09.14.09 NFL BRAINS TO BE DONATED FOR MED. RESEARCH

Three active NFL players have agreed to donate their brains to concussion research at Boston University, which will be noteworthy until each of them retires and in turn becomes totally irrelevant to the public at large.

Even though dozens of former NFL players have agreed to donate their brains after death, center Matt Birk of the Baltimore Ravens, linebacker Lofa Tatupu of the Seattle Seahawks and receiver Sean Morey of the Arizona Cardinals are the first active players to do so.

The goal of the university’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy is to better understand the long-term effects of repeated concussions.

I don’t think any of us really want to know the full physical extent to which these guys are beating the hell out of each other every week. Typically, it’s more fun to scream at our TVs every time a player drops a pass or misses a block, but the physical toll has been–until now, I guess–immeasurable. I’m not really sure how you prevent guys from hurting each other in a sport where the objective is to hurt each other. But good for Boston U, I guess. After the research is completed, I’m sure Matt Birk’s brain will fetch a pretty penny on eBay. If only he could autograph it…