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"All of us are aware of CTE and, like most former players, I monitor my health very closely. My comprehensive neurology evaluation showed no symptoms of CTE or brain injury."
I always wondered if the announcer Gary Danielson did not get hit one too many times on the head when he was playing. They guy seems lost in the booth sometimes, like he is not sure if he is watching a game or having a mushroom induced trip somewhere else. And he frequently has times when he just does not seem to know what in the world is even going on around him. CTE could explain a lot.
Which is sad, because there are probably talented announcers that the networks could use in his place and make the broadcasts better for everyone.
Good point here. There's been a time or two I noticed him stray a bit. His career as a starter was maybe 8 years with the Detroit Lions starting in 1974, retired as Bernie Kosar's backup with the Browns in 1988.
He's been broadcasting a long time, 35 years or so. The years that he started with Detroit all through the 1970's was him being on a .500 club all the way through. I'm sure he got clobbered a time or two or three-dozen.
But another look at CTE would be the career of Frank Gifford. Wikipedia gives a pretty accurate report on his hit with Eagle Chuck Bednarik. Just google in "The Hit (Chuck Bednarik)." The game was absolutely huge to both New York and Philly as they were tied for the best record around week 7 or so in the 1960 season. Points--
1. Gifford caught a short pass coming across the middle and Bednarik hit him so hard while Gifford was still in mid air and actually lifted Gifford another foot or so and slammed down on the dirt.
2. Game was in Yankee Stadium, hence the dirt.
3. Gifford immediately coughed up the ball and was motionless on the field for maybe ten minutes.
4. He was wheeled to the Giant clubhouse and some of the players thought Gifford actually died, in one of Pat Summerall's interviews he actually said so much.
5. It was a hit that gave the Eagles an extra win over the Giants in the standings and later the Eagles won the NFL championship over Green Bay.
6. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital and Gifford missed the last 5 weeks of the season and he was hospitalized for several weeks afterwards. He also was ordered by the Giants to sit out the next season. He came back and played for a few more seasons then retired in 1962, I believe.
Yet with all that to contend with, after retirement he became a CBS broadcaster and stayed with the network until 1971 when he signed with ABC to be the lead broadcaster with Howard Cosell and Don Meredith on Monday Night Football I don't know this for a fact but IMHO he has been on prime time network television more times than anyone, be it football, baseball or regular tv sitcoms. 1998 was his last year with MNF, and don't forget he was involved with broadcasting ABC Wide World OF Sports and the Olympics, among other ABC sports programs.
And yes, I am aware that when his autopsy was performed he was diagnosed with advanced CTE, the official cause of his death was "death by natural causes."
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