I thought this would be the case this last year when his death came out, but CTE is an epidemic in the sport of football in general. It does not discriminate between high school, college or pro; kids young as 18 have died by suicide and then been diagnosed with CTE at autopsy (RIP Wyatt Bramwell). It’s also not a new problem—read the case of Mike Webster, a player from the 70s-80s who ended his life having to tase himself unconscious in order to sleep.
The NFL has the power to change this by investing in preventative science but instead they choose to silence the scientists and doctors speaking out about long term safety. There need to be permanent changes made to allow for these athletes to lead a fulfilling life after they finish on the field. He was only 24; he deserved so much more time.
Posted by disposable_thinking_
4 Comments
>there had been concerns about Kneeland’s mental health as far back as 2020
Well thankfully that wasn’t an obstacle to his owning a gun.
America is so weird cause wym yall have a sport that gives the athletes permanent brain damage and do nothing about it for decades! Someone also need to do a study about if it only happens to POC and that’s why they don’t care!
Yeah, I really thought the CTE convo would explode after his death too. The league is 100 percent fine milking these guys’ bodies and brains, then acting “shocked” when shit like this happens again. It’s so bleak watching insanely young guys die or completely fall apart while the NFL throws money at PR instead of real research and rule changes.
Yeah, this is the part of the Kelce discourse that makes me queasy. Everyone’s talking about his “love of the game” and legacy but not the fact that a 24 year old dying is absolutely not normal and probably tied to a system we all know is frying people’s brains.
The NFL will throw pink towels and social justice ads at everything but when it comes to CTE they suddenly forget how much money they have for research and actual reform.