NFL Player Brains to Teach Future Generation Effects of Hits, Learning Zone Blocking

We all knows the rigors of a lifetime of playing football exact a heavy toll on the body and mind of all those who strap on the pads. To what extent, no one really knows, though lumping it somewhere under the heading of "brutal" feels like an apt description. But those exacting people in the medical community can't deal in such glib assumptions. No, they trade in empirical facts borne out of quantifiable research. When a player like Troy Aikman has problems post-career, they can't just shrug and say, "Oh, well, he had a lot of concussions." They need to know the specific effects of those concussions. And that means what they really need is players' brains. Lucky for them, three NFL players have stepped forward to offer their gray matter and spinal cord tissue to researchers once the players shuffle loose this mortal gridiron: Baltimore Ravens center Matt Birk, Arizona Cardinals special teams captain Sean Morey and Seattle Seahawks linebacker L...