Seau suicide turns up focus on brain injuries

May 3, 2012 RSS Feed Print

"He was a very big man. If any man could take a bullet and live through it, it would be Junior Seau. He chose to do it that way."

Seau surely had troubles in his life. Beyond those that were readily apparent to the public, there were plenty of whispers that he played so long largely because he needed the money, that his divorce took a heavy toll on his finances.

Turley isn't buying it. Seau, he said, came from humble beginnings and wasn't driven by money. Even if most of his earnings went to alimony and child support, it shouldn't have been enough to drive him over the edge.

"You can talk about the divorce, say he was failing financially. Whatever," Turley said. "A lot of people are dealing with that and they don't kill themselves. This is a person who had more reason to live than not. It just doesn't make sense."

He is convinced that another factor was in play, a hidden killer that Seau couldn't make sense of and no one else could see.

"There are myriad factors that create a downward spiral of depression," Turley said. "But every one of these cases is exactly the same as far as the brain is concerned. There's a very visual disruption in the brain areas that control impulses, depression, anxiety and all those other things that contribute to this occurring."

Demetrio said the more players who allow their brains to be studied, the better. Seau's death might help others in the NFL think of the ramifications of head injuries on the field, he said.

"For the benefit of the players playing the game today, starting in peewee football all the way up, the more evidence that can be compiled," Demetrio said, "the safer the game will be."

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