Thursday, September 26, 2013

Paul Oliver: Latest in a string of NFL suicides

           http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/25/us/former-nfl-player-suicide/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


His death marks the latest in a string of suicides among former professional football players.” In the report it talks about how much pain most of these NFL players were in. Most players that commit suicide because of injuries they have that were very bad. It seems to me their health needs to be taken care of better, since all these football players are taking their lives because of bad injuries. I never would imagine someone committing suicide because of the pain, but clearly football has been pretty painful. “A study published in December in the journal Brain looked at brain tissue of 34 professional football players after they died. All but one showed evidence of disease.”

            The San Diego chargers were saying how it has been a very sad day and that he was like family to them. Mark Richt, the coach of the University of Georgia Bulldogs told reporters, that it has been rough and that he is there for the family and will do anything he needs to make it better. He left behind a wife and two children, he was only 29 years old and had a great life time to look forward to. His wife told reporters that they needed some time and space to wake in this tragic loss. “A former teammate, Eric Weddle, described Oliver as "charismatic, funny but also quiet and reserved," The Union-Tribune reported "He never said a bad word about anyone. Just a good, genuine guy." They lost someone that was so young and much loved by all his teammates.

            I can’t imagine how his teammates feel about this tragedy and all the tragedies before this. They must think what if I get severely injured and I start having suicidal thoughts when I’m pain. I’m sure in every football player you can find a little bit of doubt in whether or not they will make it through every game without a deadly injury or join the string of players committing suicide. Along with that I can’t imagine how their mothers must feel about all that’s going on in the NFL. I’m sure that right at the beginning of their career in football, as a little kid just playing for fun and not worried about injuries, their mothers would stand back with worry all over their face. Their mothers would hope and pray that this is just a stage and they will not like it or quit after getting a little bruised up, but I’m sure some of those mothers to this day are still watching and supporting their son every day, scared as always. I can’t imagine how much this impacts mothers, not only did their son get injured but he also took his life because of the injuries all due to football.

            I have experience with mothers worrying because I happen to have a little brother and older brother, my older brother not in football anymore and my little brother just starting out. All I can say is my mom hates it because of how tough football coaches are on the football players, and didn’t like it when my brother played and now her little baby is crazy about football and loves to play. I have a feeling too that my brother will never give up till he gets to the big league. I wonder if someday my mom will be just like those NFL moms, worried about their kid even after all this time. All I know is I hope something like this never has to happen to anyone else and especially not my family!

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