Sad news

Dwight Clark, the former 49ers star best known for his leaping TD catch that won the NFC Championship Game in 1982, says he has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease....

Clark said he doesn't know if playing football caused the disease but he suspects that is the case. ALS has in recent years been linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative brain disease that studies have linked to athletes and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including concussions.


"I've been asked if playing football caused this," Clark wrote. "I don't know for sure. But I certainly suspect it did. And I encourage the NFLPA and the NFL to continue working together in their efforts to make the game of football safer, especially as it relates to head trauma."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...-diagnosed-als

Hoping for the best for him but ALS is one of those diseases where the diagnosis is extraordinarily grim.

Given the potential hazards of playing football that are becoming better known, it would seem to be increasingly difficult to allow a child to start playing the sport. Nothing is hazard free but some activities have much greater potential costs than others.