Around 13 months ago, or April 5 of 2011 to be exact, I wrote a column that generated such a stir that Darren Cameron, the director of media relations for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, called and asked whether I was going to put him on retainer as my publicist due to all of the media requests he was fielding on my behalf.

The column was titled, "Players Killing Themselves Slowly," which was not of my design, but somewhat conveyed the sentiments I relayed as I returned from the CFLPA annual general meeting (AGM) in Las Vegas. At that meeting former CFLPA President Stu Laird presented to the player reps a number of startling facts and figures that he had discovered on the Internet that did not paint a very pretty picture for the golden years of professional football players.

The information we were shown addressed our greater propensity to develop Alzheimer's and Dementia, discussed how many G forces we incurred with each helmet-to-helmet hit, and, the big one, how "the average life expectancy for all pro football players, including all positions and backgrounds, is 55 years." This was attributed to two doctors, Michael Glueck M.D., and Robert Cihak M.D.

The number of reactionary stories that followed was impressive, and most of them picked apart the assertion of these doctors, pointing out that their research methodologies were flawed (they based their statement on life insurance company findings), unscientific, antiquated (2006), and in fact, much ado about nothing.

I was simply a gullible part-time columnist who didn't have the time or inclination to thoroughly investigate all of the information that was presented to him at the 2011 AGM. In fact, Rachel Brady from the Globe and Mail called Chris Nowinski, a Director at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University, and he told her that, "That number of 55 has simply never been proven with any data, it has just floated around and been perpetuated by reporters too lazy to back up the facts."

Nowinski was right. I assumed that everything I was being presented at our AGM was valid and credible, and I was far too lazy to research every fact and figure that was thrown at me before I opened my big mouth and declared that the sky was falling.

So imagine my surprise, when less than a week ago, a story from another newspaper was written that included a conclusion reached from the experts at Boston University, that was just as damning and alarming to former pro-football linemen as a 55 year life expectancy.

The story centered around Doug MacIver, a former Winnipeg Blue Bomber who not only shared the same first name as I, but the same position -- nose tackle. Doug passed away this January from heart failure at age 58 (three years past the expectations of the doctors who were discredited), and his brain was donated to Boston University because, as stated by members of his family in this story, his behavior had become increasingly erratic since he retired from the sport.

While it was not revealed when the MacIver family would receive a definitive report as to any condition he may have suffered from, it was reported that they WERE TOLD, "...the nine years their dad played in the CFL's trenches makes it all but certain he had CTE."

If it is all but certain MacIver had CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), it is a revelation that is going to change the lives of thousands of former pro footballers that display erratic post-retirement behaviour.

However, before I jumped to conclusions again, it was time to apply lessons learned and take to the Internet to try to find verification.

And wouldn't you know it, this time I found a study on chronic traumatic encephalopathy by researchers at Boston University, published in the J Neurpathol Exp Neurol Journal, where my old pal Chris Nowinski was listed as the third contributing author.

While I needed a decoder ring for most of the language, I did understand the following: "The precise incidence of CTE after repetitive head injury is unknown..."

So who am I supposed to believe? The people at Boston University, or the people... at Boston University?

For a game that generates billions of dollars in revenue, it sure would be swell to get a straight answer from somebody about what we have gotten ourselves into.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 22, 2012 C6