Concussions

My grandfather was an All Pro guard and linebacker with the Chicago Cardinals from '46-'51 (after an All American career at William And Mary and an All Service four years in the Navy--service football was bigger than pro in those days.) Buster Ramsey--also Head Defensive Coach for the Lions from 52-59 and first head coach for Buffalo in '60.

Anyway--He is now living in a nursing home here in Chattanooga suffering from what the doctor's have diagnosed as dementia and post-concussion syndrome.  I recall many stories he used to tell my brothers and I about getting "his bell rung" multiple times during games.  They just had a different mindset in those days.  He used to go multiple plays and not even realize where he was, or so he would tell us.  Team doctors then were like your junior high coach "rub some dirt on it and get back in there." (these were also the days when water breaks were for sissys)  He even played for part of a season with a broken vertebrae in his neck.  

All of that is not to say that he was not tougher than any of the guys that play today, plus the fact that he was a offensive guard and only weighed 215, those guys today are real loads bouncing off each other. But modern medicine is just far more advanced than what those guys were dealing with.  There is no telling how many of the guys from his generation have passed away because of brain damage from their playing days, and it was just blamed on something other than what it was.  It is nice to see that the NFL has started to take an in depth look at it and actually provide better benefits for the old timers who made the league what it was and are now suffering for it.  I don't care what Colin Cowherd says.

And that is my two cents.

And no you can't have change.