Transcripts For WMPT Frontline 20131009

He had heart disease. Narrator the news that day would start a chain of events that would threaten to forever change the way americans see the game of football. It is hard to find a former pro Football Player whose body hasnt paid a very high price. Narrator mike websters body was delivered to the Allegheny County coroners office. Webster ends up in the autopsy room. And the pathologist whos on call that day is this guy, bennet omalu. Omalu parked his car and walked into the office and he said, whats going on . And one of his colleagues said, its mike webster. Hes up in the autopsy room. And omalus response was, whos mike webster . And everybody looked at me like, where is he from, is he from outer space . Who is this guy who doesnt know mike webster in pittsburgh . Hes a nigerianborn, incredibly welleducated guy, but he doesnt know anything about football. Narrator a doctor, omalu was also a trained neuropathologist. From the beginning of the autopsy, dr. Omalu could see the effects of 17 years in the football wars. Mike looked older than his age. He looked beat up. He looked. He looked worn out. He looked drained. If i had not been told his age, i would say he looked like 70. Narrator omalu started at the feet and worked his way up. There were cracks running the length of his feet and they were incredibly painful, and so webster would ducttape his feet as well to sort of close those cracks and keep them together. His feet and his legs were definitely. You could just tell were destroyed. You know, he had veins all over his leg, varicose veins and stuff like that. Narrator there were several herniated discs, a broken vertebra, torn rotator cuff and separated shoulder. His teeth were falling out. His body. He had cellulitis, his heart was getting enlarged. You know, he was supergluing his teeth back into his head, and he actually made that work. I mean, i think dads the only person who could actually have a medical problem like that and decide to fix it with superglue. Narrator then there was the matter of websters forehead. Websters forehead was essentially fixed to its scalp. The skin on his forehead had built up almost a shelf of scar tissue from the continuous pounding of his head into other people. Narrator websters death certificate made omalu suspect he may have suffered from a brain disorder. When i opened up his skull, in my mind, i had a mental picture of what his brain would look like based on my education. I was expecting to see a brain with alzheimers disease features, so a shriveled, uglylooking brain. But upon opening his skull, mikes brain looked normal. He didnt understand why that would be, but he became more and more curious. It became sort of like his little private mission. Narrator dr. Omalu wanted to fix the brain, preserve it in a chemical bath for further study. I said, let me fix this brain. Let me spend time with this brain. There is something. Something doesnt match. I remember the technician telling me, he said, what are you fixing the brain for . That brain is normal. And omalu becomes very firm in that moment, and he says, fix the brain. I want you to fix the brain. Narrator what omalu could not see was that hidden inside websters brain was evidence of a chronic disease. And that decision would change the nfl, because if websters brain had not been examined, i dont honestly think that we would be where were at today. Narrator Steve Fainaru and his brother mark fainaruwada are investigative reporters. Steve has a Pulitzer Prize for reporting in iraq. Mark broke the barry bonds steroids story. For frontline, espn and in their own book, theyve been investigating how the nfl has handled evidence that football may be destroying the brains of nfl players. I think in the simplest form, one major piece of our reporting just revolves around the simple question of what did the nfl know and when did it know it. Narrator the nfl would not cooperate with the fainaru brothers, nor would it talk to frontline. We went to new york to meet with them and say, look, this is what were doing. Wed like you to participate. Wed like you to make available these various people. And the nfls message was, sorry, were not going to help you. Narrator but they continued to report the story, beginning with mike websters career in the nfl. Theres almost a darwinian quality about the nfl. Webster wanted to prove to the world that he was going to be the toughest, and he did anything that he possibly could to do that. Narrator websters sunday afternoons were spent on the line of scrimmage, brutal territory known as the pit. He had violence in him. He could explode into the player. Every play was a fight. Narrator websters favorite weapon was his head. Webby would hit you with his head first, and with that head, hed pop you, and then hed lift his shoulders. Now, hed get you up in the air. Once you hit full speed and youre moving backwards and he hits you, youre gone. When he would fire off the ball, hes coming to block me, and if im not ready for him, you know, hes going to pancake me, you know, hes going to hurt me. Narrator hall of fame linebacker for the new york giants harry carson went to war with mike webster. And so i have to meet force with force. All of my power is coming from my big rear end and my big thighs into my forearm, and i hit him in the face. I have to stun him, get my hands on him, throw him off when i see where the ball is going. And when i hit him in the face, his head is going back. Hes going forward, but all of a sudden, his head is going back and his brain is hitting up against the inside of his skull. In football, one has to expect that almost every play of every game and every practice, theyre going to be hitting their heads against each other. Thats the nature of the game. Those things seem to happen around 1,000 to 1,500 times a year. Each time that happens, its around 20g or more. Thats the equivalent of driving a car at 35 Miles Per Hour into a brick wall 1,000 to 1,500 times per year. Narrator for mike webster, the head hits just kept on coming for 17 years. You have to survive, so you learn the methods to survive and be the best at surviving in that environment the minute you put your pads on. Youre only one play away from getting seriously injured. Narrator for webster and others on the field, physical injuries went with the territory. I mean, its affected my life, it surely has, but im not out there crying about it. I know that i went to war, and i came out of the battle with what i got. And you know, thats the way it is. Thats the way mike webster would say it too, im sure he would. I mean, we battled in there, and this is the result of it right here, sitting here looking at you. Narrator but what otto and others do not know is whether football has also caused injuries they cannot see the result of what they called getting their bell rung. Oh, did they hit him that time his helmet went off. I dont know how he held onto that. Sammy white, well, he did, a remarkable catch with skip thomas and jack tatum jackknifing him as he caught the ball for a first down on the oakland 45yard line. Narrator in 1991, mike webster left football. Soon, he and his family would come to believe those hits to the head had taken a devastating toll. Mike wasnt mike. He was angrier quicker than before and didnt have the patience to have the kids on his lap or take a walk with the kids, like he didnt have that stamina physically. Narrator over the years, he became increasingly confused. He would forget, you know, which way the Grocery Store was, which way it was to go home. He actually broke down in tears in front of me a couple of times because he couldnt get his thoughts together and he couldnt keep them in order. Narrator at home, there were bouts of rage. He took a knife and slashed all his football pictures. They were all destroyed and gone and broken glass, and they were all down. It wasnt mike. Narrator theyd been College Sweethearts, but 27 years and four children later, mike and pam websters marriage ended. We didnt understand what was happening. Youre just trying to get by in this storm. I mean, your moneys gone, your prides gone, our bills are all overdue, our house is getting foreclosed, all the security is gone. All those parameters are removed. So everythings crumbling. Narrator once one of pittsburghs greatest football heroes, webster began living out of a pickup truck. Id come outside sometimes and just see him sitting in the truck and it would be freezing, and hed just be sitting there, looking miserable. Hed say, the worst thing is im actually getting to the point where sometimes, or if i dont have my medicine, he said, im cold and i dont realize that i can fix it by putting a jacket on. Narrator webster was often unable to sleep. He had a lot of pain and he hasnt slept for days, so he asked me, said, sunny, can you tase me . And im like, what does that mean . So he pulls out this stun gun and goes, bzz, bzz. Im like, mike, thats not healthy. He said, but i havent slept nothing. He said, all you got to do is tase me right here. And im like, okay. I dont know, you know, hes my hero, im going to do whatever he tells me. So i tased him and he goes to sleep. Im like, wow a true champion who wound up homeless, depressed. Narrator the story of websters decline was revealed on espn, and then the local newspapers. He was arrested for forging 19 prescriptions for ritalin, which he used to combat the erratic behavior caused by his damaged brain. I think he was embarrassed. He was a leader on the team. He was mike webster. And then to be down to a place of poverty, a place where your brain cant function to finish a sentence without some help from ritalin or whatever you need to function for a short period of time. Narrator for iron mike, tv interviews became impossible. No, im talking about. No, im trying to find. Yeah, well everybody went through trauma as a kid, im not saying i was different than that, im just saying. The things we do to one another, okay. Uh. Hell, i dont know what im saying. Im just tired and confused right now, thats why i say i cant really. I cant say it the way i want to say it. I could answer this real easy at other times, but right now im just tired. Maybe the saddest i ever heard him say was when someone saw my dad and said, arent you mike webster . And he said, i used to be. I think that was really how he felt, because he really was, he wasnt the same person. It was like a picture of him that was just shattered into a million pieces. Narrator nearly broke, homeless and losing his mind, webster decided football had hurt him, and the nfl was going to pay for it. In 1997, he went to see a lawyer. The thing that struck me the most was how intelligent mike was. And the problem was that he just couldnt continue those thought patterns for longer than a 30second period or a minute or two minutes. He would just go off on the tangents at that point. It was pretty obvious, actually, the first interview that he had some type of cognitive impairment. Narrator attorney Bob Fitzsimmons drew up a disability claim against the nfl. He began to assemble a case with webster to basically say that webster had suffered brain damage as a result of his 17year career in the nfl. Narrator fitzsimmons pulled together websters complicated medical history. So i took the binder of records and got four doctors together, four separate doctors, asking them, does he have a permanent disability thats cognitive, and is it related to football . Narrator