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Parents donate brain of late ballplayer Freel to CTE research

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The latest news from health and safety involving football – and more:

* The New York Times reported last weekend that the parents of late baseball player Ryan Freel have donated his brain to be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy by the Boston Center for CTE. Freel committed suicide last month and it was suspected that he suffered as many as 10 concussions during his MLB career.

With Freel, the center enters the realm of baseball, a sport not usually associated with head trauma. His parents approved the donation of tissue to search for evidence of C.T.E., which might partly explain his decline as a consequence of the injuries.

“I’m very hopeful,” Christie Moore Freel said. “We certainly believe there is some sort of connection.”

Based on the recollections of the player’s mother and Ryan Freel?s own statements, his stepfather, Clark Vargas, estimated that Freel may have sustained 15 concussions, 10 as a professional ballplayer.

* Mark Kriegel, an analyst for the NFL Network, wrote about he feels for sorry for Greg McElroy and Alex Smith, whose saw concussion recovery from different points of view.

Comebacks might’ve been the story of the season. But concussions were the story of the year. Twenty-four hundred lawsuits and counting. Bountygate. I mean, what was that really about? The new protocols are a sign of great progress. But they’re not perfect.

* CBSNews.com wrote about a high school football player who is now confined to a wheelchair after coming back too soon from a concussion.

* The Baltimore Sun reported that two Baltimore Ravens may not play this weekend because of concussions.

* The Associated Press reported that the NBA’s leading rebounder, Anderson Varejao, is out an extended period because he may have reinjured his knee.

* And CSN New England reported that Boston Celtics center Fab Melo suffered a concussion when he hit his head on a door frame.

– Bill Bradley, contributing editor