Wednesday, September 05, 2012

They call it "the other side of the story"
Ex-Bears QB McMahon in SI article about brain trauma

Fate has not been kind to some of the fabled 1985 Chicago Bears, free spirits and Shuffling Super Bowl champions.

Now this:

The girlfriend of former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon is one of the subjects of next week's Sports Illustrated cover article that is titled: "The Women Behind The Retired NFL Men Who Suffer From Brain Trauma."

Laurie Navon tells the magazine she started noticing changes in McMahon’s behavior in early 2007 before tests revealed early onset dementia. Navon and McMahon appear on the cover of the Sept. 10 issue of the magazine.

McMahon first disclosed to the Tribune in November 2010 that he was experiencing short-term memory loss when the Bears observed their 25-year anniversary of Super Bowl XX in Chicago.

from:  Ex-Bears QB McMahon in SI article about brain trauma

What will happen to football.  We heard someone opine not long ago on NPR that the game would have to go away due to the inability of schools to field the lawsuits that would come their way from brain injuries.  Yet the season started up as grand and glorious as ever.

Time will tell.  It always does....the sport is a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood for many, and we love football as much as anyone, having played it at the playground and high school level, and having attended one of its greatest temples, Ohio State, but at what cost?  Meanwhile, the price of fame and glory for some of the game's proudest gladiators is weighed in the public square....

Tennis anyone?