Top 44 Ann McKee Quotes

I can’t say I love football anymore.

It’s impossible for me to dissociate the risk of playing football from the risk of C.T.E.

Is there a way that we would actually recognize the game of football with fewer tackles and fewer collisions? I’m not sure. But I think that’s the direction we’re going to have to go. Bigger fields? Fewer players on the field? I think we are ultimately going to have to change some of the major rules of the game.

If football is your passion in life and you would rather play football for 20 years and have a shortened life span, that’s your choice.

I love football.

Certainly, our work has identified CTE in many professional football players, but we’re also seeing it in a very high percentage of college players.

Frankly, I think it should be no football until you’re physically mature.

I’m concerned about the future of football, because we have paid a lot of attention to concussions. We are more aware of concussions. But it’s really the repetitive minor injuries, the ones that are asymptomatic that occur on almost every play of the game, the sub-concussive hits: that’s the big problem for football.

I do love the way the brain looks. I love the way it’s shaped.

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. It’s a part of growing up. It’s – you know, it’s a way of life.

I would advise kids not to play any sports, such as tackle football, where they are exposed to repeated blows to the head.

CTE can be caused by smaller hits to the head over time.

Dave Duerson had classic pathology of CTE and no evidence of any other disease.

My son was a goalkeeper in soccer, and he luckily never had much head trauma. He never had any concussions or anything. I really wanted him to play football, but now I’m thankful he didn’t.

I feel like Dr. Death.

Is a concussion going to lead to CTE? No, probably not in most cases. But if you have enough concussions over a certain amount of time, yes, then I think you can lead to CTE.

The overwhelming evidence is that trauma is a major factor in CTE.

Every one of them is different. In fact, brains are like faces in that no two are ever alike.

I love sports, OK? But I think we really need to take it on ourselves to not be so crazy about sports, not to risk someone’s future just because we think they might be the next star.

It makes common sense that children, whose brains are rapidly developing, should not be hitting their heads hundreds of times per season.

Football is an American sport. Everyone loves it. I certainly would never want to ban football.

My three children played soccer and lacrosse. I grew up as a Green Bay Packers fan. I am not against sports. We want kids to play sports, but we want them to be safe.

I’m a Cheesehead.

Football is an extraordinarily popular sport, and the whole game is played around this issue. The whole makeup of the game involves these subconcussive hits. I don’t know how they’re going to solve that problem. I don’t think they know how they’re going to solve that problem.

It’s almost un-American to say that you want to change football.

We’re hoping that there is large-scale recognition that CTE is a risk when playing football.

The thing you want your kids to do most of all is succeed in life and be everything they can be. And if there’s anything that may infringe on that, that may limit that, I don’t want my kids doing it.

Junior Seau’s CTE finding raises a lot of issues for everyone. He is such a beacon. He was so young when he died. He was an active player for so long. He was such an amazing individual who was well loved by his teammates and his community.

I do have a son. He’s out of school now. He never played football. And it had nothing to do with me. I was actually crushed that he didn’t play football. I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is awful.’ My brothers all played football. My dad played football.

Football has a future. I don’t know what that future is. I’m a physician.

The beginnings of CTE can start quite early.

I run a number of different brain banks.

I just want to make sports safe for our kids.

I was born and raised right outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

My greatest hope is that we learn how trauma induces neurodegeneration in susceptible individuals.

Kids’ brains are developing. Their heads are a larger part of their body, and their necks are not as strong as adults’ necks. So kids may be at a greater risk of head and brain injuries than adults.

Nothing good happens without a penalty.

We’ve now found CTE in former NFL players who played every position except kicker.

This is what I do. I look at brains. I’m fascinated by it. I can spend hours doing it. In fact, if I want to relax, that’s one way I can relax.

I have a little easier time watching the NFL than college or high school. I used to go to the high school games, and now I have trouble with it. The NFL players get big rewards from it. I feel at least the NFL has made big changes to help their safety. And they’re adults – they can make good decisions.

Subconcussive injuries are brain injuries on top of unrecovered brain injuries.

I started out as a neurologist. I then trained in neuropathology and was focused on neurodegeneration. So, for years, I studied Alzheimer’s, aging, Parkinson’s, that kind of thing.

Our national identity is so interwoven with football.

I’m not your run-of-the-mill scientist.