While head injuries and their profound effect on former players have generated headlines and a steady stream of litigation for the National Football League in recent years, a new crisis emerged in 2014 centering on domestic violence.
Now, REAL SPORTS correspondent Jon Frankel discovers that the two issues might have more to do with each other than many imagine. He visits Boston University, where neuroscientists have conducted studies concluding that more than 50% of former athletes, most of them former football players, who had the brain disease CTE developed some kind of violent physical behavior despite no prior history of violence. Frankel also sits down with the widows of two such players, Paul Oliver and Ray Easterling, to hear frightening accounts of how their husbands changed from gentle, loving partners and fathers to violent, out-of-control men.
Follow REAL SPORTS updates on HBO.com/realsports and facebook.com/realsports. Immediately following the debut of this month’s show on Oct. 21, log on to HBO.com/realsports for a special overtime session hosted by Bryant Gumbel.