More concussion discussion in NFL

Published 11:23 pm Tuesday, January 27, 2009

TAMPA, Fla. — When the question was posed — ever worry that the sport you love could ruin your brain? — Hines Ward shrugged it off as though it was nothing more than one of those pesky cornerbacks trying to keep him from catching a pass.

“It’s just a violent game,” Pittsburgh’s star receiver said Tuesday during Super Bowl media day, when such serious issues are generally cast aside in favor of scantily clad TV hosts and other outrageous antics. “If you run into someone full speed with a head-to-head hit, something’s bound to give. Unfortunately, it’s your brain.”

Not long after Ward spoke, eight people gathered in a downtown hotel to discuss the latest evidence that football’s violent nature could be causing some serious health issues.

n There was Ted Johnson, the former New England linebacker who claims repeated concussions sent his life into a downward spiral of drug abuse and a failed marriage.

n There were two wives of ex-NFL players, one of whom was discovered to have had severe brain damage after dying young, the other requiring around-the-clock care when dementia set in while he was in his 50s.

n There were assorted medical experts to describe the potentially devastating effects of taking repeated blows to the head, the kind that Ward and several other Super Bowl players dismissed as just an unfortunate part of the game.

“I’m not going to think about it right now,” said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has sustained at least two concussions in NFL games and another in a motorcycle accident. “I’m going to live this day to the fullest.”

At Tuesday’s concussion discussion, Boston University researchers released enlarged photos of the brain scan taken after the death of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Tom McHale, the victim, at age 45, of an accidental drug overdose.

The scans showed dense, brown patches where healthy cells would have been, a discovery that Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist who specializes in degenerative brain diseases, described as “extraordinarily abnormal.”

Nearby, McHale’s widow, Lisa, struggled to hold back tears. “Eight months ago, I lost my best friend, my college sweetheart and my husband of 18 years,” she said later, her eyes still red.

While drugs took McHale’s life, his wife suspects that his frustrating inability to cope with his addictions may be traced to those disturbing images of the brain, a condition known as “chronic traumatic encephalopathy.” The brain condition can lead to memory loss, emotional problems, erratic behavior, depression and a loss of impulse control.

Johnson, who has become the face of the issue, is a one-time stalwart of the Patriots defense who believes repeated concussions left his brain permanently damaged. Now, he wants to get the word out to others: Recognize the warning signs, take the proper steps to prevent serious damage, worry about something more than just the next game, the next hit.

As it stands now, many football players “don’t want to know what could potentially happen to us down the road,” Johnson said.

The NFL called a summit in 2007 to hear from a wide range of experts on the possibility of repeated concussions causing the sort of long-term damage found in the brains of McHale and five other ex-players who died by the age of 50. Commissioner Roger Goodell has issued directives to improve screenings when someone is hurt during a game and stepped up fines for helmet-to-helmet hits.

Still, that hasn’t prevented some truly brutal blows just in the past month or so. In Pittsburgh’s final regular-season game, Roethlisberger went down in a heap and had to be taken off the field on a cart. The next time he tried to put on his helmet, it felt too small — yes, his head was actually enlarged after taking such a fierce blow.

Then, near the end of the AFC championship game, Baltimore’s Willis McGahee caught a pass over the middle, turned to run and was crushed by Steelers free safety Ryan Clark. McGahee was knocked cold and Clark still doesn’t remember the hit.

Clark sees no reason for the NFL to take additional steps to make the game safer.

“If they do anything else, we’re not going to be able to tackle people,” Clark said. “I’d like to see them stop talking about it on TV so much. … People are beginning to believe it’s a barbaric sport.”

While BU has brought together some of the top experts at its Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, the NFL has launched its own study on the long-term effects of repeated concussions. The results are expected in 2010.