Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.BZ

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ

Um, one of the things that she still remembers very vividly

is that she did not want to leave him at the cemetery.

Like, she was freaking out

that we were gonna put dirt on him

and leave him in the ground.

Like, she just couldn't handle that.

She was so upset about it.

I remember that we were watching a movie

in my grandma and grandpa's bed and he kept--

We kept on bonking heads together.

- Did it hurt? - No.

What do you miss most about your uncle Tyler?

Um...

The football world has been rocked this week

by the sad death of a former star.

The Super Bowl-winning safety, Dave Duerson,

took his own life, convinced that the despair he faced

was caused in part by

the damage he suffered on the football field.

Junior Seau was found dead

in his Southern California home of an apparent suicide.

A former San Diego Chargers linebacker

was found dead of a gunshot wound this morning.

Today, a team of doctors confirmed

that he suffered from degenerative brain disease,

which could be linked to the years he spent

taking blows and giving them on the football field.

We're looking at a dangerous full-contact sport

where too many players play too long,

and therefore suffer physical consequences, including,

especially importantly, CTE.

Where for you and I,

long-term health's the most important thing.

After that, the ability to play a pro career.

And the lowest priority is to play that play.

The athlete turns it on its head.

It's that play.

I unequivocally think there's a link between

playing football and CTE.

I guess if my son was Tom Brady or, you know,

Brett Favre or some of those guys,

it might've made a bigger impact.

And-- And, you know, I've thought about

that before, or Peyton Manning.

I thought, "Lord, I don't want them to suffer this."

But if one of them would have it,

it would get a lot more attention from the--

You know, from our country.

And this time, we give it to...

Tyler Sash,

juking tacklers off to the race.

Nobody's gonna catch Sash. Touchdown in the end!

Money. That's the money shot right there.

Here he goes, Tyler Sash! Bye-bye!

Tyler lands really-- Oh, nice ditch.

Big running room here for Sash.

Now, he cuts back! Oh, my goodness.

Picked off by Tyler Sash!

Garcia!

Threw it up for grabs and Sash has another.

And it was Sash who's been all over the place

tonight in their secondary.

Oskaloosa's very own, Tyler Sash,

is heading to the Super Bowl this Sunday.

So, it's Corona, so I-- I'll let you do it.

I even have some Clorox wipes

- if you want me to-- - I've got some too.

So, this clips on the back of my pants, right?

Yeah, just in the back, yeah.

On your, you know, where your-- your loop of your jean.

Oskaloosa's a pretty nice small town in Iowa.

It's not, you know, it's not real small,

but it's, you know, it's big enough that it, uh,

you know, has a few things to offer,

but I kind of like that, coming from New Jersey.

I kind of like the quiet life,

and it's a-- it's a good life, and it's simple,

and you can really spend a lot of time

being the best parent that you can be

and having your kids involved

in lots of different activities at school.

So, Oskaloosa's, uh, been good to us,

and, uh, it's made a lot of developments

in the last few years.

Tyler was just, he's just such a funny kid.

You know, he'd come over and he's always,

you know, thought he was-- I don't know what he thought.

Anyway, he'd come in and I'd see him,

and he'd look at me real funny and I'm like, "No, Tyler."

And he'd start running at me,

and he'd run and he'd tackle me

just like I was a tackling dummy.

And he'd pick me up and run with me.

And I'm like, "Stop it! You gotta put me down."

I mean, he-- he just did that all the time.

Just funny stuff like that.

I have a picture of my father,

and he looked a lot like my father.

And, uh, I never really saw that so much until later.

And all my sisters are like, and my mom thought

he looked just like my dad.

That's a picture of him and his brother.

We had that made when he had, um,

when my oldest son had his senior pictures done,

we had that made because they were just really good buddies.

And he was a ball boy for his brother's high school team.

Josh is our older brother.

I was the middle child,

and then Tyler was the surprise.

He wasn't planned.

So he, his joke would be,

well, he turned out to be an all right surprise.

Tyler just had kind of this magnetic personality.

So, really for, for me, he-- I treated him as--

as my younger brother.

I kind of mothered him, I guess.

He had these huge blue eyes,

always had this huge smile on his face,

and he was just the most precious thing.

He was very, very cute little kid.

As a little kid, he had--

he couldn't just walk through here.

He would come running up the stairs

from his bedroom,

and he would jump and he would slap the-- the doorway.

Like he-- he was trying to dunk a basketball or something.

That was his thinking.

The trim at that time was painted,

and so it chipped everything off, and...

And my mom would constantly, uh, tell him

that he wasn't supposed to do that.

And so it got to the place where, you know,

there was handprints all up all over the wall, and--

He didn't listen.

He was practicing his, you know,

how he's going to slap the backboard or-- or do a dunk.

After Tyler's brother graduated from high school,

Tyler moved right into his bedroom.

And that is in the basement,

because it was the biggest room in the house.

So, we'll go down here.

And this is the room that his-- his brother and him

both-- you know, had each when they were in high school.

Wha--what posters were up when he was in here?

Oh, Michael Jordan.

You know, the one with the basketball in his hands.

Mostly they were basketball posters.

Here comes Sash.

Good. And get the blocking foul.

Uh, I don't know if you want my real opinion or not.

I'm not-- not too happy.

It's time to wake up, okay? You guys with me?

Loose ten, hut!

Kramer! Let's go. Right here, right here.

Tyler Sash is kind of a--

he's kind of a local-- local hero, really.

I mean, he's a guy that, he grew up here,

and he was just an outstanding all-around athlete.

He was a phenomenal basketball player.

He's a really good football player.

Uh, he's really good at track.

I remember him playing baseball.

Basketball, of course, was a-- was a huge one for him.

And then, and then, football from third or fourth grade.

This is actually the middle school right here.

My husband taught there for 39 years.

But he played his football games there?

Yeah, he played all of his football games there.

We lived on that street.

So, we used to sit in that-- the deck of that last house.

We used to sit up there and watch his football games.

- Really? - Yeah. We never went

to go-- we never went in.

We could have got in for free,

because my husband coached here.

You know, he's one of those guys that you'd have to

kick out of a gym, or kick out of a weight room

or whatever it might be, because he wasn't--

He was going to put all the extra time and effort into it.

I can remember against, uh, one of our arch rivals, Pella,

we threw a toss out to him,

and I-- I swear, we didn't block hardly anybody.

And there were, he ran, uh, 50 yards for a touchdown.

There were seven Pella kids that were laying on the floor,

on the ground, that had tried to tackle him, and nobody did.

Look at that. Turnover by--

Well, that's good defense right there

by Tyler Sash.

Money. That's a money shot right there.

Tyler Sash, 7 carries,

114 yards and a touchdown.

Average 16 yards a carry tonight for Sash.

Hey, I tell you what, fellas, uh,

the kid's got some talent, don't you think?

He's one of those guys that would just take a contest over,

whether it was basketball, whether it was football,

whether it was track, he just took it to another level.

What I really liked about Tyler

was, he is so coachable for us.

And he was always,

always wanting to learn more and more and more.

He thought he was going to play college basketball

his whole life.

Oskaloosa, they had, uh, this one kid

that basically scored, uh, 36 of their 40 points.

I'll never forget coming back and telling our staff

that Monday morning, I said, "You know, I think I saw

the next Steve Alford,"

because he was a legendary player in Indiana,

you know, growing up, so I figured

he's going to be a Division One basketball player.

Did he set any records?

Oh yeah, he had-- I don't--

I couldn't even tell you, my husband could tell you.

He-- Tyler held like 20 or 30 records.

He holds our 100 meter dash record,

10.65 at the high school.

You look at even just the basketball ones,

he's known for football, 51 points in a game,

12 threes in a game.

That's-- that's never going to be touched.

I mean, that-- those are things that people dream of.

When did you decide football full time?

How long ago, how many years ago was that?

Um, well, my sophomore year, not a lot of people know this.

My sophomore year, um, I told my dad,

"I'm not playing football this year."

