We’ve learned a lot about brain injuries in football during Season 1 of Razed Sports. But there is one nagging question that we haven’t really addressed : 

Knowing all that we now know about the long-term risks of tackle football, why are we still playing the sport?

I’ve heard a lot of responses to this question over the last few months, some of which make some sense, some … well … not so much. But I’ve never heard an answer laid out quite so eloquently and sensibly as when I heard Erick’s interview with Ken LaVigne.

LaVigne has dedicated a huge portion of his life to the sport, both as a player and a coach. He had to quit football due to concussions, so he does not have his head in the sand when it comes to the sport’s risks. But he also credits the game, and the mentors he met through it, with saving his life. To him, the rewards outweigh the risks. 

He does provide two caveats though — the sport needs to evolve and become safer and it’s the responsibility of coaches to put player safety first, like his coaches did for him.

Listen to Ep. 9 for LaVigne’s story and also check out his new book titled “Coaching the Soul.”

 In 2011, Bill Simpson was watching an Indianapolis Colts game from the sideline. He wasn’t a football fan, but he’d been lured there by his friend Tom Moore, who was the team’s offensive coordinator at the time. During the game, Indianapolis Colts receiver Austin Collie took a terrible hit and was carted from the field with a concussion.

Simpson was shocked, but when he asked Moore, his friend told him “this happens every game.”

Simpson wanted to look at the helmets the Colts were wearing — not out of random interest, but professional curiosity. After all, Simpson had spent a career making helmets and other safety equipment for auto racing. The Colts gave him three helmets to test in his lab and he was not impressed.

“The equipment manager brought me three helmets,” Simpson said. “And I tested them. And I ended up taking them back to the Colts and I said ‘here they are.’ And they said ‘well what’s the results?’ And I said ‘I killed all three of your football players.’ ‘What?’ I said ‘ let me tell you something, I wouldn’t put a helmet like that on my dog.’”

Thus began Simpson’s quest to build a better football helmet.

Simpson focused on weight (think about the importance of Newton’s second law of motion), and built the lightest football helmet on the market. But Simpson experienced a lot of road blocks along the way — it seemed the NFL didn’t care much for this blunt outsider who had no problems criticizing inferior products. After the NFL banned his helmet (Simpson claims they tested a prototype) he gave up, selling the company to Nick Esayian and others, who re-named the company Light Helmets and are carrying the torch forward.

But the debate continues: What is the best way to build a football helmet? Do we need a totally new material? Should the shell be soft? Do we need to re-think them completely? We tackle all of this in Episode 8.

What do we know about genetic links to CTE? There are a lot of theories, but not a lot of answers.

I was asked to tackle this topic for Fansided.com (the article is live so please check out out), but I also wanted to produce a bonus episode for the listeners here. 

I took a two-pronged approach for this story, looking at it from a player's perspective and from a science perspective as well. What I found out is that the waters are a lot more muddied than you might think based on a few select headlines you might see (Scientists link gene to CTE!).

The fact is that many researchers believe some people might be genetically predisposed to getting CTE, but they don't really know what set of genes might be in play. But it's confusing, and some players are putting a little more stock in the idea than they should be.

So please listen to the bonus episode, then head over to Fansided to read the whole story. Thanks!

In late 2016, the Supreme Court rejected challenges to the settlement of a landmark lawsuit against the National Football League. That cleared the last hurdle to a billion-dollar agreement — former players could finally be compensated for brain ailments they suffered playing professional football.

While the lawsuit and settlement rocked the sports world, the way it all started was almost unbelievable. It involved an unlikely friendship between two men from vastly different backgrounds.

One was Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born forensic pathologist who had discovered CTE in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Mike Webster. The other was Jason Luckasevic, a lawyer who grew up worshiping his heroes in black and gold.

During a meeting in 2006, Omalu told Luckasevic that the NFL was unhappy with his work. They were coming after him, trying to discredit him and ruin his career.

“And I said ‘well do something about it, look into it, figure it out, fight back,’” Luckasevic says. “And he said ‘well you’re a good lawyer you figure it out.’”

And so, in an effort to defend his friend and help players who had been used and discarded by the NFL, Luckasevic went to work.

This is his story.

There is a fair amount of research into the medical benefits of marijuana, but when it comes to CBD, our knowledge is less clear.

CBD does not contain THC, which is the component of marijuana that makes you high. So you theoretically get all the benefits without the psychoactive effects. What's unclear, however, is what exactly the health benefits are.

Kyle Turley (see episode 6) and many other football players swear by the positive benefits of CBD, but the research community is taking a more cautiously optimistic approach until more data is available.

Join us as we attempt to answer the question: "What do we know about CBD?" 

Head over to Razedsports.com for more information on this topic.