“The only way we will truly understand the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma in football is to study a large group of athletes throughout their lives and then examine their brains following death,” said Dr. Robert Stern, a co-director of the Center [for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy]. Clearly, the man has never sat through an Emmitt Smith broadcast.

In the upcoming Marvel comic book miniseries “Siege”, Soldier Field gets blowed up … mid-game. Is that the best you’ve got, Marvel? Blowing up Soldier Field and all of it’s inhabitants? Well, you’ll have to do better, since it already happened in Week 9. On a completely related note, I wonder if Lance Briggs is responsible? Another image after the jump. (more…)

When your prized new quarterback is quite horrible in the red zone (8 INT in last 14 games), I suppose anything other than “he just plain sucks” is a welcomed possibility why. Let’s just hope they heal him before he vomits pea soup all over the linens.

Remember all those highly-gifted football players that, at one time or another, were on a Bears roster, only to be plagued with stupid reoccurring injuries and never be heard from again? Well, it turns out that not only are most alive and well, but some are actually living up to expectations! … Elsewhere.

The University of New Mexico has named their football practice facility after the legendary former Lobo Brian Urlacher, shown here just pre-STD. The decision to appropriately christen Brian Urlacher Field was spurred by “Urlacher’s accomplishments and a recent $500,000 gift to the school.”

Presumably, Urlacher outbid fellow alum Neil Patrick Harris, who could only come up with $500, for naming rights.

Everybody’s favorite accident-prone Pro Bowler, Lance Briggs, is at it again. This time it’s a straight-edged razor, not a high-priced sports car, and a hand, not a pole on Eden’s Express Way.

You thought a Super Bowl loss for your favorite team just meant a major hangover the next morning, unnecessarily yelling at your loved ones, and broken living room furniture. Well, think again.

Researchers at USC have found “the emotional stress of loss and/or the intensity of a game played in a high profile rivalry such as the Super Bowl can trigger total and cardiovascular deaths.”

That explains the significant population decline in Buffalo from 1990-1993.

If you’re Bears defensive tackle Israel Idonije, you have to be thinking about a career change.

What started as an article about the health risks associated with being a pro football player, became a morbid prophecy of one Izzy Idonije’s life:

Statistically, the Brandon product, a Chicago Bears defensive lineman, isn’t expected to live much past 58, the average life expectancy of an NFL player, according to the NFL Players Association.

And if Idonije does beat the odds, he’s a prime candidate for dementia and other post-concussion conditions brought on by years of slamming his head into other behemoths, to say nothing of the wear and tear on the rest of his body.

That’s depressing. (more…)