And he goes, "No, you're going to put--"

He basically made me play one more year.

And he's like, "You're going to play and see how you like it."

And, um, Coach Schumacher at the time,

moved me up to varsity and, um, I-- I don't like talking about

being all state or all this,

whatever, but I ended up making all state.

And I was like, "All right, this isn't so bad."

Moved into high school,

he really became a-- a multi-sport athlete,

and certainly got our attention.

Uh, as a football player, he's a guy that we really liked,

and I remember distinctly, uh, talking to him

and offering him a scholarship.

I believe he was on his way home, uh, his junior year

from the state championship, the track-- track

championship. So, he was driving home from Des Moines,

and I had him on the phone.

That's when we offered him the scholarship.

And, uh, fortunately for us,

he decided to come to the University of Iowa.

Throws right to the Hawkeye.

Tyler Sash lateralled the ball off.

Inside the five, lunging, touchdown!

It's all made possible by Tyler Sash.

He was at the University of Iowa,

and, um, he went down to the cheerleaders one night,

and he asked 'em what they did with

all those shirts over there.

And they said, well, they, you know,

they, um, would shoot them up into the crowd and stuff.

And he said, "Could I have some--"

Here's the new football stadium.

He said, "Could I have some of those?"

And they said, "Sure." So, what'd he do?

He took a bunch of them, and he went over

to the handicapped section,

and gave them to all the handicapped kids

sitting in the front row, in their wheelchairs.

Look at this motion right here.

Willis is, uh, throwing back.

Play fake.

And batted down from behind, it's loose!

Iowa on the move! Tyler Sash!

Gonna take it back!

Trick-or-treat, Iowa city!

Well, you know, the most famous play certainly is the,

uh, you know, the, uh, ricochet play against Indiana.

And-- and, uh, that was a game where we were,

you know, we were going down. Uh...

They came in here and got off to a real fast start,

and-- and we never got our hands up.

I mean, we never put up a fight at all.

So, had they, Indiana scored at that point,

I think that game's over and, you know,

it was just one of those things where, you know,

he comes out and makes a huge play,

but, uh, he made a lot of those.

That was kind of typical of his career.

A lot of people say,

even a lot of the analysts,

say you just have a nose for the ball.

Where does that come from?

Oh, you know, I don't know if it's from playing basketball,

playing point guard, because I always had the ball

in my hand, so maybe I'm attracted to the ball.

I don't know. I just--

I just work hard and practice,

try to put myself in those situations,

and it translates-- translates to the game.

He was picked in the sixth round

with the New York Giants.

And, uh, it was kind of a really stressful day.

Me and him actually were roommates

for our first two years, uh, with the New York Giants.

Um, we, we did everything together. I lived with Tyler.

So, you know, he's playing his music all day, every day.

We went to the mall together. We were going out together,

every-- I mean, for all intents and purposes, I mean,

he was probably my best friend in my times with the Giants.

And Spencer Paysinger comes away

with the football.

The biggest concussion

that I was around for,

it was the NFC championship game against the 49ers.

And it's-- it was just a physical game.

Like if anybody asks, it's--

that game was the hardest game I've ever played.

One of the 49ers defensive ends, peels back.

Tyler doesn't see him.

He sees Tyler and hit him so hard,

he actually flipped and slammed him to the ground.

A player down for the Giants.

That's Sash.

He spun around like a rag doll, and our TV went off.

Perfect timing.

I'm looking around like, "Oh, where did Tyler go?"

So, I called my older son.

He said that they were tweeting out

that my son was-- was unconscious.

Oskaloosa's very own Tyler Sash

is heading to the Super Bowl this Sunday.

The Giants rookie suffered a concussion two weeks ago

in the NFC championship game against the 49ers.

The 23-year old has been examined

and cleared by team officials to suit up

for the big game this weekend.

I mean, I've watched every Super Bowl since I can remember

and for some people, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

And being a rookie, I-- I'm blessed.

Uh, first year in, I'm-- I'm in the Super--

The game ends here! To the end zone.

Hernandez is there, tipped and batted.

Gronkowski can't get it. Incomplete.

And the New York Giants are the Super Bowl champs.

More nervous than I-- right now than I am for the Super Bowl,

or than I was for the Super Bowl.

Tyler Sash.

"Can I have your autograph, Tyler?"

And then on the other side, it said,

"Can you get Tom Brady's autograph for me? You're lame."

I don't know-- I don't know what I'm doing,

so you gotta tell me.

Just watch!

You know what I mean, how does it feel

to be a Super Bowl champ? I know you've heard it all week.

You know, it-- it's crazy just to think about

um, being on a team that is the best team in the world,

you know, at-- at whatever.

We met back in second grade.

He was homeschooled,

and he came to Whittier Elementary for that year.

And then, um, he came back in seventh grade.

So, we graduated together, known him ever since then.

I think we are just a lot alike.

I always say he's like the male version of me.

We'd finish each other's sentences.

Um, we had the same ideas.

We were just two of a kind.

Are we ready? Is it shooting?

I'm wearing an Iowa shirt tomorrow,

and I will do cartwheels all day.

Thank you very much.

He's in the NFL!

- Oh, God! God! - It's a video! Woo!

Justin... Justin got kicked out of Lit.

Oh, here, New York Giants, New England Patriots.

He got the game ball, um, was presented to him.

He said he actually, I think he got his,

I think that he sacked, uh, what's his name?

Well, you know, what's his name?

- Tom Brady. - From the Patriots,

what's his name? Tom Brady.

And he-- I think he did in the preseason too,

his first year he was able to do that.

But he got the game ball because he played,

you know, played well on special teams.

They called Tyler "White Chocolate."

Or they'd say, "Where's Weirdo?"

You know, instead of, "Where's Waldo?"

You know, because he was the only white guy.

I don't know, because he was the only white guy.

And he really liked his coaches there, and--

Antrel Rolle on the defensive backfield

was one of his really close friends.

No, I was just joking about

the, uh, the whole key to the city in Oskaloosa thing.

It was just a joke. But I was just trying to--

trying to make a point

on, uh, how-- how big it really was with that game.

You know, it's, uh-- getting a key to New York City,

that's pretty, pretty incredible.

The people here in Iowa caught wind of that,

and they decided they were going to make him a key.

We have a foundry here in town,

and they came up with a key.

So, he had to accept the key to the city.

He had to give a speech, and he was a nervous wreck

about getting-- Having to give a speech.

It's with great pleasure that I present you with this,

the key to the city of Oskaloosa.

Congratulations. It's well deserved.

Hopefully, this opens Jaarsma Bakery on Sunday mornings.

Okay, I'm trying-- I'm going to try to

keep giving back to this community as much as I can,

and, uh, help put Oskaloosa on the map as much as we can.

Definitely going to be-- be put on the top shelf,

uh, put the New York City key on the shelf below.

You know, this is where I'm from,

always be from here, uh, be from the state of Iowa,

and I'm-- I'm happy to represent the state of Iowa.

During his second year with the New York Giants,

he was having to give-- after being a Super Bowl champion,

Tyler's probably more like me

where he doesn't love to stand up on a podium

and talk to-- In front of people.

And he was invited to some other, um, sports shows.

So, he was so nervous about it.

He went to a doctor here in town,

and was prescribed Adderall

because he said, "I can't focus."

You know, "Like, I have a hard time

focusing because I'm so nervous."

He only had

a-- a prescription for-- for Adderall.

And here he gave a speech over here at William Penn University

when they, uh, awarded him the key to the city.

After he did that interview,

for some unknown reason,

somebody drove to Oskaloosa

and tested his urine for the NFL.

And he knew from that point,

um, talking to him about it later on,

and him telling us it was probably going to--

to come out in the news

that-- that he'd tested positive for a drug.

He didn't follow the proper protocol.

So, he was suspended for the first four games,

because he tested positive for Adderall.

Even Tom Coughlin, his coach for the New York Giants,

stood in his defense and said,

"This is a kid who follows every single rule

we ask him to follow,

who jumps through every hoop, and such a good kid.

