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Concussion PSA Compares Youth Football Dangers to Smoking
Everybody seems to be having fun when the kids in a new public service announcement are just playing football, until one boy is thrown to the ground and the background music turns ominous. Then, the coach starts handing out cigarettes. “Tackle football is like smoking,” a youthful voice-over says as a smiling, motherly type lights a cigarette for one of...
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Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien Pleads Not Guilty to Domestic Violence Charge
Former Super Bowl hero Mark Rypien pleads not guilty to domestic violence in Washington state.
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NFL Concussion Fund Battles Retired Players' Lawyers Over Proposed Rule Change
The NFL concussion fund has paid out nearly $500 million in its first two years, but some players’ lawyers say there aren’t enough doctors in the approved network to evaluate dementia claims.
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Brain Scans May Reveal Concussion Damage in Living Athletes
Researchers may be closing in on a way to check athletes while they’re alive for signs of a degenerative brain disease that’s been linked to frequent head blows. Experimental scans found higher levels of an abnormal protein tied to the disease in a study of former National Football League players who were having mood and thinking problems. It’s the first...
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‘Mr. Falcon' Tommy Novis Had Most Severe Form of CTE, Boston University Brain Center Finds
Researchers have confirmed what Atlanta Falcons linebacker Tommy Nobis’ family long suspected: He had the most severe form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease linked to repetitive blows to the head that can cause the kind of violent moods they had grown accustomed to. And now, as the NFL world descends upon Atlanta for Sunday’s Super Bowl, it...
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Ohio Court to Decide If Ex-Notre Dame Football Player Can Sue Over Concussions
The Ohio Supreme Court will decide whether the widow of a former University of Notre Dame football player can sue the school and the NCAA over allegations her husband was disabled by concussions from his college career in the 1970s. Steve Schmitz was suffering from dementia and early onset Alzheimer’s disease when he and his wife, Yvette, filed a lawsuit...
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California Bill Would Ban Tackle Football Before High School
Two California lawmakers want to outlaw tackle football leagues until teenagers reach high school, saying delaying the start of high-contact elements of football would protect young people from long-term brain damage.
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Ex-NFL Star Larry Johnson Jr. Believes He Has CTE
Former NFL star Larry Johnson Jr. says he believes he has chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. NBC 6’s Jawan Strader spoke with Johnson about his struggles with memory loss and fighting self-destructive impulses and fits of rage — all symptoms of people diagnosed with CTE.
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CTE Turned Ex-NFL Star McNeill From Top Lawyer to ‘Other Person'
After completing an NFL career that included two Super Bowls, Fred McNeill got an advanced law degree and practiced law. But within just a few years, he began to fall apart, losing his temper, losing his memory and losing job after job, NBC News reported. “Here is this person who was so kind, so intelligent, so special, so loving, so...
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Researcher: Hernandez's Brain Severely Affected by Disease
Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez suffered substantial damage to parts of the brain that affect memory, judgment and behavior from the most severe case of a degenerative disease linked to head blows ever found in someone so young, a researcher said Thursday. Dr. Ann McKee, director of Boston University’s CTE Center, stressed that she could not “connect the...
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Football's Decline Has Some High Schools Disbanding Teams
Participation in high school football is down 3.5 percent over the past five years, according to the annual survey by the National Association of State High School Federations, or NFHS. The decline would be much steeper if not for a handful of states in the South and the West. Throughout the Northeast, the Midwest and the West Coast, in communities...
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Brady: Concussions Part of ‘Physical Nature of our Game'
Tom Brady doesn’t worry about concussions and considers them part of playing football, the New England Patriots quarterback says in a television interview to be broadcast this weekend.
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CTE FAQ: How Repeated Head Blows Affect the Brain
Researchers are tackling fresh questions about a degenerative brain disease now that it has been detected in the brains of nearly 200 football players after death. The suspected cause is repeated head blows, an almost unavoidable part of contact sports. As a new NFL season gets underway, here’s a look at what’s known — and what still needs to be...
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‘Bad for Your Brain': CTE Reports, Concussions Deter Parents From Youth Football
Lori Anderson grew up with a big, traditional, football-loving family in Austin, Texas, and moved her own family to midwest Michigan. There, she did what was once unthinkable: She did not let her 13-year-old son play football. “I feel it is my job as a parent to make those hard decisions and this was one of them,” she said. “I...
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Boston University Research on 111 Deceased NFL Players Found That 99 Percent Had CTE
A startling new study by Boston University researchers found that after an examination of 111 deceased former NFL players, 99 percent of them had a progressive degenerative brain disease.
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First 2 Claims in NFL Concussion Settlement Total $9 Million
The first two claims in the NFL’s billion-dollar concussion settlement were announced Thursday, a total of $9 million in benefits.
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ME to Release Aaron Hernandez's Brain After Lawyer's Accusation of ‘Illegally' Holding It
A lawyer for ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez is accusing the state medical examiner of “illegally” holding the player’s brain despite the family’s wishes to donate it for CTE research.
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Retired NFL Players Urged to Sign Up for $1B Concussion Settlement
A federal judge on Wednesday urged NFL retirees to register for a concussion settlement that could cost the league $1 billion over 65 years.
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Supreme Court Leaves $1B NFL Concussion Settlement in Place
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected challenges to the estimated $1 billion plan by the NFL to settle thousands of concussion lawsuits filed by former players, clearing the way for payouts to begin to those who have been diagnosed with brain injuries linked to repeated concussions. The settlement covers more than 20,000 retired NFL players for the next 65 years....
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Cause of Chyna's Death Remains Unknown Despite Reports
The cause of death for WWE star Chyna has not been determined as toxicology tests are pending, coroner’s officials said.