[jerod]

Some people have bigger brains and harder heads than others... Then you have those with soft heads.

Take Tex Cobb, the boxer... That man never suffered a concussion in his life. I watched Larry Holmes beat his head for 15 rounds, turned his face into hamburger meat... The man lost but he never went down.

Then look at Eric Lindros... Great hockey player who suffered from multiple concussions... Or Sidney Crosby... Another soft-headed NHL player. Gordie Howe on the other hand likely never suffered a concussion in his 32 years of playing professional hockey.

If you suffer from concussions you should really try to find another job. Then again, I knew this dude who had 8 concussions, most of them while playing Lacrosse... Never got paid a cent... He played hockey and lacrosse for fun.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Gordie Howe did suffer from dementia in the latter years of his life.

Of course he was 88 when he died so it was not necessarily hockey related.

[Gay State Conservative]

I know a bit about this...thanks to 20+ years in academic medicine,part of that time having worked for a neuropathologist.

It has *nothing* to do with "hard heads".The human brain floats around the skull in a fluid called cerebral spinal fluid.When the head experiences any kind of sharp,sudden acceleration...or deceleration...the brain makes contact with then inner skull (inner,obviously).Depending on the specifics of a particular event the damage to the brain is minimal (or maybe even no damage at all) or it can be substantial.

However,whatever damage that might result from a particular incident is cumulative.So repeated incidents will,over time,result in enormous damage.As was the case with Aaron Hernandez.

Boston University Medical School has an ongoing research study into brain injuries...including injuries suffered by athletes (NFL,NHL,boxing,etc).Aaron Hernandez's brain was donated to this study and they found a breathtaking amount of brain damage...particularly for a guy as young as he was.

BU was also able to examine the brain of Junior Seau...who committed suicide...and found enormous brain damage in him as well.

And then you have Cassius Clay...who was,in his last years,a drooling vegetable.

Just sayin'...

[dfwgator]

Take Tex Cobb, the boxer... That man never suffered a concussion in his life. I watched Larry Holmes beat his head for 15 rounds, turned his face into hamburger meat... The man lost but he never went down.

Until H.I. McDunnough pulled the pins on those grenades.