Orig Post bills.buffalonews.com | Re-Post Duerson 10/7/2015
For eight months, Kevin Kolb wasn’t Kevin Kolb. He was somebody else. Concussion No. 4 changed him. At night, he’d stare at the ceiling for four hours straight. His sleep cycle was warped beyond repair. In the morning, he’d brush his teeth in front of the mirror and see a cloud form around his face. Forget coffee. One cup spiraled him into a “whole different realm.” When people spoke to Kolb, he couldn’t digest the information. His short- term memory? Shot. Worst of all, his vision could blur at any moment. “Almost like you’re drunk,” Kolb said, “like everything is fuzzy all the way around you.” And that nearly killed him one day in Western New York. After yet another sleepless night, four weeks after that concussion in Buffalo’s 2013 exhibition game against Washington, Kolb drove toward the team facility in Orchard Park from his residence in Lakeview. Suddenly, without even knowing, Kolb began veering into the middle of the road as another car approached him head-on at 50, 55 miles an hour.
“We would’ve hit each other had not I… he reacted, honestly. He reacted. I didn’t react.”
Kolb immediately pulled to the side of the road to catch his breath and collect his thoughts.
He never played another NFL snap.
The scary reality? This is normal. Scarier? The science behind concussions is still new but damning.
Last week, the nation’s largest brain bank studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) updated its study — 87 of 91 former NFL players the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University have analyzed tested positive for the disease rooted in repetitive trauma to the head. CTE can cause headaches, memory loss and concentration issues in the short term and potentially cognitive issues, dementia and/or depression in the long term.
In all, the lab has discovered CTE in the brain tissue of 131 of 165 individuals who, before dying, played football professionally, in college or in high school.
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The NFL knows it cannot downplay the effect of concussions anymore — the landmark book/documentary “League of Denial” exposed years of ignorance. Several players retired early last offseason, most notably San Francisco linebacker Chris Borland, at 24.
And, of course, one brain in the study belonged to Junior Seau, the Hall of Fame linebacker who committed suicide in May 2012.
As a result, two incredibly powerful forces are converging like never before. The reality of CTE, of concussions and the desire to play are meeting head-on like Kolb and the other driver on Southwestern Boulevard.
Asked if he’d play again given what he knows now, Kolb pauses, sighs, pauses again.
“I think I would,” he said. “Definitely. It taught me so much, what I went through — the highs, the lows. It taught me a lot in life itself. So I wouldn’t take that back for anything.”
More brains will reveal CTE. More players could retire early.
So players of all ages must decide: Is it worth it?