I definitely agree about the future of youth football being flag. There's just more and more evidence that the youth brain is particularly susceptible to the injury - thin necks, big heads. They're not as coordinated; they're not as skillful. For many reasons, I think the wave of the future is flag football for youth.
Ann McKee
CTE can be caused by smaller hits to the head over time.
I'm a Cheesehead.
My three children played soccer and lacrosse. I grew up as a Green Bay Packers fan. I am not against sports. We want kids to play sports, but we want them to be safe.
I started out as a neurologist. I then trained in neuropathology and was focused on neurodegeneration. So, for years, I studied Alzheimer's, aging, Parkinson's, that kind of thing.
Nothing good happens without a penalty.
This is what I do. I look at brains. I'm fascinated by it. I can spend hours doing it. In fact, if I want to relax, that's one way I can relax.
I was born and raised right outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
I do love the way the brain looks. I love the way it's shaped.
Our national identity is so interwoven with football.
Every one of them is different. In fact, brains are like faces in that no two are ever alike.
Certainly, our work has identified CTE in many professional football players, but we're also seeing it in a very high percentage of college players.
My greatest hope is that we learn how trauma induces neurodegeneration in susceptible individuals.
I run a number of different brain banks.
I was born with football - my brothers, my dad. I played football when I was a kid. I mean, you know, it was part of life. It's a part of growing up. It's - you know, it's a way of life.
I have a lot of college football players in my Brain Bank with CTE.
I feel like Dr. Death.
Junior Seau's CTE finding raises a lot of issues for everyone. He is such a beacon. He was so young when he died. He was an active player for so long. He was such an amazing individual who was well loved by his teammates and his community.
I think you have to be creative to make a difference in science.
I would advise kids not to play any sports, such as tackle football, where they are exposed to repeated blows to the head.
Dave Duerson had classic pathology of CTE and no evidence of any other disease.
Football is an extraordinarily popular sport, and the whole game is played around this issue. The whole makeup of the game involves these subconcussive hits. I don't know how they're going to solve that problem. I don't think they know how they're going to solve that problem.
My brothers played football. In fact, I was an absolutely enormous Packer fan, and because I was raised in such a football-centric community, I have always had a terrific admiration for football players.
Football is an American sport. Everyone loves it. I certainly would never want to ban football.
Kids' brains are developing. Their heads are a larger part of their body, and their necks are not as strong as adults' necks. So kids may be at a greater risk of head and brain injuries than adults.
We've now found CTE in former NFL players who played every position except kicker.
It makes common sense that children, whose brains are rapidly developing, should not be hitting their heads hundreds of times per season.
Frankly, I think it should be no football until you're physically mature.
My son was a goalkeeper in soccer, and he luckily never had much head trauma. He never had any concussions or anything. I really wanted him to play football, but now I'm thankful he didn't.
I have a little easier time watching the NFL than college or high school. I used to go to the high school games, and now I have trouble with it. The NFL players get big rewards from it. I feel at least the NFL has made big changes to help their safety. And they're adults - they can make good decisions.
The thing you want your kids to do most of all is succeed in life and be everything they can be. And if there's anything that may infringe on that, that may limit that, I don't want my kids doing it.
It's almost un-American to say that you want to change football.
While we know, on average, that certain positions experience more repetitive head impacts and are more likely at greater risk for CTE, no position is immune.
Is there a way that we would actually recognize the game of football with fewer tackles and fewer collisions? I'm not sure. But I think that's the direction we're going to have to go. Bigger fields? Fewer players on the field? I think we are ultimately going to have to change some of the major rules of the game.
I'm not your run-of-the-mill scientist.
I love sports, OK? But I think we really need to take it on ourselves to not be so crazy about sports, not to risk someone's future just because we think they might be the next star.
I can't say I love football anymore.
If football is your passion in life and you would rather play football for 20 years and have a shortened life span, that's your choice.
I just want to make sports safe for our kids.
Is a concussion going to lead to CTE? No, probably not in most cases. But if you have enough concussions over a certain amount of time, yes, then I think you can lead to CTE.
I love football.
We're hoping that there is large-scale recognition that CTE is a risk when playing football.
I'm concerned about the future of football, because we have paid a lot of attention to concussions. We are more aware of concussions. But it's really the repetitive minor injuries, the ones that are asymptomatic that occur on almost every play of the game, the sub-concussive hits: that's the big problem for football.
The overwhelming evidence is that trauma is a major factor in CTE.
Subconcussive injuries are brain injuries on top of unrecovered brain injuries.
The beginnings of CTE can start quite early.
It's impossible for me to dissociate the risk of playing football from the risk of C.T.E.
I do have a son. He's out of school now. He never played football. And it had nothing to do with me. I was actually crushed that he didn't play football. I thought, 'Oh my God, this is awful.' My brothers all played football. My dad played football.
Families don't donate brains of their loved ones unless they're concerned about the person.
Football has a future. I don't know what that future is. I'm a physician.
