He was a Hall of Fame player and a great teammate. And by all accounts he was a great man. Junior Seau, according to the police investigation committed suicide. It’s sad that someone would take their own life. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in their time of mourning.
Now with the initial shock of what happened, there came the reaction. Far too often we as a society try to find out why things happen the way they do. Just two quick examples of how insane in my opinion we’ve become. Almost immediately after the Virginia Tech shooting and the shooting in Tucson, Arizona we all were clamoring to know every single detail of why someone would do such a thing.
As it turned out in both of those cases the shooters were completely crazy and evil. Nothing more to it in my opinion. At that point when a person crosses that threshold into oblivion there is no rational thought left in them. I could care less to know what they were thinking when they shot and killed innocent people.
That was just to point out the insanity I see in our society after a tragedy. I’m seeing it in a different light with Junior Seau’s suicide. Almost immediately the name of Dave Duerson came into the conversation again. Duerson also shot himself. Afterward his brain was examined by Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. It turned out that Duerson suffered some brain trauma due to him playing football.
Was that the reason he shot himself? I don’t know. I’m not a medical expert, but I’m sure that playing football for a good portion of your life, even if you’ve never suffered a concussion will have an effect on your brain. But why was Dave Duerson’s name being mentioned with Junior Seau? Was it just because they both committed suicide or did it have something to do with the concussion issue in the NFL?
Either way my opinion that the NFL was in an identity crisis is true now. Because of lawsuits and the New Orleans Saints
bounty scandal the NFL is trying to do a complete 180 on what they’ve been about. It’s been a whirlwind of opinions and statements from both the league and its players.
The most controversial comments came from former QB Kurt Warner, now an analyst for the NFL Network. He worries about the long-term effects and what would happen to younger players if they suffer a concussion. He also said that he would encourage his kids to stay away from the game of football.
How could those thoughts be deemed controversial? This isn’t a football player talking. It’s a father talking. He’s talking about his kids. Not anyone else’s kids. Yet some former players, Amani Toomer and Merril Hoge didn’t see it that way.
Somehow Amani believes that Kurt Warner has defamed the game. Merril went as far to say that Kurt’s comments were ‘uninformed’ and ‘uneducated’. The argument that was used by both Amani and Merril was that you’re going to have concussions in every sport. Both of them also believe that what he said was damaging to all young kids who want to play football in the future.
So by their logic any parent can’t have the same thought process that Kurt does with his kids about playing football? Both Amani and Merril are correct when they said that you can get a concussion in any sport. However, football is the only one that will increase your chances of getting one. Hockey is the only major sport that comes close to football in the concussion department.
Do you see how insane this conversation is? Instead of mourning the loss of the player and the fact that his three kids don’t have a Dad now. We’re talking about the future of the game of football. There is a time and a place for everything and this was not the time to debate whether or not kids should be told they can or can’t play football.
The so-called analysts were already worked up about the player suspensions for the New Orleans Saints. Yet the players said it was okay for commissioner Roger Goodell to be the one person to hand out the punishment and to hear their appeals as well.
Now hopefully cooler heads will prevail, but I for one am sick and tired of the nonsense. Face the fact that your sport is now dealing with an identity crisis and be sure to improve the medical treatment of your players. Your future is up in the air right now.
westhesportsguy.com 