RIP Junior Seau

[Hardbopjazz]

NFL legend Junior Seau found dead at his California home

TMZ is reporting retired NFL star Junior Seau is dead, and the police are investigating a shooting in his home:

NFL legend Junior Seau was found dead in his home in Oceanside, CA ... and cops are investigating a shooting ... multiple law enforcement sources tell TMZ.

Cops are currently at Seau's home just outside San Diego. Seau was 43-years-old ... and leaves behind 3 kids and an ex-wife.

Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowler and 6-time First-Team All-Pro, was selected fifth overall in the 1990 NFL draft after an outstanding collegiate career at USC. He played with the San Diego Chargers through the 2002 season, spent 2003-2005 with the Miami Dolphins, and then signed with the New England Patriots in time for the 2006 season. In New England's perfect regular season of 2007, he played in all 16 games and started four. Seau first retires after that season, only to come back and play in 2008 and 2009 before finally leaving the NFL for good.

"I'm going to go surf," he told Showtime upon his January, 2010 retirement announcement. Whatever happens, I can say, honestly say, that that probably was my last game."

Seau is the eighth member of the Chargers 1994 Super Bowl team to pass. We will keep you updated on this story as more news is confirmed.

Article

Cops are now saying it was suicide.

[Noj]

That sucks. Great player.

[Soulstation1]

Damn

[Patrick]

Sad news. Great player. Fun to watch. I'll confess to annoying my spouse by often saying "Ow!" when Junior got recognized for a good play.

Are there really 8 members of the 1994 Chargers that are no longer with us? Anyone know the other names? That is shocking. 1994 was not that long ago.

[Tom 1960]

He was a fan favorite among Charger fans during his prime. Sad news indeed.

[Dave James]

Hope this doesn't turn out to be head trauma related. The NFL can ill-afford too many more of those...especially when we're talking big name players like Seau who aren't very old. Crossing my fingers that this isn't the case. Hope his family can find their way through this.

Addendum: I did not know this, but when former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest, he did so deliberately to ensure that his brain would remain intact. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the fact that Seau also shot himself in the chest is very troubling.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Dave James

[Soulstation1]

Saw Junior play during his USC days

Sad video of his mother's interview

[BruceH]

Hope this doesn't turn out to be head trauma related. The NFL can ill-afford too many more of those...especially when we're talking big name players like Seau who aren't very old. Crossing my fingers that this isn't the case. Hope his family can find their way through this.

Addendum: I did not know this, but when former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest, he did so deliberately to ensure that his brain would remain intact. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the fact that Seau also shot himself in the chest is very troubling.

It probably is brain-trauma related.

[Quincy]

Are there really 8 members of the 1994 Chargers that are no longer with us? Anyone know the other names? That is shocking. 1994 was not that long ago.

2011 LB Lew Bush, apparent heart attack, age 42

2011 DT Shawn Lee - cardiac arrest, age 44

2008 C Curtis Whitley - OD, age 39

2008 DE Chris Mims - enlarged heart, age 38

1998 LB Doug Miller - lightning strikes (2), age 28

1996 RB Rodney Culver - ValueJet crash in FL (110 killed), age 26

[alocispepraluger102]

robert kraft statement on seau

My link

[sonnymax]

Hope this doesn't turn out to be head trauma related. The NFL can ill-afford too many more of those...

No, what the NFL cannot afford is to continue covering up what they knew about head trauma injuries and their failure to act on that information, all for the sake of business and profits.

[PHILLYQ]

Hope this doesn't turn out to be head trauma related. The NFL can ill-afford too many more of those...especially when we're talking big name players like Seau who aren't very old. Crossing my fingers that this isn't the case. Hope his family can find their way through this.

Addendum: I did not know this, but when former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest, he did so deliberately to ensure that his brain would remain intact. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the fact that Seau also shot himself in the chest is very troubling.

First thing I thought of when I heard the news...

[Dave James]

Hope this doesn't turn out to be head trauma related. The NFL can ill-afford too many more of those...

No, what the NFL cannot afford is to continue covering up what they knew about head trauma injuries and their failure to act on that information, all for the sake of business and profits.

