Rant #2,381: Sad Eyes

Last week was seemingly a week of death, a week where one obituary of a celebrity was followed by another and then another.

It was good to get out of that week, because the talk of death was getting a bit spooky.

Unfortunately, the death parade did not stop when I stopped talking about it here, and there was another celebrity death that hit some of us pretty hard.

Ashley Massaro died last week. The only reason I did not add her to the death toll I spoke about was that I was awaiting the cause of her death, but at 39 years old, I kind of knew.

Massaro, former WWE wrestler, Playboy model, Survivor contestant and current disk jockey on a local Long Island station, evidently died as a result of a "non-violent action," and when they say that, you know that that means one thing--

Suicide.

She has a teenage daughter, and the daughter confirmed that her mother took her own life. Other outlets have come out with the information that Massaro hung herself.

The daughter said that her mother suffered from severe depression, which was likely brought on by a concussion syndrome.

One can only take so much pounding on the mat, and however phony pro wrestling is, people do get hurt, and some can take the pain better than others.

We are only just now learning about concussions, and what repeated concussions can do to the brain and well being of those that suffer them.

Many former pro footballers have said for years that repeated concussions can stay with you for a lifetime, and greatly impact your behavior even when they are seemingly gone.

Other athletes have had to give up their livelihoods because of these concussions, and athletes have banded together to force the various sports leagues to look at concussions in a more serious light.

Major league baseball, for one, has a concussion protocol in place where if there is even a hint of a possibility that a player has been concussed, he comes right out of the game, is checked over, and if found to be concussed, the player must sit out a minimum number of games, even if the concussion is a minor one.

Massaro had had numerous concussions, and suffered severe depression from these constant hits to the head, and the pain and suffering evidently had reached a point where she could not take it anymore.

She did not come to work, did not call in, and was found dead. A real shame.

Not that I was a great athlete, but I know that I had at least one concussion when I was a kid, but there was no protocol then. You just dusted yourself off and wobbly or not, you continued to play.

My concussion episode was when I was 12 or 13 years old. I was playing in the Rochdale Village Athletic League, and it was a softball league championship game.

It was a really big event in my old neighborhood. Lights were put up so we could play at night, and without any stands to sit in, we must have had dozens of spectators.

Anyway, I was on third base and upon contact by the batter, I ran home.

I ran into the catcher--a kid with a glandular problem who was probably about 300 pounds at the time--and somehow, knocked the ball out of his glove and scored a run.

But in the process, I also knocked myself out, and I mean O-U-T.

I don't know if I was out for a millisecond, a minute or a few minutes, but I must have hit his knee with my head, and I was completely out.

I came to, and I think my team surrounded me as I got up from my stupor. they told me that I had knocked the ball out of the catcher's glove and that I had scored. I was happy, and wobbly as I was, I got up and went out to my position at second base at the end of the inning.

What, me worry?

If this happened today, I would have been taken out of the game immediately, probably on a stretcher by an EMT, and rushed to the hospital. I would be checked for a concussion, and would probably at least stay in the hospital overnight. I would be held out of the next game, at the very least, if I had even the most minor of concussions (this was a championship game, so it was the final game of the season, so this would not have come into play for this particular incident).

I honestly don't remember how I felt right after I came to, but the word concussion was not even uttered by anyone back then.

Not that what I had was so severe, but what about others who have played various games and participated in various activities where they suffered concussions? How many of them just dusted themselves off and got up to do whatever they were doing right after their brain took such a hit?

Obviously, I consider myself really lucky, because although I was knocked out cold, I don't think I have had even the least bit of lingering effects of this impact, if I even had a concussion at all.

But being knocked out cold like I was, I pretty much think that I probably did have a concussion, but it was so minor that it had no lingering effects.

But for others, the effects evidently linger for years after the hit, and evidently, that is what happened to Massaro.

That is why the pro leagues are so, so careful with their concussion protocol today, because we are just learning the lasting effects that severe concussions can bring to those who suffer them.

Massaro, the Long Island girl who made it to the national stage in a variety of things that she did, will definitely be missed. But hopefully, her personal struggles will not be in vain, and will spur even more research into the effects of concussions on those who suffer them.