Junior Seau Dead at 43

From AP:

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Former NFL linebacker Junior Seau was found dead in his Oceanside, Calif. home, according to a report from TMZ.com.

TMZ reports that police are investigating a shooting.

A 12-time Pro Bowler, Seau played for three teams over a 20-year NFL career. He was drafted by the Chargers with the fifth overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft, and spent the first 13 years of his career with San Diego. He totaled 47 sacks and 1,381 tackles with the team.

Seau was traded from San Diego to the Dolphins in 2003. He played for Miami for three seasons before being released. Seau announced his retirement the subsequent offseason, but wound up returning the next year to play for New England. He played for the Patriots for four years before retiring.
Seau finished his career with 56.5 sacks and 1,849 tackles. He played for two AFC champions -- the Chargers in 1994 and the Patriots in 2007 -- and was named an All-Pro 10 times. Seau was also named a member of the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1990s, and was inducted into the Chargers' Hall of Fame in 2011.

On Oct. 18, 2010, Seau drove his car off a cliff in California shortly after he was arrested on a charge of felony spousal assault. Seau told police he fell asleep at the wheel.

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Sad news. So young, and he has children.

Police are now calling this a suicide...

So sad :(

:( Prayers to his family. We enjoyed watching him when he was here in Miami...

Very sad! Seems to be alot of former- NFL suicides lately. :(

My husband always talked about Junior Seau because when he was in the Marines way back when, Junior's cousin was also in the Marines and they knew each other. So, consequently, my husband "knew" Junior Seau (by association). ;)

Very sad for all involved.

Ruled a suicide, but he shot himself in the chest? That's an unusual suicide. But considering he supposedly sent out love letters to his family yesterday by email, it's all in keeping with the suicide ruling. Just unusual. Poor Junior must have been suffering from some depression or other issues. Whatever happened, it's sad and I wish he could have gotten help.

There have been several suicides among football players in the last year. They are associating suicides of football players to the head injuries sustained during the game, such as concussions. There was a football player a year ago, who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest, in his suicide Note r he explained he wanted his brain to be donated to bostonuniversity to be studied for the link between game related concussions, dementia and depression.i suspect we will hear the same thing later about junior. Google the findings of the research of the other players brain. It's very interesting to read the association of dementia and concussions.

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Originally Posted by SBETigg

Ruled a suicide, but he shot himself in the chest? That's an unusual suicide.

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Not at all. I believe this is the third (or maybe the fourth?) NFL-related suicide like this. Dave Duerson was the most recent and he left a note explaining that he shot himself in the chest purposely so his brain would be intact for study.

I grew up on football. I love the NFL passionately. But man ... if this keeps up it's really hard to see the league surviving. :(

I can never imagine how bad things are in someone's life that they just want to end it... It is sad, really sad... He seemed like a great individual, someone who was down to earth, unlike a lot of the athletes... Just reinforces what I always say, no matter how bad you think you have it, someone always has it worse...

When the report came out that it was a shot to the chest, the first thing my cousin remarked on is that it was probably a suicide and he wanted them to be able to analyze his brain. The amount of damage sustained to the brain by concussions is just starting to be truly understood. I have read that scans show some of these ex-players brains resemble that of an elderly person with dementia. It is truly sad. It is difficult for us to comprehend the mind of someone who has that sort of brain damage.

Yeah, after Andre Waters shot himself the coroner said he had the brain of an 85 year old man with Alzheimer's.

Bad juju ......

This is very sad about Junior Seau. He was a huge presence in San Diego and while we were living there, we saw some really great things he did for the surrounding communities, especially Oceanside, where we lived for awhile.

All of this stuff coming to light about how bad concussions really are is a result of the numerous Traumatic Brain Injuries that have been sustained by our troops over the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan. It takes a much higher toll than previously thought. After seeing how badly some of these men have fared following being, essentially, blown up by IEDs, researchers have realized that even minor concussions can have lifelong consequences. It's no coincidence that you've seen a surge in helmet use and attention being paid to younger kids in contact sports and head protection.

I thank my lucky stars every day that my husband was not victim to a TBI while he was deployed. Many of his Marines were, though, and some of them are extremely bad off these days. :(

And, for what it's worth, I will NEVER let my sons play football or engage in a sport where head injuries are commonplace. Too much risk.

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Originally Posted by Ian

Not at all. I believe this is the third (or maybe the fourth?) NFL-related suicide like this. Dave Duerson was the most recent and he left a note explaining that he shot himself in the chest purposely so his brain would be intact for study. :(

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Right! I remember hearing that now. It makes sense. Thanks, Ian.

Ray Easterling is another ex-NFL player who recently committed suicide. It is very sad to see this happen.