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{"id":3494,"date":"2012-05-03T17:42:48","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T17:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=3494"},"modified":"2012-05-03T17:42:48","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T17:42:48","slug":"the-death-of-junior-seau-head-injuries-10-essential-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/05\/the-death-of-junior-seau-head-injuries-10-essential-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death of Junior Seau & Head Injuries: 10 Essential Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Junior Seau, football hall-of-famer and former New England Patriot, is dead<\/a>.\u00a0 It appears that he committed suicide.\u00a0 Seau was 43 and had an ex-wife and three children.<\/p>\n

This is the latest in a growing line of NFL suicides, and Seau is the sixth member of the 1994 San Diego Chargers team to die from suicide, alcohol or drugs (two other Chargers died in freak accidents).\u00a0 It is not immediately clear that Seau killed himself because of brain trauma and resulting mental illness, but there are forbiddingly ominous signs of the same (he did suffer many concussions, that much is clear).\u00a0 Two years ago, Seau survived a 100-foot plunge off a cliff following a fight with his girlfriend.\u00a0 He said that he fell asleep at the wheel, but one sees a pattern here in relation to previous tragic deaths of NFL players and other athletes (see below).\u00a0 All this discussion must, of course, be conducted with clear reference to human sinfulness, which is our primary problem.\u00a0 But our physical actions can aid and abet our sin and fallenness, that much seems clear.<\/p>\n

On Twitter, I discussed this issue with some friends and connected this death to the strong possibility of brain injury.\u00a0 Good questions were raised, and someone asked about hard data that helps to substantiate the connection between football violence and bizarre, even deadly, behavior.\u00a0 Below are some links that I\u2019ve culled on this subject, one that has personally interested me for three years.<\/p>\n

1. The New York Times compendium on brain injuries and sports<\/a>\u2013The foremost journalistic resource on this entire subject, with dozens of articles (Joe Nocera of the NYT has led the charge, to his credit).\u00a0 An absolute must-visit, though you may burn through your 10 free articles per month here!<\/p>\n

2. Jonah Lehrer\u2019s Grantland essay<\/a>\u2013Filled with data, scientific discussion of the brain, and why the problem of concussions is bedeviling (it\u2019s not easy to stop the brain from moving around).\u00a0 Frightening fact: includes mention of the only youth brain studied, that of an 18-year-old player\u2013the brain showed clear evidence of irreversible brain trauma.<\/p>\n

3. ESPN reporting on Owen Thomas<\/a>\u2013A Penn football star who committed suicide and whose brain clearly showed CTE<\/p>\n

4. New Yorker piece by Malcolm Gladwell<\/a>\u2013Famously compared football to dog-fighting.\u00a0 Included some of the earliest research on collision impacts on football, which liked a UNC practice to a series of \u201cminor car crashes\u201d<\/p>\n

5. ESPN coverage of the death of Dave Duerson<\/a>\u2013Committed suicide and shot himself in the chest, apparently in order to preserve his brain for concussion research (Seau did the same, possibly for similar reasons)<\/p>\n

6. Early GQ piece on brain injuries and the courageous doctor studying them<\/a>\u2013\u201c[He saw] brown and red splotches. All over the place. Large accumulations of tau proteins. Tau was kind of like sludge, clogging up the works, killing cells in regions responsible for mood, emotions, and executive functioning.\u00a0 This was why Mike Webster was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

7. First Things essay I did on this subject linking to many articles on this topic<\/a><\/p>\n

8. Coverage of a pro wrestler who went crazy and killed his wife and son<\/a>\u2013\u201cBenoit\u2019s brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer\u2019s patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

9. Minnesota Public Radio coverage of the brain injuries of deceased hockey player Derek Boogard<\/a><\/p>\n

10. Research from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine that shows negative brain effects from heading balls in soccer<\/a><\/p>\n

In listing these resources, I\u2019m not suggesting that Christians can\u2019t play or watch football or other contact-oriented sports, but surely there must be productive things that we can do to address these issues.\u00a0 That all starts, of course, with information, and though I\u2019m not a doctor nor a researcher, I want to try to help others think well about violence, sports, and the application to every area of the Christian conscience created by the gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"