The stories keep coming, none any better than the last.
Among the latest is that of Nick Buoniconti, NFL Hall of Famer and member of the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins. In a recent issue of Sports Illustrated, he discusses how he can't tie a tie or towel off his back, that he no longer can read the sports pages, that thinking has become a chore for him due to the concussions that came with his football career.
Then there's Buoniconti's teammate, Jim Kiick. Another Sports Illustrated story chronicles his move into an assisted living facility, a neurologist saying he has "holes in his brain" from the head trauma of his playing days. Kiick has been diagnosed with dementia/early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Each new story elicits a cringe. Just as cringe-worthy is watching the recent events with Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby. Crosby took a cross-check from Matt Niskanen in Game 3 the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semifinals, which left him with the latest of several concussions in his career. He missed Game 4 and, in Game 6, went head-first into the boards and was slow to get up.
Yet he didn't sit out the rest of the game. None of the NHL's concussion spotters pulled him out of the game. According to NHL protocol, hitting the boards does not trigger a concussion evaluation like hitting the ice or hitting another player.
Crosby - one of the brightest, if not the brightest star in the NHL constellation - is not yet 30 years old. He has a history of head injuries. We know the ending to the story when it comes to repeated brain trauma. We see it with Buoniconti, Kiick and others. Why not do everything possible to script a different ending?
More and more athletes are deciding at younger and younger ages that the risk of head injuries and their consequences are not worth continuing in sports. Former Marshall offensive lineman Chris Huhn came to that conclusion in 2015. After his fourth or fifth concussion (he wasn't sure how many) by the age of 20, he felt depression cling to him for months. As much as he loved football, he knew it was time to call it a career.
Yet leagues from professional to youth must help save many other athletes from themselves, the ones who try to shake off or walk off their head injuries, who try to keep playing despite obvious signs that they shouldn't. And it's not just in football or hockey. It's in sports like soccer and lacrosse, too, where the collisions can be just as violent.
The eradication of those sports won't happen. To even suggest it as a solution would be naive. They're billion-dollar industries and television ratings champions. They're not going anywhere. So it's up to leagues at all levels to teach proper techniques, to fortify concussion protocols and then follow through with them.
That way, the young athletes who will propel these sports in the decades to come will still have the opportunity to grab the reins of those sports, thrive, then live long, healthy lives afterward. The cautionary tales of athletes like Buoniconti and Kiick will come less frequently. The future of athletes like Crosby won't be so frightening.
The stories don't need to remain the same. The endings can be happier. They just need to be rewritten now.
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.