And for him to be slapped on the hand

because he was taking a prescription drug

that he has a prescription for is just silly."

I-- I definitely, um, he didn't have to accept to see me.

And, uh, since he did accept to see me,

you never know if maybe he'll reduce it or take it away or,

you know, I might-- I might still have the four games.

So, you know, um, I just want more of an explanation.

Um, there's been some cases that I know of, and

um, that-- that people have gotten off, um,

with the same exact thing as me.

So I just want to know what mine-- Why mine is different.

My son was so confident that he was right

and he didn't break any rules.

He made an appointment to go see Commissioner Goodell,

and he-- he was sure of himself that he would see it.

He said, "Well, Tyler," you know,

he said, "Sorry, but rules are rules."

Tyler tried to explain that

there was these other guys that did so much worse,

and they didn't even get anything like he did.

He felt like they made an example out of him,

and he was so not happy about that.

And so, he felt like that cost him his chance

at a starting position for, you know, as safety that year.

The Giants safety was penalized back in March

for taking Adderall without filling out

the proper paperwork with the league.

Sash said the drug was prescribed by a doctor

to manage his anxiety during public speaking events

during the off season.

He was fined somewhere in the range

of $100,000, and he had to sit out for four--

four games.

And so then he, from that point in the season,

he struggled with ankle injuries and-- and shoulder.

Uh, I feel like, uh, you know,

everybody's competing every year.

Every day. I'm just trying to come out and improve

and get better every day.

And, you know, I know what kind of a football player I am

and, uh, that I can help any team out that needs help.

Of course, it's a business,

and so you're always skeptical and--

and somewhat nervous about making the team

when they cut down to that-- to that roster.

And his, his coaches had assured him

that he had nothing to worry about at all. Um...

Well, he got released going into our third year.

Uh, he had a couple of concussions,

and it just got to the point where they didn't know

if he was going to be able to, you know, play at a high level.

And then I knew, uh, after that third one,

that his third year there

in that preseason game, he got hit really hard.

Well, I don't think he ever recovered from that.

Quite a surprise that he was cut.

He was shocked and of course, you know, he--

That-- that fire though was,

was in him that he was gonna get picked up by another team.

He couldn't-- He wasn't cleared,

but he packed his stuff anyways and drove from New York

to Iowa so he could be ready.

That's not a good thing.

The eating here is, it's good, but it's really bad.

Probably came out the ocean that day, or the day before.

Yeah. I mean, you down on the Gulf coast?

where were y'all at, boat?

There should be a-- How to turn it off.

All of a sudden I got balloons popping.

You're not the only person for this topic.

I figured that it was not on purpose.

No, it was not on purpose.

It isn't, okay, look at my hat.

You smell.

Atlanta has selected Brett Favre,

quarterback, Southern Mississippi.

I played, uh, 20 seasons in the National Football League.

Favre, ball down.

Brett Favre!

If you count college, I played all four years

and started all four years in college.

So, 24. If you count high school, 26. So, a long time.

Favre bringing it in for a touchdown.

Look at my kid.

Look at this kid. High school! Take a look!

I can't tell you how many times my head hits the turf...

and stars

or fireworks or whatever went off.

Uh, did I lose my memory?

No, not really. Was I foggy? Yeah.

Was I able to play? Yeah. I never thought about it.

I didn't think that was a concussion.

It's hard to even put a number on...

how many of those I had.

There's an unwritten rule.

You can't make the club in the tub.

If-- if-- if you're hurt, sometimes, it's legitimate.

Other times, you question it.

But if-- if you're not playing, you know,

eventually they're not paying.

And I got my job because the guy in front of me

sprained-- sprained his ankle.

No one knew who I was, including me.

And I was thrust into the-- to the spotlight.

And here is the quarterback

for the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre.

Don Makowski, who had been a very good quarterback,

and I'm sure he thought, "This guy'll screw it up.

I'll be back soon."

20 years later, he's still waiting.

Makowski under pressure and goes down.

And here's second year quarterback, Brett Favre,

out of Southern Mississippi, by way of the Atlanta Falcons.

With 35, 19 seconds left.

Favre parks Brooks! Touchdown!

No one would know who Tom Brady is

if it were not for

a guy hitting Drew Bledsoe on the sidelines.

Bledsoe.

Better run. Needs ten yards.

Oh, a clean hit.

Apparently, Bledsoe knocked around a little more

than it appeared, and, uh, Brady in charge.

Uh, and-- and for me, it was always like,

"Remember how you got your spot.

And remember how quickly he lost his.

Don't ever be a fool and think otherwise."

Here's your basic problem.

The NFL dominates American culture in a way

that no sport in our lifetime has ever done.

If you actually understand the way football is played,

we've created a new generation of robo-players.

Size that was unimaginable 20 years ago.

If a player was standing on the 95th story building,

um, threatening to jump,

he would find 10 people around him that would say,

"Law of gravity? Doesn't apply to you. Go ahead, show them."

If you are engaging in a sport that has head contact in it,

you might as well come to the conclusion that

that is going to be one of the manifestations

of what happens.

Yeah, everybody knows you're going to have bad knees

and shoulders and elbows and stuff like that,

but nobody ever mentioned the brain.

Well, we were just together that summer

before he went to New York and then

I went back to Iowa State to finish up school.

Um, we kept in contact between then,

but then, um, after he got cut from the Giants,

and he came back here, I had since had a daughter.

Um, she's now four.

And um, we just kind of picked back up where we left off.

Listen, I got up and I said,

"I'm finally picking up my niece for a game."

Ready, set... go!

Come on, jump!

Haelyn, say, "Roar."

Roar!

Haelyn, look at mama.

Say hi!

It was one of a kind.

Tyler was definitely her father figure.

Talking to him every time

he had gone out to do a tryout for a team.

I remember him going to Denver, and I can't remember the--

the team for sure in-- in Florida,

but going to multiple different places.

I want to say he also went to the Eagles, and--

and did tryouts, and his body basically couldn't handle it.

He always felt he can deal with pain.

Pain was nothing. It's just a way of life.

So, when you try to talk to him

about stuff like that, you know,

kind of brush it off as in, you know, just-- we all deal

with it. We all have to, you know, worry about it,

so we don't even need to talk about it.

He-- he had thrown up for,

I'd say, six months after that last concussion.

Well, he was confused in that he kept repeating himself

over and over and over, about things that were going on

during the game, or stories that he was telling us.

And, you know, his brother finally said to him,

"Ty, you've already told us that three or four times."

I felt sad because I thought his brother didn't understand,

and I didn't understand,

but I-- I knew that something was not right.

His mom told me about some things that--

that, uh, he was doing,

you know, asking repetitive things

and leaving the door open, leaving the refrigerator open,

milk on the, you know, on the counter,

all sorts of things that I didn't know was happening.

And Tyler was so excited about the opportunity.

And then like, tomorrow you'd ask Tyler,

well, has Charles called? "No."

You know, like he-- it was like he didn't even remember.

Right.

So I had never actually heard of CTE at all.

My thinking was, I have no idea what that is.

And so I immediately Googled it.

And I-- I went down the list of--

the list of symptoms, and it was unbelievable.

I looked at his girlfriend,

her and I sat there on the couch right here, and--

And, I was like, this is Tyler,

a hundred percent, like every single one of them,

the anxiety, the depression, the sleeplessness.

When you think about concussion,

no one concussion's really the same.

You see different symptoms like headaches, you see dizziness,

you'll hear fogginess, you know, you'll hear things

like sleep deprivation that are associated with it.

But ultimately, that means it's very heterogeneous.

Um, the brain, there's no one brain the same.

If I get hit here and you get hit here,

it might be a little bit different response.

And that's the thing about--

about concussions is, you don't necessarily

have to have a thousand to have worse brain damage.

You can suffer one concussion, and the repercussions

could be as bad as having five thousand.

We went five and six, we lost three games

by a point, uh, each game by a point.

Did you beat 'Bama that year or the year before?

