HITS KEEP ON COMING FOR THOSE DEFENDING FOOTBALL

The news keeps coming and it is seldom good when the subject is the connection between playing football and losing your mind.

There may be more delicate ways to explain the effects of football on the brain but breaking it seems the most concise and the most accurate. This was reconfirmed yesterday by the largest study yet done on the subject, whose results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

There are still doubters because there will always be doubters when people have either a vested or a visceral interest in the subject. But it is becoming increasingly more difficult to argue against the numbers. In fact, even the NFL seems to have given up after more than a billion dollars was spent on legal expenses and a settlement that some critics view as hush money.

Whatever the truth of that, one truth is clear: You play football at the risk of breaking your brain.

The latest study done by the Boston University School of Medicine diagnosed CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — in 177 of 202 former football players. That is an astounding 87 percent. And the numbers worsen the longer you play.

The disease — which causes memory loss, cognitive issues, suicidal thoughts, rage, impulsivity and worse — was found in 110 of 111 former NFL players (that’s 99 percent, folks) and seven of eight former CFL players. It was found in nine of 14 semipro players and 48 of 53 college players. The latter is a 91 percent incident rate.

For players who did not play beyond high school, however, the numbers tumbled to only three cases in 14 brains examined, and no cases were found in two pre-high school players, which is a relief if nothing else.

There is no question all who play football do not experience the clusters of tau protein in the brain that result in CTE, and surely if a study was done of everyone who ever played, common sense argues the percentages would go down some. But as longtime researcher in the field Dr. Ann McKee said, “It’s impossible to ignore anymore.”

One can argue the college study wasn’t broad

enough, but 48 out of 53 is broad enough to tell me something’s going on.

So understand the choice you make when you send Johnny off with helmet in hand.

Through high school, it would appear, the odds lessen greatly. Perhaps that’s because the size and speed of players increase as the competition level does and hence the deleterious effects of the constant head-cracking that is so much a required part of the “game” does as well. That we do not know.

In fact, as the game’s apologists continue to argue, there is much we do not know about the effect of concussive, sub-concussive and repetitive blows to the head.

But where each one of these studies leads is to the same conclusion: you play football at your peril and you play pro football with almost a guarantee that at some point in life you’re going to look in the mirror and have no idea who is looking back at you.

Some critics contend this study may be looking at outdated data, claiming they were done on players prior to recent equipment alterations, rules changes and the adoption of less contact in practice. While those things are true and may to a degree lessen the carnage, anyone who has ever put on a football helmet and used it to batter another person’s head like a mountain goat understands the limitations of such changes if football is to remain football.

The use of the head as a weapon and a targeting agent is as basic to the game as the ball itself. When that is not the case, the game becomes rugby. Rugby is a tough game, to be sure. But it’s not football. And it’s certainly not NFL football.

So you can apologize all you want for what the game is. You can argue the growing pile of studies all reaching the same conclusion have flaws or aren’t widespread enough if you want. After all, it’s a free country (for now at least). There are people who don’t believe the earth is warming and maybe even a few who still think it’s flat. That’s up to you.

So if you’re trying to decide whether your son should play football or not, factor all those questions and doubts in if you want but then factor in the numbers: 87 percent of all players, 99 percent of NFL players, 91 percent of college players studied all came away with their brains dented.

You like those odds? Then send little Johnny on out there.