[chasing]

I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek, of course.

The article implies a selection bias -- that the actual number of football players with CTE could be as low as 9%. It also notes cases where CTE effects really become "horrible" much later in life, for men who are older than the guys you list.

Guys who self-select to be television personalities also might have a lower incidence of CTE. There's also a chance that some odd behavior on TV will be interpreted as "quirky" or "goofy" and not "experiencing brain damage."

At any rate... Of course the answer is: No, not everyone with CTE dies "horribly." But it's seeming increasingly likely that CTE can have major unexpected consequences on the later lives of football players. And the worst case scenario of CTE (Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher) is exceptionally horrible and exceptionally tragic.

[epicide]

> as low as 9%

Which is still disgustingly high.

[Touche]

Thanks for the reply. This is what I'm trying to understand myself. I didn't see the 9% number in the article. I did see the mention about selection bias. So I wonder what the true numbers are here. If it's 9% then that explains well enough why so many ex-players don't show strong signs of CTE (by strong I mean long-term memory loss or worse).

[nerfhammer]

The 9% is assuming that 100% of unknown cases are in fact negative.

This study showed that 110 of 111 players tested had CTE. But many of their families consented because they suspected CTE already, so it's not a random sample and therefore you can't generalize that to the rest of the population. 110 is 9% of the population of 1300 deceased players for the given time period. CTE is normally extremely rare.

[tedunangst]

Why is the total population deceased players and not all players?

[nerfhammer]

The only test for it requires dissection of the brain

[steanne]

because you can't test the living ones