websters final application for disability contained over 100 pages and the definitive diagnosis of his doctors football had caused websters dementia. His claim for disability was filed with the National Football leagues retirement board. The Disability Committee is part of the nfl. The head of the Disability Committee is the commissioner himself, so its very much a creature of the nfl. Narrator from the beginning, the leagues board was skeptical, reluctant to give webster money. They were fighting it from the beginning, against just the common sense of, heres this guy, look at him. He played for nearly 20 years in a brutal and punishing sport, and this is whats going on with him. Why would you fight that . What possible motive . Narrator the league had its own doctor review websters case. The nfl had not only hired an investigator to look into this, they also hired their own doctor and said, hey, we want to evaluate mike webster. Narrator dr. Edward westbrook examined him. Dr. Westbrook concurs with everything that the four other doctors have found and agrees that absolutely, there is no question that mike websters injuries are footballrelated and that he appears to have significant cognitive issues, brain damage, as a result of having played football. Narrator the nfl retirement board had no choice they granted webster monthly disability payments. Mr. Webster is currently totally and permanently disabled. Narrator and buried in the documents, a stunning admission by the leagues board football can cause brain disease. His disability is the result of head injuries he suffered as a Football Player. The nfl acknowledges that repetitive trauma to the head in football can cause a permanent disabling injury to the brain. Narrator the admission would not be made public until years later, when it was discovered by the fainaru brothers. And that was a dramatic admission back in 2000, and in fact, when you talk about that later with fitzsimmons, he describes that as the sort of proverbial smoking gun. Narrator it was now in writing the nfls own retirement board linked playing football and dementia. At the time, it was something the league would not admit publicly, and webster felt hed never received the acknowledgment that his years in the nfl had caused his problems. Mike would call this his greatest battle. Hed say it was like david and goliath, over and over, because it was. He was taking on something that was bigger than him. He took on this battle for the right reasons. He was the right person to do it. Unfortunately, it cost us everything. Narrator just two years later, in 2002, mike webster died. 15 seconds to air. Stand by all cameras. Ready with slowmotion. Narrator the first broadcast of monday night football in 1970 marked a turning point in the games popularity and its revenues. Take tape. upbeat music playing i think the nfl has done an incredible job at marketing itself and turning itself into a spectacle, a sort of cultural part of our lives. lively music continues it fit the personality of society that became more violent, that became faster, wanted instant gratification. O. J. Simpson gets the call. Look out football from the opening kickoff, its full go. What a Football Player narrator the monday night games were always among the highestrated Television Broadcasts. Look out monday night football its not just for football fans. Speaking of color commentators. It became an entertainment show. Vivid picturization of the excitement. laughing number one in the nation. It became a happening. Are you ready for some football . A monday night invasion. Narrator the glory and the violence of football was beamed into tens of millions of american living rooms during primetime. Here come the hits, the bangs, the blocks and the spikes, cause all my rowdy friends drop in on monday night. People liked the violence of it. Oh you watch a pro Football Game and naturally, the biggest cheers are for the touchdowns, but the secondbiggest cheers are for a nasty hit. I describe it as the moment of impact, the moment when you actually have to go tackle somebody. Its really a game of will. The actual logo of monday night football, it showed helmets hitting together. And it became part of the popular jargon, you know, he knocked him silly. He knocked him to the moon. Set the tone knock him out knock him out lets go theres no question the nfl marketed that violence. Thats what we love about the game. Narrator the nfls own highly crafted Film Productions celebrated the violence and the spectacle. classical piano playing on this down and dirty dance floor, huge men perform a punishing pirouette. players grunting the meek will never inherit this turf. players grunting . Because every play is handtohand and bodytobody combat. Nfl films captures the essence of football itself, that tension between the violence and the beauty. In the pit, there is more violence per square foot than anywhere else in sport. players grunting the sense of football as something powerful and elemental and mythic and epic. When you talk about big hitting safeties, the Eagles Brian Dawkins always emerges. Were gonna dominate this thing. Respect is not given, it is earned what the nfl would do was they would market tapes crash course, moment of impact, search and destroy in the context of describing the brutal nature of the violence of the nfl. Narrator but away from the glamorized hits, there was a darker side. Superagent Leigh Steinberg saw it firsthand. I watched athletes i represented play with collapsed lungs. I watched them completely fight with doctors at every time to get into the game. I watched players deceive coaches on the sidelines when they were injured and run back into a game. Narrator the inspiration for the movie sports agent jerry maguire, steinberg was a powerhouse alongside the new nfl. He was very much a creature of this expanding juggernaut of the nfl. He ends up at one point representing 21 quarterbacks in the nfl, 21 starting quarterbacks in the nfl one year. Narrator in the early 1990s, steinberg represented one of footballs top stars dallas quarterback troy aikman. Second and 14, passing down, coming up for aikman again. Narrator in 1994, during the nfc championship, aikman took a knee to the head. Down he goes. Stubblefield was there first. Troy aikman took a knee to the head. You see it right here. Its dennis brown coming in, you see the knee right there, knee right on his helmet. Narrator aikmans concussion was bad enough that he could not return to the game. Aikman was taken to a local hospital. I went to visit troy, who was sitting in a darkened hospital room all alone. The room is dark because aikman cant even stand looking into the light. Its this sort of surreal scene where the city is celebrating and the quarterback who won the game is in the hospital with his agent. He looked at me and he said, leigh, where am i . And i said, well, youre in the hospital. And he said, well, why am i here . And i said, because you suffered a concussion today. And he said, well, who did we play . And i said, the 49ers. And he said, did we win . Yes, you won. Did i play well . Yes, you played well. And so whats that mean . It means youre going to the super bowl. Five minutes later, theyre sitting there, theyre continuing to hang out, and aikman suddenly turns to steinberg and says, what am i doing here . And then next thing you know, they are reliving this conversation theyd had five minutes earlier. For a minute, i thought he was joking. And i went through the same sequence of answers again. And his face brightened and we celebrated again. Maybe ten minutes passed. And he looked at me with the same puzzled expression and asked the same sequence of questions. It terrified me to see how tender the bond was between sentient consciousness and potential dementia and confusion was. Third down and nine, young throws and thats incomplete. And. Down. Narrator 49ers quarterback steve young was another one of Leigh Steinbergs clients. A sight that is the last thing in the world the 49ers would want to see. It looks almost as if hes out cold. Well, ive been there. And there he is, hes up, thats a good sign. What i like is he wants to get up off the ground. Look at this. He looks like hes out cold and now hes walking off. I remember thinking as i walked to the sidelines, this is not good, you know . This is just not the right thing to happen. Narrator it was youngs seventh concussion. Thats a sight we thought would be impossible. Steve young apparently knocked cold, knocked out cold, walks off the field. Narrator he would never play again. If my knee is hurt, everyone knows it and i know it and we can go deal with it, and shoulders and. Theres only one place in your body that you really dont understand, and people always say the brain is the last frontier. Narrator for steinberg, there was a growing recognition of just how dangerous the sport was. The damage was occurring every week, and i had people who i loved and cared for. And i intuitively knew that this was not just a football issue, that it was happening to Football Players in the pros, it was happening in college, it was happening in high school. It was happening to every player in every collision sport. So not only was it an issue for my clients, it was a huge societal issue. We have put football injuries on the american agenda tonight. Playing with pain, increasingly the price of life in the National Football league. Weve heard so much recently on the danger of concussions in sports. This year, injuries in the National Football league may be out of control. Narrator by the mid90s, the concussion crisis had made its way to nfl headquarters on park avenue in new york city. Concern rapidly escalates of the longterm effects of taking hits to the head on the football field. Narrator nfl commissioner Paul Tagliabue orchestrated the leagues response. Obviously, its an athletic competition. Narrator tagliabue had begun his career as a lawyer. People have suggested strongly to me that he picked up a lot of techniques about how to aggressively defend things that could turn out to be class actions. And the nfl has had this strategy of Going Nuclear every time it goes to court because the first time you ever lose, you open up the floodgates to potentially billions of dollars of damage. Narrator and tagliabue said he was skeptical about the risk from concussions, once calling the controversy the result of pack journalism. Concussions i think is one of these pack journalism issues, frankly. There is no increase in concussions, the number is relatively small. The problem is its a journalist issue. This is the commissioner of the nfl saying that theres no concussion issue. If it was ignorance, they should have known. They should have known because the issue is so critical. Narrator still, tagliabue created a Scientific Committee, the mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee the mtbi. To lead it, he chose elliot pellman, the new York Jets Team doctor, a Firm Believer that concussions were not a serious problem. And so you had this behind the scenes, this dynamic going on where you had a guy, elliot pellman, who very clearly believed that this wasnt a problem, it just wasnt a big problem for the nfl. Narrator to outsiders, the choice of pellman was unusual. He was not an expert in neurology and had no background in Brain Research. He went to a school in guadalajara. Dr. Pellman is not a neurosurgeon, hes not a neuroanything. Hes a rheumatologist. Putting a rheumatologist in the head