- We didn't play 'em that year. - Right.

No, we did play 'em. We did play 'em. Uh...

You guys beat Alabama when you played?

Why are you acting so surprised? We beat Alabama.

They haven't lost in...

We beat Alabama, and we beat them up and down

the field and we lost, si-- uh, 16-14.

We kicked field goal in, and-- and our straight on kicker,

I'll never forget, his name's Stump, Jim Taylor, and just--

hit it. I mean, it's like 20 yards.

We lost him and then the next week,

we go to Auburn and play, and we beat Auburn.

I-if you can imagine two guys,

two big grown men,

running from opposite sides of the field, full speed,

and running to each other, that's exactly what it is.

It's like having a bunch of accidents within three hours.

You know, I know that, uh, we're all gonna have it.

I know that it's in me.

I know it's in a lot of players that played in the NFL,

especially those that played right from Pop Warner.

You know, you played all your life.

Uh, you're gonna have some kind of damage

when you keep hitting heads.

You got a little headache.

You got a little dizziness.

You make millions of dollars versus out on the street.

I-- I'm gonna take the dizziness and just

try to go back in and play.

But then at 50, when no one else is, you know, worried about you,

no one cares, what, you know, what are you gonna be like?

Mo-- for the most part, people that live here, you know,

they might say hello, but, uh, they're good about it.

For me, it's a bit like, uh, Sherlock and Holmes.

You know, you-- you've got the patient,

you've got the-- the clinical symptoms.

Last month, Dr. Anne McKee

was named the 2017 Bostonian of the Year

by the Boston Globe for all this work.

And were recently named the Time 2018 on the list

of the 100 most influential people in the world.

I unequivocally think there's a link

between playing football and CTE.

But the fact that over five years,

I've been able to accumulate this number of cases

in football players, ca-- uh, it cannot be rare.

And the other feature of CTE is that the individual themselves,

uh, complains that they can't control their mind.

They have these, uh, impulses, they want to behave

in certain ways, and it's very difficult for them

to control this-- these thought processes or these actions.

My first year in Atlanta, we-- I get drafted

by Atlanta. A week before this regular season starts,

they cut every quarterback except the starter and myself.

I'm like, man, this is pretty good.

Why I was thinking that,

I have no idea. I put on 25 pounds in about four weeks.

I was drinking a lot of beer, eating a lot of hot wings.

And I'm thinking, this is a good thing.

Well-- no more than I said that,

they bring in Billy Joe Tolliver.

Jim's walking in the building. They had just traded for him.

He was a starter in San Diego for a while.

And, uh, firecracker red hair, cocky as all get out.

Worse than me.

We hit it off, but we hated each other at first.

And we sort of hated each other, kinda, even when we hit it off.

But I had a strong arm. And one thing I knew,

I didn't think anybody in the country,

or in the world, could throw it as hard-- as-- as far as me.

That was kind of my deal.

He was f-five, six years older than me, been around.

So he kind of pushed me around.

Hey-- hey, rookie, carry my helmet.

I'm like, I ain't carrying your helmet.

I said, I tell you what, I challenge you to a throw off,

'cause he had a strong arm. I said--

He said, oh, , let's do it.

So everybody in the whole team ga-- gathered round,

at the end of practice.

And he said, all right, rookie, you go first.

Didn't matter to me.

I backed up. I took two steps, threw it.

It kind of end-over-end wobbled. 83.

Billy Joe had a ball, and he went, oh, hell, I quit.

And we-- after that, we were fine. We were fine.

When I had talked to Dr. Bales, he said,

what I'm trying to do is-- is study living players,

to find out how much tau protein is in your brain.

Well, I said, well, I don't know what tau protein is.

And he said, well, tau protein, everyone has it.

But what we're finding is, all these deceased players

have a high level of tau protein.

And he said, uh, I want to see if

living players have it in elevated levels,

that obviously play football, or hockey, or whatever.

And so I thought, you know, interesting.

But my next comment was, okay, doc.

So I got elevated levels of tau protein.

Do you, do you treat it?

He said, no, there's no--

All we can do is say you have elevated levels.

So, I chose not to do it, because I said,

then if I have el-- elevated levels,

I'm always going to be wondering, all right, when is,

you know, you know, when am I going to deteriorate to a point?

So, it's best not to know.

It's an emotional roller coaster.

Some days are good. Some days are bad.

I think about if he would have gone the basketball route,

you know, this might not have happened.

You know, he's not making sense of things.

He can't get the insurance.

He can't move on, because he

hasn't had the shoulder surgery yet.

And he's still sitting here on pain medicine...

Or he would be really focused on one thing.

One time he would be focused on selling insurance,

or he would be leaning more towards real estate.

He's googling brain injuries, and head trauma,

and-- and things like that, like on his phone,

and on his computer.

You know, when I would stay there on the weekends,

he would maybe get an hour of sleep.

If I would wake up, he would be cleaning,

or he would be watching movies, or-- he was always awake.

He could never fall asleep.

He would get his mail every day, and he'd throw it on the table.

And I bet it laid there for a month.

And I said, honey, don't you have some, you know,

like your phone bill and your, you know, utilities and stuff?

And he goes, yeah, I'll take care of it.

You know, he just couldn't

focus long enough to do the basic everyday tasks.

When you do the physics of one person running

at eight miles an hour, and another person running

at eight miles an hour,

and them colliding helmet to helmet,

the forces is almost equal to that of

standing still and swinging somebody--

swinging a sledgehammer, and hitting somebody in the head.

Think of a woodpecker.

Woodpecker smacks its head,

thousands and thousands of times every hour.

Woodpeckers have a tongue that's, surprisingly,

longer than the bird is,

and it goes back in and it wraps around its brain.

And when it starts--- when it starts pecking the wood,

it's safe inside of that tongue

that's wrapped around-- it's cushioned in there.

That's why a woodpecker can do that, and not get

chronic traumatic woodpecker encephalopathy.

Um, other animals were made to do that. Humans were not.

We have no protection, but a little bit

of fluid around our brains.

We weren't-- we weren't meant, as a species, to do that.

When I was in college, before I started

playing football, I used to hear people say, I'm depressed.

And I'm like, what is that like?

You know, seriously, what is depression like?

I said, I love life.

Life is great. You know, why-- why--

why are people depressed?

You know, but, uh, today, I catch myself, you know,

sitting at home sometimes, man, I'm really down right now.

'Cause I played with a bunch of guys.

I know a bunch of guys who took their lives and--

and, um, they were in the same boat as I am.

Is that going to be me someday?

You know, will I get that low and,

you know, something will happen to me?

When they talk about helmets, I laugh.

I don't care what kind of helmet

you put on a football player's head.

When you have a collision, you're not going to stop

the brain from smacking up against the inside of the skull.

I had a traumatic injury.

I broke my neck, uh, in 2016, uh, against the Dallas Cowboys.

And, uh, ever since that day, you know, laying on the field

and not knowing if I was going to die, not knowing if I was

going to live again, not knowing what was going to happen.

You don't feel anything.

You just think that you're going to die.

And you're just hoping for another chance.

And you're thinking about everything you did.

And you're thinking about, is it worth it?

You're thinking about, did I make the best of my time?

You're thinking about, uh, if I got another chance,

what would I do differently?

And it's hard to convince somebody who wants to make

money now, that the damage that they're going to have

five or ten years from now is going to be so significant

that they won't be able to function appropriately.

And there's an aspect to society that we want to be entertained.

There's nothing like watching Terry Bradshaw

throw a 60-yard pass at John Stallworth, and he drags

both his toes an inch from the end zone line.

He catches the ball and makes a touchdown,

and wins a Super Bowl.

A couple things. I---

I wasn't the sharpest guy, but I was always one that had

a really good memory.

And I was able to remember plays and recite plays.

And-- and-- and still to this day, I can think of

high school plays and how to call them,

as if it were yesterday.

But there are things that happen almost daily,

where I-- I'll meet someone, and see them a week later,

and know I know that person from somewhere,

but I can't remember where I met them.

