RIP Junior Seau

I echo what LTL and BYH have said, in terms of why we are equipped to handle this.

Plus, as far as a death being somehow newsworthy, I think that we also understand the media's job and aren't as likely to lash out and be adversarial about it. Essentially, we could very easily switch into a media relations hat in a time of crisis. Compare that to others in the public, who flip the fuck out if "the media" even has the audacity to hard question a coach about the starting quarterback battle.

 

Just add my experience when asked to sing at my grandmother's funeral. Was sure I couldn't do it but in that moment I was strangely calm. There was a voice in my head reminding me that I wasn't singing for me, I was singing for her and for everyone there who loved her. I'm not a religious person either but I felt Oma standing there with me.

 

I am surrounded by stories of early (often violent) death. So much so that I probably think of it too much. I am ready to speak publicly on anyone's behalf if they touched my life.

Perhaps this is OCD on my end but I have also recorded videos for all three kids on their various life milestones (graduation, college, marriage, landing a job, buying a home, coping with depression). Each kid has their own set on a thumb drive.

I just don't want anything that needed to be said to not be heard.

 

To wit: Now former San Diego Charger lineman Kris Dielman (one of the meanest, toughest SOBs I ever knew and a really good guy), who just stepped away with time on his contract and money on the table after last season's concussion-gate. If they have made their "bank" -- and can ensure their families are taken care of -- I see it happening more and more in the future.

 

Ditto. My mother asked me to give my father's eulogy 18 years ago and I can remember every word, every feeling and every tear. But you do it -- not because you are the eloquent one, but because of the love and respect and pure emotion you feel. Cry. Don't cry. Won't change a thing. The feelings are still there, and we each handle them in our own way. But, you will handle them, and you will do right by your loved one. It's your last great gift, a remittance for the love and support and memories.

And even with being in the biz, I think I would have to politely tell anyone asking for an interview during a time like this to bugger off ... but with respect.

 

I don't know how this is NOT sports story. Not saying it isn't a news story, because it is, but this is most definitely a sports story.

 

If you guys were Catholic you wouldn't have to worry about it ...

That can be both a blessing and a curse.

 

Story doesn't say whether he requested it, but Seau's family will donate his brain to research.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/chaplain-seaus-brain-donated-research-144952273--nfl.html;_ylt=Av1rYarSXGwKC6DugBqoAY45nYcB

 

I haven't read this whole thread so I apologize if I'm hitting points that have already been made, but the way he shot himself was so obviously symbolic that we're going to find out after the research is done that he has all kinds of brain damage as a result of playing and that's what caused him to kill himself.

I truly, truly fear we're going to see a lot of this in the upcoming years of players who are dealing with issues from the concussions who will take their own lives in the way that Seau and Duerson did to show the league the damage concussions are causing.

I don't know what the league can do to help prevent more of this from happening, but they better start doing something now. The days of shaking off a concussion and getting back into the game should be long over.

 

Good post, Elliotte. As much as a star athlete has to deal with physical effects post-career, the mental and psychological effects may be an even greater factor in the struggles many face away from the spotlight.

 

There's part of me that hopes it was concussion-related. I hate to think that a guy like Seau secretly battled depression or that he was having that much trouble adjusting to life away from the game.

Was he recently divorced?