I am not an obsessive follower of professional football.  The fact of the matter is that there are millions of other people who follow professional football stories with avid interest.  As it turns out, there was a recent development having to do with one of the premier linebackers of recent memory.  His name was Junior Seau (Say-ow).  At the end of his collegiate career, Junior Seau was known for the viciousness of his tackles.  As a result, he was picked number five in the draft by the San Diego Chargers.  My memory is that he played almost all of his career for the Charger organization.
According to sportscasters and newscasters, the most popular spectator sport in the United States is professional football.  It easily beats those who watch Major League Baseball.  I suspect that right behind watching professional football is the watching of collegiate football.
Now as it turns out, millions of youngsters wish to achieve glory and a sense of financial stability by playing football.  This was never a temptation for the author of this essay.  As I have recited before, when American troops went overseas, in my case we landed at the port of Dakar in Senegal.  Shortly after the landing, we were taken to a base about 30 miles north of Dakar called Rufisque.  During our short stay there, a young man among the troops produced a football.  Actually, the fellow who produced the football was obviously going to be the quarterback.  Foolishly, I got into that game.  I was not in the glamour position of halfback or fullback, but rather the man with the football sent me to play a position in the line.  Unfortunately, I was matched against a fellow named Coddington.  Coddington had played professional ball for the Chicago Bears.  And you must remember that in the era of 1942, there was no such thing as defense lineups and offensive lineups.  Coddington and I were matched against each other for the whole one hour of these proceedings.  The fact of the matter is that Coddington outweighed me by at least 50 pounds and rubbed my face in the sands of North Africa for that full hour.  I took that as a sign from Heaven and decided never again to inject myself into a football game.
Well, now back to Junior Seau.  Junior Seau had a spectacular collegiate career playing for the University of Southern California.  He was known – again – as a ferocious tackler.  He began his professional career and spent the bulk of his career playing for the San Diego Chargers.  He was known as a fellow always ready to do what the situation required.  Junior Seau wanted to be in on every play.
He played for the Chargers for many years.  Actually the career of linemen and all pro-football players is about three and a half years.  Junior Seau one way or another stayed in the National Football League for nearly 20 years.  That is a remarkable feat in itself.
The history of Junior Seau is that he was born in 1969 and he died on May 2, 2012.  He died of a gunshot wound to his chest.  It was a self-inflicted wound.
For medical researchers, Seau’s family sent his brain for analysis in an autopsy some time after his death.  Through intensive research, the autopsy people concluded that Junior Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE.
In his later years, Junior Seau developed dementia.  In short, this young man became an aged man, largely as a result of repeated blows to the head.
Junior Seau was an outstanding athlete before he actually killed himself with a shotgun.  He rendered himself a cripple from repeated blows to the head.
When I was in the high school age group, which lasted from 1936 until July 1940, the helmets were of simple leather that fitted over the head.  In a good number of football games, I have seen high school athletes return from playing games crippled.  It is no wonder at all that Junior Seau, playing almost 20 years in the National Football League plus four years at Southern Cal, developed a series of brain injuries.
There is an overriding point here.  With collegiate and pro-football becoming so popular, it is becoming very attractive to youngsters who wish to make fame and fortune through playing football.  As I mentioned earlier, the average length of time in the National Football League is about three and a half years.  After your three years are over, you take your crippled body and try to make a living.
The sports pages are full of reports about enormous contracts that are signed by professional football players.  The average collegiate football player looks at the amounts paid to professional players and decides that he wishes to have some of that.  Basically speaking, “some of that” may result in crippling injuries or even death.
It simply stands to reason that when large men weighing more than 250 pounds collide, an injury probably will result.  The fact that they wear shoulder pads and knee pads does not alter the fact of the matter that when large men collide at top speed, an injury will probably result.  There is no gainsaying that fact.  When those injuries mount up, a young man becomes a crippled young man.
We are all indebted to the family of Junior Seau, because they donated his brain for an autopsy which may save some future young men.  So on this note I end my tribute to Junior Seau and his family.  But I am sorry that in the end he took his own life.  At this point I must ask whether or not we have progressed from the times of the Colosseum in Rome where men were asked to battle with wild beasts.
Within the next two weeks, the professional football season will terminate.  It will do so in a blaze of glory with a game called the Super Bowl Game.  The Super Bowl game will be played in New Orleans in short order.  It will be played in a million-dollar complex with all of the latest amenities.  Now if you want my view of professional football, it is riding high at the moment.  But in time, medical authorities will tend to submit that playing the game at the collegiate and professional level is not worth the risk.  The President of the United States, Barack Obama, commented in the last day or two that, if he had a son, he might have second thoughts about permitting a son to play football.  The author of this essay agrees completely with the President.  It will take some time, but I would submit that in the end, reason will prevail and the viciousness of football will be curtailed.
This essay has been intended as a tribute to Junior Seau and his family who had the notion that his brain should be inspected in an autopsy.  It is unusual for me to salute professional athletes who are well paid.  In this case, Junior Seau has done us all a favor.  He pointed out that repeated injuries to the brain come at a high price.  So with that thought, I say to the brain of Junior Seau, “Rest in peace.”
 
E. E. CARR
January 22, 2013
Essay 734
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Kevin’s commentary: I’m publishing this at 12pm of the day of the Super Bowl, which is to start in three hours.  While I too have nearly zero interest in football, I am in the curious situation of caring — just a little bit — about this game. That is to say I live in San Francisco, where one of the teams is from. There is also one of my highschool classmates, who will be playing as the kicker for the Ravens. So I’m closer to this game than I have been to other games, which is unusual.
Junior’s story is tragic and I think highlights the need for better protective equipment in the NFL. But if it were up to me, everyone would just watch Starcraft, where the only injuries routinely incurred are carpal tunnel and that is easily recoverable.