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Junior Seau Had Chronic Brain Damage
According to ESPN, former NFL linebacker Junior Seau had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his suicide last May. In an interview with ESPN, Seau's widow and son claim that researchers at the National Institutes of Health informed them of the diagnosis after completing a thorough...
The Health Of An NFL Player Belongs To Everyone But The Player Himself
"Greatness is not given," Robert Griffin III says in his national Gatorade spot. "Greatness is taken, when the weak and distracted are resting on their reputations."...
The Betting Public Killed Las Vegas Sportsbooks In The 2012 NFL Season
So the NFL did its ouroboros thing again this year. Lots of parity. Or so it would seem. But 2012 mostly just brought us a handful of excellent teams—Football Outsiders says three of the 12 best teams since 1991 (Seahawks, Broncos, and Patriots)—and some supremely terrible ones. The result is that, ...
A Rusty Barry Alvarez Struggled With Some Of The More Complicated Aspects Of Coaching, Like How To Wear Sunglasses
Barry Alvarez ascended himself to the post of Wisconsin Badgers head football coach for the Rose Bowl, filling in for a Bret Bielema who'd abandoned his team for the bright lights of Fayetteville. (He gave himself quite the Christmas bonus for the trip, too.) Alas, Alvarez let the natives of Cheese...
Report: Former Pro Bowl Defensive Lineman Neil Smith, 46, Suing The NFL For Concussion-Related Fraud, Misrepresentation And Negligence
Neil Smith, a six-time Pro Bowl selection at defensive end who played eight years for the Chiefs, three for the Broncos and one for the Chargers, is suing the NFL in federal court for misrepresentation and negligence. Smith seeks sanctions against the NFL and damages for memory-loss, cognitive impai...
Did A Virginia Tech Player Pretend To Shoot A Machine Gun At A Rutgers Player?
Above, freshman cornerback Donaldven Manning (wearing #30)—who was nearly kicked off the team as recently as November after racking up two misdemeanors and three minor traffic charges since arriving in Blacksburg last January—shit-talking Rutgers during the Russell Athletic Bowl by, it looks like,...
The Meaning Of Ryan Freel's "9 Or 10" Concussions
Ryan Freel was "tough." In baseball parlance, that means hustling on every pitch, giving up your body to make the play. These types of players are celebrated, of course. In August 2006, the Cincinnati Enquirer paid tribute to just the latest example of Freel's toughness, a diving catch on the warnin...
![Report: Former Major Leaguer Ryan Freel Commits Suicide At Age 36 [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18970v1t537j7jpg.jpg)
Report: Former Major Leaguer Ryan Freel Commits Suicide At Age 36 [Update]
Former utility player Ryan Freel, who broke into the majors with Toronto in 2001 and played the majority of his eight-year career with the Cincinnati Reds, committed suicide today. First Coast News in Jacksonville has the first report:...
Kendrick Perkins Is Angrily Demanding That You Buy A Cubic Zirconia-Encrusted Thunder Pendant, So Get On That
Kendrick Perkins took some time out of his busy basketball schedule to star in a Tim and Eric sketch advertisement for a local jewelry store in Oklahoma City, Mitchener Farrand Jewelers—"the diamond guys on May" and your "official" NBA jewelry store in Oklahoma City....
Maaco's Las Vegas Bowl Ad Was As Shoddy As One Of Their Paint Jobs
Maaco—best known as the place to get your stolen ride resprayed on the cheap—is your of-late title sponsor for the Las Vegas Bowl (née California Raisin Bowl) and, owing to this honor, had prime advertising space early in the game's ESPN broadcast....
A Week After Court Filings Revealed Candace Williams's Claim That Terrell Suggs Punched Her And Dragged Her Alongside A Car, They Got Married
One week to the day. On Dec. 7, The Baltimore Sun obtained court documents filed by Candace Williams alleging that Terrell Suggs had "punched her in the neck and drove a car containing their two children at a 'high rate of speed' while she was being dragged alongside"; on Dec. 14—yesterday, three da...
My 100 Concussions: Notes From A Terrified CTE Study Participant
Former football player and pro wrestler Chris Nowinski recently set up a massive research project with Boston University to examine the long-term effects of concussion damage on the human brain. Anyone can volunteer to have his or her brain posthumously donated to the study, and one anonymous Deadsp...
The Last Tackle Of Jovan Belcher's Life Left Him Shaken Up
Last week, a friend of Jovan Belcher's told us that "if you review the footage of the Cincinnati game [Belcher] took a few hits to the head directly" and described how, after that game, Belcher "was dazed and was suffering from short term memory loss."...
"Minimum of 5 Years Of Successful Collegiate Football Coaching Experience Preferred": You Can Apply To Coach Wisconsin Football
You only have 11 days to ready your application, and you have to possess a bachelor's degree, but the rest of it is all optional: If you sent in a good enough application—and really, that's just about confidence—you could probably wow them enough that they would waive their "preference" for a coach...
A Skeptic's Guide To The 2012 Heisman Trophy
Remember the lullaby afternoons of September, when we all figured we'd see a Heisman winner who merited the award? Maybe a Geno Smith, slinging the ball all over the yard, or even a Matt Barkley, who despite being named after Big Bird's dog had the right pedigree and weaponry (Robert Woods and Marqu...
Why The NCAA Doesn't Care About Concussions
In the third quarter of a 34-17 loss to Cincinnati this past Saturday, UConn quarterback Chandler Whitmer took what he would later describe as a "bullet to the head." Chandler had suffered a head injury the previous week against Louisville. "We're just trying to be as careful as we can," Huskies coa...
Why The NFL's "Concussion Crisis" Isn't Really A Concussion Crisis
Originally published in Bloomberg View....
Report: Arkansas Will Hire Wisconsin's Bret Bielema To Be Its Football Coach
Yahoo's Pat Forde was first with the news a few minutes ago that Bret Bielema will be leaving Wisconsin for Arkansas. This follows a bizarre day in which Mike Gundy's and Chris Petersen's names kept getting bounced around. Bielema had gone 68-24 in Madison and coached the Badgers to three consecutiv...
Friend: Belcher "Was Dazed, Suffering From Short-Term Memory Loss" After Last Start; Alcohol, Painkillers, Domestic Tensions Played Role In Murder-Suicide
Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, had separated two weeks ago in the midst of a dispute over the care of their three-month-old daughter, Zoey, a friend of Belcher's has told Deadspin. They'd only very recently reconciled. In email messages sent to us, the friend described Belcher a...
The Girl Who Sang The Worst National Anthem Ever Writes In: "It Wasn't Nice All The Things You Said About Me On The Internet"
Harper Gruzins, the 11-year-old girl behind what our own Tim Burke called the worst national anthem rendition ever in July, reached out to Deadspin earlier this month in November. Here's what she had to say:...