The changes are imperceptible, especially for men accustomed to ignoring the signals their bodies are sending as they struggle to play the game of football.
One day, though, something clicks. Maybe it’s forgetfulness or emotions that cannot be controlled. Warren Sapp, a 44-year-old Hall of Famer who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders, has had that aha moment and it led him to decide to donate his brain for research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that can stem from serious or repeated hits to the head.
“I’ve also started to feel the effects of the hits that I took in my career.