OT: Junior Seau dead?
Cops in Oceanside, CA are investigating a possible shooting involving former NFL star Junior Seau ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
We spoke with an investigator in the coroner's office .. who told us they got a call to respond to the scene ... though the details surrounding the situation are still unclear.
Cops are currently at a residence where 43-year-old Junior is believed to be staying.
People in law enforcement are telling us Junior Seau is dead ... but we are unable to confirm that right now.
http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/02/junior-seau-shooting-police/#.T6F7KlK_tf8
Edit: Seau's death has been confirmed via multiple news sources. Here's the LA Times article...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/junior-seau-dead-gunshot-…
I hope I never read anything from you on this blog again. And I doubt I'm the only one. Please neg yourself as soon as you post anything.
Compassion. I reccomend it.
But you care enough to keep this up.
You care. You just care about being contrarian.
To post.
So I also "could care less."
Not familiar enough with his off the field life. Did he father a whole bunch of kids?
Rip
He apparently had four kids with his ex-wife.
Thanks, which is why I dont really understand the op's comments related to Junior. Junior did alot of charity work and most in the NFL liked him. RIP Junior.
I think the phrase "painting with a broad brush" would be both an accurate and charitable way to describe what he said.
NY Times just put this on their front page
sad and tragic
Won't it soon be time to consider steroids as a causative factor, in addition to repetitive brain trauma?
When suicide was suspected in the case of Seau some years ago (he tried to drive his car off a cliff after being arrested on a domestic abuse charge), before "brain injury" became a cause celebre, people questioned Seau's possible steroid usage.
Well, there will surely be an autopsy in this case...
As with Chris Benoit, it wouldn't shock me if the answer was "both".
And "both" might just be a helpful answer. Seau, with a body-builder's physique and an almost unbelievable physical specimen in the NFL until age 40, is no stranger to steroid allegations, as has been alleged with the New England Patriots more generally.
Everybody is shocked and saddned by the Seau suicide; but how can one not wonder about his mental health care for the last year and a half, after one (apparent) suicide attempt in 2010?
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/18/junior-seau-injured-car-accident-tmz-reports-it-fo/
but there is absolutely no reputable peer reviwed study linking steriod use with anything approaching these symptoms - depression, suicidal tendencies, etc. subconcussive hits yes, steroid no. zero zilch.
I just googled "Steroids and depression" and found quite a few sites suggesting a connection. Here are a few:
http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/articles-and-newletters/research-ar…
http://bipolar.about.com/od/causes/a/bpsteroid1.htm
http://www.healthcareveda.com/post/Steroids-and-depression.aspx
But I'm not sure that steroids have a lingering effect like concussions do. I don't know why they would affect your mood once you cycled off of them.
Another one falls to CTE. 25 years of Division 1 or Pro football and his brain was probably mush. I played the game myself and love it, but the rules need to be changed in order to protect the players. This has been ignored for too long. Widen the field, leather helmets, personal fouls on any tackle in which the defensive player does not wrap up, etc.
I wish I could have a quarter, for every post that presumes a diagnosis from the autopsy of Junior Seau. Good thing that none of you are San Diego County Medical Examiners. Otherwise you might just be tempted to skip the investigation, the history, the tox screen the gross findings and the microscopic findings altogether.
I'm beginning to wonder if going back to rugby helmets is the only real answer. The defense uses the helmet as a weapon. There is almost no way to stop that with rules. The only way to do it is to remove the weapon, which is the helmet.
Give them leather helmets and put in draconian penalties for blows to the head. That's about the only thing I can think of that would reverse this trend. Unless someone can find a way to make a helmet that protects you significantly better.
This is going to be a bigger and bigger issue as medicine starts to really catch up with what football is doing to people. I love football as much as anyone, but at this point if I had a son I probably wouldn't want him playing it.
rugby historically did not use leather helmets nor any helmets. In the professional era, there have been a small number of players who wear a soft sided "scrum cap." (Australian 5/8 Steven Larkham famously wore one). But helmetless is still by far the most common way to play.
That being said, were I not retired from rugby, I would likely wear one having suffered a few concussions playing.
I now play only "no check" hockey and have switched to a Messier Project helmet which is great at preventing concussions (I suffered a few concussions from hockey wearing bauer and ccm helmets before I switched).
I think changing the technology of the helmets in Football will help a great deal.
Interesting. I think football helmets will need to have Cascade Sports' Seven Technology impact attenuation system, or something like it, if companies don't acquire the rights to use it. The M11 helmets don't look extra bulbous.
RIP, Junior.
were that some of the review said it was really stuffy. Having just started wearing a facemask (on orders of my wife) after 20 years, I didnt know if I could take feeling even more overheated but the risk of further head injuries demanded I make the leap.
I have to say that the M11 is a very comfortable bucket and I have no ill feelings from any head impacts since I started wearing it.
While it is certainly lacks the old school coolness of a CCM or (even a Bauer), I agree it is not too bulbous. It's light as a feather and I highly reccomend the helmet. Numerous of my teammates have switched over and they universally like it as well.
I am sure there is that type of technology with football, but if not, there is a lot that they can learn from hockey.
but they are larger and make the players head look quite bulbous. Mark Kelso of the Bills used to wear one, and the technology has come a long way since then, even. Gregg Easterbrook talks about them often in his TMQ articles for ESPN.
