So Much For Daniel's Hockey Career

There's an alarming article on CNN.com which reports the alarming scale of brain trauma that occurs in the course of some physical sports.  Looking at the tissue of dead athletes, researchers have been able to see that the damage of concussions is far from superficial, but deep inside and throughout the entire brain.  Given that the regions of damage include areas which control emotion, sexual drive, and breathing, it's clear that these injuries associated with physical sports can be debilitating and sometimes life-ending. Just last week there was a crushing hit on Ravens running back Willis McGahee in which people feared might have caused permanent spinal damage. The disabilities and subsequent neglect of hordes of NFL retirees is well documented, and I hope as a society we're addressing this even as the present players satisfy our bloodlust for crushing hits and bone-jarring sacks.

I have a bad sense that the situation is only going to get worse.  With the proliferation of performance-enhancing diets and drugs combined with technological advances which have led athletes to become faster and stronger, we're going to see more and more situations where 180 pound projectiles in the form of human beings are going to propel themselves at a high-rate of speed towards another 220 pound person running in the other direction.  I don't care what sort of padding and helmets they're wearing, the force and resulting damage is going to be immense.

Hopefully, the technology which protect athletes can keep pace with the rate at which our athletes are getting faster and stronger.  Or maybe we'll see fundamental rule changes in sports which protect players, such as a push to ban aluminum bats for high school baseball. Otherwise, I'm getting Daniel some goggles and he's going to join the swim team.