Viewpoint: Seau tragedy sheds light on NFL concussion risks

With the release of the analysis of Junior Seau’s brain, concussions and a whole host of brain injuries caused by sports are forcing their way back in to the spotlight for the awareness they deserve.

The tradition of cheering players for big hits needs to change, and fans need to understand and support that.

Seau was a former NFL linebacker who played 20 years in the National Football League, retiring in 2010.

In his time as a player, he was a 10-time All-Pro selection, a 12-time Pro-Bowl selection and was a two time champion in the AFC with the San Diego Chargers.

In short, he was a phenomenal player. Yet sadly, he committed suicide at his home in May 2012.

Off the field, he could hide the depression and anger in public.

In his private life, his ex-wife and son told CBS News about Seau’s descent in to irrational mood swings and bouts of depression that became more apparent as time went on.

His family decided to donate his brain to the National Institutes of Health, to study whether his suicide was at all linked with hits to his head.

On Jan. 13, his family released the hospital’s findings. Seau’s brain had been decimated by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), caused by years of hits to the head. On Wednesday, the family announced it was filing a wrongful death suit against the NFL.

Side effects for Seau included depression and mood swings, as well as insomnia.

As happened when Dave Duerson, who formerly played for the Chicago Bears, and Ray Easterling, a former player with the Atlanta Falcons, committed suicide after suffering through years of head trauma, fans and administrators all rush to offer various solutions.

Some, like me, yearn to see a change.

Research published by Boston University’s Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encepholaphy has studied the brains of 85 athletes and war veterans with histories of head trauma.

Researchers examined the brains of 34 professional footballers to determine the long term effects of head trauma.

The worrying stat for football? Thirty-three out of 34 were diagnosed with CTE.

Simply put, the brain isn’t made for ferocious hits to the head. According Dr. Michael Vassilyadi, a neurosurgeon with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, an adult skull has roughly the thickness of three stacked pennies. That’s all that exists to protect your brain outside of a helmet.

Where does this leave football right now?

In 2012, the NFL released new rules protecting any defenceless players from being hit above the shoulder, even if that means using their shoulder pads or helmets to do so. This is a step in the right direction.

Where should it lead? Fines and lengthy suspensions if a player commits an illegal hit to the head.

Players should no longer be commended for bone crunching hits, as a sign of toughness, but punished for them.

But this is also where it heads into problems. Go to any sports bar, or crowd around any television to watch a football (or hockey) game and you’ll hear people whine and complain about referees who call any perceived dangerous hits.

Fans of contact sports – whether it be hockey, football or even rugby – are also their greatest enemy.

They have no desire to see their favourite sports lose their toughness.

They cheer the big potentially injury causing hits, and applaud the players who are willing to throw themselves headfirst into a tackle.

The usual words of "commitment" or "bravery" are bandied about and used to excuse players who commit these acts.

How do you balance player safety in contact sports with the old guard of fans who dislike seeing changes to their game?

It has come to a point where you don’t.

Now is the time when you become willing to sacrifice fan revenue to make a point about player safety.

If fans start complaining that the game is becoming "soft" or officials are too quick to call penalties then tough luck. That’s the way the game should be played from now on.

Player safety comes first.

Seau was not the first to suffer from CTE in professional football player, but can hopefully be one of the last.