Junior Seau reported dead.

[Wisconsin Beth]

TMZ and profootballtalk.com are reporting that Junior Seau is dead of a self inflicted chest wound earlier today.

[kittensaver]

[NancysSummerSip]

What a horrible (and unpredictable) way to take yourself out. And why? No real indication as to what was going on in his life to bring this about. Some past troubles, but nothing that screams major trouble. And he had three kids with his ex. WTF? He left his kids without their daddy?

[kittensaver]

May 2, 2012 16:20:31 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

What a horrible (and unpredictable) way to take yourself out. And why? No real indication as to what was going on in his life to bring this about. Some past troubles, but nothing that screams major trouble. And he had three kids with his ex. WTF? He left his kids without their daddy?

Nancy: he had multiple DUI's in the past couple of years. To me that says major trouble. This is so sad on so many levels . . .

[chiver78]

May 2, 2012 16:42:25 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

May 2, 2012 16:20:31 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

What a horrible (and unpredictable) way to take yourself out. And why? No real indication as to what was going on in his life to bring this about. Some past troubles, but nothing that screams major trouble. And he had three kids with his ex. WTF? He left his kids without their daddy?

Nancy: he had multiple DUI's in the past couple of years. To me that says major trouble. This is so sad on so many levels . . .

and that little "I fell asleep at the wheel...." thing where he drove off a cliff. I'm looking at that incident a little differently now.

I can't imagine what could be so horrible in a person's life that they feel that's the only way out.

[Malarky]

I don't know a lot about his personal life but he seemed to be a leader and an asset to the Patriots when we needed it. One of my favorite players.

I don't understand calling it quits at only 42. There's so much more, and he'll never get to experience it.

[NancysSummerSip]

I saw an earlier version of the story, minus the DUI issues. I did see the one with the drive off the cliff, though.

Yes, multiple DUIs is an indicator of something awry. But what tells in his favor: he was seen in the community, he was involved in the community via his foundation, he was still working out. Ex-wife and girlfriend did not report any recent issues, though I do recall reading about one domestic battery case that was dropped that I believe involved the girlfriend.

Still though...he was a young guy, with KIDS. Dude, I have no idea what was going on in your mind at the moment you pointed the gun at yourself. But now the mother of your children has to tell them that their daddy is dead. Your kids have to follow your casket to the grave, never to see you again. How bad was it, that you decided it was not worth going on any more?

[chiver78]

a good friend of mine posted this in response to the story I posted on FB, and I cannot agree more. having suffered concussions in my own amateur sports career, I wonder how much more we have to learn about the lasting effects than the serious things we've already learned.

This is arguably the biggest name yet in football and hockey to commit suicide since the head impact research has come to light. At what point do we as a society say "enough" and stop supporting these sports? Is Seau's suicide enough to truly shake up the culture of football, or will it take someone like Brady or Manning (for example, though neither of them have had the number of concussions as someone like Steve Young - but they are much more in the current social consciousness) to shock the system bad enough for real change to be made.

[Malarky]

Are you suggesting that the number of concussions Junior suffered may have some bearing on his alleged suicide?

[chiver78]

may? yes, absolutely. sadly, even if that IS ever determined, it won't bring him back.

too many athletes are finding out that maybe it wasn't the best idea to go back into the game while they were still seeing stars. look at Ted Johnson, for a very good example - he's come out publicly to say that he hopes no one else "ends up like him" in other words, a pretty big mess after taking too many indulges the noggin.

you only get one brain, I wish we'd all do a better job of taking care of 'em. <steps off soapbox>

[Golden Cavalier]

This was taken from an article about Junior Seau on FoxSports.com:

"Seau's death could lead to further discussion about the impact of concussions and other head trauma. The hard-charging linebacker was known more for giving concussions to the likes of Joe Montana, Boomer Esiason and other opponents during his career than incurring them. Seau didn’t appear to have a history of concussions, although players — especially in the era in which he played — were hesitant to report such injuries.


Recent findings from head trauma researchers, however, have shown that repeated smaller impacts to the head can result in long-term damage.

Several former NFL players have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease discovered by Boston University researchers from examining the brains of deceased athletes. Those who suffer from CTE — which currently can be diagnosed only postmortem — can suffer from depression, the loss of impulse control, memory loss and, in late stages, dementia."

[Jaguar]

I just read about this.

[daisylu]

This is so sad all the way around. His poor family are left to deal with the biggest heartache. Some family members have said that they knew there was a problem and that they tried to help, but that they just did not do enough. It is sad how much guilt you can put on yourself.


There have been several former player suicides in the last couple of years, and I also believe that it is related to all the head trauma. DH had a severe trauma years ago that often causes him to fall into a dark place inside himself. I have never feared that he would cause harm to anyone but himself though, but it is draining to try to pull him from the abyss. His neuro doctor has assured us that it is related to the head trauma, and the balancers and anti-depressants that he has tried over the years have had the opposite effect on him. He also rarely drinks anymore because alcohol can easily fuel an episode.

[Deleted]

He was a great player and fun to watch. But, for top athletes i am sure there are other issues as well. Such as learning to deal with aging and the fact that you can't do things as you age the way you did things when you were 25. And for highly competitive people that may be an issue as well. But, i don't know because the news didn't address what the reasons might have been.
And, the thing that makes something like this so difficult is because one can only speculate on the reason's and we will never know what was going on in his mind that propelled him to make that decision.

[daisylu]

That 1995 Super Bowl team has lost 8 players in 18 years.


sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--junior-seau-s-death-further-saddens-his-1995-chargers-teammates.html

Eight in 18 years; too many in too little time.

The subject is one I discussed, somewhat uncomfortably, with several of the former Chargers in 2008. This wasn't long after Chris Mims, their gregarious defensive end, was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment. Five had died back then. And that seemed like a lot.

[ Michael Silver: Gregarious, hilarious and immensely popular Seau will be missed]

I called a professor of actuarial science at the University of Wisconsin to see if she could put number on five men from a 53-man roster – all in their 20s and 30s – dying in so short a time. She said the odds were less than 1 percent.


The unsettling thing about the Chargers' deaths is their randomness. Five months after the Super Bowl, running back David Griggs died in a car accident on an off-ramp of the Florida Turnpike that was no more than 10 minutes from where the game had been played at Joe Robbie Stadium. The next year, running back Rodney Culver and his wife died on a ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades, also not far from Miami. In 1998 linebacker Doug Miller was struck twice by lightning while camping in Colorado. Backup center Curtis Whitley died of a drug overdose in 2008 only months before Mims died from an enlarged heart and heart disease. Linebacker Lew Bush and defensive tackle Shawn Lee had fatal heart attacks last year.