A review by mcbibliotecaria
League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada

5.0

This made me cry. I am reading this extremely engaging and easy to absorb book about brain damage as a result of repeated blows to the head in typical NFL and really all football games. I remember being super pissed that Cutler left the game, thinking it wasn't a big deal since he's sitting on the side lines watching the field and looks fine. That he a little bitch and should get back in. And this book opens with the story of Mike Webster, and just thinking about his struggles against brain damage. He children having to pick him from train stations after he disappeared. His determination to hide his illness. And now it seems every few months word comes to us of another football player taking his own life, preserving his brain for science because he knows that was the problem. CTE looks and acts like Alzheimer, but it it directly causes by the intensity of the hits in football. I remember cheering on a extreme hit like "yeah get him". Because they got right back up, but they got right back up meant they still had some motor skills, there are so many recent examples of players who don't remember getting back up, and are essentially zombies on the field. And I wonder why they screwed up a play right after. I will continue to watch football, and I know I shouldn't. But I will no longer call the guy who proceed with caution weak. And I'm hoping the rest of America would catch on too.