of a committee that arguably was going to have more influence over Brain Research than any particular institution in the country at the time was, i think a lot of people felt, surprising. Narrator most of pellmans committee was made up of nfl loyalists. Nearly half the members were team doctors. If youre going to put together a Blue Ribbon Committee to study brain trauma, it should have as its chair somebody who has that as a background either a neurologist, neurosurgeon, neuropathologist, preferably a clinician. Narrator for years, pellmans committee would insist they were studying the problem, that the danger from concussions was overblown. The way the nfl handled this was for 15 years to do research that looks awfully like it was designed to say that the league was okay in doing what it was doing, which wasnt much, to protect players from the dangers of concussions. Narrator pellmans committee began writing a series of scientific papers, and in 2003, got the first of them published in the medical journal neurosurgery. Those initial studies from the nfl were notorious in telling the world over and over and over again, no, there is no relationship between hitting your head in football and later life problems. No, there is no relationship. Narrator the papers downplayed the risk of concussions. Mild tbis in professional football are not serious injuries. Narrator insisted that players could return to the same game after suffering a concussion. Return to play does not involve a significant risk of a second injury. Narrator denied players suffered any longterm problems from concussions sustained while playing football. That there was no evidence of worsening injury or chronic cumulative effects of multiple mtbis. Narrator and in one of the papers even suggested their research might apply to younger athletes, despite the fact they had not studied high school or college players. It might be safe for College High School Football Players to be cleared to return to play on the same day as their injury. They were making comments which were greatly at odds with prospective, doubleblinded studies done at the college and the High School Level that just werent finding the same things. And that just didnt make sense to anyone thats a scientist. Narrator dr. Robert cantu edited the journals Sports Medicine section. The papers were published despite his objections. The papers that started to make statements about multiple head injuries were not a problem in the nfl. If they went back into the same contest with a concussion, it didnt matter. If they got knocked out and went back into the same contest, it didnt matter, and there were no longterm psychological problems or cognitive problems in these athletes, in essence saying it wasnt a problem. Narrator dr. Cantu says he took his concerns to the journals editor in chief, dr. Michael apuzzo. Apuzzo was also a consultant for the new york giants. I said that i really think this data is flawed. I really think it shouldnt be published. Hes the one that made the decision to publish papers, no matter whether the reviewers felt they should be published or not, no matter whether the section editor felt they should be published or not. Narrator mark lovell was a member of the committee and an author on some of the studies. He now admits there were problems with the research. I look back on some of the papers, yeah, i think i could have done it differently. I think the fault of the paper was it was maybe too early to be making those statements based on a fairly small sample of players, which is the major criticism of the study, which i think is a valid one. Narrator the nfl Committee Published 16 papers. Neither dr. Apuzzo, dr. Pellman, nor commissioner tagliabue would speak to frontline about the papers. But in those articles, the league had issued its definitive denials. The closer you look, the less this holds up, but it did establish this kind of impressivelooking set of findings which pushed off the day of reckoning for the league. Thats really what is happening here, right . During this whole run of research thats being published, the day of reckoning where the league has to answer to somebody about what its doing about concussions just keeps getting pushed off and pushed off and pushed off. Narrator in pittsburgh, at just about this time, mike websters brain tissue was being examined. Dr. Bennet omalu was studying the microscopic samples. I put the slides in and looked. Whoa. I had to make sure the slides were mike websters slides. I looked again. gasps i looked again. I saw changes that shouldnt be in a 50yearold mans brain, and also changes that shouldnt be in a brain that looked normal. He saw collections of tau protein, collections which shouldnt be there in someone of mike websters age. And this is what jumped out at him as he looked at it through the microscope. Narrator dr. Omalu believed he saw physical evidence of the longterm damage playing football could have on the brain. It was a scientific first. Because after i looked at it over and over and over, i was convinced this was something. Narrator it was a disease never previously identified in Football Players chronic traumatic encephalopathy cte. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease where the end stage leaves tau protein deposition in distinctive areas of the brain, in distinctive locations that separate this disease from any other, like alzheimers or some other dementia. For some reason, the repetitive brain trauma starts this cascade of events in the brain that changes the way this tau looks and behaves. It goes awry. And it starts destroying the integrity of the brain cells. The tau is effectively closing in around the brain cells and choking them and its impacting the way the brain is working and ultimately erupting in issues around memory, agitation, anger. Narrator omalu shared his evidence with leading Brain Researchers who confirmed his findings. Then he submitted a scientific paper on the webster case to the one journal that seemed to be most interested in head injuries in football neurosurgery. And dr. Apuzzo accepted it. Omalu is a junior pathologist in the Allegheny County coroners office, but the people he published with were one of the leading alzheimers disease experts in the country, one of the leading neuropathologists in the country, one of the most wellknown coroners in the country. Narrator it was the first hard evidence that playing football could cause permanent brain damage. Certainly we knew that if you got hit on the head so many times, maybe you had a 20 chance of having dementia pugilistica if you were a former professional boxer, but we didnt really relate that in a modern sport like football, in a helmeted sport, that it could lead to that. And that was the big discovery, i think. Narrator dr. Omalu believed the National Football league would want to know about his discovery. That was what i thought in my naive state of mind. But unfortunately, i was. I was proven wrong. It wasnt meant to be that way. Narrator in a letter to the journal neurosurgery, dr. Pellman and other members of the nfls mtbi committee attacked dr. Omalus paper. These statements are based on a complete misunderstanding of the relevant medical literature. Narrator they even questioned whether mike webster was suffering from neurological problems. There is inadequate Clinical Evidence that the subject had a chronic neurological condition. The league officials, the doctors and scientists serving on the mtbi committee, not only disputed those findings, they went after dr. Omalu with a vengeance. They publicly said he should retract his findings. Narrator the nfl doctors insisted dr. Omalu was misunderstanding the science of brain injury. We therefore urge the authors to retract their paper. Its an extraordinary move under any circumstances. Like, you dont try to get a paper retracted unless theres evidence of fraud or plagiarism or Something Like that. Omalu et al. s description of chronic traumatic encephalopathy is completely wrong. They went after him with missiles, i mean, like a Nuclear Missile strike on a guys reputation. They basically told him to go away and never come back. And that was just for starters. Narrator in the end, dr. Omalus paper was not retracted. And now omalu had another case. Terry long killed himself by drinking antifreeze. Narrator a second steeler had died. Terry long committed suicide by drinking antifreeze. Terry long was young. Narrator and dr. Omalu received his brain. I came to work one morning and everybody there said, hey, we have another case for you. I said, what are you talking about . They said, oh, terry long died. Im like, whos terry long . They said, oh, hes another nfl player. He died. Narrator long was an offensive lineman with the steelers for eight years. He battled in the pit alongside mike webster. He, like webster, his life had sort of fallen apart in a lot of ways. He had issues certainly during his career. He was a steroid user. He had been involved in some serious financial problems. And so ultimately, he committed suicide by drinking antifreeze. Narrator as he had for webster, dr. Omalu sectioned part of longs brain and again had it stained. He ran the same test, same stains, found the same splotches. Cte in this brain too. Now two former steelers who had gone crazy about the same time. When i saw terry longs case. I became more convinced that this was not just an anomaly, a statistical anomaly. Narrator omalu submitted another paper to neurosurgery, this one about terry long. That caused the mtbi committee to say, this is preposterous. This is not good science. This is still not something that were buying into. If you read, pellman made statements like what i practice is not medicine, its not science. They insinuated i was not practicing medicine, i was practicing voodoo. Voodoo. thunder rumbling narrator the nfl would not publicly sit down with dr. Omalu, but one night in a private meeting, he brought his cte slides and finally met facetoface with one of the nfls doctors. And the nfl doctor at some point said to me, bennet, do you know the implications of what you are doing . I looked. He was on my left. I said, yeah, i think i do. He said, no, you dont. laughing so we continued talking, talking. At some point, he interrupted me again, bennet, do you think you know the implications of what you are doing . I said, i think i do. I dont know. He said, no, you dont. So we continued talking again. Then a third time he interrupted me, and i turned to him and i said, okay, why dont you tell me what the implications are . He said, okay, ill tell you. He said, if 10 of mothers in this country would begin to perceive football as a dangerous sport, that is the end of football. thunder rumbling for the most part, people didnt want to believe its true. They didnt want to admit to themselves or anybody else that our beloved sport, probably our most popular sport, could end up with brain damage. I didnt want to admit it to myself either. It was a hard message, a difficult message, a bad message, but it appeared to be true. thunder rumbling just minutes ago, owners of the 32 teams. Narrator then in new york, a change in the nfls top leadership. The nfl will have a new commissioner. Theres a changing of the guard at the National Football league. Narrator in september of 2006, commissioner Paul Tagliabue stepped down. The righthand man to tagliabue is running the show. Tagliabue will be succeeded by Roger Goodell. Narrator his second incommand and