And th-- to me, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever

that I-- there are certain things that I-- that I--

I can't remember, whether it be a word,

a word that I've said thousands and thousands of times.

And I'm like, yeah, I want it-- I can't.

And-- and-- and it happened to me this morning.

I was thinking of a-- a person that I know

very well, uh, that's actually a doctor, uh, in my hometown,

who I saw two days ago, and could not think of his name.

What used to not bother me before bothers me.

I'm sensitive to noise. I forget things.

People's names, I can't remember at all.

If you tell me your name, I-- it's gone.

I have two titanium rods in my neck,

and my spine right now, with 16 screws.

You know, holding me together, you know?

So, um, that's one of the, um, things I got from football.

Whether it be self-destructing and comm-- committing suicide,

considering it, losing everything, health declining,

not knowing who you are, where you are,

where you're going, um, those are coming up

way, way more frequent. And-- and that's scary.

There were times where he'd sort of get up and we'd

kind of look around and say, wow, he got a big hit there.

But there was not the consciousness now of,

well, we got to take him in the tents.

We got to have him examined by an unaffiliated

neurotrauma surgeon. We have to get him

in the locker room. We have to go through these tests.

It just wasn't there on our awareness.

Taking the-- the, uh, helmet-to-helmet contact

out of the NFL didn't affect the game one bit.

It's still a great game.

The-- the-- the style, the-- the grace, the ballet

is still there. We love watching the athletes suffer,

but that's part of making a lot of money as an entertainer.

Tonight, we are learning more about former Iowa Hawkeye

football standout Tyler Sash, who's in trouble after

police say he led them on a chase Saturday in Oskaloosa.

So I guess he rode the scooter to-- to this place,

here in town where all of his friends were at.

And then had a drink, and then he left and...

there was a cop, sitting there. And...

Tyler, I don't know what his thought process was,

but he ditched the scooter when he saw the-- the lights.

And the cop said he really was just gonna let Tyler know

he needed to have a light on that,

if he was going to be driving it in the dark.

They did have to tase him, because they thought

he wasn't cooperating by putting his arms back to be handcuffed,

but he could not put his shoulders into that position.

After talking to Tyler after that happened,

he was embarrassed,

and he felt really bad for-- for what he did.

He called me, 'cause he wanted to tell me

before it came out in the news.

Uh, I know he came over here and talked to my parents and cried.

We asked, you know, "Why? But why did you do it?"

And he-- he literally just kept saying,

"I don't-- I don't know. I don't really know."

I think people, you know,

not only does this affect the individual,

but the stress and the trauma of taking care

of these individuals cannot be underestimated.

These people with this disease,

they tend to behave erratically.

They may be violent. They may be suicidal.

They can be homicidal.

They can be frightening for the family members.

Uh, we got a call here at Arrowhead Stadium

to their practice facility, in regard to a person

who was in the parking lot armed with a handgun.

Yeah, Jake, um, we've got,

we do have a confirmed shooting,

and-- and-- and it is, I believe, Belcher.

Played with the Chiefs. We haven't confirmed that, so...

3-36, give me a couple more cars,

further out of district or what.

And if somehow, I don't know if Arrowhead's got security

or what, but get somebody on the phone.

He's on the west side parking lot

in a black Mercedes.

Uh, when the officers arrived,

when they were pulling up, they actually observed

a Black male who had a gun to his head.

And he was talking to a couple of coaches

out in the parking lot.

Uh, as officers pulled up and, uh, began to park,

that's when they heard the gunshot.

And, uh, it appears, uh, the individual took his own life.

A neuropathologist says Belcher's brain

showed evidence fully consistent

with the pathological presentation

of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

No one really has an answer for people,

because they can go to different hospitals,

and-- and they may not get the advice they need.

They may not understand that it's caused by trauma,

caused by their exposure to football.

So for the families, it's-- it's devastating.

And it's not just the individual affected.

It's everyone around them.

Of course, I've got CTE,

as does anybody, in my opinion, who played ball,

because Boston University does a study.

In the study, 99% of the people

that they looked at showed signs of CTE.

I'd be a fool not to think that I don't have it.

It was-- I got my bell rung when I was a little kid.

Uh, back then it wasn't, you know,

you didn't have these protocols where, you know,

you got to go in the locker room,

and do a certain test and everything.

Back then it was, "All right, follow my finger."

You know, "How's-- how do you feel?

You're good? Okay, look, you're back in the game."

Drive, Haelyn.

Other way.

Keep going.

You know, if something was irritating him,

you could see it easier,

that it was really bothering him.

I think before, Tyler just kind of brushed it off.

He let things go easier than he did more recently.

If he was upset, he just wouldn't talk,

and he'd leave the room, or he would cry.

And sometimes, you know, I would ask him why,

and he couldn't tell me why.

And I always thought he didn't want to tell me why,

but I really think he didn't know.

Okay, eyes on the road.

Not on Snapchat. Eyes on the road.

Push.

Stop.

Right by Tyler's.

Good job. Okay.

Pound it. All right.

Uh, well, I remember when Charles Martin

picked me up from behind and slammed me down. Um...

That-- that was actually the start of my neck problem,

'cause the doctor said, the only way that-- that your C1 and 2

can get twisted like this, if you get dumped on your head.

And I said, "Well, here's-- here's the replay of that."

But that-- and I told him, I said, "That was 1986."

And he said, "Well, this, you've been--

you've been-- struggling since then."

And the problem in this area is that

players will not help themselves,

because from Pop Warner and Little League,

they're brought up in a culture of denial.

He had to clean out his house.

And I saw that he had notebook after notebook,

and he'd barely written in anything.

I think he was trying so hard to be organized,

because he said to me, he couldn't remember anything.

And so he thought he'd start out fresh,

and he'd have a new notebook, and he,

you know, would be organized.

Well, I looked at this and it really--

it made me feel really sad, because to me,

this was a visible picture of what CTE does to a mind.

This was a night that I watched him on the news,

and, uh, doing this interview, and he just kind of

struggled for something to say.

And when I saw this note, I couldn't believe,

you know, how confused his mind was,

because what he wrote at the very top half of the page,

he wrote almost identically the same thing

on the bottom half of the page.

You can see what his thinking,

how confused his thinking would have been.

I talked to Dave Duerson, probably three months

before he killed himself.

And, uh, you know, he-- he seemed like

the same kind of-- same-- same old guy,

but he was a little-- a little more reserved,

a little quieter.

And, uh, he was explaining to me his frustrations with,

you know, "Can't remember where I'm at."

You know, "I get in the car to go pick up my kids.

I can't find my way home."

And I started having those same thoughts, the same, uh,

you know, I walked down the hall to-- to the kitchen.

And I-- I couldn't remember why the hell I went down there.

I'd have to go back and start again.

And, uh, it's-- it's very frustrating for guys that,

you know, we're-- we're very competitive people.

And at the time, I couldn't figure out how,

you know, it could get so bad that,

you know, you think about taking your own life.

But that-- it-- I had the same thoughts.

I mean, if I had a gun, I probably wouldn't be here.

Do you think there is a link between football

and degenerative brain disorders like CTE?

Well, certainly, uh, Dr. McKee's research shows

that a number of retired, uh, NFL players were diagnosed

with CTE. So there-- the answer to that question is-- is

certainly yes, but there's also

a number of questions that come with that.

- Uh, what's the answer-- - So, I-- I guess I just want--

- Right. Yeah, Yeah. - I-- Is there a link?

- Because-- beacause we... - Sure.

...we feel that, or I feel that, uh, you know,

that was not the unequivocal answer,

three days before the Super Bowl, by Dr. Mitchel Berger.

Well, I-- I'm not going to speak for Dr. Berger.

- He's-- he's-- - Well, except you're speaking

for the NFL, right?

Well, this-- uh, it's just like big tobacco. I mean,

they-- they said for years cigarettes don't cause cancer.

But, you know, obviously we know differently now.

And it's the same with the NFL.

