Most of the time, I use this weekly space to spout off on one of my ridiculous ideas about sports. But this week I'd like to take a break from addressing topics like the winner of a fight between Latrell Sprewell and Ron Artest, and make an attempt to bring your attention to something important.
For those of you who read the Daily instead of the Boston Globe, you may have missed an article in the sports section from last week about former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson. Johnson, 34, a ten-year NFL veteran who retired after the 2004 season, "suffers from such severe depression that some mornings he literally cannot pull himself out of bed." Once happily married and loved throughout New England, Johnson now deals with unexplainable irritability, unreliability and violence (he is now vilified for allegedly hitting his wife).
Yet there is an explanation for all of this: Johnson believes that his symptoms are a result of somewhere around thirty concussions that he sustained during his football career. Thirty concussions. In my "playing career" I've sustained one pretty mild concussion. And frankly, it was pretty miserable. I was laid up for a few days with bad headaches, and had some memory loss as well. That's why the idea of Johnson playing football only days after suffering a head injury, only to get himself his second concussion in a week, sickens me.
Yet this is precisely what happened. In 2002, Johnson was rushed back by the Patriots after a concussion, without giving his injury the necessary recovery time. He blames the Patriots, particularly coach Bill Belichick, for this second injury.
And how can you blame him? What's unfortunate is that this is by no means the only time something like this has happened. How many high school kids have rushed back from a head injury, only to do irreparable damage to their brains? Sports have always fostered a culture that promotes toughness over everything else. To complain about an injury is to show weakness, particularly in a sport like football. At a young age, athletes learn to "suck it up." Johnson, however, is doing all he can to combat this.
"I want people to realize that you don't have to 'black out' to have a concussion," he said in last week's Globe. "Most times, the symptoms of a concussion don't show up for hours, sometimes days. And this isn't just happening in the NFL. High school kids get concussions, and aren't properly monitored."
After trying out medications that didn't give him the desired effect, Johnson seriously considered electroshock therapy to combat his depression. After scheduling an appointment, he backed out at the last minute.
The recent suicide of former NFL defensive back Andre Waters led Johnson to finally go public with his problems. Doctors who examined Waters' body after his death concluded that the condition of Waters' brain had deteriorated to the point where it was comparable to an 85-year-old with severe dementia. Waters had suffered from severe depression in the years leading up to his death.
Look, I love football, and the "tough guy" culture is part of the game. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. But NFL players have some of the shortest life spans of any demographic anywhere in the world. More often than not, we value these men while they can still play the game, and forget about them as soon as they can no longer make a tackle or catch a touchdown pass. It's easy to watch TV and marvel at how hard a player like Ted Johnson hits. It's not as easy to think about what those hits are doing to his brain.
I'm no medical expert, nor am I an NFL head coach. But there's no doubt in my mind that the public outcry over this case, and related cases, needs to increase ten-fold. The medical research into brain trauma, particularly that of football players, has to grow along with it. No players should ever have to feel like they're letting down their team because of a head injury.
The cases of Ted Johnson and Andre Waters are tragic. But in order to prevent further tragedy, we have to do all we can to learn about the nature of these injuries, and do everything we can to treat them safely and properly.
Will Herberich is a freshman. He can be reached at William.Herberich@tufts.edu.
