Benoit's Brain Showed Severe Damage From Multiple Concussions, Doctor and Dad Say

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

The family of Chris Benoit has been searching for answers since late June, when the professional wrestler killed his wife, 7-year-old son and then himself.

At the crime scene, police found anabolic steroids prompting many to suspect that "roid rage" had accounted for Benoit's behavior, which his family found out of character for the 40-year-old.

His family now believes that new test results on Benoit's brain explain his vicious actions.

The tests, conducted by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute, show that Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3560015&page=1

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And for what? Bread and circuses! I abhor the joke act that is professional wrestling. And I speak as someone who spent 27+ years in martial arts. And IMHO things are only getting worst with the revival of blood sports such as the Mixed Martial Arts that is feeding the cable nets!

Wonder what the scans of those who endured IED's in Iraq look like? I know there are cases now and will be more in the future for returning Iraq war vets.

[Dora]

1. This is happening to football players too.

More and more football players are beginning to speak out about the consequences of living with repeated head injuries. IMO, professional athletics amount to nothing more than a 21st century coliseum.

[RamboLiberal]

2. Being a Steeler's fan I know well the price they pay

It was a shame to see a good man like Mike Webster (former center) for the Steelers during their Super Bowl years end up very mentally ill and confused and finally dying much too young. Terry Long committed suicide.

An All-Pro center who played in a franchise-record 220 games, "Iron Mike" was known for playing bare-armed no matter how cold the conditions, and for dominating larger defenders. He paid a price, however. Doctors said the battering he had taken damaged the frontal lobe of his brain, affecting his attention span and concentration. That likely contributed to the many setbacks he endured after his career, among them a failed marriage, a string of bad investments, and occasional homelessness.

Also after his career, he admitted he tried anabolic steroids as a player, but maintained they were not responsible for his condition. He died of a heart attack in September 2002.

Terry Long, 45, an offensive guard whose eight-year career was derailed by a positive test for steroids, committed suicide in Pittsburgh in June 2005 by drinking antifreeze. Twice divorced, he had serious legal problems stemming from his failed food-processing business and had made two previous suicide attempts.

The youngest of the Steelers to die was 36-year-old Justin Strzelczyk, a tackle who had a series of run-ins with the law after he retired. He died after a 40-mile, high-speed chase on the New York Thruway in September 2004. Driving his Ford F-250 pickup at speeds in excess of 100 mph, Strzelczyk made obscene gestures and tossed beer bottles at the police following him. The chase came to a fiery end when, while on the wrong side of the road, he slammed into a tanker truck.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_462321.html

[Dora]

4. It's awful what people will do for money and recognition.

It's just as awful that we continue to demand destruction as entertainment.

[lonestarnot]

13. Don't count me here. I hate the shit!

[Limelight]

3. I'm not surprised...

First off... I love wrestling. Always have. As someone who's always loved films and television wrestling is a great passion play. And that's all it is, a play with stunts performed live in front of an audience. Frankly I'm just about sick of listening to all the jackasses out there whining about "Ooooo, it's stupid cuz it's fake! They're just pretending to hurt eachother!". Yeah, news flash... You know how when stuff blows up and people get shot, stabbed, cut in half with a chainsaw and other vicious things in the movies and on tv? THAT'S FAKE TOO!!! What's your f*cking point?!

Oh, but now that we've seen the price that Chris, of whom I'm still a fan of his in ring skills and refuse to forget that because of a terrible and tragic thing he did outside the ring, paid for going out there and entertaining millions of people over his career. I've seen him fall 20 feet off ladders, get smacked in the head with steel chairs (no jackass, they're not aluminum and you can't "fake" getting hit, just find the best place to take the shot that dissipates the impact like across the broadest part of your back or directly on the top of the head, like you see people in other countries carry large objects on their heads to distribute the weight evenly to make it easier to carry), bleed by using a razor to cut himself for more drama and suffer multiple REAL injuries to his body including nearly breaking his damn neck and being out for more than a year.

Perhaps after seeing how this guy and tons of others just like him obviously have brutalized themselves for the wrestling business I hope two things come about:

1. You don't like wrestling? Fine. But show these guys some damn respect. They are actors and trained stage combatants. They're as much athletes as anyone else, the only difference is they're not actually competing, but giving the illusion of of competition. They're different from any performer you've ever paid to watch except that they do what they do live in front of an audience so they put themselves in far more jeopardy to sell the illusion. Even the grittiest Hollywood tough guys have stunt doubles for the dangerous stuff. These guys risk their necks on their own, no one takes the fall for them.

2. The wrestling business, represented mostly by the WWE, is a meat grinder and Vince McMahon is the guy with his hand on the crank, shredding these guys. Some of these performers in the WWE are on the road for 200-300 days a year. Don't think that just cuz it's the only place you see them that means they only perform on tv. These guys tour the country and the world doing what are called house shows in smaller venues several times a week. Hell sometimes on Sundays they do two shows so some people are wrestling 2 or 3 times in one day. With all that touring you really think these guys have time to go to the gym? Please... and seeing as Vince has a propensity to "Push" (promote) the guys with the huge muscles rather than the huge skills they do what they feel they must to stay ahead of the game and get noticed... like you know, take steroids? You can add to that the machismo/testosterone factor of young, well paid guys away from home constantly, they're bodies in pain from the work they do. Is it any wonder that alcohol and drugs wind up being part of the lifestyle? You know, the same what it is any EVERY OTHER professional sport, or in this case, sports entertainment?

