NFL players, sick, the disease is terrible.

These are all the things we don't want to sThe evidence doesn’t stop there however; other former NHL players are now being confirmed to have suffered from this tragic disease. The list includes Bob Probert and Reggie Fleming, both enforcers and both suffered from drinking problems late into their careers. Rick Martin, another former NHLer is now being confirmed to have had CTE as well. What is baffling to researchers however, is that Martin wasn’t an enforcer, he was a goal scorer. Martin’s finesse game dazzled crowds for years; he only had ever suffered from one known concussion and he rarely fought. What this suggests then is that the constant hitting experienced everyday by anyone playing contact sports is enough to do this damage. A scary thought, but what is even more startling is that this disease doesn’t only affect middle-aged players, but can already be evident even at a young age.

We should feel sorry for them.Owen Thomas, a 21 year-old lineman for the University of Pennsylvania football team hung himself just last year. His brain samples revealed the characteristic tau protein which is found in all CTE victims. Owen isn’t the only football player to have suffered from CTE, in 2006 Andre Waters, a former NFL defensive-back, shot himself in the head. Dr. Bennet Omalu performed the autopsy and later noted that his brain looked eerily similar to that of an 85 year-old with Alzheimer’s.