated play-after-play-after-play trauma of helment to helmet impact again and again and again.

Look at the Center's helmet after a game and tell me he didn't knock helmetsabout 50 times.

If this was a suicide, he should've sought out help.
Shame that someone with much more to offer after his playing career,
would do this.

May peace be with you now, Junior Seau.

RIP Junior,

I enjoyed the time you took out of your busy life back in 93 with Seth Joyner to meet with a couple of high schools boys from Utah that were awestruck by who you were.

You will be missed....

He was a down to earth relaxed guy that I met several times due to being friends with several of his "family" members from Utah. I know this has to be devastating for them...Prayers to his family at this time.

So sad to hear this.

A terrible tragedy.

Reports are that he left a note in which he expressed a wish for his brain to be studied which is why he shot himself in the chest.

Very sad. Makes one consider giving up football as a spectator sport.

The media coverage of this is disgusting. Not long ago, most media had policies against report suicides. Now reporters are tripping over each other to report on any rumors and innuendo.

The helicopter over his home is horrific. Let the family grieve in peace. Let the police do their work. If they determine it's a suicide and they determine it's related to his football career, report that when you know. Right now, nobody knows anything, so they should keep their mouths shut.

There's plenty of time to discuss the story and the ramifications later. Right now, it's disgusting that a family has to grieve in the public eye with friggin' helicopters and satellite trucks following them. This is why I got out of journalism.

Not saying that Todd, I am saying it is not the primary point of contact as much and the blows aren't as heavy. We go through a concussion certification course every other season and this exact topic was addressed and research in the last course I took (2010) indicated line was safer than other positions. I think this is generally supported by the players in their 40's and 50's that commit suicide that have had their brains examined. There is risk for every position, I am not disputing that.

The TMZ age unfortunately and I agree.....But sadly it sells.

If he suffered from brain damage due to too many concussions or steroids, or whatever, I'm pretty certain that him seeking out help was way easier said than done. You can't just switch off brain damage and think rationally and say, "Hey, I really need some help here". It doesn't work that way. Your brain is malfunctioning. Something as routine as brushing your teeth, to you and me, could be almost impossible for him to do, while at the same time he's able to perform other routine day to day tasks without issue. When something is wrong with your CPU, all bets are off, especially expecting someone to be rational. This of course is assuming that he did indeed suffer from some kind of brain damage.

If he didn't suffer from any kind of brain damage, personally, it's none of my business why he chose to kill himself. Maybe he felt he tried everything he could to make his situation better or maybe he felt he had nothing further to offer in this world. Who knows? It's sad, as I hate to see anyone kill themselves, but, I'm not them so I don't know what they've been through or are going through. What if he was suffering from some kind of terminal cancer and wanted to go out on his own terms? Suicide is a very selfish act in my opinion, but, it's also selfish reasons as to why I wouldn't want someone to do it.

I wish he would have gotten help too, but, he didn't and we don't yet know the reason (maybe we never will) why he did what he did. All we can do right now is speculate.

It is indeed disgusting.

OK, gotcha. I kinda misunderstood what you wrote. Word to your mother :)

Junior Seau did not leave a note.

Police: Junior Seau Did Not Leave a Suicide Note | The Big Lead

Even though I knew this fact earlier this afternoon it kind of just hit me how compelling, and how shocking it is that, apparently, 2 pro athletes now have shot themselves in the chest in order to preserve the brain for research. That's just an incredible statement - imagine if this becomes a thing, if more and more retired athletes shoot themselves in the chest. I think that really could lead to the end of the NFL, or at least a popularity hit, and/or radical rule changes.

But I guess to play devil's advocate, I wonder if these guys's self-awareness of CTE created some kind of self-fulfilling prophesy. I can see a depressed, proud, former pro athlete thinking, "well, I could fight this, but I know it's a lost cause, there's no hope, it's only going to get worse, but maybe if I end this now I won't end up like Mike Webster, or Justin Strzelczyk, I won't be a burden or embarrassed to my family, I'll go out on my terms now".

We're so quick to say, "it has to be the concussions". How many "regular" adults do we have today that can't adjust to society the way it is? Why is it that we can't just see a 43 year old man, who had done one thing his whole life since he was 8 years old, simply not being able to adjust to a "regular" life.

It's like Brooks from Shawshank. I'm sure concussions played a part of it but I just don't see it being the only factor. There's other stuff going on and these guys I think just reflect a growing part of our society.

I couldn't believe this when I heard it on the news.

I didn't even think of the concussions (or steroid) issue... just thought that maybe he couldn't handle life after football, as he did't seem to know when to walk away.

Sad... How do you wake up in the morning and kill yourself?

RIP

One of my favorite players. RIP :(

This sucks... RIP.