They've-- they've known for years.

Uh, when this settlement, we-- we just got this settlement,

uh, but they had-- they didn't have to disclose

what they actually knew.

So they, you know, it's still a--

it's still a big lie, but, uh,

at least now it's out in the open.

At that time, the NFL said to players,

one concussion has no effect on another.

Doesn't matter how many you get.

We haven't found any long-term consequences.

But intuitively, you had to understand

that something had to be happening.

Today, we'd like to inform the public

of some of our findings as we continue to investigate

the death of Aaron Hernandez.

I would have to wonder, and ask what your reaction was to this,

considering how young Aaron Hernandez was.

Uh, it's very frightening.

Um, I was shocked by the information.

Um, I was shocked by the recent study

of the 110, uh, former players, um, 111, 110 of them

having some form or advanced stages of CTE.

The numbers were shocking.

The numbers were 110 NFL players out of 111

uh, that were examined had, uh,

histologic evidence of-- of CTE.

The implication is that

individuals who play football, particularly football

for long periods of time and at a high level,

develop CTE at a much higher rate

than those who do not play football.

You could play flag football, and that would reduce it a--

a considerable amount.

But there'd be an occasion a guy trips and hits his head,

or two guys bump into each other and-- and get a concussion,

but you get maybe two per game

as opposed to 20.

And I-- I still think that there's probably

a lot of concussions that are not revealed.

There's some good in what they-- they have done

as far as putting the right rules in place,

but it's tackle football.

And unless you reduce the athlete

to 150 pounds, eight flat 40,

as weak as can be, you're not--

I mean, two guys, 300 pounds running full speed,

something's got to give.

♪

It was always confusing to us, because he would--

he would say how much he missed his parents

and his family, but he wouldn't come over.

We could never figure that out.

And now, after knowing about the CTE,

we understood why he didn't come over,

because he would kind of expose some of the things

that were wrong with him, and he really,

bless his heart, he tried not to, uh--

he tried not to let us know all that was going on,

because he didn't want us to worry about it.

The kids over here, of course, with uncle Tyler,

playing-- playing softball.

So he was-- he was pitching to 'em.

He was running the bases.

He was trying to tag 'em out, uh, sprinting after all of them,

and just cheering and kind of acting like his wild self.

So, they all had-- they all had a lot of fun with that.

I remember that we were watching a movie

in my grandma and grandpa's bed and he kept--

we kept on bumping heads together.

And she kept saying, "oh," and he said,

he just, "Does that hurt?"

No.

And he said, "So why did you say 'oh?'"

And then she'd say it again.

And so they'd just sit there, bumping heads

and giggling about it.

We were laughing and we were also watching a movie

at the same time.

When we started building this house,

I hadn't played but about...

half of my career.

Fortunately, I was able to play longer,

but I also got more game balls.

The mo-- longer you play,

the more good or bad you get records.

So it's like, all right, every-- what--

then you get to a point when you break a record,

the next week you're always breaking a record.

And I'm like, "All right,

we give out the game ball to Brett, 'cause this is--

he just broke a record that he set last week.

After a while, you know, they were like,

I think the guy's going to play another hundred games.

We ain't giving out any more balls.

Only with the brain

do they not treat that immediately,

other than the treatment being

going to a room, turn the lights off,

don't let somebody talk as loud as I'm talking right now,

whisper.

That's-- that's not treatment.

I know I've got it. I don't really care

about, uh, how severe it is.

It's just--

you know, I-- I know because it-- it-- that stuff

sat on my brain for 20 years.

It's--

I'm lucky to have a brain, I guess, right now.

You still have the same mentality in the players.

My mentality is to run through you.

My mentality is to dominate you.

So no matter what rules you change,

I'm going to figure out a way around the rules

to get that done.

You know, um...

...knowing what I know now,

probably I wouldn't have played football,

because my dad didn't want me playing football

when I told him that I would want to play football.

Probably wouldn't have played when I was hurt

as much as I did, but, uh,

especially the-- the head trauma.

Two.

Now, there-- didn't even see Mark behind them.

Well, we expected the rough stuff.

I mean, after a-- after a concussion...

I probably wouldn't have went back in the game,

but back then you did.

Would I have done it different?

Had I known?

I d-- I don't know that.

I considered myself a warrior. Uh,

You know, it meant a lot to me to play and play every play

and be accountable game after game,

and it-- it-- it got to a point

where it almost took on a life of itself

that I can't miss.

You know, I've come this far, I'm not gon--

I'm not going to miss,

re--regardless of how much it hurts.

Well, you ca-- you know, you're in the moment.

You're-- you're 28, you're 33, you're 35.

Did one more game, or did one more hit,

or one more play,

make a tremendous difference

in the quality of life...

after football?

Whenever he came over here,

he bought something for me and my brothers,

and he would always come over with something for us.

We played in the backyard.

Who would win in softball?

Your uncle or you and-- and your brothers?

Um, he-- he would win.

Your uncle Tyler would win?

♪ ...birthday to you ♪

And Tyler.

♪ Happy birthday to Tyler ♪

Tyler was that kind of person that-- he used what he had

to try and benefit Oskaloosa and the kids that were in it.

They raised a lot of money, and then they had a little boy

that died of cancer here,

and then, um, Tyler-- they-- they raised $106,000.

And there was hundreds and hundreds of people that

came out, and-- and he sat and he signed autographs for hours

until every person that wanted one got an autograph,

and he made sure that that money went

to help that kid as he fought-- fought cancer.

So those are just that's a small illustration

of some of the things that he did.

I would say the holy grail here is getting a marker,

a biomarker to detect CTE in the living.

That will change everything.

Uh, first of all, we'll know the prevalence of the disease

in college players, and maybe high school players,

uh, if we have a way to diagnose it, uh, during life.

And importantly, if we can find a way to detect it during life,

not only will-- will we have a diagnosis for individuals

that are concerned about it,

uh, but we'll have a way to monitor treatments.

The NFL has 15 padded practices a year.

Now, that is since I retired.

When I-- when I was playing, you could,

you know, depending on the coach,

you could practice in pads all the time.

But yet we're putting our youth,

8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and up

uh, kids in full pads,

and we're telling them, to go out and tackle,

which I don't think is a good thing, any,

whether it be for a game or practice.

I got more interested in looking at this epidemic,

which is concussion or mild traumatic brain injury,

knowing that we were going to have to create a drug

uh, that could be given longer to be able to handle

a period of time when things wax and wane.

And knowing that the outcome measure to predict its efficacy

was not going to be whether the patient survived or not.

Uh, you know, of course, for the most part,

you're going to survive concussion.

What I realized is we just really had not put any effort

into trying to find a way to treat it acutely in hopes

that if you could get that pathological cascade of events

stopped in the short term, uh,

then you wouldn't end up with post-concussion syndrome.

In the sports world, and especially

in the violent sports worlds,

the individuals are violent.

And there's a pattern of violence

that can spill over into other parts of life.

There's a flag as--

Whoa, whoa.

Well, that's...

- Beyond words, Joe. - Oh, gosh.

Especially when there is

something that is perceived as irritating,

that actually then can be addressed

in an impulsive way, if you-- if you will.

And they've developed protocols to test for concussion

that can also be used as a measure

of whether a drug for concussion is working.

All right, here we are at the tradition.

Great American we've got a lot of discovery.

Come in.

We're going to go in the clinic just here.

So, what will happen is in phase 1B,

there will be a concussed patient

at the hospital right down the road.

They will be transitioned here.

There will be intake done in this room.

They will have the drug delivered nasally in this room

and then they will sit in here and have blood draws

and testing after that drug for a period off and on,

once a day for five days.

Football has increased awareness of brain injury,

and it's increased awareness

of the consequences of brain injury

and that's been good for all of society.

I think what's important to realize is that

sports have risk-benefit.

And it's, in my opinion,

not prudent to ban activities

without understanding the full ramifications of--

of such a ban.

We looked at 53 college players,

and 48 had CTE for about 91%.

