WEDNESDAY 87 DAYS TO THE VANIER CUP AUGUST 30, 2017 Tim horTons field • nov. 25 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR THESPEC.COM CONNECTED TO YOUR COMMUNITY ‘We made a large and serious mistake’ was an opportunity to give somebody a Ticats owner Bob Young apologizes to fans for briefly hiring former U.S. second chance was clearly not accept- college coach fired after school mishandled sexual assault allegations able in relation to what had previously happened and what (Briles) had been DREW EDWARDS Team owner Bob Young and CEO “Clearly, what was being contem- involved with.” The Hamilton Spectator Scott Mitchell apologized for adding plated was totally unacceptable to the Briles was fired as the head coach of Ticats owner Bob Briles as assistant head coach on Mon- general public and the media,” Mitch- Baylor University last May after an in- Young: inundated IN A SPAN OF LESS than a day, the day, an offer that was rescinded hours ell said Tuesday. “I think when we took vestigation discovered theWaco, Texas Hamilton Tiger-Cats went from con- later following an outcry from fans and a step back and had a chance to talk to school mishandled numerous sexual troversy to contrition over the hiring of an intervention by the Canadian Foot- the league and some of our partners assault allegations, including some disgraced former coach Art Briles. ball League. and some of our fans, what we thought against football players. Ticats continues // A4 BY STEVE BUIST, THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Football can be a dangerous, brutal sport. sessment, prevention and manage- crease in depression symptoms. ment of concussions,” according to Sixteen of 22 retired players report- It’s particularly bad for brains. So far, most the statement. “We are focused on ed some level of memory problems, continuing to develop a culture of compared to two of 20 control sub- of the supporting evidence for that has health and safety across our entire jects. come from studying the brains of dead play- league, including players, coaches Many of the players who took part and management.” in the project said they were ers. Today, we’re going to change that. alarmed, but not surprised by the COMPARED TO HEALTHY results. FOR MORE THAN two years, On average, the retired players’ control subjects of similar ages, the “I know some of us are really in The Spectator has been involved in a brains showed a 20 per cent reduc- retired players showed: trouble while others are coping,” unique collaboration with a team of tion in the mass of the cerebral cor- said Bob Macoritti, who played six McMaster University researchers. tex, where billions of nerve cell bod- Widespread thinning of the cere- seasons, mostly with Saskatche- We’ve been conducting sophisticat- ies reside. bral cortex, which helps organize wan, in the mid to late 1970s. ed brain scanning experiments on “There’s something really serious thought and high-level processing. “I guess I’m a bit of a fatalist — it is nearly two dozen retired CFL foot- happening,” said Luciano Minuzzi, The findings suggest the players, on what it is and I can’t do anything to ball players to measure the long- a McMaster University brain imag- average, have lost significant num- make it different.” term impacts of concussions and re- ing expert and part of our research bers of nerve cells in the brain; “We were putting ourselves peated hits to the head. team. Significant areas of differences in through multiple car accidents ev- We believe this is the first study The results raise critical concerns the bundles of nerve fibres that con- ery game,” said one former Toronto anywhere to report findings from about the long-term damage from nect various parts of the brain, Argonaut receiver now in his 50s. living former football players using concussions and the safety of the which suggest potential problems Robyn Wishart, a Vancouver- such a wide array of tests. sport. with information processing in the based lawyer who specializes in The results are “shocking,” one of Concussions are linked to an in- brain; brain trauma cases involving ath- MORE our experts said. creased risk of degenerative neuro- Sharply lower levels of electrical ac- letes, said the project’s findings will ONLINE logical diseases, such as dementia, tivity in the brain from EEG record- help parents better understand the Podcast, videos IN SOME CASES, the results Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and CTE. ings, which supports the finding risks of the sport for their children. and interviews from former players were no differ- The CFL provided a written state- that nerve cells have been lost in the “I think the parents have a right to with our research ent than the results that would be ment in response to the Spectator’s cortex; know what a long career in the