The more science teaches us about head injury, the more football seems to be doomed. But could science also save football? Might medicine offer us a miracle cure for degenerative brain disease?
Since 2008, pathologists at Boston University have been repeatedly raising the alarm about the effects of life between the lines, finding ever-greater numbers of cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), suspected to be a consequence of repeated head injury, in the brains of deceased NFL players. The current count is 110 out of 111. While the number of diagnosed concussions in pro football was down last season (from 275 to 244), it was still higher than the average over the past five years (243).