More evidence of the danger of head injuries in football

The death and autopsy of 42-year old Western Illinois football player Mike Borich added fuel to the evidence that repetitive blows to the head playing football can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition similar to that suffered by many boxers. The pathology of Borich's cerebral cortex demonstrated widespread damage to the former Chicago Bears and Brigham Young University assistant football coach. This adds to the evidence found on autopsy of eight NFL players who died between the ages of 36 and 52: most exhibited extreme emotional problems and all exhibited irregular protein deposits and neurofibrillary tangles in the "thinking" or "executive function" and judgment locations of the brain. It is thought that the physical condition leads to depression and substance abuse in many subjects. While there may be a genetic predisposition toward the development of this condition, neurologists from the Boston University School of Medicine and the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute took pains to emphasize that the condition can only be caused by physical trauma.