Delicate truth

The world certainly ha taken over the "pussifacation" approach to many things. Guys walking around worried about their hair and only drinking bottled water. Less and less people moving into trades and into desk or retail positions. Sports becoming, well less manly.


We have seen it across the board in all sports. In basketball players could get away with more physical play to keep the offense out of the lane. Baseball pitchers are no longer allowed to pitch inside for fear of hitting someone. Hockey hits to the head and from behind are serious infractions. In football likewise, head shots are filling the commissioners office with likely fines.


People ask for a return to the good old days, when a middle linebacker could be mean and clotheslined any puny receiver crossing his space, with or without the ball. People long for the days when a hockey player with his head down was a big hit waiting to happen. People want you ace pitcher to be able to control the inside corner and put a batter on his arse if he crowed the plate. People want this, but it's just not smart any longer.


With the long term effects on head injuries, what we know about them now, and why we learn everyday, we know these leave lasting dangerous effects on people. Dave Duerson's suicide in February of 2011 a little more was learned. These players are leaving the game mentally irregular. We have read in certain publications that our great Walter Payton suffered from depression and had thoughts of suicide. Now with the news of Junior Seau's apparent suicide this news ha jumped to the forefront.



Some will tell you that these are grown men who make the conscience decision to do what they do. Well what about the 21 year old Penn State football player Owen Thomas, who was found dead hung in his dorm room? Did he make that conscience decision? Was he old enough to determine living the rest of his life with CTE (disease linked to impulse control and depression found in multiple NFL players)?


It is time for the world to notice this. With athletes being unprepared to step foot into retired life, let alone deal with mental defects caused by their sport, things need to change. Sports leagues need to prepare players from the beginning of their careers till the end on how to cope without sport. Equally important is the need to put equipment in locker rooms which will protect their heads from the effects of repeated trauma over and over. We are a delicate species, we see it at birth, we see it at death, we must now see it in-between.