Today, I wanna talk about something heavy, something that’s been on my mind a lot lately – NFL suicides. It’s a tough subject, but I think it’s important we don’t shy away from it.
So, I started digging into this a few weeks back. I don’t even remember what sparked it, maybe I saw a headline or something. But once I started, I couldn’t stop. I was reading all these stories about former NFL players who took their own lives, and it just broke my heart.
First, I just started Googling, you know, “NFL player suicides”. It was pretty grim, I gotta say. There are way too many stories out there. I found out about this former player, Phillip Adams, who apparently killed six people and then himself back in April 2021. The autopsy showed he had some serious brain disease. That was a tough one to read about.
Then there was Aaron Hernandez. I remember when he was playing, he was so young, only 27 when he died in his jail cell. He was found hanging, it was awful. I read that he’d been acquitted of murder just days before. It’s all so messed up.
- Reading personal accounts: I found some blogs and forums where people were sharing their own experiences or their thoughts on these tragedies. These were the hardest to get through, but they also felt the most real.
- Looking at the data: I tried to find some stats on NFL suicides. It’s hard to get a clear picture, but it seems like there might be a connection between head injuries and suicide.
- Thinking about solutions: I started thinking about what could be done to help these guys. Maybe there needs to be more support for players after they retire, or maybe the NFL needs to take head injuries more seriously.
I remember Junior Seau, too. His death really shook things up. He was 43, a former linebacker. I found articles that were talking about a possible link between head trauma and suicide, specifically in NFL players. It’s just so sad, you know? These guys give their all to the game, and then they end up suffering like this. There was another one, Zac, I read about. His story was a real gut-punch, years of pain and confusion that ended tragically.
I spent hours on this, just reading and thinking. It got pretty heavy, I won’t lie. I had to take breaks, go for walks, just to clear my head. It’s just so much sadness, and it feels like nobody really knows what to do about it.
After a while, I started to feel like I was just going in circles. I wasn’t really learning anything new, just reading the same sad stories over and over. So, I decided to take a step back. I needed a break from all the negativity.
I’m still thinking about this stuff, though. It’s not something you can just forget about. I think it’s important to keep talking about it, to keep trying to understand what’s going on. These guys deserve better, you know? They deserve to be remembered for more than just how they died.
What I’ve done so far:
I don’t have any answers, but I think it’s important to keep the conversation going. Maybe if we talk about it enough, someone smarter than me will figure something out. I hope so, anyway.
It’s a heavy topic, and it’s definitely not easy to deal with. But I think ignoring it is worse. These were real people, with families and friends. They deserve to be remembered, and we need to learn from their stories.
That’s all I’ve got for now. It’s not much, but it’s a start, I guess. Take care, everyone.