closest aide, Roger Goodell, took over. Goodell had grown up in washington, the son of a United States senator from new york. Early in his career, he worked as former commissioner Pete Rozelles driver. He basically got his job by writing to the commissioner and saying, please, id like to work in the nfl. Narrator it took goodell 24 years to work his way to the top. He was chief operating officer when the leagues Scientific Committee sent those controversial papers to the journneurosurgery. Heres a guy who spent more than half of his life in the nfl and more than anyone should be acutely aware of sort of the dangers that are lurking in this problem. Narrator now goodell was fully in charge of the leagues handling of the concussion crisis. He soon replaced the rheumatologist dr. Elliot pellman and promoted the neurologist dr. Ira casson. Dr. Ira casson, who is an expert, but an abrasive person who is contemptuous of the arguments that concussion can cause damage. Narrator casson had once joined pellman in attacking omalus work. Now one of cassons first moves a public denial of omalus conclusions. Ira casson leads a team of nfl doctors who did a study of several hundred active players and reported that the concern over head injuries is overblown. Is there any evidence, as far as youre concerned, that links multiple head injuries among pro Football Players with depression . No. Dr. Ira casson ends up with this very Famous Exchange that earns him the nickname dr. No. With dementia . No. With early onset of alzheimers . No. And ira casson was asked repeatedly, is there any link between trauma, head trauma, and the kind of dementia were seeing in these players . And he says, no, no, no, no. Is there any evidence as of today that links multiple head injuries with any longterm problem like that . In nfl players . No. Narrator then, just one month later in chicago, a dramatic gesture from commissioner goodell. At an airport hotel, the league gathered the top nfl brass, team doctors and trainers. The nfl convenes a summit in the summer of 2007. About 200 people are gathered there, and running the show is ira casson. The stakes for the nfl are obvious. Its huge business. If the business is potentially lethal, then thats going to have major implications for the game. Narrator on this day, the commissioner would take a front row seat to listen to the best medical minds in the league. All the teams are present. All the teams had to send doctors and trainers. And the leagues concussion people are there. Narrator they had even invited outside scientists who had become some of the leagues biggest critics. But one person was missing. Dr. Omalu is excluded, just underscoring how they dont want to do business with him. I was not aware of it. Nobody ever told me. Dr. Bailes called me and said, the nfl is putting together a conference on cte, and you were not invited. He is shunned. I mean, it was a loud, just, no, not you. Yes, youre the guy with all the research, youre the guy whos published the papers, youre the guy whos got the brains, but no, youre not coming. Narrator former Steelers Team doctor and neurosurgeon Julian Bailes had become a true believer in cte and omalu. They were now research partners. He offered to present omalus work to the group. So i presented and showed our data, which was four or five cases at that point. Narrator besides mike webster and terry long, omalu also found cte in the brains of andre waters and justin strzelczyk. Bailes delivered omalus message playing football could cause permanent brain damage. It wasnt met with any broad acceptance, to say the least. Julian bailes got up and talked about omalus work, and while hes up there, casson is off to the side and hes rolling his eyes. Hes clearly distressed by what hes hearing. And that was basically the idea that was conveyed by the nfl in that moment. There was skepticism, there was dismissiveness on his part. There was great doubt. Narrator as bailes left the meeting, he ran into New York Times reporter alan schwarz. I remember julian being furious, absolutely furious at how they had been treated in that room. And there was clearly, among the nfl committee, there was just a very steadfast belief that, this is not a problem, you guys dont know how to do research the way we do, and thank you for coming. I was not the bearer of good news probably in many peoples minds. But this was not something that i made up. This was showing what the findings were. Narrator earlier, goodell had watched his mentor tagliabue downplay the concussion controversy. Now he had heard firsthand how serious some respected scientists thought the issue was. Roger goodell is on notice. The nfl has a serious issue around the question of concussions, around the issue of brain trauma, on the rising suggestion that there is a link between football and neurodegenerative disease amongst its former players, and that there is a growing body of science that clearly establishes this link. Narrator outside the conferences closed doors, the new commissioner insisted that the nfl had the problem under control. The evidence is that our doctors are making excellent decisions. Thats proven by the sixyear study that we have and the research thats been done that looks at that issue intensively. Narrator the head of goodells Concussion Committee, dr. Ira casson, took on the critics. Anecdotes do not make scientifically valid evidence. I am a man of science. I believe in empirically determined, scientifically valid data, and that is not scientifically valid data. Narrator casson insisted there was no evidence that Football Players were at risk for cte. In my opinion, the only scientifically valid evidence of a chronic encephalopathy in athletes is in boxers and in some steeplechase jockeys. Narrator dr. Casson declined to be interviewed by frontline. This venerable stadium will be a wild scene tonight. Narrator and as the teams took the field just a few months later in the fall of 2007, the leagues definitive statement on brain injury was given to every Single Player in a pamphlet. The cover says, what is a concussion . It said, if i get a concussion, am i further at risk for longterm problems . And the answer was, and im virtually quoting, research has not shown that there are any longterm consequences to concussions in nfl players as long as each injury is treated properly. The message was that football is safe to your brain. That was the message. Dont worry about it. Narrator the commissioner and the league had successfully held the line, denying the dangers of football. They refused to listen to people who didnt share their opinions about the research, and it was very much putting a stake in the ground, saying everybody else is wrong. And thats what they did. Narrator shunned by the league, bruised by the struggle and looking to make a change, dr. Omalu left pittsburgh. He moved to lodi, california. He ends up in the dust bowl of North Central california, and hes working as a medical examiner there, as far removed from the nfl as anybody could be and trying to figure out how to stay in it. I wish i never met mike webster. Cte has dragged me into the politics of science, the politics of the nfl. You cant go against the nfl. Theyll squash you. I really sincerely wish it didnt cross my path of life, seriously. Second and three, ball on the three. In motion. Wide open. Touchdown the brains are precious cargo. Now back to the third, and he goes outside. We have to get the brain usually within hours of the death. Touchdown. Play action. Going deep. You have a brain thats intact; its been removed from the upper spinal cord. Picks it up, looks for running room. Hes at the 40, hes at the 45, midfield, hes gonna go Desean Jackson narrator it is the brain of a former Football Player. This is a process that is aweinspiring in the Old Fashioned sense of the word. You have the responsibility of actually possessing somebodys brain, which is probably the best representation of who they were. You really treat it with the utmost respect. From a scientific perspective, theres this secret thats being unlocked. We take it out, we weigh it, we photograph it, all the external surfaces. The attitude is so careful about that this is a person thats being delivered into their care. I never forget that the brain is the human being. I feel very privileged that someone has trusted me with this duty. Narrator in 2008, dr. Ann mckee was a leading alzheimers researcher. This is what i do. I look at brains, im fascinated by it. I can spend hours doing it. In fact, if i want to relax, thats one way i can relax. Narrator then one day, she received a phone call from the Boston University medical school. I called her and said, are you interested in looking at the brains of former Football Players . And she didnt drop a beat, and said, are you kidding . I had no idea that she was a super football fan. I was born with football. My brothers, my dad. I played football when i was a kid. I mean, you know, it was part of life, its part of growing up. Its, you know, its a way of life, so i get it. Narrator now dr. Mckee was joining a team of researchers to build on dr. Omalus discovery. Shes learned a little bit about the work that had previously been done on this issue by omalu and others, and shes eager to find some brains. Narrator mckee and colleagues from Boston University were determined to examine as many brains as they could. And this man knew how to get them. Chris nowinski shows up and says, look, ill find the brains for you, ill bring them to you, and theyre going to be Football Players. Are you interested . And she says, absolutely. You know, she describes this as the greatest collision on earth for her. Narrator for nowinski, the issue of cte is personal. He worries he has it. Id be a fool not to worry about cte personally. And i took as much brain trauma as anybody. I think i have more than enough reasons to believe that im going to be fighting this myself, i am fighting it. Narrator at harvard, nowinski was a punishing tackler. He suffered countless head injuries. Then, instead of the nfl, he became a professional wrestler. He ends up with the nickname chris harvard, the persona of this sort of snobbish wrestler whos smarter than all the fans. You people should be grateful to have someone of my intelligence in your presence. Narrator for chris harvard, the performance often ended with a blow to the head. Chris harvard landed on his head quite a bit. You know, as much as wrestling is performance, theres a very, very small margin of error. And especially when youre learning the thing, you fall on your head a lot. Narrator nowinski began to have violent nightmares and migraine headaches. And i said, theres something really wrong with me. And the headache didnt go away for five years. Narrator brain trauma became an obsession. What motivated me every day was the fact that my head was killing me and i knew that i felt awful and i knew that i wasnt the only person, but i was a person in a position to make a difference. Narrator he would take on the task of finding brains of former Football Players for dr. Mckee. They call him the designated brain chaser, like thats his job, to go out and get the brains. Narrator nowinski made the hard calls, asking families to donate the brain of a deceased loved one. At the beginning, when i first kind of got up the nerve to do it, i wrote down a script and i prepared and i practiced, mentally preparing myself for wandering into someones life like this. Narrator almost right away, nowinski secured a portion of the brain of a 45yearold former tampa bay buccaneer, tom mchale. Tom mchale was a brilliant guy, went to cornell, had been playing football since a kid. His brilliance intellectually was matched by being an incredible athlete. Narrator tom and lisa mchale had three sons. Once his career was over, mchale ran a successful chain of restaurants. But then, uncharacteristically, trouble. Restlessness, irritability and discontent describe tom to a t today, but no way is it anywhere near the man i had known and the man i had been married to for years. The change was so diabolical. He became a drug addict, he became depressed, he became. Had irate moments of violent temper. Narrator mchales addictions spiraled out of control painkillers, cocaine. I remember so clearly him looking at me and this is going back, you know, in the final months of his life and saying, lisa, when i look in your eyes, all i see is disappointment. And i honestly dont know whether he was seeing my disappointment, or whether it was his own disappointment that he was seeing reflected back. But it pains me to think of how much that hurt him. A former tampa bay buccaneer was found dead this morning. