D'Brickashaw Montgomery Ferguson. It's a name that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? At 6'6" and 310 lbs., Ferguson's frame is just as large as his name. A stalwart with the NFL's New York Jets, Ferguson was one of the most consistent, unwavering, and physically durable players in NFL history.
Ferguson miraculously played nearly every single offensive snap every single season for ten straight years in New York. The one snap he missed?
But that wasn't D'Brickashaw's only accomplishment. He and his unique name were also apparently the inspiration for "Key and Peele's" famous "East/West Bowl" skit, which hilariously parodies player names. In the third edition of the skit, Ferguson and other real NFL players make an appearance alongside Key and Peele.
Sadly, https://twitter.com/dbrickashaw/status/718817094117277701. Spending a decade in one of the world's most brutal and taxing sports is reason enough to retire, especially with the millions of dollars these athletes accrue over their playing careers. However, the timing of this retirement is particularly interesting. Just this past season, Ferguson wrote an article in Sports Illustrated about the recent film "Concussion," where Will Smith plays a doctor bent on exposing the potential for a degenerative brain disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, in NFL players. Boston University, a leader in CTE research, calls the disease "progressive" and "degenerative", stating that http://www.bu.edu/cte/about/what-is-cte/.
They continue by stating that the degeneration of the brain can begin "months, years, or decades after active athletic involvement," and that the disease is associated with "memory loss, confusion, impaired judgement, depression... and progressive dementia." These brain problems have ultimately led to suicide in some NFL players already. Some of the tragic losses of life include http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/sports/football/03duerson.html, and http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8830344/study-junior-seau-brain-shows-chronic-brain-damage-found-other-nfl-football-players, who both committed suicide with a shot to the heart -- a deliberate attempt to keep their brains intact enough to be studied by science.
Players such as http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5333971, and he was only 26 years old.http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/sports/football/ken-stabler-nfl-cte-brain-disease.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1&referer= As Ferguson notes in his own article about Concussion, the film details the suicide of another hall of famer, Mike Webster, http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2013/10/8/4814434/concussion-suit-mike-webster-thing.
Ferguson continues his article saying he felt "betrayed" by the NFL for not disclosing the effects of concussions and CTE to the general public. He also felt "disheartened" that his own former team doctor, Elliot Pellman, http://espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3644940. Ferguson, ended the article optimistically, saying that his NFL career was completely worth it, and that he would do it all again if he had the choice. However, he said he would "struggle" to answer the question about whether he would let his child play football, knowing the risks. In His retirement letter, Ferguson thanked his team and the NFL for their support, but after this article, one cannot help but wonder whether the growing research on concussions played a factor into his decision to walk away from the game.
Chris Borland was just a rookie when he retired last year, and was extremely vocal (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13463272/how-former-san-francisco-49ers-chris-borland-retirement-change-nfl-forever). Former Colts receiver Austin Collie, just recently retired from Canadian Football to (https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/718405779162820608). So it seems that the research on concussions is starting to affect NFL players. The NFL itself has even settled a http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/23/nfl-reaction-concussion-movie-will-smith-bennet-omalu.
However, the NFL is so extremely popular that it may be difficult for even this issue to slow down its momentum. The league still averages millions of viewers every week in the U.S., and it has plans to reach out across the world, into Europe, and even China. Sundays in America are Football days. As one character from "Concussion" even states, "The NFL owns a day of the week. The same day the church used to own." (source: IMDB).
So it seems the NFL will continue to be King of the Hill for a very long time, but don't underestimate the power of the mind under the crown, and the debilitating issues that many minds will face if they play football. Our generation and the generations before loved and played the game. But what about the next generation? What about D'Brickashaw Ferguson's kids, or the children of the late Junior Seau, Mike Webster, or Dave Duerson? Their views on football will, if not already, be extremely impacted by the men who took the fall for them, and experienced a tremendous amount of suffering to uncover the secrets of the NFL. And only time will tell how condemning that secret will be, now that it's out.
