The second weekend of September football is now behind us — and Philly area high school and college football schedules are in full swing.
Today’s football games are equipped with more safety precautions than ever before , many with an ambulance on standby at the stadium.
Fifty years ago — as the dry hot days of August and the noise of daytime nature were interrupted by the sound of preparation for a new football season, just as it is today — people were not widely concerned. But the truth is that in the 1980s and 1990s , CTE was not widely talked about, although the disease was first identified in boxers as far back as 1928.
CTE is both a (degenerative and progressive) brain disease that mostly affects those with a prior history of injuries to the head (especially affected in athletes.)
Now that a new football season is upon us for high school, college, and professional sports , CTE is once again front and center. Six weeks ago — a twenty-seven-year-old man entered the premises that also encompass the National Football League Offices in Manhattan, New York — and engaged in a violent attack that ended with him accidentally exiting the elevator on the wrong floor and then subsequently ended the lives of four people around (Rubin Management Company) at 345 Park Ave. He left a subsequent note that explained that due to a high school football injury, he believed that CTE was caused.
In a scene of the 2015 movie Concussion — former player and NFL Player’s Association Representative Dave Duerson would be confronted by another former NFL player who was suffering from the affects of the NFL. That player was Andre Waters.
This past summer , one of the greatest defensive backs ever to don the Kelly Green in Philadelphia was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Allen had a (thirteen-year) career, including nine seasons with the Eagles. He and Waters were part of Buddy Ryan’s Eagles’ secondary that didn’t protect against hard hits — it promoted them. On the podium , Eric Allen spoke extremely fondly of his days wearing green in Philadelphia—two Legendary Eagles Defenders — one now in Canton — And One Who Is Not.
Nearly twenty years ago , fellow defensive star and teammate Andre Waters ended his own life. He was found to have CTE in his brain upon autopsy. Five years after that — the man whom Waters had confronted in the scene in Concussion — (Dave Duerson) would end his own life in the year 2011.
While the likelihood is that the confrontation scene in the movie never actually happened , the effect of CTE on today’s NFL players is quite real. The additional safety precautions from helmets to healthcare professionals on youth and high school football sidelines today aren’t just recommended.
It’s required.
Categorized:Eagles Unique Columns
Michael Thomas Leibrandt
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