These guys are being asked to tear their bodies apart all so they can entertain/make a living. It's no different that the brutality of football, only they're is no union for wrestlers. No governing body to look out for they're best interests. It's like I've been saying all along given the slow methodical nature of what Benoit did. It wasn't steroids. It was some kind of mental break likely brought on by stress. I think you'll stop seeing these tragedies in the business when and if the legislation to allow any group of people to organize into a union so the ridiculous demand on their bodies and their time will stop. Fewer performances a week equals less of the vicious wear and tear on their bodies which means much less need for pain killers and steroids and, most importantly, more time at home with their families.

[OnyxCollie]

7. Good post.

Welcome to DU!:hi:

[RamboLiberal]

9. No I don't f*cking respect what they do

I find it a real detriment to our society the sick f*cking male soap operas they peddle to the audiences. How they degrade women. The way they portray violence as the answer to conflict. How the evil performer is promoted and usually beats up the goody-two shoes wrestler. The screaming and macho verbal challenges.

Sorry, but I don't find any redeeming quality in what they do.

They are not the cause but they are certainly a contributor to the rise of male violence, the militarism and jingoism of this country that helps enable Bush and his bunch to promote war!

That's my F*cking Point!

But that misses the point. For the question is not, "Are children imitating the violence they see?" but "Are children learning that taunting, ridiculing, and bullying define masculinity?"

We know from decades of research that depictions of violence in the entertainment media create a cultural climate in which such behavior is accepted as a normal, even appropriate, response to various problems.

We can see this process of normalization clearly in pro wrestling, where intimidation, humiliation, control, and verbal aggression (toward men as well as women) is the way that "real men" prevail. Manhood is equated explicitly with the ability to settle scores, defend one's honor, and win respect and compliance through force of conquest.

Already, this definition of manhood is at the root of much interpersonal violence in our society. For example, abusive men use force (or the threat of it) in an attempt to exercise power and control in their relationships with women. While there is no causal relationship between pro wrestling and male violence, it is clear that the wrestling subculture contributes to a larger cultural environment that teaches boys and men that manhood is about achieving power and control.

http://www.jacksonkatz.com/manhood.html

Pro Wrestling Linked to Date Violence
HEALTH NEWS BYTE
Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Teenagers who regularly watch pro wrestling are more likely than their peers to engage in, or become the victims of, dating violence. That troubling finding comes from a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. The study, conducted by Wake Forest University researchers, was based on interviews with more than 2,200 male and female high school students. Among those students surveyed, male pro wrestling viewers were a stunning 77% more likely to have been the perpetrators of dating violence. Females who regularly watched pro wrestling were even more likely to engage in dating violence, at 170%. Researchers suggested that viewing dramatized depictions of violence on TV could have a desensitizing effect on many teens.

http://www.lifescript.com/channels/well_being/News_Bites/pro_wrestling_linked_to_date_violence.asp

[Limelight]

11. Boo-hoo...

We're a nation of crappy parents, more concerned with being our children's friends more than their parents. You kids picking up bad habits from watching wrestling. I can see how that might happen as kids tend to imitate what they see. Here's an idea... don't let them watch it. Take some f*cking control over your household. And if you choose to let the television be their babysitter, being that it's the most convenient way to keep them out of your hair, stop bitching about the results of your lack of leadership.

By the way there are hundreds of television channels out there that show shit 100 times worse than what anyone will ever see in pro wrestling (or the main stream, larger feds anyway). Why aren't you bitching about that? And even if you do, why are you? Telling a make believe story is not an excuse for your child or anyone not having enough home training and common f*cking sense to know that that's make believe and this is real life. Those who commit date rape doesn't have nearly so much to do with their viewing habits as their maladjustment and obvious social ineptitude.

Stop blaming tv for what are character flaws in individuals.

[Ian David]

5. Maybe next, Congress will investigate the illegal use of mead in SCAD re-eneactors?

"Though hast the 'mead rage' and verily must be killed."

[BootinUp]

6. The only thing that is surprising, is that it has taken

so long to realize this is happening to the athletes in these sports.

[w8liftinglady]

8. I posted that very question in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1738471

[krispos42]

10. He did it for his family and himself.

My dad is a union man. He retires in less than three years after 30 years as an operating engineer.

In many ways he is physically spent. Artificial hip, bad knees, arthritis in his shoulders. He did it in 100-degree Connecticut summer humidity and 15-degree winter nights. He did it in the rain and sun and snow and sleet and wind. He did it in a pit, he did it on office buildings, he did it on busy interstates.

He was out there, operating forklifts and concrete pumps and bulldozers and shovels and cranes. 8, 10, 12 hours days, often times.

Fortunately, the only bad injury he got was when a 2x6 fell on his head from 30 feet up.

He does it to make a living, to provide for his family, and because he liked what he did and did it well.

And my father will have made far less in his lifetime that Benoit.



Every job has it's price, it's toll in blood and flesh and health.

I am fortunate so far in that my toll in my factory jobs, so far, is a couple of faint, minor scars on my hands.

[KT2000]

12. Wear your seatbelt!

Windshields do damage too when the head smashes into them.