Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury

SPEAK OUT! NewsBit . . . . . Mental Decline Causes a Hero of Super Bowl XL to Regret Playing Professional Football

Mental Decline Causes a Hero of Super Bowl XL to

Regret Playing Professional Football

presented

by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

American football wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is fondly remembered for doing a reverse and then throwing a touchdown pass to ice the National Football League’s Super Bowl XL, played February 2006 against the Seattle Seahawks. The final score was 21-10.

Antwaan Randle El #82 former Pittsburgh Steeler

Randle El retired early in 2010. Now 36, he has trouble with his memory and has difficulty on stairs. He fears what the violence of football has done to his brain and regrets playing professionally. An all-around athlete, Randle El had been drafted by the Chicago Cubs, a U.S. professional team in Major League Baseball, but his life-path brought him to football. He said in an interview by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “If I could go back, I wouldn’t (play football.) I would play baseball.”

Antwaan Randle El – former Pittsburgh Steeler

Randle El wants to see his kids grow up and to know his grandkids. He is aware of recent brain research and the problems associated with playing football, so he is worried about his own neurological health. He said, “It’s a tough pill to swallow because I love the game of football. … It just comes down to it’s a physically violent game. … I wouldn’t be surprised if football isn’t around in 20, 25 years.” (Full story)

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

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