Yes-Brainers: 11/15/09

FROM

Head knocker

The road to the NFL is paved

with countless concussions.

Just ask former San Francisco

49er George Visger.

By R.V. Scheide

George Visger is losing his mind. He has no short-term memory. Say something to the former San Francisco 49er defensive lineman and immediately ask him what was just said, and he’ll repeat it back verbatim. Ask him five minutes later, and chances are he won’t have the foggiest notion, as if the words were a dimly struck bell that failed to register before its tone faded.

To cope, Visger jots down anything of importance with a pen he keeps behind his ear and the notebook he always has at hand. The notebook is his memory, and after dealing with his condition for the past 20 years, he has boxes and boxes filled with them.

He remembers the past well, at least the part before the nine brain surgeries. He first had his “bell rung” in the ninth grade, playing football for the West Stockton Bears in 1972. The practice drill was called Bull in the Ring; the players formed a circle 30 yards in diameter, with a football placed at the center. The coach then called out two numbers, and the two players rushed to see who could get to the ball first.

Visger faced off against the junior high school team’s fullback; they collided helmet to helmet at full speed. Visger came to and found himself staring facedown at the turf. He struggled to his feet, took one step and fell on his face again. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with his first concussion. There would be countless others during a playing career that spanned championship-winning teams at the high school, college and professional levels. The repeated blows to the head took their toll, and now Visger is paying dearly.

While head trauma has always been a concern in contact sports, during the past decade, researchers have discovered that repeated blows to the head while playing football can cause depression, loss of memory and, in extreme cases, dementia that mimics Alzheimer’s disease. The condition now has a name—chronic traumatic encephalopathy—and Visger, along with scores of other players, has many of its symptoms.

For its part, the NFL has yet to acknowledge CTE as legitimate syndrome, and many players have not been compensated fully for its debilitating effects.