And then we also looked at high school players,

and we had 21 high school players

that had come into the bank,

and three of those, uh, uh, had CTE.

But what that study says is that

this can affect amateur athletes.

This can affect players

who don't go on to play professionally.

And at least I-- In our experience, it's fairly common.

My husband said one day, he remembers

Tyler getting up after getting hit by this kid,

and Tyler had tears in his eyes.

And I never sa-- I never saw that,

and I never knew that.

He-- he even remembers some times

when Tyler was in...

maybe third or fourth grade football,

and he-- he was kind of dazed

coming off the field after a hit.

And I remember my dad

getting very choked up about telling him

that he was all right and sending him back out there,

because it's just, you know,

it's just the competitive nature of it.

Like, you can work through this,

and you think...

that hardcore competitive spirit,

like, nothing can break me,

is exactly what broke my brother.

Another thing is that people think that, you know,

college athletes are catered to.

And, you know, maybe-- they are in some-- in some ways,

but I think that those people also don't realize

the cost to those athletes for what--

For their pleasure, for their entertainment,

you know, that they get on a Saturday or a Sunday,

how much it actually costs those people.

I told my husband, "I said, honey..." you know,

because he played football, you know, I said,

and he loves sports, and I said,

"If you want to go, you go."

And he said, "No, I don't want to go,"

because I don't want to keep him back,

just because I can't watch it anymore,

because I just see more than I want to see.

We have kids from our church their parents have asked me,

"What do you think, should we let our kid play?

You know, "Should we let him play?"

And like, I had one dad say,

"Well, my son's a senior,

you know, and I'm like,

"You know, you have to do what you have to do."

What's really I take from looking at all this,

is how fast time goes by,

and, uh...

life goes on, man, you know.

When-- when I coached...

and my two daughters, if they were here right now,

they'd tell you the same thing.

"Dad's always talking about, 'enjoy the moment...'

because before you know it, you look back and you go,

I remember us having that discussion,

and that was 10 years ago.'"

What happens when you go from birth

through those early 20s,

when brain development continues and develops, uh,

what happens if it's interrupted along the way?

So, for example, if a child really hits

the front-- front-- frontal regions of the brain

and sustains injury there at age, say, eight or nine,

we might not really see what's happening to that brain

and that brain development until the child is 16, 17, or 18.

If 50 percent of the moms in this country

understand the danger of playing football

and tell their teenage boys, "You can play any sport,

and your dad and I will back you,

but not tackle football."

It won't kill football.

It will just change the socioeconomics,

but they need it to escape economic poverty,

they'll play.

The state has limited the amount of time

that you can have full contact and teach how to tackle,

uh, which in turn, you know, turns it around.

Go, go, go!

They sent this to you guys?

They sent it to the high school.

So, like, it's like--

it's called the High School Honor Roll,

and so they did this at the fifth year, uh...

and they sent a football, a gold football,

to every-- every high school that had a--

a player play in any Super Bowl for the last 50 years.

You see a lot of guys retiring early, young guys.

Not even at the peak of their career,

they haven't even gotten to that point, retiring.

We're looking at a dangerous full contact sport

where too many players play too long

and therefore suffer physical consequences,

including especially, importantly, CTE.

There's an enormous backlash against that.

That, I believe, is a bigger threat to the game

than anything in terms of marginalizing the game.

But football's here to stay.

I love watching it.

At what age do you start playing tackle football?

I wouldn't let kids put helmets on

until they were juniors in high school.

They should stop playing football as a junior.

There's no reason

whatsoever for anybody to have any kind of contact,

in my opinion, before the age of 12.

My son is eight. He plays football.

He plays tackle as well.

Uh, the only reason he plays is because I'm the coach.

There's nobody that can coach my son better than me.

I think I would come down on the side of saying,

we shouldn't have sports in this society

that we know injure kids' brains.

If everyone plays flag football until you're 17,

then during that time, you can teach

tackling fundamentals without tackling.

I really don't see any reason why someone would need to play

tackle football until they're in high school.

I have two teenage sons.

Both of them had heard me talk about this many times.

And both of them played.

You know, I think there's a risk at any age,

but at least when you're, uh, old enough

to make a decision for yourself,

I think that's when you should start playing tackle football.

So maybe that's 18.

You know, I see sports can be a way out

from a tough situation,

but you can still do it a better way.

You know, we like to tell people with football,

no one's getting recruited off

of their fifth grade film, right?

You can still have a great football career

waiting until high school for the tackle part.

Don't play tackle football too young.

There's a sort of an inflection point

that if you play before 12, and you get hit in the head

while your brain's still developing,

you're worse off in the long run.

You have a greater risk of having symptoms

or a greater risk of, uh, having earlier symptoms

related to CTE or brain damage.

I just think that you pass a-- a law that says

no tackling until the age of 17.

If you don't want to give a cell phone

to a-- to a 10 or 12-year-old

because their skull is not fully developed,

then why are we putting a football helmet...

on a 10 or 12-year-old?

I have a 12-year-old son,

and I don't want him playing football,

but his mom insists that he plays football.

He's had two concussions already,

and his mom still insists that he plays.

Go figure.

All the work that I've done with these doctors

the past couple of years,

and-- and what they've told me about the head trauma,

he said there's probably 90% of kids shouldn't be playing

because their necks and their heads

are just not strong enough.

Like, you've probably never heard of Pat Dye.

Legendary coach.

He's-- he's what Bear Bryant is to Alabama,

he is to Auburn.

He actually coached under, uh,

under and was really his mentor, Bear Bryant.

We go stay at Pat Dye's house every year.

We do a bike ride at Bo Bikes Bama

just outside of Auburn, uh...

and he shows me around his place.

And, you know, Coach Dye is 78 years old,

but he's still sharp as a tack.

He goes, he says, "All right, this is y'all's room.

This is our kitchen."

We kind of hang out in the living room right here.

He says, "Now, the upstairs bedroom is to go up here,"

and he said, "No, that room here

really don't mean a hell of a lot.

It's got my memorabilia in it."

He said, "I'm 78 years old.

Ain't none of it...

means a hell of a being," he said.

I'm still thankful in many ways

that Tyler playing football brought us together

so many times. We went to--

I-- Josh was away, but the rest of us

went to most of the games, all of the games together,

and Josh came back for as many as he could.

So, you know, we probably

would not have-- have enjoyed that--

that time together.

I just couldn't even bring myself to watch it

because it wouldn't ever be what it once was.

It just flatlined for me.

You know, I know there's a lot of guys out there

that would still play football, even knowing all the facts...

but I'd like him to make them all aware of it

when they come in as a rookie.

And let them choose.

Sometimes, it's good to talk about it.

You know, it's not always good,

and there's times when I get to a place

where I have to say, "Lord, I can't go there.

You know, I can't think about that.

And I guess there's other times that I just feel like

I don't want other people to have to go through this.

I want to help the cause.

I want the awareness to be out there,

and I feel like I'd be honoring Tyler

because he'd like to help people.

You know, one of the things that really hurts me

is when I look at Tyler's baby pictures

and him as a little boy.

You know, you think of an NFL player,

you think there's some big tough guy,

but this is somebody's child.

This is a little boy

that was blessed with that talent.

It's just hard to see-- see that

and think of what could have been.

You could have had grandchildren.

You know, we were planning on more grandchildren.

Tyler helped me put it-- put together a crib

that I never bought a new one for any of my own children,

but when the grandkids came along, I bought a new one,

and Tyler helped me put it together

and totally planned on having more grandchildren

and a future, you know, for Tyler.

But it wasn't in the plan,

and so God's ways are...

Are different than our ways and I accept that.

The story of Tyler Sash

in some ways revealing of what this CTE is about.

Obviously, in the prime of his,

I say career, but also in his life,

probably the most healthy he would ever be,

uh, by all accounts was a-- was a model citizen.

I think good things will come from Tyler's story.

Former Hawkeye football star, Tyler Sash,

found dead in his Oskaloosa home in September.