sport study participants seen in coma patients. Brain images scientific findings. A 10-fold increase of memory-relat- of football could mean to the long- and the project from some retired players in their “The health and safety of our play- ed symptoms and a four-times in- term health of their child,” she said. researchers: 40s looked like the images of men in ers is a top priority for our league, thespec.com their 80s. particularly when it comes to the as- PART ONE OF THE FOUR-PART CONCUSSION SERIES STARTS A8 BRIDGE/CHESS G8 LOCAL A2 WEATHER PER ISSUE: $2.00 There’s more BUSINESS A17 LOTTERIES A2 INCL. GST HIGH: 25 online at // COMICS G11 MOVIES G4 NORTHERN AREAS: LOW: 15 CROSSWORD G11 OPINION A14-A15 $2 INCL. GST thespec.com DEAR ELLIE G2 SUDOKU G11 VENDING BOXES: Chance of $2 INCL. GST thundershowers G2 HOROSCOPES G2 WEATHER G2 WEDNESDAY AUGUST 30 AND THURSDAY AUGUST 31 ONLY! SCHNEIDER’S FREE STONE FRYER PRIME RIB LEAN RED HOTS PEACHES CHICKEN STEAKS GROUND BEEF CUT FROM CANADA AA FRESH STOREMADE 5DAY SALE NIAGARA’S $199 $399 FINEST $199 $599 $244 375G 3L LB LB LB BARTON at KENORA (1/4 mile east of Redhill Valley Parkway) • NEBO ROAD (at Rymal on the Mountain) • Mon-Fri 8-9, Sat-Sun 8-6 R0084418247 C M Y A8 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THE SPEC.COM MCMASTER UNIVERSITY / ST. JOSEPH'S HEALTHCARE HAMILTON HEALTHCARE JOSEPH'S ST. / UNIVERSITY MCMASTER CORTICAL THICKNESS ❯ LEFT HEMISPHERE CORTICAL THICKNESS ❯ RIGHT HEMISPHERE CORTICAL THICKNESS: PLAYERS VS. CONTROLS THE HARD SCIENCE Left and right lateral images of the cerebral cortex. Any areas in blue represent areas where the retired CFL players, OF HARD KNOCKS on average, showed significant thinning compared to controls. The lighter the blue, the more significant the thinning. About 65 per cent of the cortical area was thinner in players. CONTINUED FROM // A1 STORIES BY STEVE BUIST Minuzzi said the cortical thinning Minuzzi went back their lives, they probably drove The Hamilton Spectator experienced by the players are “very, themselves here, some of them are very strong results that we were not and re-analyzed each running businesses. LUCIANO MINUZZI had finished expecting.” subject four times “I’m not suggesting they’re in a co- his very precise and very complicated “It’s almost like seeing the brains of because he couldn’t ma, quite the contrary,” he added. analyses of brain scans from dozens much older people,” said Minuzzi. “They came in, we chatted to all of of retired CFL football players and “They are not matching in terms of believe what he was them. healthy volunteer subjects. Now it age. seeing. “Are there ways they’re getting was time to look at the results. “I was shocked,” he added. around this? I think there must be. As Minuzzi performed his calcula- “There’s something really serious “There must be some way they’re tions, he was blind to the subject’s happening.” The retired players also under- compensating for what amounts to a identity — a key part of the scientific Minuzzi is part of the research went electroencephalogram (EEG) really disastrous attentional prob- process. He didn’t know if he was ex- team for the Spectator’s CFL concus- testing to measure the strength of the lem.” amining the brain of a retired player sion project, a unique collaboration brain’s electrical activity as they paid The disturbing differences found or a control subject. between the newspaper and six re- attention to different stimuli, again between the players and controls For each of the subjects, Minuzzi searchers from McMaster University. compared to healthy volunteers. throughout the various forms of test- was analyzing the thickness of the The project, which took more than In some cases, the EEG results ing suggest strong evidence of a link brain’s cortex — the thin outer shell of two years to complete, involved com- from players were no different than between football, repeated hits to the the cerebrum where the bodies of bil- prehensive testing of 22 retired CFL the results that would be seen in head and long-term effects on the lions and billions of nerve cells re- players and another 20 healthy men some types of coma patients. brain. side. It’s also the part of the brain that of similar ages with no history of con- The findings are almost hard to be- The findings raise very serious smacks the inside of the skull during cussions who acted as control sub- lieve, said John Connolly, a McMas- concerns about the future health a concussion. jects. ter professor and the Senator Wil- prospects of former football players. When the results were unlocked Using a variety of sophisticated liam McMaster Chair in Cognitive “It seems that their brains are al- and Minuzzi was able to compare the tests, the goal of the project was to ex- Neuroscience, who specializes in ready very fragile,” said Minuzzi.