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player. Narrator he had died of an overdose. Dr. Mckee had read dr. Omalus research, but she wanted to see for herself. We dissect and section his brain, do a whole series of microscopic slides, look at it with all sorts of different stains for different things, and then come to a conclusion about what the diagnosis is. Narrator what she saw was that telltale protein tau. This is a 45yearold with terrific disease. I mean, he had florid disease. He has tau in all these regions of his brain. Narrator dr. Mckee had examined thousands of brains, but the location of the damage from cte was different. I remember my feeling. I was scared. I was really scared. It really was a turning point. It was a new understanding that, hey, this might be bigger than we think. Narrator dr. Mckee soon had three brains, all with cte, but rather than just publish in scientific journals, Chris Nowinski was determined to get the word out. Nowinski, who is not a scientist, says, there are people getting hit here. If we speak up now, we may be able to, if not save lives, at least prevent the damage that we are seeing on ann mckees table. Narrator nowinski decided to take on the nfl in a very public way at their biggest event, the 2009 super bowl. All right, what a night its finally here. Super bowl sundays kicking into high gear. Narrator the glitz and glamour of the nfl production machine was in full gear, developed over decades. Highly choreographed. Running and hitting with all their might. Narrator a National Event with a carefully crafted story. The whole worlds ready, kick that ball off the tee. Narrator in tampa, before the big game, nowinski and mckee tried to crash the festivities by holding a press conference. This is the genius of nowinski, really, i mean, right . I mean, were going to present her findings. Where do we want to announce that . Oh, lets go to tampa bay where the super bowls about to play out, where theres 4,000 media members who are there waiting to watch. And i can tell you, i have examined thousands of brains and this is not a normal part of aging. This is not something you normally see in the brain. They were saying, football caused this, this is an issue. I think mckee uses the word crisis. She says, this is a crisis and anybody who doesnt believe it is in denial. Narrator also on the panel, nowinskis other star, lisa mchale. Eight months ago, i lost my best friend, my College Sweetheart and my husband of 18 years. Narrator lisa mchale had decided to go public with her husbands story. I never hesitated to be public with toms findings because i was so fully blown away to know that tom could have had the kind of injury he had to his brain and that it could have been caused by football, and i said, my god, of course, this is information that i would have liked to have had. Narrator and after her husbands death, mchale decided to become an advocate for dr. Mckees research. He is now the sixth confirmed case of cte among former nfl players. And bearing in mind that only six former nfl players have been examined for cte, i find these results to be not only incredibly significant, but profoundly disturbing. Narrator but that day, there were few reporters listening. There were thousands of reporters across the street and probably two dozen were willing to walk across and learn about cte. That was the shocking part. You know, here we were in the midst of everything and this potentially giant story was being told, and virtually no one was there. Everyone, thank you so much for your time, and were available if you want to stick around. Narrator nowinskis press conference was no match for the show the nfl was putting on across town. The buildup is over, and away we go in super bowl 43. Narrator then, one of the most watched Television Broadcasts in history. A 30second ad sold for 3 million. Its all right, were here now narrator it was the crowning event for a year in which the nfl earned almost 8 billion. Heres the runup, and super bowl 43 is underway with the flashbulbs apoppin. The league is this Massive Force financially. The super bowl is a spectacle. Tv is paying huge money to televise the sport. He gets it away quickly and finds the tight end over the middle, and its heath miller. The nfl is broadcast over five networks. Espn, where we work, their new contract with the nfl is worth almost 2 billion a year. And he hits Anquan Boldin so theyre basically paying around 120 million per game. Thats like the budget of a harry potter movie every week, week in, week out. And the Pittsburgh Steelers become the First Franchise in history to win six super bowls. Ladies and gentlemen, here to present the Vince Lombardi trophy, the commissioner of the National Football league, Roger Goodell. Well, some said that we could not top last years super bowl, but the steelers and cardinals did that tonight. Narrator presiding over it all, the most powerful man in sports. All the steelers fans, congratulations on your sixth world championship. Nr he sat atop a multibilliondollar empire that he was determined to protect. One of his mantras was to protect the shield, the nfl shield; to protect the integrity of the game. Narrator but now, the league might face huge lawsuits and a tarnished image if dr. Mckees findings about cte held up. Not long after her trip to tampa, dr. Mckee received a phone call. I was called by ira casson. And i remember thinking, why is ira casson calling me . Shes intimidated from the start, because she knew enough about ira casson, she said, to know that he wasnt necessarily a friend. And he wanted me to come to the nfl office and present the data. Narrator that may, mckee and nowinski arrived at nfl headquarters. We head on up to a very, very fancy conference room, nice wood paneling, jerseys and trophies in the glass, and it was probably 15 members of the committee. And one of the first things mckee notices is that theres only one other woman in the room, and its not a doctor, its a lawyer. A lawyer is not there to offer medical advice, and a lawyer is not there to offer competitive athletic advice, either. A lawyer is there to figure out what the league needs to do to defend itself against a storm that may or may not come but the league has to be ready to fight. Im up against a lot of doubters. Im up against people who dont think that any of this holds any water. So fine, im just going to show them what i have. And they kept interrupting. Narrator dr. Ira casson and others on the committee expressed their skepticism that playing football was the cause of cte. Very, very quickly, she got serious pushback from ira casson and the rest of the committee. Narrator Indianapolis Colt Team Physician dr. Henry feuer was one of the nfl doctors at the meeting. I just have a problem. Ann mckee, she cannot tell me where its starting. We dont know the cause and effect. We dont know that right now. We dont know the incidence. Narrator the Committee Members believed dr. Mckee could not answer two important questions. Causation did football cause cte . And prevalence how many players had it . She was seeing only those that were in trouble, and we know that there are thousands roaming around that are not having problems. So i think thats where we may have had an issue. I think were very early in the evolutionary understanding of cte. A certain percentage of the individuals diagnosed with this have had steroid abuse, alcohol abuse, other substances abuses. We dont know the concussion history in many of these. And there may be other confounding factors in terms of the genetics that we simply dont understand. They were convinced it was wrong, and i felt that they were in a very serious state of denial. I remember at one point one of the nfl doctors asking, couldnt you be misdiagnosing this . These all look like they could be frontal temporal dementia. And ann said, well, actually, i was on the nih committee that defined how you diagnose that disease, so no, theyre definitely different diseases. Like, she had the experience and they didnt. Narrator and according to dr. Mckee, there was Something Else something familiar about the way the nfl committee was acting. I dont want to get into the sexism too much, but sexism plays a big role when youre a doctor of my age whos come up in the ranks with a lot of male doctors. Sexism is part of my life. And getting in that room with a bunch of males who already thought they knew all the answers, more sexism. I mean, you know, it was like, oh, the girl talked. Now we can get back into some serious business. I dont know why she feels that way. I thought that she presented herself, as i recall and its been several years that there was something in her manner. And i think shes a brilliant woman. Shes done a great job. There was just something about the way she said it, and not that everybody was looking down, it was just, um. Narrator dr. Feuer insists dr. Mckee is mistaken about how she was treated. If we, for some reason, came across as being disrespectful, then i would say that everybody else we interviewed over the 15 years must have felt the same way. Thats all i can say about that. And i feel strongly about that, too. We would listen, and thank you, and thats it. Whether she wanted us to start yap. You know, i dont know where shes coming from on that. Narrator the meeting had changed nothing. Just a few blocks from nfl headquarters, the commissioner had another problem. In a midtown manhattan restaurant, an internal nfl Research Document was leaked to a reporter. Documents were passed to me at smith and wollenskys in manhattan, in an envelope i mean, it was great, it was very deep throat by somebody who shall remain nameless. But he literally slid it across the table in an envelope. Narrator it was a Scientific Study of former players commissioned by the National Football league itself. At the bottom of page 32, there it was dementia. And they had asked players, or their representatives, their wives, have you been diagnosed by a physician as having alzheimers, dementia, or any other memoryrelated disease . What it showed was that former nfl players seem to have memoryrelated disorders at a much, much higher rate than people in the regular community. And here was a study that the nfl supported, and it came out not looking too good for the