Locker room high jinks and brain damage

26 September 2010 - 02:00 By C Brann, Hilton
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C Brann: The back-page report "Playing ball in the locker room" (September 19), in which an attractive TV reporter claimed she was harassed in a locker room by players, raises a serious issue.

The NFL is exceedingly tough on the body and, as recent reports suggest, also the brain. One too many concussions and the player can suffer brain damage. Players wear helmets, but the brain floats in the skull and smashes against its walls on impact.

No offence, but brain-damaged people are susceptible to inappropriate behaviour, including poor impulse control. In other words, the frontal lobe, if damaged, can make a person fail to control an aggressive urge, resulting in an unpleasant outburst and an unpleasant experience for some unlucky person like this TV reporter. The NFL has a fund to protect players from brain damage, but what about a change in the rules?

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