- “One night, I visited a client in his darkened hospital room hours after a game. He was alone and looked confused. “Where am I?” he asked. “In the hospital,” I replied. “You had a concussion.” “Did I play today?” he asked. “Yes,” I responded. “Did I play well?” “Yes, you threw three touchdowns,” I said. His face brightened. Five minutes passed as we talked more about the game. He then asked, “Where am I?” and “Did I play today?” and “Did I play well?” I gave the same answers I did the first time. Ten minutes later, it happened once more. I finally wrote a narrative on a piece of paper so he could glance at it whenever he became confused. It was terrifying to witness how delicate the line was between full consciousness and dementia. This was one of my closest clients. At dinner the night before, he had been his usual witty self.” The Agent: My 40-Year Career Making Deals and Changing the Game (Steinberg, Leigh;Arkush, Michael)–page 200
- “In another series of conferences held in 2006 and 2007, we learned even more. Doctors concluded that three concussions appeared to be a marker for exponentially higher rates of ALS, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, premature senility, dementia, and depression. Their research uncovered a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which stems from concussions and can lead to depression and suicide. I called these developments “a ticking time bomb” and an “undiagnosed health epidemic” and predicted we would have an outbreak of symptoms that would be unprecedented.” The Agent: My 40-Year Career Making Deals and Changing the Game (Steinberg, Leigh;Arkush, Michael)–page 202