nfl. It was the people who the league hired to find out the answers to these questions giving them the answers. And thats what they were. And so, you knew that this was going to be big. Narrator the study went to the heart of the prevalence question. In this case, it showed the prevalence of Brain Disorders was far higher among Football Players than the nfl anticipated. So now schwarz calls up the nfl to get a response, and what he gets from greg aiello, the league spokesman, is more denials. Theyre now denying their own study. Narrator aiello insisted the studys design was flawed, but now the nfls concussion crisis was again national news. And so its becoming almost impossible for the nfl to ignore it. Narrator at the same time, another force was also causing trouble for the nfl and the commissioner the wives and widows of players with cte. I dont think anyone else but the wives, sisters, mothers, daughters and ann mckee could have forced this issue into american consciousness. Narrator Eleanor Perfetto was one of them. Her husband, ralph wenzel, had played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the disease progressed, he went from being ill but fairly functional to getting to the point where he could no longer, you know, dress or feed himself. And in the last year and a half to two years before he died, he couldnt even walk anymore. Narrator shed spent years trying to get help from the nfl and its players association. Then perfetto took matters into her own hands. She showed up uninvited to a League Meeting about caring for retired players. Theres going to be a meeting that the commissioner is holding with former players. And her husband, suffering from dementia, obviously cant be represented there by anybody but her. And shes told shes not allowed to enter the room. Narrator it was the commissioner himself who kept perfetto out. And i said, id like to attend this meeting. And he said, no, you cant attend. Its only for players. Its not for anyone else. And i said, but my husband is a player who is severely disabled, and he cant be here right now. Narrator nevertheless, the commissioner said no. The issue is head injuries among players and if those injuries can lead. Narrator as the concussion story received more attention, the coverage helped spark interest in the nations capital. Congress considers concussions in the nfl. Congress is getting into the game. Theyre looking into the longterm. Good morning, the committee will come to order. Congress is looking into the longterm impact of concussions. Congress saw it as a way to put the nfls concussion policies on trial, in the court of public opinion. Narrator the commissioner arrived like a celebrity, the Star Attraction at the hearing and the focus of all the cameras. Goodell is asked pointblank if he stands by the idea that concussions dont hurt pro Football Players. And he cant answer. Youre obviously seeing a lot of data and a lot of information that our committees and others have presented with respect to the linkage, and the medical experts should be the one to be able to continue that debate. I just asked you a simple question. Whats the answer . The answer is, the medical experts would know better than i would with respect to that. His consistent response to questions was, im not a scientist, and any questions about the longterm effects of concussion or head trauma in nfl players are better addressed to scientists. Narrator one at a time, Committee Members went after goodell. We have heard from the nfl time and time again. You are always studying, you are always trying, you are hopeful. I want to know, what are you doing now . The nfl sort of reminds me of the Tobacco Companies pre90s when they kept saying, no, there is no link between smoking and damage to your health or ill health effects. The last thing the league wanted to be dealing with in that moment was the analogy to big tobacco. Theres nobody in america who doesnt know what that means. That means denial. You have the commissioner of the nfl whos being hauled before congress to answer why his own research arm has been denying, since 1994, that football causes brain damage when everybody from the new york timto former nfl players to the respected Research Scientists are saying, in fact, the opposite is true. Talk about nfl owners being as like tobacco executives. But i think its seen as being plausible. The nfl, similar to what the Tobacco Industry engaged in. Narrator back in new york, with the pressure mounting, the commissioner decided to make some dramatic changes. The nfl changes its playbook. New rules for treating athletes with concussions. Nfl commissioner Roger Goodell wants all teams to adhere to a new policy for head injuries. Theyd just been hauled before congress and the commissioner was embarrassed by linda sanchez, theyd been compared to big tobacco, and they were trying to fight back. Narrator the commissioner initiated a series of new rules designed to protect players from concussions. It was quite obvious what they were doing. They were in the middle of a major damage control operation. From now on, teams should consider a concussion a gameending injury. Narrator dr. Casson was out. Dr. Casson resigned from the nfls Concussion Committee. Narrator and a new Concussion Committee would be formed, led by two prominent neurosurgeons. The nfl is committed to medical and scientific research. Narrator and there was one other surprise. I read on the wire that the nfl had given a Million Dollars to Boston University. I was like, what . And so i called up chris, like, what the hell is going on . He didnt know what was going on. He was like, what are you talking about . The answer was, i dont know what are you talking about, this doesnt sound right at all. A cbs reporter wanted to know what i thought of the gift of a Million Dollars. That was the first i heard of it. I was, like, floored. Narrator and goodell offered dr. Mckee something she needed even more than money brains. They get a letter from the league that says, you guys are now the nfls preferred brain bank and that the league will help with efforts to direct families to donate the brains of former players to boston so that they will be studied for cte. The National Football league says it will encourage current and former players to donate. Narrator as the story of the deal broke. The nfl is donating one Million Dollars. Narrator . The nfls spokesman greg aiello received a call from reporter alan schwarz. While we were talking, he said, its clear that there are longterm consequences to concussions in nfl players. Now, that kind of statement dont make news if anybody else says it. But this time, it was the league saying it. Schwarz stops. He knows that the nfl has not only been denying this for years, that theyve never come close to uttering anything even remotely close to this. And i said, greg, you realize thats the first time that anyone associated with the league has made that connection. And i remember he was a little. I dont. Whats the adjective . Annoyed. He was annoyed. The timenow suddenly has a huge story that the nfl has acknowledged a link between brain damage and football. And sure enough, stripped across the top of the times sports section the next day is that very story. Narrator at dr. Mckees research lab, thanks to the nfls endorsement, the brain Bank Business was booming. There were nfl players out there that were talking to their wives and saying, i think this might be something. Im experiencing some problems and im thinking i should donate my brain to this work. Narrator by 2010, dr. Mckee had looked at the brains of 20 nfl players. She had found cte in 19 of them. It was during that time that a brain arrived that would dramatically raise the stakes. Owen thomas to me was a critical case. Here we have a 21yearold who was a hardhitting lineman from the age of nine on. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, he decided to take his own life. Never been diagnosed with a concussion, never had a problem in the world. Narrator owen thomas had hanged himself in his offcampus apartment. Chris nowinski secured his brain for dr. Mckee. Without any history of diagnosed concussions, it seemed unlikely he had cte. I was fully prepared to see nothing. I remember late at night looking at the brain and thinking, just going to knock this one off. And it just floored me. I just couldnt believe what i was seeing. Narrator such an advanced case of cte had never been found in such a young person. In, like, 20 spots in his frontal lobe. Hes 21. Hes so young. That changes the game to me. Wrapped up and brought down by owen thomas. Narrator because hed never had a diagnosed concussion, dr. Mckee suspected thomas might have gotten cte from the everyday subconcussive hits that are an inherent part of the game. Another nice play by owen thomas. Those subconcussive hits, those hits that dont even rise to the level of what we call a concussion, or symptoms, just playing the game can be dangerous. The rock is home. A crucial matchup. Mckee is saying, look, this is very much an issue at the core of the game, of offensive lineman and defensive linemen pounding the crud out of each other on every single play, on every single down and every single practice, and theres no getting around that. Narrator it was a controversial theory that raised fundamental questions about the way the game was played. The human body was not created or built to play football. When you have force against force, youre going to have injuries. And im not talking about the knees and, you know, all of that stuff is a given. But from a neurological standpoint, youre going to have some brain trauma. Narrator harry carson has been studying the matter since he retired 25 years ago. You know, most people are keyed in on the big hit. But the little miniconcussions are just as dangerous because you might be sustaining six to ten, maybe a dozen of these hits during the course of a game. And if youre going up against topflight players who are able to perfect those skills of hitting you upside the head or getting hit with a elbow, its one of those things that at some point youre going to pay for it down the line. I really worry about my lineman brothers. I really worry for my running back brothers. I mean, thats the truth. You talk about a nefarious injury, one that you never feel until its too late. So when i look back over 30 Years Associated with football, thats the thing that is most alarming to me. The way the game is played, i dont see how you can eliminate all of those routine hits that linemen make every play. How do you eliminate them and have the game still be football . Narrator back in the lab, mckee had seen another surprising case. We had been able to get the brain of an 18yearold who had died 10 days after suffering his fourth concussion playing high school sports. Narrator it was the brain of 18yearold eric pelly, a high school senior, a straighta student. Hed played multiple sports. His dream was to play for the steelers. No one, i think, would have thought that you were going to find chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a high school athlete. I was shocked to find that, in the brain of this 18yearold, there were little tiny spots, little tiny areas in the frontal lobe that looked just like this disease. You have an 18yearold with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. That just shouldnt happen. I had an 18yearold at that time. You know that that brain is supposed to be pristine. The fact