However, many players eschew these safer helmets because they don't want to look ridiculous on the field. Although, from a legal point of view, I can't see why the NFL wouldn't want to mandate the safest helmets available. I would think that would help them prove they were concerned with player safety
I agree, the league should step in and mandate the safer helmets. Maybe they could use some of the tv money to buy these helmets for high schools around the country also (colleges are rich enough to take care of themselves). If the game doesn't get safer, high schools will start dropping football for lack of player interest (i.e., parents not allowing their kids to play) and/or concerns about liability, which will probably then spread to colleges. With more of the best athletes going into other sports the quality of NFL action is likely to decline, and this coupled with the game getting an increasingly bad rep will shrink the league's fan base, and the remaining players won't get paid as much. Bring on the ugly bulbous helmets.
Tragic, wish his family well.
I'm beginning to think the sport of football either needs to undergo some extremely drastic changes or be ended all together.
I am not trying to be a dick here, just bringing up a general question. What about coal mines? What about police work? I realize police work is definitely a need, but those guys go in knowing full well they may come face to face with death on any given day. It's a risk that they are compensated for - and no where near to the extent that football players are. I just think changing the game or ending the game is a drastic measure and would take away a means to make a living in this world. It sucks that guys end up being hurt forever, but most don't.
The dangers in those professions has always been readily apparent.
The dangers of repeated blows to head over time causing neurological degeneration in football is only recently coming to light. Everyone who has played football understands the obvious risk of injury, but not this type of "injury."
I'd also just add what Chitown said earlier, "I assume I don't need to point out the difference in society's need of policemen, firemen, and football players." (Or in your case, coal miners).
I agree with you on societies needs, but when I see a way to achieve the American dream being taken away - no matter the reason - it bothers me. I just wouldn't want a means to a comfortable life being taken away from so many people because of the tragic ends to a relative few. Just my opinion.
NFL players are dying, on average, in their fifties, about 20 years younger than their peers. And we're talking about a subset of the population that was, on average, extremely healthy as young adults. A "means to a comfortable life" that chops two decades or more off the life of those who choose it doesn't seem life it'sto be leading to such a comfortable life, and never mind the non-lethal physical problems they're saddled with.
I'm not jumping on the ban-the-game bandwagon but there's got to be a better way.
I think it really is a relative few. When you take into account all of the players who have been in the NFL over it's 100 + years and all of the kids who got an education for free that would ultimately not have been accepted to a university otherwise I truly believe it is a relative few who end in this tragic fashion. I just think that if you asked every NFL player if they think the sport should be banned they would strongly disagree.
I'm certainly not drawing any conclusions on the issue, but the life expectancy for, say, African American males or men who weigh in excess of 300 pounds (two groups that are strongly represented in the NFL) is already drastically skewed from the national average. Add in potential factors like socio-economic upbringing and what I and most on this blog would act like if we had unlimited fame and fortune and there are a lot of life-shortening circumstances at play beyond NFL head-trauma.
Obviously the issue should be studied at length, but just saying that the NFL chops two decades off someone's life is probably not accurate.
There is an inherent problem with the NFL though, because a lot of these guys so very clearly have not been living the American dream (or they were only living it for a time).
IIRC, the facts are that most football players are completely broke within five years of retirement, and the average lifespan of an NFL player is 55 (nearly 25 years less than a typical American male).
I don't think it is hard to argue that making even the league minimum 375,000 for 3 years is enough to live a modest life in this country.t. The fact that most blow it with bad investments and lavish spending shouldn't really weigh into this. That is plenty enough to create a life and raise a family. Get a normal people job after your pro career and it would be pretty easy to get by.
Get a normal job without well-functioning hearts, limbs, and brains.
Dudeness, I think it's worth noting that the danger of work in mines have been apparent since the 1950's, and have been actively counter-balanced and legislated against repeatedly, to the extent there is a government body exclusively devoted to mine safety:
http://www.msha.gov/mshainfo/mshainf2.htm
Part of the insidiousness of the allegation against the NFL is that they've had evidence of the effect of accumulated concussions, at the very least, since the time we realized mines were dangerous. Yet, no action was taken until the past few years, and the NFL actually, actively lied about the risk until 2010.
The difference, in other words, is that although coal-mining is inherently dangerous, the government and activist groups have been working for 60 years to mitigate those risks. In order for the two to be analogous, you'd need to argue that mining companies told miners they'd be able to disapparate through a cave-in.
RIP Jr. the evidence of subconcussive hits over time contributing to the early deaths of football players is getting harder to rationalize. one more reason i will not fight my wife's prohibition on my kids playing tackle football.
So sad... One of the greatest defensive football players of all time, and by all accounts an even better human being.. My thoughts are with his family. I just watched the video of his mom addressing the public that ESPN has up and it brought tears to my eyes..
I've read a lot of these comments and the way I see it the vast majority of guys who played made it through without the mental illnesses that we have seen here (possibly) and in others. That being said you can't take away a means to make a living because some people end up being irreperably damaged by it. I mean it is awful that some end up mentally damaged, but most do not. To change the game because of the effects to a relative few is unwarranted, in my e-pinion. They could create regulation to take away big hits - which they have to some extent - but doing so might hurt the game and it turn hurt the possibility of making as nice a living for those who can play, and get through unharmed, as it is now.
No other comment.......except to say, I am positively terrified of the mods coming after me, I have been warned via email that the banned hammer is in their hands and their "cocked eye brow" is upon me. GO BLUE!!!!!