RIP Junior Seau

Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years in the United States

http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=050fea9f-b064-4092-b1135c3a70de1fda

 

It won't. It sucks, but after the shock wears off, it will be just the latest in a long line of players who died too early. He's one of the, if not the, biggest one to have tragedy strike, but in the end, no matter how many fans he had, it will be viewed by most football fans as just another former player who died too young. For all the talk about how "NFL is a business" and how players are replaceable commodities, cast aside when they can no longer contribute to the bottom line of winning, it can't be viewed as a surprise when fans and others take a similar stance.

If it was Tom Brady/Eli Manning/Tony Romo/Larry Fitzgerald/whatever current star you want to pick who killed himself, then it may be a different story.

 

I once talked with a woman reporter who was a person a paper would send out regularly to talk to relatives in this situation.

One thing she told me was that she always bought something over to the family, usually something like Entermann's cake. She told me that a lot of times people really wanted to talk to someone. She said she always asked for a picture first.

It is horrible enough for a parent to have to bury their child - I'm sad thinking about it as I wait for my daughter's to come home right now. I can understand why somebody might want to talk to a member of the media - I think I would want people to know what somebody's likes and dislikes were, how they always smiled, how they had a brave battle against a lingering disease or illness.

 

I would say four athletes dying of heart-related causes in their early 40s -- or younger? -- is anything but coincidental.

 

And those three heart-related deaths (one other death was an overdose) could be related to steroids or some such. "Could be," being the key phrase. To my knowledge, the early 90s Chargers did not have that reputation. It could just as easily be three guys dying in freak accidents, one who had drug problems, three having heart attacks and one suicide involving a guy who had some personal problems.
It's odd, but oddities happen.

 

This one has me sick to my stomach. Seau was an all-timer, both as a player and as a person.

RIP.

 

shocked. Never know what the next day will bring.

 

I don't know if it's concussion or depression related, I just know that it's just fucking awful, as it always is when someone feels that life isn't worth living anymore.

 

Chris Jones in Esquire:

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/opinion/jr-seau-dead-8546574?src=soc_fcbk

Because Seau apparently shot himself in the chest, his death will be inevitably compared to Dave Duerson's, the former Chicago Bear who also shot himself in the chest last year, better to preserve his brain for science and lawsuits. There is no doubt that over his twenty brutal seasons in the NFL, Seau suffered his share of brain damage. There will be dark shadows found inside of him. And everyone will talk about how something has to change and how terrible this all is and, gee, is it really worth all this for a game? And then everyone will buy their tickets and popcorn and get ready for some subtly altered version of football.

One of my favourite players. RIP