that it was there and he was only playing High School Level sports, i mean, i think thats a cause for concern. Narrator for dr. Mckee and others, it raised the obvious question how safe is it for children to play football . What time is it . Game time all dogs now barking from a physical risk standpoint, you know what you are doing when you sign your kid up, that he could hurt his knee, okay. But what you should know now is your child could develop a brain injury as a result of playing football. Its not just on the pro level, its on every level of football. The question is, do you want it to be your child . Narrator for dr. Mckees colleague, dr. Cantu, the controversial answer was that no one under 14 should play tackle football. With what we know about the youth brain compared with the adult brain, that its more easily disrupted than the adult brain, the youth brain is lighter in weight, so it has less inertia to put it in motion, so you tap a youth head and its brain moves much quicker than an adult brain thats heavier and therefore has more inertia. So i think we should be treating youths differently. Narrator and for the bu advocate Chris Nowinski, it was a danger the nfl helped to create. As long as the nfl dismissed this, that meant that parents were signing their kids up to go play football, believing that there was no risk. And that wasnt fair to those kids, or those parents. But especially those kids. Lets give him a big round of applause. Hes rough, hes tough narrator dr. Mckee, who had grown up loving football, has struggled with her feelings about the sport. I dont feel that i am in a position to make a proclamation for everyone else. If you had children who are eight, ten, 12, would they play football . Eight, ten, 12 . No, they would not. Why . Because the way football is being played currently that ive seen, its dangerous. Its dangerous and it could impact their longterm mental health. You only get one brain. The thing you want your kids to do most of all is succeed in life and be everything they can be. And if theres anything that may infringe on that, that may limit that, i dont want my kids doing it. Narrator mckees warnings about the danger of the game have made her the subject of sharp criticism. Shes a lightning rod because people see her as the woman out to destroy football as we know it. Probably the most hurtful charge thats been leveled against her is that shes crossed a line from scientist to activist. Narrator a number of prominent scientists believe she has overstated the dangers of playing football. Theres a kind of polarization in that the bu group are clearly the advocates for cte research. But its not the only issue. There are other issues that weve got to look at. How common is this . How many brain traumas do you need to get this . Is this something that everybody will get if they have enough brain trauma . Or is it the result of steroid or drug abuse in a small number of nfl players . We dont know. These are questions, not statements of fact. Narrator some researchers say dr. Mckee has examined only a limited sample of players and too few brains to justify her conclusions. There has been a sense of fear thats been put into parents, that maybe i shouldnt let my kids play sports. Having said that, i still think its something that we need to be concerned about. We just need more information on it in terms of what exactly is the incidence and the risk. Nobody knows that at this point in time. Its still being debated, depends on who you listen to. Those that have been conducting the autopsies are working with what they have to work with. I think that we need to learn more about these former athletes, learn more about them during their living years so that we can better understand what their neurocognitive function is like, what their emotional status is like. We just have to be careful not to say that this causes that and be able to connect those dots without having more prospective analysis. Im not surprised that people dont believe me. They havent done this work. They havent looked at brain after brain after brain. I just feel that i guess the more cases we get, the more we persevere, the more they hear, eventually theyll change their mind. Narrator still, mckee and her colleagues at bu acknowledge there are limits to her research. Not everyone who hits their head gets this disease, and so a critical question is why does one person get it and another person doesnt . There must be really important variables genetics, things about the type of exposure to brain trauma people get. We need to figure those things out. Narrator dr. Mckee admits shes seeing only a small sample. I think to be truthful, even a selection bias in an autopsy sample, even if the family of an individual who is affected is much more likely to donate their brain than a person who had no symptoms whatsoever, given that, we have still been just ridiculously successful in getting examples of this disease. Narrator dr. Mckee has now examined the brains of 46 former nfl players. 45 had cte. We have an enormously high hit rate. I mean, that would be extraordinary with any other disease, to be able to pull in that many cases just that were suspected. So i think the incidence and prevalence have to be a lot higher than people realize. Narrator to her, it may be the beginnings of an epidemic. I think its going to be a shockingly high percentage. Im really wondering where this stops. Im really wondering on some level if every single Football Player doesnt have this. Narrator and then, another death. An apparent suicide by a powerful athlete. A beloved nfl star apparently took his own life today. Linebacker junior seau died today in an apparent suicide. The untimely death of junior seau is provoking questions. Narrator as the news broke, the question emerged did cte play a part in junior seaus death . Here comes seau, and hes sacked narrator he had used his body and his head for 20 years in the nfl. Number 55 was a hardhitting linebacker. Pain and injury were his specialty. He even bragged about it once on an nfl film. A perfect hit is when youre faced up, coming oneonone, and you hear him go, uh. player groaning just a little, uh. Narrator he talked about the price he was willing to pay. You have to sacrifice your body, you have to sacrifice years down the line. When we are 50, 40 years old, we probably wont be able to walk. Thats the sacrifice that we take to play this game. Narrator and it had paid off. Seau made millions. He was a philanthropist, beloved in his community. But then, a familiar story his life fell apart. Junior seau was arrested for Domestic Violence in oceanside, california, early on monday. Seau accused of hitting his 25yearold girlfriend. Junior seau drove his suv right off a cliff in california. Former pro football star has apparently fallen on hard times. Narrator at 43, his Business Empire had imploded. Hed lost millions of dollars gambling. He wasted everything. We didnt know why he was detached or forgetting, or why he would bark at us for nothing. We didnt know. The past two years had been the roughest. And for a couple of months at a time, i wouldnt hear from him at all. And that would scare me. We got really close, and i feel like its turning around, okay, he wants to be part of my life. And then all of a sudden, i wouldnt hear from him. He is truly a legend, and he will be with us forever. Narrator seau was one of the most popular players and out of the league for only two years. His brain became the most soughtafter ever. Youve got a half dozen prominent researchers immediately began to mobilize to try to get their hands on this brain tissue. I can understand where certain groups are saying, wow, this guy has played for 20 years. This would be a perfect candidate for us to study and see if he had it. I spent time making calls. We had a lot of mutual friends. I spoke to people at his foundation and just said, we would, like every other case, we would like to review this case if you want. Narrator at the same time, far from the action, another researcher had received word of seaus death. So when junior seau died, just like every other case, people called me. I dont follow football, so i said, who is junior seau . They said, oh, you dont. Just like mike webster, you dont know junior seau . Im like, how do i . He said, oh, hes even bigger than mike webster. They said, oh, he just died. He committed suicide. Narrator dr. Omalu had been looking for a chance to get back in the game in a big way. He telephoned seaus son tyler to get consent to take his fathers brain. We did everything. Spoke to the son. He gave us verbal consent. And the medical examiner requested that i come down theyve never had such a big case before, im an expert in this field to help him. He gets the first flight out the next morning. When he arrives at the medical examiners office, hes telling people that he has the verbal consent from tyler seau to harvest the brain. Narrator and it was omalu who actually removed seaus brain. I assisted at the autopsy. I took out the brain, processed the brain. Just as theyre finishing up the autopsy, the chaplain comes walking into the room and he says, literally, houston, we have a problem, and that problem is that he had just gotten off the phone with tyler seau and, according to tyler, the nfl informed him that omalus research is bad and that his ethics are bad. That hes essentially unethical. People started saying things about omalu, kind of telling me the kind of character that he has, and i got a long email about it. But at that point, i was just kind of, i dont want to hear all these things. The next thing, he said he doesnt want me touching his fathers brain. At that point, theres nothing else to do except leave. I mean, he just walks out of the room and he takes his empty brain briefcase, and gets back on the plane and he goes back to San Francisco without having any success. So i was very demoralized. I remember that day i was. People didnt notice when i got into the cab, i was crying. I mean, what have i done . Narrator junior seaus brain was sent to the National Institutes of health, the nih. The nfl very directly worked not only to get the brain to nih, but in this case, to keep it away from omalus group or mckees group by speaking badly about them. Narrator nfl doctors say the decision was made purely in the interest of science. Getting it in the hands of good science is the goal there. So yes, i think that was probably what was driving the suggestion, that lets have nih get involved. Narrator the final diagnosis in seaus case was national news. Abc news and espn have learned exclusively seaus brain showed visible signs of cte, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Narrator in the months following seaus death, the nfl went on the offensive. The commissioner helped to promote a youth football safety initiative, the heads up program. The league donated 30 million to the nih to study sports injuries including joint disease, chronic pain and cte. We recently committed 30 million to the National Institutes of health. Good pr is one part of the nfl strategy, but the other piece of it is that the nfl wants to come off as being very forwardlooking. The nfl wants to keep pushing these questions into the future, keep the discoveries going, make it seem like these questions that still need to be resolved are things that the league is working with doctors and researchers on. Narrator it was a message the commissioner himself delivered, granting a rare tv news