Is it time to turn away from football? With the evidence mounting that repeated concussions are causing brain damage in professional football players, it’s going to be harder next season to witness the human collisions that give the game its dangerous allure. I am as guilty as the next fan, wincing with a deep atavistic satisfaction as a defensive back launches himself head first at an unsuspecting receiver. The announcers blithely call it “ringing his bell.” The players shake it off, the game resumes, and I go back to my beer. But the suicide of Junior Seau has raised this troubling issue again (see Controversy of the week). We may never know why Seau killed himself, but he did it with a gunshot to the heart, leaving his brain behind for us to try to figure out why.
The human brain is the most mysterious 3-pound object in the universe. It operates much like an electrical device; if one part fires out of sequence or sparks too powerfully, it throws everything off. And if you knock it around, it malfunctions, like a smartphone that’s been dropped on the floor. A 2008 study showed a correlation between concussions and damage to the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain thought to be the locus of depression—and the target of electroshock, which is back as a favored treatment for severe depression (see Briefing). That raises some tantalizing questions. Was Seau’s evident depression caused by a long career of being hit in the head? How common are permanent brain injuries among players? The answers to those two questions will help with a third: Can we ever enjoy football with a clear conscience again?
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