His was a suicide with a macabre twist. In February, former Chicago Bears safety David Duerson shot himself in the chest, but not before leaving behind a note requesting his brain be studied for evidence of a disease striking football players.
His was a suicide with a macabre twist. In February, former Chicago Bears safety David Duerson shot himself in the chest, but not before leaving behind a note requesting that his brain be studied for evidence of a disease striking football players.
Tregg Duerson, his face drawn and his eyes exhausted, expressed confusion and dismay about many of the details surrounding his father's suicide last week. But he is sure about one thing.
It's been an odd week. I've been bronchially ill for much of it, napping and coughing and going to bed at 8. I planned to have this week's column be a year-in-review job, what with management and players in silent mode before the federal mediator in Washington over the weekend.
With his head bowed and a barely detectable quiver in his voice, the baseball player known as the "Iron Horse" devastated the crowd at Yankee Stadium, not by hitting a home run, but by announcing that he was dying.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently acknowledged receipt of a report linking Reggie Fleming, a former NHL player who passed away last July, to serious brain injury. Authored by Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at Boston University and the Bedford Veterans Administration Medical Center in Massachusetts, the report connected for the first time a pro hockey player to the post-career brain health risks that are already linked to boxers and what seem to be terrifying numbers of pro, college and even high school football players.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at brain injuries in athletes and the lingering health effects they can suffer.
For years after his NFL career ended, Ted Johnson could barely muster the energy to leave his house.
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