interview the morning of the super bowl. Im going to ask you this question because some widows of some nfl players have asked me to ask you do you now acknowledge that there is a link between the game and these concussions that people have been getting, some of these brain injuries . Well, bob, thats why were investing in the research, so that we can answer the question, what is the link . What causes some of the injuries that our players are still dealing with . And we take those issues very seriously. Though the league previously through greg aiello acknowledged a link, there is no more acknowledging a link exists. Theres, the science is still emerging and were really going to try and do longterm studies on this, and were going to figure out whether theres a link. Were going to let the medical individuals make those points. We are going to give them the money, advance that science. In the meantime, we have to do everything we can to advance the game and make sure its safe. He said, almost identically to what he had said before congress back in 2009, which was, were going to let the medical people decide that. Narrator almost two decades after the nfl founded its first Scientific Committee to research the issue, the league continues to insist the evidence of a link between cte and football is unclear. It sure looks like it was just a relentless and endless delaying action. Year after year after year, at crisis after crisis after crisis, the concussions committee and its members assured the public that the league was looking into this. The league actually never got around to looking at it in any kind of valid way. Were talking in the year 2013. This committee was founded in 1994. Maybe there should be better evidence by now. Narrator as the concussion crisis deepened, the commissioner faced yet another challenge a lawsuit brought by more than 4,500 retired players. The threat to the nfl from this litigation was existential. The threat was that the league was going to have to pay out in the billions with a b, not millions with an m. Narrator about onethird of nfl veterans, including some of the biggest former stars, claimed the nfl had fraudulently concealed the danger to their brains. The main allegations here are. Its very simple. There was a very severe hazard that was present in professional football, and it was a little secret. The nfl knew it, but the players certainly didnt know it. Narrator on the other side, the nfls lawyers. Representing the National Football league will be paul clement, who will be flanked by anastasia danias, shes from the National Football league, and also Beth Wilkinson from paul weiss. Narrator they insisted the league had done nothing wrong. Lets be clear. We strongly deny those allegations that we withheld any information or misled the players. And if we have to defend this suit, as paul was alluding to, we will do that and be able to make those factual allegations. But we absolutely deny those allegations. Narrator but away from the cameras, the two sides were engaged in tense courtordered negotiations. The players, initially, they were requesting around 2 billion or a little more than 2 billion, and what weve been told is the nfl was offering virtually nothing they were offering peanuts, as one person said. Narrator the players believed they had significant leverage a threat to the nfl. The threat was that the doctors and trainers, neuropsychologists, maybe owners, maybe commissioners and excommissioners, were going to have to testify under oath as to what they knew and when. Historic settlement today, with the nfl. Narrator then, with football season about to begin, a surprise settlement. Settlement between the National Football league and thousands of its former players. Narrator the league agreed to pay 765 million to resolve the lawsuit. It appears as if it ties it up quite nicely. The two sides figured out that that was fair, and they were okay with it. And so the image of the situation to most fans is that the nfl got taken to task for the concussion problem, okay . There is a proposed settlement in a huge concussion lawsuit. Narrator but the settlement left one big question unanswered. Theres no admission whatsoever of guilt by the league. The league makes it very clear theyre not admitting any guilt, that theres no acknowledgment of any causation between football and the possibility of longterm brain damage. And that was a prominent part of the settlement. I dont think we needed a trial to know that the nfl conducted a lot of shoddy research. And it wasnt hypothetical. It wasnt a supposition. What the trial would have done was bring out that evidence. You didnt need the trial to know that there was something wrong there, but the details of how they went about it, thats whats going to stay locked away. Narrator one week later, the commissioner made the leagues position clear. There was no admission of guilt, there was no recognition that anything was caused by football. Narrator the league would not have to answer those tough questions about what they knew and when they knew it. Weve reached an agreement here that resolves these issues, and well move forward from there. I think everyone now has a better sense of what damage you can get from playing football. And i think the nfl has given everybody 765 million reasons why you dont want to play football. Erenberg touchdown touchdown, Pittsburgh Steelers listen to this crowd, theyre on fire narrator for now, the future of the league and the game of football seem secure. Franco harris is now to the 30, big pileup. Narrator but fundamental questions remain about how the game will be played and who will play it. Its still wild and woolly and i love em that way. You love em wild and woolly and youre seeing it now. Youve got the most popular sport in america basically on notice. Youve got the very real question being asked of whether the nature of playing the sport exposes you to brain damage and lots of science that suggests that it can. An awesome, physical team were the steelers today. And that raises all sorts of questions for guys who are playing in the league, guys who played in the league, moms, kids, all of us who love football. Its pretty scary. Its a big deal. And the future opponents are going to have some trouble. crowd cheering stay tuned for more about frontline after this from nature. If during earthflights sixpart aerial adventure you asked, how did they get that shot . Well explain how we filmed from the wings of birds in this final episode of earthflight. Central to the story are some extraordinary relationships between people and birds. This is how we took flight. And coming tfrontline. Im waking up i feel it in my bones dont make my system blow welcome to the new age to the new age welcome to the new age to the new age. Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, im radioactive radioactive. Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, im radioactive. Go to pbs. Org frontline and watch more of frontlines exclusive interviews with nfl players and their families and the scientists. Explore concussion watch, our new interactive database of every official nfl head injury since last season. Read an excerpt from the book by the fainaru brothers. And find out whats next from frontline. Sign up for our regular updates, and join us on facebook and twitter, and at pbs. Org frontline. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from and by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation. Dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The wyncote foundation. And by tfrontline Journalism Fund with a grant from and scott nathan and laura debonis. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlines league of denial is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Im susie gharib with a nightly Business Report news brief. With no progress on the political deadlock in washington over the debt limit and budget, stocks fell hard today. The dow tumbled 160 points and down from the high reached three weeks ago. The nasdaq down 75 points, 2 drop a huge sell off and the s p fell 20 points. Alcoa seeing a jump and also reporting yum brands, this is the owner of kfc, taco bell and pizza hut missed estimates on a sharp drop in sales in china where it makes half the profits. New york state says more than 40,000 residents signed up for lowcost health insurance. Tune into nightly Business Report right here on your Public Television station. Rose welcome to the program. We begin this evening with the president ial press conference and the reaction with al hunt, mark landler, chuck todd, and major garrett. The default scenario is the last, biggest, and most historically important forcing mechanism ever and to pick up on al hunts point, if that is not the forcing mechanism, if thats not the vice that takes these disparate interests and shoves them together if even for six or eight weeks we have entered a fundamentally new era of politics where political indecision and the inability to reach compromise and a deal even an unsatisfactory one begins to inflict economic harm not just here but throughout the Global Economic system. Rose we continue with a conversation with Margaret Atwood. I think the theme is probably like a lot of books of this kind about imagined futures. The theme is really in the nature. So who are we really . What are we capable of . How far can we change without ceasing to be ourselves . Rose we conclude with Eileen Rockefeller. You say without anxiety and desire to heal it i would not be writing this story. Yes. You know, i think anxiety is a great motivator and that when you can work through it, it brings you to whole new places in life. So for me this book was about healing my relationships with my family and really coming into a new place as eileen, myself. Rose a program note sting was to be on this Evenings Program but because of the president ial press conference he will appear later this week. Tonight, Government Shutdown continues, Margaret Atwood and Eileen Rockefeller when we continue. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. My suggestion to the speaker has been and will continue to be lets stop the excuses, lets take a vote in the house, lets end this shutdown right now. Lets put people back to work. There are enough Reasonable Republicans and democrats in the house who are willing to vote yes on a budget that the senate has already passed. That vote can take place today. Rose it is day eight of the Government Shutdown. President obama spoke at the white house this afternoon. He urged House Republicans to pass a clean funding bill to reopen the government. He also used tough language to criticize their tactics. The point is, i think not only the white house but also democrats in the senate and democrats in the house have shown more than ample willingness to talk about any issues the republicans are concerned about. But we cant do it if the entire basis of the republican strategy is were going to shut down the government or cause economic chaos if we dont get 100 of what we want. Rose Speaker Boehner responded after the president s press conference. He argued that the debt limit had been fair game for negotiations in the past. Also stressed that talks are to start today. We cant raise the debt ceiling without doing something about whats driving us to borrow more money and to live beyond our means. The idea that we should continue to spend money that we dont have and give the bill to our kids and our grand kids would be wrong. T