Janet McCoy speaking on behalf of her husband Mike, who played for Green Bay, responded with a different viewpoint: the position of a wife with a suffering husband. She said, "I received a call from my husband yesterday when he received the news of another player’s death. Since Mike is in assisted living for his dementia, all he could do was weep when I answered the phone. I knew why he was crying even before he spoke. How many tears do the players, wives and families have to shed before the NFL takes notice? I would like to suggest that the NFL have a plan payment for mental health therapy after this. Most men are not able to express themselves when this tragic diagnosis is received. Blessings to all our families."

Former NFL players who have been broken down and left on the curb have a place to vent frustrations. The awful truth for the former players who are suffering is that the National Football league owners never let them down; their own players association is the culprit. The National Football League Players Association was so focused on just getting money that there were not secondary concerns about players’ safety or post career medical and insurance benefits. The owners and players collectively bargained agreements, and whether it was 1974, 1982 or 1987, the players' negotiators — and in turn the players' agents — wanted liberal free agency rules and money.

That was a mistake for about 97 percent of the players. The owners legally are not bound to give players extended medical benefits. That should have been a collectively bargained issue. Broken down players are living in the government safety net of Social Security Disability Insure and Medicare.

It may be those are some of the lucky players who survived the funnel and made it into the National Football League. There probably are hundreds of thousands of players from the college, high school and semi-pro ranks who have suffered severe injuries and didn't have a players association, albeit a weak group like the NFLPA, who never got a football pension or a partial medical plan and now are depending on government assistance for life altering injuries.

But there really isn't much about the plight of high school players who are suffering from football injuries that is documented.

High school football remains king in certain sections of the country, but what would happen if former high school players suffering from devastating injuries started suing schools? Would school boards who are either self-insured or pay a huge premium keep the games going?

That is a difficult question, but that question may come an awful lot sooner than anyone thinks. The National Football League, along with a helmet manufacturer, is being sued by hundreds of former players who contend that the league didn't look after players' health during careers and in post career life. The lawsuit involves just the NFL and former players at this point.

Many people play football from the youth level on up to the pros. Many of those players will never have an opportunity to sue school boards even though the life altering injuries took place on some high school football field.

Football has always been a brutally tough sport.

It seems the issue of players’ safety was settled in 1905 after President Theodore Roosevelt pressured a few college presidents into cleaning up the game after the deaths of 18 players in college games and the maiming of others.