What's a little brain damage between friends?

Ah, the big game is almost here. Wait, that should be in caps: The Big Game. No, wait — all caps: THE BIG GAME.

As we await the head-snapping, jaw-smashing violence of the Super Bowl — the best of which is sure to be replayed repeatedly in super slo-mo — let us consider that brain damage commonly associated with boxers has been found in a sixth deceased former N.F.L. player age 50 or younger — former lineman Tom McHale, who died in May at age 45.

And let us consider the response from Jeff Pash, the NFL’s executive vice president for labor:

“There are a great many people who have played football and other contact sports for many years and at high levels who do not appear to have suffered these types of deficits. Whether it’s President Ford or major business leaders, whether it’s people on television.”

Uh-huh.

Yes, indeed, there are people who have played football who don’t appear to have been affected. On the other hand, doctors at Boston University’s School of Medicine have now tested six former NFL players who died between the ages of 36 and 50, and all six have had serious brain damage.

Now, excuse the cynicism, but the NFL has a huge money-making enterprise to protect and a continuing need for the spare parts known as players, so pardon me for not buying the league’s objectivity. For an unbiased perspective, let's turn to Dr. Daniel P. Perl, the director of neuropathology at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who is not affiliated with the Boston University group. Perl told The New York Times that “This is a medically significant finding. I think with a sixth case identified, out of six, for a condition that is incredibly rare in the general population, there is more than enough evidence that football is clearly strongly related to the presence of this pathology.”

Pash said the league was continuing its own study of retired players, which began in 2007 and will probably not be published until 2011 or 2012.

Or maybe 2014. Or maybe 2020 …

Hey, let's keep the hits comin' and the money rollin' ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/sports/football/28brain.html