FWIW, that's what I was trying to say. There's going to come a time in the not too distant future when the NFL is going to have to answer for their willingness to sweep such a terrible problem under the carpet. A class action suit is brewing that I think may threaten the very existence of the league. I'll bet the lawyers are schooling up like piranha to represent the plaintiffs.

Edited May 3, 2012 by Dave James

[alocispepraluger102]

wasn't seau found at the bottom of a cliff a few years ago in what may have been a suicide attempt?

the nfl, and we, throw our gridiron greats effectively aside like we do whippets that can no longer race.

Edited May 3, 2012 by alocispepraluger102

[Soulstation1]

Yes he drove off a cliff and said he fell asleep

During his 20 year career I bet he took 100s of hits to the head especially with the style he played

Edited May 3, 2012 by Soulstation1

[alocispepraluger102]

are we seeing the beginning of the end of football, as we know it?

horse racing was once huge.

boxing, once bigtime, has all but disappeared.

for my money, watching ice hockey would be a worthy substitution.

Edited May 3, 2012 by alocispepraluger102

[T.D.]

are we seeing the beginning of the end of football, as we know it?

horse racing was once huge.

boxing, once bigtime, has all but disappeared.

for my money, watching ice hockey would be a worthy substitution.

IMO, too much $ in football to see "the end" coming, despite possible moral justification.

I was once a boxing fan, but stopped after becoming aware of the brain trauma and parasitic managers. But hasn't MMA taken off?

As a hockey fan, I can tell you that sport has its own concussion-related woes...

[paul secor]

I watched ESPN off and on this morning - Mike and Mike, Bayless and Smith - and heard a lot of talk and discussion about Junior Seau's death. Over and over I heard talk about players not being able to adjust to life after the spotlight of football - in the NFL and before - and even players having to adjust to the loss of routine in their lives after football is over. No mention of post-concussion syndrome that I heard, and I listened for over an hour. None of us knows for sure why Junior Seau died, but for no one one on ESPN to mention the fact that the physical/neurological effects of playing football might be involved looks like folks protecting their meal ticket to me.

[Dave James]

Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon were all over the concussion aspect of this on Pardon The Interruption yesterday, so it's not like ESPN is ignoring the possibility.

With respect to the future of the game, I'm not sure the NFL has much control over that. Critical mass will be reached when parents decide that they don't want their kids putting themselves at risk by playing the game. Once that starts to happen, it's only a matter of time before the well runs dry.

Edited May 3, 2012 by Dave James

[paul secor]

Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon were all over the concussion aspect of this on Pardon The Interruption yesterday, so it's not like ESPN is ignoring the possibility.

With respect to the future of the game, I'm not sure the NFL has much control over that. Critical mass will be reached when parents decide that they don't want their kids putting themselves at risk by playing the game. Once that starts to happen, it's only a matter of time before the well runs dry.

Good to hear that the subject was mentioned yesterday. Greenberg and Golic and Bayless and Smith didn't get into that subject at all while I was listening. Talked about everything but. It should have been a major point of discussion.

I'm not so sure that parents will decide that they don't want kids playing the game. Lawsuits may put the NFL out of business before that happens.

Edited May 3, 2012 by paul secor

[RDK]

Sad news. By all accounts Junior was a great guy and a very popular presence in San Diego. IIrc, my mother, a realtor at the time, once either sold a house to or for Seau.

[Chalupa]

Very sad news. I always enjoyed watching him play just as long as it wasn't vs. the Eagles.

BU wants to study Seau's brain.

[Matthew]

Quote from an ESPN story on Seau's death being ruled a suicide:

""Junior is a warrior. He played 20 years in the NFL as a linebacker. You have to be a warrior. Warriors conquer problems they face and they run at them," McPherson said Thursday.

McPherson, now the pastor at the Rock Church in San Diego, said that's why Seau's death is so puzzling."

Maybe one of the problems is this whole "warrior" attitude. Maybe, just maybe, the people around Seau were so wrapped up in seeing him as a warrior, who ran at problems and beat the crap out of them, that Seau felt isolated -- he didn't want to appear soft, so he didn't go to anyone.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Matthew

[ValerieB]

and he supposedly left behind three children!! makes it even more tragic.

[Chalupa]

Junior Seau family: Brain study OK