Diagnosed Tyler with CTE.

It's a degenerative brain disease caused

by repeated trauma.

It's rarely seen in someone Sash's age.

The shock of the death of Tyler Sash,

I mean, that, I haven't seen Tyler

in a couple of years.

I didn't see that coming, obviously.

Our condolences go out to his family and his friends

and all those that cared for him.

He was an outstanding teammate now.

There's the-- When he was here, during the time he was here,

the players really enjoyed Tyler Sash.

We traveled back here for Labor Day weekend in 2015,

came on a Friday,

and my husband didn't come with us

because he had a-- a bachelor party,

and they were in Ames.

And so, I brought the kids, and Friday night,

Tyler came over with his girlfriend and Haelyn,

Kids all played together.

And their favorite thing to do is--

is slide down the stairs here at Grandma and Grandpa's,

or have a dance party, dance competition.

Tyler would play some crazy music

and make them each take a turn dancing those.

That was pretty fun for them.

There was an Iowa game,

my brother had just moved in to a house there in Ottumwa,

so we all traveled down to Ottumwa

and watched the game there with Tyler.

And Tyler was very confused that day.

He multiple times asked me,

I take AdvoCare Spark,

and he multiple times asked me if he could have a Spark.

And I was like, "You just had one."

And I said, "You can have another one, I don't care."

He'd make another Spark, and then he would say,

"Hey, anybody know where my drink is?"

And it was probably five times

that he-- he would ask where his drink went.

I'm like, "It's right there on the counter,

right where you left it."

He went and played with the kids there.

We watched the game, and I know Tyler fell asleep

uh, during that game, which wasn't like him at all.

And he kept saying that he-- he had allergies like my mom,

and he kept saying that his head hurt.

Well, Tyler came over Sunday,

and he was playing out in the backyard

with them all, you know, all day.

It was really a hot day.

And he, you know, just was sprinting up and down the yard

and throwing balls, and they were just doing

all kinds of fun things,

and they were laughing and having fun.

And the kids all played, and that's when they had

the softball game here in the back.

And-- and we all just hung out as a family,

and he seemed better on Sunday than what he was on Saturday.

Grandson was in the house sleeping,

and I came in to check on him.

And meanwhile, Tyler had come in.

And, uh...

But then, right before he left here, on--

on that Sunday night, he-- It was the strangest thing.

He went to get a drink at the sink in the kitchen.

And after he took his drink, he-- he dropped to his knee...

...and really just, like, grabbed his head

and sat here for about 15, 20 seconds.

And I was looking at him, and I said,

"Ty," I said, "what's wrong, honey?"

And he said, "I just feel like I could die."

And we're like, "What is wrong?"

And he said, "My head hurts so bad."

And that's haunted me ever since then,

because I thought,

what could have been going on with him

to make that statement?

And then he just stood up...

...ran out the backyard,

and started playing with the kids all over again.

And so, I--

You know, I-- I didn't think much of it at the time.

Later that day, Tyler left with his girlfriend

and her little girl, and he said

they were going to go get something to eat.

He called me about,

I think it was quarter to nine that night.

And he said, "Mom, did I leave my billfold there?

I can't find it."

And I said, "I'll look."

And so, I looked around the house, and I, uh--

I couldn't find it and I said,

"No, I don't see it here anywhere, honey.

And he said, "I was just going to buy a couple of Gatorades."

And so she gave him...

...a $20 bill,

and I really hardly talked with him,

because he'd been here all day.

And I was helping the grandkids,

getting them ready to get to bed, so he left.

Monday would have been the day I left town,

because my kids had school on Tuesday.

And so, I took them back on Monday.

And I had texted him when I left town,

but I thought he was busy,

because he was supposed to be at a party

with his girlfriend.

And so, I didn't think anything of it

that he didn't message me back.

Took the dog for a walk,

and I went over to his house, and I opened the door,

and I saw him sleeping on the couch.

And, uh, so the dog came running to the door,

and I took her, and we went for an hour walk.

And I came back, and he was still asleep.

And I was really surprised,

because he did not sleep very well.

So, I kind of snuck in and tiptoed

really pretty close to him

that I could have reached out and touched him,

and I didn't look at him.

I hadn't heard from him, uh, yet that morning.

It was still 8:30, nine o'clock.

And then I hadn't heard from him the day before,

which is when I assumed he was catching up on his sleep.

I got a text message from his girlfriend saying,

She said...

And I asked her, you know, if she saw him before she left,

and she hadn't.

And so she was going to get a hold of her mom,

and that's when we kind of put everything together.

My daughter had called and said that, uh...

his girlfriend had called her and said

she had text Tyler a few times,

and she didn't hear back from him.

She was concerned.

She said, "Are you going over there to get Bella?"

And I said, "Yeah, I'll be over there

probably in a half an hour.

So I felt a little sense of relief, and then I--

Then that fear started creeping back up in me,

and I said-- I said,

"Just go make sure," because I thought,

you know, she didn't talk to him.

So, I went over, and I, uh, I opened the door.

The dog was sitting in the chair,

scared to death.

I opened the door, and she bolted right for me.

I took her out and put her in my car.

I could see him.

And so, I went back in after I got the dog, and I--

It was like somebody else was inside my body

walking up to my son, looking at him.

Because I knew it would be the last time

I'd ever see his face.

And it wasn't a good picture.

And I just--

I don't know, I was hoping to get some kind of peace

by seeing him...

but I-- but I didn't get that.

His sister, Megan, called me and was crying hysterically,

and I couldn't really understand what she was saying.

All I could make out was she kept saying,

"He's gone, he's gone, he's gone, Heather."

And then I started crying, and I picked up my stuff...

and...

went out the door and went over to the house.

I just stayed outside

because the police were just getting there,

and then eventually his mom came out

and said he was gone.

♪ In a sea of stars ♪

♪ I can find you shining ♪

♪ Reflections on the water ♪

♪ For a million miles ♪

♪ Just don't say goodbye ♪

♪ The air is feeling thin ♪

♪ Breathe, take your time ♪

♪ And when you feel like flying ♪

♪ Glow ♪

♪ Still see it in the shadow ♪

If you could have two minutes with Tyler,

what would you tell him?

Oh, that's a hard one.

Two minutes, huh?

Is this the two-minute drill?

Um, I guess I would tell him how sorry that I was...

that I didn't know...

...that I didn't have the compassion for him.

Because I didn't understand, because as a parent,

I was still hard on him.

I didn't understand why he wasn't going to get a job,

even though he couldn't-- His mind was not there.

I just thought I needed to use tough love on him...

but I would've told him that I was so sorry.

Tyler was the type of person that,

especially in the last couple years of his life,

would just randomly text me and say,

"I love you, Megan.

I'm so proud of you for this, this, and this."

He just didn't leave it unsaid.

He-- he made sure to tell the people that he loved

how much he cared about them,

and so because he did that, it was reciprocated by-- by me,

and him and I had many of those heartfelt conversations.

I think I'd tell him I loved him,

and I would have done anything for him,

but I know he already knows that.

I'd tell him I love him,

and I'd tell him how much we care about...

what he stood for.

That's what I'd--

That's what I'd do, because, you know...

a special person, um...

you know, a special-- a special family person,

a great player.

I would tell him that,

and it had nothing to do with football.

I'd tell him I love him, and I'd tell him

what he stood for was-- was really important.

I'm still kind of lost.

I don't really know

where I want to be yet or what I'm doing.

I just hope everyone listens and...

and the awareness is raised for it.

The facts come out.

Thanks.

Ouch.

- Did that hurt? - No.

Then why did you say "ouch?"

Ouch.

What do you miss most about your Uncle Tyler?

Um...

For people 15, 20 years down the road,

I'd want them to say, that kid came out every day,

no matter what it was.

He'd do it, he'd get it done,

and he'd work hard,

and he was a good role model for kids.

Kids looked up to him, and he was a leader.

Well, the good news is that my son knows Jesus,

and my son's going to be waiting for me on the other side,

and so I have that hope.