It's only going to get worse

Junior Seau killed himself today. His death will statistically support a horrible fact and trend. NFL players die much sooner than the rest of us.

There is no way anyone can say why he shot himself in the chest. Maybe he didn't want to force his loved ones to see his face destroyed. Perhaps he wanted to let his traditional, Catholic mother give him an open casket. There is a chance he found a gun shot to his chest, less frightening than pills or slit wrists. Any of these reasons are possible.

It is also possible he mimicked the recent suicide of Bear's great, Dave Duerson. Duerson left a suicide note explaining why he chose to shoot himself in the chest. He wanted to make sure his brain was intact so it could be tested for trauma. Trauma, caused by all of the concussions he suffered as an NFL player.

Seau drove his car off a 100 foot cliff in 2010, after a fight with his girlfriend. No drugs or booze were in his system. I do think that qualifies as past suicidal behavior. Maybe he had his friends and family fooled. Today, they all say he was happy and had so much to live for. Could be, he's always fought demons and battled depression. Perhaps stories will surface soon, bringing different shades of this man to light.

It doesn't matter to me. As the saying goes, "stats don't lie". The average NFL player dies before his 55th birthday. This is a horrible truth.

He played in parts of 20 NFL seasons. He's in the Hall of Fame. He's gone forever at age 42.

We constantly hear players referred to as "warriors" and "modern day gladiators". I wish this was typical, sports caster hyperbole, but it is not. It is spot on. They ARE like gladiators in the coliseum.

They are out there dying every week. We may not see them pass away on the frozen tundra. No, they are not carting off corpses each game. But we are watching these guys kill themselves all the time. And the league has never been more popular.

This is only going to get worse.